On Thursday, when Frank was about to leave with Zach for the dentist, I told him, “Tell the doctor to pull that last baby tooth. It’s been hanging on for two years and you can’t get braces until it comes out. It’s time for those braces so let’s just get it taken care of…”
Frank’s eyes got as big as pancakes and, before I could even finish my sentence, he said, “I’ll pull it out myself!” and he ran from the bedroom.
Letters will return next week.
I couldn’t have been more excited when my query made its way through the slush pile last fall to be accepted by an editor at Budget Travel. I was even more elated when that same editor accepted my second query on the spot a week later. That this editor took the time to send me a hand-written note, praising my writing prowess on the first story, was icing on the cake.
I was all set, to paraphrase Casablanca, to begin a beautiful writer-editor friendship. I was just in the middle of preparing a flurry of new queries for this editor when I received the dreaded news. As soon as he finished editing my second story, he would be moving on to other things, things that didn’t include Budget Travel. I wouldn’t have been as disappointed if this editor had transferred to a different magazine, as I could have followed him there, but he was leaving to become a freelancer so where did that leave me?
About a year ago I came up with a brilliant idea. I was going to write an advice column for twentysomethings and every newspaper and magazine was going to want my column in their publication. With my newfound career as a columnist, I just knew I was going to be able to lay back and make a killing by writing my world-renowned column. I did my research on how to submit a column, wrote my query and six sample articles and after sending it to two papers and getting turned down because of budget reasons, I became discouraged. I don’t have much patience (what twentysomething does?). Then I got my new issue of WritersWeekly.com and read the success story, I Am the Publisher by Pamela White who started a food ezine. I began to think: Why should I wait for the papers to realize my column is a great idea? To heck with them, I’ll do it myself. That is when Twentity.com was born.
Max (age 3 1/2) sprained his knee on Saturday. We think it happened when he was playing Toy Story (jumping while yelling “To infinity and beyond!). He was limping a bit on Friday night but woke up on Saturday unable to walk. It will probably be the most expensive emergency room visit in the family’s history.
Last week, I published an article on selling advertising space in books. Unfortunately, only one reader responded to my call for individuals’ experiences with this type of revenue stream. But, I liked her story so much that I bought it to run in this week’s issue. To read how one author has successfully sold ad space in her books, see this week’s Freelance Success Story.
This Week:
Playwright and novelist Saul Bellow once said, “I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, “To hell with you.”
My secret to selling ads in my books is to write about a specific locale and to then sell ads to businesses in that area.
On Saturday it was in the 90’s here. Ug! We’ve been in Maine long enough to become de-acclimated to hot weather. So, while cleaning out the garage that day, I was positively melting and had a heat headache for hours afterward. When Sunday rolled around and it hit the 90’s again, Richard and Zach, resigned to their fate after listening to me whine for 24 hours, went into the attic and started the annual, laborious job of dragging down all the horribly heavy window unit air conditioners. It took another hour or so to get them installed (I was outside, dying once again while working in the yard). By the time it was all done, a big cloud came over the horizon. It was a fast-moving cold front and, on Monday morning, we actually had to turn the heater on!
