Life of A Writer

Even with more than 7 years of writing, research and marketing experience, I still study freelance writing every chance I get. I'm always open to learning more and more, and every time I study freelance writing, I usually always discover something new. When I research freelance writing, I usually try to learn more about grammar and marketing (I'm always looking for new ways to promote my books and myself). However, the thing I study the most is writing query letters. Out of everything involved with freelance writing, query letters are my pet peeve so to speak. If the publication's guidelines say I can send the complete article, then I do. Nevertheless, the majority of publications would rather see a query letter first. So, per their request, I apply everything I've learned about writing query letters and do my best to type out what I hope will be a query letter that grabs the editor's attention. I can't begin to tell you how many times I proof the query letters before I hit send, and then after I hit send, I always have a fear that the query letter I sent wasn't good enough.

It seems my studying on query letters has paid off, because on August 21, 2007 I received an e-mail that made me tell myself, "Woman, you've got to believe in yourself more. Quit second guessing yourself… have faith in yourself and your work." The e-mail I speak of came from Angela, the editor of Wow! Women on Writing. In her e-mail, she asked my permission to use the first query letter I sent her as a good example in a feature she was writing about query letters. "I'm still impressed by that query -- it had a great informational hook," Angela complimented. After I read the e-mail, I was overjoyed! All of that studying I did must have paid off. So you see, friends, if you study, eventually it pays off, and an e-mail like the one I received from Angela makes it all worthwhile.

If you would like to read the query letter I sent to Angela at Wow! Women on Writing, as well as her comments on it, read the feature entitled All About Query Letters. My query letter is toward the end of her piece (after the interview with Carolyn Howard-Johnson); it's the third query letter. I also encourage you to read the entire article, because Angela offers some great advice!

Well, now that I'm finished bragging, I suppose I better get back to writing. Take care and God bless!

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Posted by Misti Sandefur, Christian author/freelance writer at 3:32 AM