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As 2015 comes to a close, ASJA would like to wish its members, partners and other industry professionals a safe and happy holiday season. As we reflect on the past year for the industry, we would like to provide the readers of The ASJA Weekly Update a look at the most accessed articles from the year. Our regular publication will resume Friday, Jan. 8.
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Jodi Helmer, ASJA
From Nov. 20: You don't like to be rejected — no one does. But it's part of being a freelance writer. And when you send more than five queries a week, rejection happens. A lot. Turns out there are five common reasons that editors are passing on your ideas. Head these off at the pass, and you're likely to see more yeses than nos.
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Marijke Vroomen Durning, ASJA
From May 1: It's a mantra that experienced entrepreneurs pass on to newbies: "Market, market, and market some more, no matter how busy you are. You never know when you'll need more work." But advice is only helpful if you take it and while I said the same thing to others, I didn’t do it myself.
I had a strong anchor client for five years; the work made up 75 percent of my income. It's easy to become complacent if you have a good client. You may put out feelers here and there, send out a few LOIs, or answer a few writing job postings, but regular marketing techniques of following up, networking, and actively digging for work prospects don’t seem quite so vital. And one morning, the anchor client disappears. With one phone call, that monthly check was gone. All the warnings of "keep marketing" ricocheted in my brain.
So what to do?
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The New York Times
From June 19: One most often hears about the spur of self-hatred in stand-up comics, but writers do seem to be another high-risk group for this diagnosis, made most famously by George Orwell in his essay "Why I Write" (1946). Orwell indicates a clear awareness that self-loathing and self-love are locked in a tight, procreative embrace. The first writerly motivation he cites is "Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc."
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Susan Shafer, ASJA
From July 10: I bet you've had your share of freelancing nightmares: Magazine editors who pay late or not at all. Once-dedicated book editors who change publishing houses a month before publication of your novel. Cancelled contracts. Boundary-pushing clients.
I thought I had heard, or experienced, it all until a unique incident happened to me in my new freelancing field.
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Sharon Hazard, ASJA
From Oct. 16: Several years ago I wrote an article for a local newspaper. The pay wasn't great, but the topic was. It was based on my finding an old photo of a member of the Roosevelt Family. Of course, I recognized the famous last name, but the first name eluded me. My writer's instincts kicked in and after some research, I discovered that the photo was taken in 1884 and depicted a woman named Kate Roosevelt, whose husband Hilborne was President Theodore Roosevelt's first cousin as well as a world-renowned organ maker and inventor who collaborated with Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell before his untimely death in 1886.
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Kristine Hansen, ASJA
From Oct. 2: It sounds cliché but it's true: Every writer needs a writers group. I'm not talking about online forums or Facebook groups. The ability to look each other in the eye and talk candidly about one's writing is, well, priceless.
Eleven years ago I answered a Craigslist ad. With the same level of expectations I might have had if exchanging cash for a bookcase, I showed up at some guy's house in the Brady Street neighborhood of Milwaukee. We (a group of five people) met a few more times before the group’s founder announced he was moving to San Francisco. Myself and another member vowed to keep the group running. Slowly we’ve added more members. We now have nine people.
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Randy Dotinga, ASJA
From Dec. 4: About a zillion years ago— in the early 1990s, to be exact — I worked as a rookie newspaper reporter and devoted a lot of energy to keeping my mouth shut in public.
Sure, I had plenty of political views, and my opinions got fiercer as evangelical right-wingers took over the local school board I covered.
They tried to add creationism to the curriculum, opposed the teaching of birth control and supported a sex education program with mottos like "Pet Your Dog, Not Your Date" and "Don't Be a Louse, Wait for Your Spouse." As a journalist writing about all this, I struggled not only to be neutral and objective but appear that way in order immunize myself against accusations of bias.
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Rae Padilla Francoeur, ASJA
From July 24: My sociology professors taught me that I'm not quite the Rae Padilla Francoeur I think I am. I inhabit many roles and practice a number of skill sets. And people relate to me according to the role I've adopted in the moment.
Some of my roles: Mornings, when I'm fortunate, I’m a creative writer plugging away at my work in progress. At noon I transition while I eat lunch. In the afternoons I move my attentions to my arts/nonprofit marketing business, New Arts Collaborative. That’s just the tip of my complex set of interlocking enterprises and the same is true for most of us.
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Laura Laing, ASJA
From Nov. 13: "Writing process: Hang out on Facebook until bored. Then hang out on Facebook more. Ignore the drier buzzing. Eat peanuts. Finally, get bored enough that writing actually looks exciting."
This was my Facebook status one day last week. I'm in the last month before a book deadline, and procrastination has taken root. Each morning, I rise with fresh dedication, new goals, and pristine plans. By the time I've had my second cup of coffee, I'm off track again. A single email can drag me into a different direction. Refining my Spotify song lists is suddenly a critical task. Scrubbing the kitchen sink until it glows is paramount.
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By Claudia Suzanne, ASJA
From Oct. 9: In a 2009 U.S. News and World Report article, Marty Nemko labeled ghostwriting one of the "best careers" for writers.
It certainly has been for me. After 25 years and nearly 140 books since ghostwriter Dick Coté counted his fellows and dubbed me No. 46, I can honestly say ghostwriting has been a fascinating, frustrating, educational, disconcerting, mind-blowing, fun, and (thankfully) profitable experience.
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