When I went full-time again in April, I spent the first two weeks sending out queries to publications that had, so far, seemed out of my league. I pitched several magazines that pay $2 a word or more, I even queried an editor who assigns at $3 a word and up. Two weeks later, I had heard back from none of those publications (not even rejections), which while very normal and expected, can make a writer feel defeated.
When I told my husband that I was all but ready to give up, he said something that every writer should tape on the wall.
“Give yourself a few easy wins,” he said.
What he meant was that since my confidence was shaky, I needed to regain it by doing something that would take minimum effort on my part but would achieve the result I was after, even if it was in a smaller degree.
What I needed to do was send ideas to editors who love me and always buy my work or to lower-paying magazines that were eager for good writers and where I might have a higher shot at acceptance. I sent out two queries almost immediately, one to my editor at The Writer, who gave me a new assignment right away and one to an editor at a trade magazine, who not only gave me an article to write but also the schedule for the next few months so that I could start looking for stories that fit into future issues. Small, comfortable wins, but wins nonetheless that made me feel like I had achieved something, taken a small step forward.
This month, you may have joined me in the 30 Days, 30 Queries challenge, and if you have, it is likely that there will come a day or week when you’re feeling defeated and deflated, when your Inbox remains at an annoying size zero, no matter how many carbs you feed it. I want you to go for the easy win. I want you to e-mail the editor at that small website who loves your work and buys everything you’ve ever offered and sends you e-mails telling you a better writer was never born.
There will be a milliion people, friends and foes, who can and will find faults with your work, but each of us needs one person, be it a friend, a teenage child, or even a completely-lacking-in-objectivity parent who says, “That’s brilliant. YOU are brilliant. I can’t believe I share genetic material with you.” Because every once in a while, we all need an easy win. That’s what keeps us going and that’s what keeps it fun.
Do you know where to go when you need an easy win?