My Very First Rejection Slip!

I checked another box off my bucket list last week–sending out my first book proposal to a publisher–and then this week received my very first rejection “slip” (in quotes because it was an email, not a slip of paper I could frame on my wall and throw spitballs at). All things considered, it was a very nice rejection letter, listing two problems with my book:

1) the book spends too much time referring readers to my website, which, even though I’m not selling anything on my site, makes it sound like a sales pitch and reduces my perceived objectivity.

2) the book relies heavily on information sources such as Twitter, Facebook, flash sale sites, and other online resources for saving money that are very modern, which made the publisher doubt that a book–even and ebook like the ones he publishes–would be the right format for my content since it might need to be updated quickly.

As far as number one, I am extremely grateful to this publisher for pointing out that problem, and I will revise the book to cut out that tone. That will get me one step closer to a “yes” from a publisher, or if not that, to creating a better book for myself.

Number two? Well, I still think that a book or ebook would be a good format for this info (which is already on my blog) because it should be in one place so busy parents can read through it and learn what I can teach them (and revisit the info) without having to scroll through the backlogs of my website. I thought an ebook would solve the problem of needing quick updates when website info changes or companies went out of business, but this guy doesn’t think so.

So, should I consider another format for this content or just forge ahead? Until I can come up with an answer, I forge ahead, after a little revision work.

Just thought you might like a little peek into this side of the publishing process, which is brand new to me as well. Blessings!

Are There 25 Hours in a Day?

If you're in a creative rut, The Artist's Way will peel you off the pavement, then The Creative Habit will set your mind dancing again.

I can hear my little sister’s reaction now: “Riiiight. So how’s that workin’ for ya?” she will ask me with one eyebrow up (her eyebrow goes up so high I can hear it over the phone). She knows me. She knows I like to DO things. And boy am I ever doing things right now!

I am in a groove, as Twyla Tharp would call it. Every time I take a walk, an idea for a piece of my novel or an entirely new book project springs into my mind. “Structure the book as an escape to the outdoors in the same way Robbe-Grillet structured The Erasers city in a circle to hint at the story’s ending!” I gasp into my iPhone’s voice recorder, and suddenly the whole novel gels and the symbolism that’s already central to the plot is perfectly sewn together. Sweet! It’s not effortless, but it’s the fun kind of working up a sweat.

If you include my full-time “momming,” I am currently working 75 hours a week, but I’ve never felt more energized. That is the definition of a groove, or it should be. All grooves come to an end, but I am riding this one like a wild horse. No way am I going to let fear or distractions or anything else deter me from getting every drop of fun out of this groove.

How did I get here? I don’t really know, but the one thing I’m doing differently this time that might have something to do with it is this: I’m not over-thinking my plans. I have plans upon plans–that’s what I’m so excited about!–but I am focusing on the short-term plans right now to explore these rabbit trails, then later I’ll see if I want to pick one trail above the others. I also took Pete Michaud’s advice not to make everything perfect before launching my new blog, and that has paid dividends in creativity and forward momentum. Thanks, Pete!

Two years ago I had barely worked up the courage to say aloud that I wanted to write at all. So my self-confidence has changed as well. All I can say is, it’s about time!

If you’re in a groove or remember a good one, how did you get there? If your groove turned to a rut, what caused that to happen?

Two Simple Ways To Become a Freelance Editor

A few people have weighed in on my little poll, indicating you would like to hear more about freelancing. No problem! I’m regularly asked how to do what I do: freelance editing. Well, there are many ways to go freelance (the easiest involves the insertion of your full-time gig into a bodily orifice of your boss), but here are a few tips I hope will give you a solid start. Please note that I am still only freelancing part-time while I stay home with my daughter, so I can’t be your shining example of how to “make it” as a freelancer–not yet, anyway. These are just tips to get your foot in the door of the publishing world, which really is the hardest part.

Route #1: Create your own internship.

I schmucked around trying to find paid gigs even while I was still IN college, because back then we all still thought we could find paid work in our field of interest, with minimal experience. Not so much. My first paid gig dried up after college, and by the time I started looking for internships (because publishers wouldn’t even call me back about paid jobs), the window of opportunity had closed. That = several years wasted time. If I had known then that it would take me so long to find a paid job without internship experience, I would have viewed 6 months or a year of indentured servitude as an investment rather than an insult.

Problem is, LOTS of folks know better than I did and are clamoring for just a few internships, so what you should do is find a small publisher you like and offer to work for them for free so you can gain experience. You just found an internship with zero competition, and you made the overworked editor an irresistible offer: free help. Just set a time limit on your internship and be ready to say goodbye (and thank you!) if they can’t offer you paid work after that time.

Route #2: Start small.

This is what I ended up doing: I tried my damnedest to get jobs in publishing or as close to publishing as possible in order to pay bills and keep myself occupied. On the side I was working for one or two small book publishers at a time, doing occasional work. Yup. I had to cold-call a lot of people to get those gigs, too. S’just the way i’tis. There are oodles of online lists of publishers. Start there and research each one until you find one you like. It would help your case if you knew something about the genres they publish, too.

Over time my part-time experience looked better and better on a resume, until I was able to land an in-house, full-time, pull-your-hair-out-stressful, gloriously satisfying copyediting job, which in turn bolstered my credibility when I went back to freelance.

All these ideas take some guts, because you have to pick up the phone and call people (gah! anything but cold-calling!). If you want to freelance, though, you’re probably the ballsy sort anyway, right? Anyway, I hope these tips give you some new ideas. Good luck!

Small Changes

When I was transitioning into freelance, a colleague advised me that the most successful freelance journalist he knew put out one request for new work every day to keep himself in the game. He is, consequently, one of the busiest automotive journalists in the business. Sounds like a great idea, but is it really that simple? How do you keep up with it? I spent several hours a day cold-calling companies for the first couple months, and then got distracted with current work or other projects. There was also this thing going on in the news about the economy. Maybe you heard about it.

Well, I’m back at it, networking, writing, and shaping my career into what I want it to look like before the kiddo arrives next spring, and I think I’ve found a way to build my career that doesn’t resemble crash dieting. Job hunting has a lot in common with An Inconvenient Truth: I avoided watching this movie for a long time, knowing I would feel overwhelmed at the volume of work needed to turn this planet around, and then Al gave us some small steps we could all take to do our part, AND showed us how small steps could have a huge impact. Not discouraging at all! I began to recycle more, compost, make better food choices, and lo and behold my expenses went down along with my environmental impact. I even negotiated 25% off my trash/recycling bill, because we’re so low-volume now! I just didn’t believe my little changes could make such an impact before.

Same thing with a freelance career. You know you’re your own marketer, but it’s tiring to think of having to keep up with working and networking at the same time. But what if networking weren’t as overwhelming as it sounds? What are a few small changes you could slowly make to your career to give it a boost, without burning yourself out? Here are a few:

Join LinkedIn and Twitter: LinkedIn allows you to easily keep in contact with old colleagues, and gives you access to their networks without a “let’s do lunch” effort. Twitter sounded pretty self-indulgent (“I’m sitting on the pot, reading WIRED”) until I tried it; it’s an excellent networking tool, because it allows you to notify people of new projects you’re working on, info you’re seeking, and puts you in contact with others in your industry that you’d otherwise never meet. (Please note: Blogging and micro-blogging don’t replace normal human contact.)

Cold-call Companies: This needs to be a focused effort. I researched several types of publishers I both wanted to work for and would have some credibility with because of my work experience, then called down the list. One a day would have been too frustrating–I needed to get in a groove–so I set aside several days a week when my energy was up and called as many as I could. The ones I could really offer value to responded positively. If I hadn’t tried this, I wouldn’t have found a new primary source of book editing work or gotten my first print article published in Automobile Quarterly.

Replace One Bad Habit: Just like changing your eating habits. Replace soda with juice, and juice with water, and you’ll never miss the soda. Replace people.com with gawker.com, and gawker.com with mediabistro.com, and you’ll find you’re spending free time keeping informed about news in publishing instead of Hollywood. Fewer calories, more satisfying.

Be Flexible: Writers and editors need to find a schedule that works for them in order to be productive. If you’re a night owl, spend the day exercising and networking, then write at night. If you’re a morning person like me, do the important stuff first so the to-do list doesn’t crowd it out. Don’t procrastinate your work time away, getting nothing done and feeling guilty just because you’re too tired at the moment to work. What works for you? Find that rhythm and shape your life around it. Don’t let anyone tell you what your day ought to look like, as long as you’re getting things done.

I’m sure there are many more small changes we can all make to help ourselves improve our lives and careers. What are your favorites? What works for you? Let me know in comments. I’ll post more at a later date, using your best ideas as well as any others I think of.