Freelance success!

I had very cool thing happen the other day. As I was preparing to interview a Korean person on the phone, I was setting things up with the translator when I glanced at my computer screen and noticed an e-mail come in with the subject line: “Freelance Success.”

“Freelance Success” was the name of a Writer’s Digest contest I had entered a few months back. You were supposed to write a thing on how/when you first realized you were a successful freelance writer. I sent something in that I thought was pretty good, a little different. But I didn’t give it much thought after that. (I’ll post it later.)

Anyway, I see this email come in and I think, Hmm…what is this about? So I take a quick peek as I’m waiting for the two Koreans to finish up talking and I see the following:

Hello Keasha,

I just wanted to let you know that you were the fourth place entry in the contest, which I realize doesn't mean too much outside of knowing that you were the best of the rest. However, I am interested in possibly assigning you a piece on how to build a successful freelance business by writing for businesses and such for the 2009 Writer's Market. I won't make assignments until late-June, but I just wanted to see if you would be interested when that time comes around. If so, I'll go ahead and create a folder for you and contact you with more details when the time is right.

So, just let me know.

Best,

Robert Lee Brewer
EditorWriter's Market
WritersMarket.com

(Also, you might want to try pitching the interim editor of Writer's Digest magazine, Maria Schneider, about writing for corporations and such. Her email is (xxxxx). Be sure to let me know if anything comes of that if you go that route, so we don't duplicate ourselves.)

Well, can you imagine my excitement? Here is Robert Brewer, Editor of Writer’s Market telling me he wants to give me an assignment and I’m sitting here with two Koreans on the other end of the line waiting for an interview to start!

After the interview was over, I re-read the e-mail (about 10 times) and then responded back to Robert away thanking him for the good news and telling him I’d be MORE than happy to take an assignment.

The bad news is that I was right in the middle of a HUGE project when this happened, writing an Annual Report for my absolute best client, in addition to everything else I had in the works. So I was totally buried in jobs, and, of course, this is when I get a recommendation from Robert Brewer that I write to the WD Magazine editor with a pitch!

I HAD to do it (strike while the fire is hot). So I took one morning off to scan a bunch of samples, write a good pitch and a decent e-mail, proof it all to make sure there were no errors (like in the subject line, which said, “Pitch from a former WD contributer…” Thank GOD I caught THAT one.)

And then in the meantime, I checked my Writer’s Market just to make SURE I could send my clips as attachments (some mags won’t accept them) and found out that WD mag DOESN’T accept them. So all the scanning and explaining of my clips was for naught, and I had to re-write the whole damn thing. Plus, I then had to make color copies to send via regular mail – a total pain.

But I got it done. And after all that work getting things ready, I was feeling so happy and proud that I managed to get the pitch into the editor in such a short period of time, when I get the following response:

“Maria Schneider is out of the office until January 15…”

Bummer! But in the meantime, I decided to send Robert Brewer a copy of what I sent Maria just to let him know I’d followed his advice, and again, he wrote back a really nice note (“Good stuff!”). So I’m still feeling pretty positive about the whole thing. Now we’ll just have to wait and see if it goes anywhere….

Working alone is so weird

Working alone is so weird. For example, today, after I sent off a job I’ve been working on for weeks, I crossed it off my “To Do” list and then wrote, “Yeay, Keash!!!” Well, somebody has to give me a pat on the back once in awhile; it may as well be me.

Working alone can also be dangerous. As I just said in an email to my friend, Ken, a designer who recently started freelancing:

“One hazard of working at home, alone: If you’re eating a piece of leftover steak for lunch and you suddenly choke on it, you have to give yourself the Heimlich maneuver. I actually had to do that yesterday! My first thought: I can't let Art come home and find me dead on the floor—I couldn’t bear to have him tell my children that’s how I died!”

Thank god, the Heimlich worked. Otherwise, I’d be forever remembered like Elvis, you know, people always picturing him sitting on the john trying to you-know-what. Only in my case, they'd picture me gagging in a very unprofessional manner.

Another thing about working alone—when someone knocks on the door, it always freaks me out. I immediately pick up the phone and dial 91, so that I can continue dialing 911 if the person turns out to be a serial killer. At least, that way I can let someone know I’ve been murdered.

See what I mean about working alone? Sometimes it’s just weird as hell.