Behind the Pen

Writing for magazines requires extensive research, not only for the article, but when picking a market to write for. When I first started freelance writing on a part-time basis my goal was 3 queries per week. Once I had a rhythm going I increased my number to 5. When I gave four weeks’ notice at my salaried job over a year ago to write, I pumped my number to 10.

Spreadsheets get long. The pipeline needs to stay full. Some queries fall through the cracks and I wonder if they ever even make it to the editors.

Sometimes I get a cheerful rejection letter, other times I never hear back at all. In May I was in Boston on my book tour and my phone rang with an out-of-area number and it’s the editor of the world’s most read dog magazine, Dog Fancy, interested in my query sent one year and three months before. I had already had the piece about different dog GPS systems accepted by FIDO Friendly, but they were interested in taking a new angle on the topic and focusing on real-life successful rescues using the systems.

Voila! Queries are being received and read!