Writing is an emotional roller coaster

Writing is so emotional. When you write fiction, your characters go through a wide range of emotions and feelings, and I, for one, ride right along with them. I cried while writing certain parts of Bubba Goes National, and every time I do an edit or rewrite of it, I cry at the same places.

Even non-fiction has its challenges. You get a compliment from an editor or reader on a piece and you soar sky high. Nothing can touch you! You have arrived! Then, an editor rejects your pitch, or *gasp* asks for edits on the article you worked so hard on. Rejection. Depression sets in. Why can't every pitch be accepted and every piece I write perfect? I know, I know...no one is perfect and you can't get what you want every single time. But...I WANT to be perfect. I want them to gush over my perfect article. I want them to happily accept every article idea I pitch them.

Do you go through this in your writing? Or, has it become like any other job for you--you write, you submit, it's accepted or not and you go on? Do you ever get over that slight feeling offense that they asked for edits, even though you recognize that their suggestions made the piece oh-so-much better?

I'm on facebook

Apparently, anyone who's anyone is on facebook, so if I want to be anyone, I have to join. So, I did. Visit my profile--I think that's the right address! I don't have a lot of time for social networking sites so I don't spend a lot of time on them, but at least I have my profile and a couple links up there.

Suite 101

I recently applied for and was accepted at Suite 101. I understand not everyone gets accepted on their first attempt, so I was very happy! The editor suggested one quick and easy (and logical and helpful) edit on my first article, and now I have two on my profile.

Suite 101 is a revenue sharing site. They post Google Adsense ads (like I have here on my blogs) and share a portion of the revenue from those ads with the writer. I've made about 30 cents so far...woo! I know people who have 50 articles or more who manage to earn $50 and up each month in residual income. I'm going to try to keep adding to my profile there so I can build up to that. I love residual income!

Associated Content review time

Well, I haven't written anything for Associated Content in a while, but I submitted a review for a shampoo and conditioner I tried recently thanks to a free sample from Walmart. Did you know Walmart will send free samples right to your door? Try it--it's fun! Anyway, I submitted this product review on August 27th and they reviewed it and made an offer today--a week and two days. They've been worse, so I'll be thankful!

July/August winners announced!

The winners of the Accentuate Writers contest for this month have been announced. Check it out!

Congratulations to everyone who made the finals, and especially the winners! It takes a lot of courage to enter these contests, and you can really learn a lot from them. I highly encourage everyone to enter! I'm frantically trying to think of an idea for next month's contest so I can get a shot at that $300!

Demand Studios review time is shortening

It looks like Demand Studios is getting on the ball. Today I had an article approved that I wrote on 8/25 or 8/26. It seemed to be taking a week or more for them to review articles for a while but in the past three days I have had six articles reviewed. They are also very quick to approve suggested assignments--usually within a couple of hours. While I don't agree with everything Demand Studios does as far as editing goes, I have to say they are trying hard to make their writers happy. They just started a Demand Studios blog, so this may be a good step toward improved communication and Demand Studios-writer relationships.

The Power of Networking

Although I've only been in this business a fairly short time, I cannot underestimate the importance of networking. I cannot tell you how many jobs I have gotten and how much advice, story ideas and education I've gotten through networking--it's invaluable. I got my first publisher because of networking, and although I had to back out of it, I wouldn't have gotten there in the first place without knowing someone there. I have heard several stories of authors getting published because they were in the right place at the right time. There is so much competition out there, sometimes just knowing the right person is what you need to get your foot in the door.

There are many different ways to network. The old school way is to join writers' guilds and associations and attend meetings and conventions. A more modern way is to meet people over the internet. I belong to several writing-focused discussion boards (and horse-focused ones) and an email list of equine journalists. This is how I met my mentors and obtained a large amount of work, either by helping them with their workload or following their advice to try sites like oDesk.

I highly recommend you meet and talk to as many writers as you can. Tell everyone you know that you are a writer and try to work in the type of writing you do in conversations--you never know when some work might come your way because of it.