Tuesday Tip… July 31, 2007

The blogging world is abuzz with posts about whether it’s right for writers to write (hey, aren’t I poetic!) for free and/or paltry pay. And though everybody has to start somewhere, we want to make sure new and new-ish writers understand that not all clips are created equal, and neither are all paychecks.

So you’re starting without a clip to your name, and you want to get some published work under your belt before you approach national magazines. What to do, what to do? With the explosion of sites out there that promise to publish your work–and sometimes, even pay you for it, if people click through or if you mention certain products in your posts–it might seem like a great place to get your start.

 But will editors take a clip from one of these sites seriously? I wouldn’t count on it.

First of all, unless you’re hoping to make a career as an essayist (all articles written from your personal point of view instead of investigative or how-to articles, often called “service journalism”), magazine and newspaper writing and sometimes pro-blogging writing is about more than, well, just writing. You also have to have reporting skills, the ability to understand editing suggestions and a temperament that will allow you to work closely with an editor without flying off the handle if they cut out even your most precious phrases. If you’re trying to pitch a long, research-heavy feature to a major magazine, they probably aren’t going to be impressed by a clip on a “content provider” site (for more info about these sites and why they aren’t a good idea for writers, read this fabulous post) that’s never been vetted by an editor, was written entirely from your own point of view, cites no research and quotes no sources. Of course, you could produce a really well-written, intensively-reported article for one of these sites, but…why would you? If you’re willing to put in time and work for free or cheap in the hopes the article gets published, it would make more sense to pitch the idea to a small, but respected online publication–you know, one where you actually work with an editor and they care about the quality of the work–small local newspaper, or regional parenting magazine while you learn the ropes. This kind of market is often willing to take a chance on a new writer, but you have to leave your comfort zone long enough to put yourself out there–and face possible rejection, which can be a scary thing.

There’s nothing wrong with writing for any outlet as long as you get really clear about your eventual goals for your work. On this site, we focus on magazine/newspaper journalism, but there’s also professional blogging. But that requires a pro-active approach, too–you can’t just wait to be discovered. And some of the websites that newbie writers flock to because they see it as a chance to get published really aren’t doing them any favors. Yes, it’s possible an editor could be impressed by a really well-written blog post or article on a content-provider site. And certainly there are plenty of people who write solely for the love of it, and getting paid for it would just be gravy.  But if you want to make a living in freelancing, it just doesn’t make sense to linger long in the writing-for-pennies-or-less ghetto.  

So this Tuesday’s tip? Put one foot in front of the other. If you’re writing for no or low pay, aim higher. Research a writer you admire and reflect how they got to where they are. Is the kind of writing you’re doing now going to impress an editor enough to take you to the next level? And are those clips going to impress the next editor? And so on, until you land a great assignment with Much-Admired Market? If not, how can you get from here…to there?

 Know where you’re going and make a plan. Everybody has to start somewhere, but that doesn’t necessarily have to mean writing for peanuts or less. And even if you’ve chosen to do just that, you don’t have to stay there for long.

Happy writing!

–Meagan

If an editor you are dying to work with Googled your name right now, would you be proud of what they’d find?

Edits, Shmedits July 30, 2007

Here’s something I didn’t give much thought when I was a newbie writer: where there are assignments, there will (usually) be edits.

 I was in for a rude awakening the first time I turned in a story to an editor, who was also a friend of mine, and she turned right back around and said (in so many words, and very nicely) “Yeah, umm, this has got some issues.”

 She was totally right, but it still stung. I’d worked hard on that article; every little phrase had seemed to flow. Now I was being told that not only was my prose imperfect, but so was my basic thesis. Oh, and my biases (everybody’s got ‘em) were showing in a too-major way, and compromising the helpfulness of the article.

 I was grateful that the first edits came from a friend, because I didn’t freak out and think “Oh no! She hates me, I suck!” I knew this editor liked me personally AND thought I was a good writer. It made it much easier the next time around, and the next, and the next, to face edits from other faceless editors on the other side of an internet connection somewhere, without taking them personally. Still, I didn’t exactly relish getting my story back all marked up, so to quell the dread I sometimes felt when facing a lot of suggestions and questions in CAPITALS or red type, I started going through a little edit ritual: first, I’d open the document, scan it quickly to get the jist of the suggestions, and deal with anything I thought seemed very easy to fix right off the bat. Then I’d close the file and give the meatier edits a little time to sink in. The next day, I’d re-open the file and work my way through the edits, point by point. If there were more interviews to be done or major changes to be made, I usually found I could face them much more easily when I’d given myself a bit of time and distance from that original read-through. I don’t need to do this every time anymore, but sometimes I still revert to this old tried-and-true technique for facing a big revision with confidence instead of dread.

Revisions still aren’t my favorite part of the job–in fact, both Toni and I are in the middle of edits that are making us tear our collective hair out–but the more I do them, the more they become just another part of the process, and not a big, hairy, “Why don’t they like my writing?” ordeal like it once was. All stories can benefit from a good editor, and it’s important to look at your relationship with your editor as just that–a partnership that will produce the best possible story, not them trying to throw their weight around, or a battle of you-against-the editor in a fight over which words actually make it to the page. On the other hand, sometimes magazines are well-known for putting writers through an editorial wringer due to too many cooks (editors) in the kitchen (passing the story around for their own shot at marking it up). The more stories you revise, the easier it becomes to tell the difference.

 Anyway, feel free to steal my method for easing into edits, or if you have your own process or philosophy, we’d love to hear about it–so comment away!

–Meagan

New Year, New Questions! January 12, 2007

Both Meagan and I hope you’re having a productive 2007 so far. While you’re busy fine tuning that writing career, we’d like to ask something of you, our wonderful readers. What questions would you like us to answer about juggling kids and career? Ask away, and we’ll post your questions and our answers here!

Thanks! Watch this space for more new content, interviews with professional writers who wrangle both diapers and deadlines, and Q&A features!

–Toni

How long does it take for editors to respond? November 29, 2006

From now on, we’re going to be answering reader’s letters at D2D. If you’ve got a question that has to do with the craft or business of writing or freelancing while raising a family, please sent it to us at info at diaperstodeadlines.com and we’ll do our best to answer it!

Our first question comes from a writer mom who’s befuddled by books she’s read that say that e-mail queries lead to immediate responses. She asks:

I keep reading about these e-mailed pitches that get accepted “immediately.” Well, after 4 weeks I haven’t heard a peep about mine. Do I assume the editors didn’t like them? Follow-up on them? It’s
frustrating to read about how great e-mail is for pitches and then not get a response, leaving me to wonder if I know what the heck I’m doing.Thanks,
Lonely Inbox

Dear Lonely:

I am a fan of the e-mailed query. Though it does frequently take a while to hear anything back–and sometimes, you never hear anything back at all–it is far preferable to the responses I got during my short-lived period of only sending snail mailed queries (read: a handful of form rejections and no response at all to the vast majority of my queries, despite my care to always include a self-addressed stamped envelope.)

Do e-mailed queries guarantee immediate responses? Absolutely not. But in most cases, an e-mailed query is superior in several ways: first, the message is far more likely to get to the editor you’re targeting, rather than a slush pile on an intern’s desk. Second, if the editor likes your idea, he or she CAN respond immediately. This doesn’t always, or even usually happen. More often, he or she has to think about it, figure out if he has space for it, or pass it around to colleagues. But IF the editor is in an assigning mood and your query comes across at JUST the right moment, the opportunity is there for near-instant gratification. Third, if the editor DOESN’T like your idea, you are far more likely to get a prompt response with a rejection, and you can use that opportunity to pitch again quickly. Because of the ease of e-mail, you may even find that editors are more willing to give personalized feedback in their rejections.

But along with all this possibility comes an increased sense of frustration when you don’t hear anything back right away–or at all. You send off a query before lunch, and during lunch you wonder if they’re reading it. Maybe due to the magical speed of the Internet, you’ll have an acceptance in your inbox by the time you finish your sandwich!

Then the response doesn’t come, and it doesn’t come, and it doesn’t come. You think, “All they would have to do is hit reply, type “no”, and click “send”–how hard is that?” For some editors, the answer seems to be “impossibly difficult”. There are some editors I have categorized as “non-responders”; they never get back to you unless they want to assign something no matter how many times you follow up. Other editors need a few nudges. For the most part, editors are just like the rest of us–busy people who get lots of e-mail and sometimes lose track of it. Sometimes e-mail doesn’t get where it’s supposed to go–the editor may truly not have gotten it. For this reason, I do recommend following up on a regular schedule (I follow up at between 2 and 3 weeks after a query goes out–no sense leaving it languishing in Cyberspace forever).

I don’t know what has become of Lonely’s waiting queries. She may have been unlucky enough to stumble across a few non-responding editors at once. Following up is a good idea; it certainly can’t hurt. But people whose e-mailed queries are consistently ignored, even after follow ups, may want to ask themselves a few questions:

• Does my query’s subject line make it clear what I’m offering? Editors may mistake a writer’s query for a PR pitch and delete it. Or maybe there’s something about your header that’s getting your message picked up by spam filters. Or maybe you aren’t descriptive enough and the query’s not getting opened. I usually put “QUERY:” followed by a catchy title, in the subject line.
• Are my queries targeted to the publication? Do they indicate to the editor that I know how to do research, that I am capable of fleshing out ideas, that I can organize a paragraph, that I have a lively writing style? Remember, you’re selling more than this one idea–you’re selling yourself. If the editor can’t assign your idea but the query catches his or her eye because of excellent writing or a unique understanding of the subject matter, you are much more likely to get an encouraging response. Note: Not all assignments come from fully-fleshed-out queries, but when it’s your first time approaching an editor–particularly if you’re a new writer without a lot of clips–think of your query as an opportunity to wow them by demonstrating what a great writer and reporter you are. (For more help with crafting queries that sell, pick up a copy of the just-released Query Letters That Rock, by the Renegade Writer duo Linda Formicelli and Diana Burrell!)
• Am I targeting the right editor? Make sure he or she assigns for the article type or department you’re querying. And if you never hear boo from an editor, it’s OK to take your pitch to another editor at the same publication.
• Is this pitch the right season? Magazines have varying lead times. Some nationals are making assigments for December 2007…or beyond.

Don’t give up! The other nice thing about e-mail? It’s free. There’s no need to ponder whether those SASEs are personally funding the mail room departments of all those national mags you so diligently pitched. If you don’t hear from an editor after a few weeks, follow up. If you still don’t hear, you can follow up again or move on. Re-tool your idea to make it perfect for a new publication, and get it out there again. And remember–the best way to keep from obsessing about the fate of the queries you’ve got out is to be querying all the time. There will come a time when you can’t even remember how many you’ve got out at once–and that’s when you get those surprise responses in your inbox. Lonely, I hope I answered your question. Please, ask more–that goes for all of you.

Readers: how “instant” are the responses you get to your e-mailed queries? Have you found any tricks or tips for getting more, or faster acceptances? Please weigh in in the comments!

Happy writing!

–Meagan

Facing Fears October 30, 2006

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought it would be a great time to talk about what scares us.

Money is a huge hot-button issue with me. My dad struggled with a layoff that ultimately led to him forming his own business when I was a preteen. But those lean years in between jobs had us all skittish, and I think some of that "the bottom might drop out" fear stayed with me much longer than it should have. I think this is why it’s taken me a while to make some rather serious business investments that have helped grow that business substantially this year.

It was pretty easy for me to invest in attending a writers’ conference in Chicago. That’s for "work," so it felt okay sending a lot of money toward a concrete "investment" in my career. However, this year I also decided to double the amount of hours I use for in-home child care (a "mother’s helper" arrangement) and I hired a monthly cleaning service. Where before I might have considered these things luxuries, the brainpower and time I’ve saved from not having to continually juggle work and kids or scrubbing that icky netherworld behind the toilet seat have proven invaluable.

I know it can seem scary to invest in our writing businesses, especially when we’re just starting out. If you’re not yet ready to make moves this substantial, what are some other risks you can take to grow your business? Maybe you can afford to hire a high school student one day per week so you can brainstorm or refine queries. Maybe you can study a dream market and work on targeting them with some killer queries. Perhaps it’s time you attended a conference or joined a professional writers’ organization. Sound off in the comment box and share how you’re conquering what scares you!

–Toni

Tradeoffs… September 26, 2006

As you may have noticed, here at D2D we’ve moved away from following certain themes and topics, so that we could maintain a more conversational, casual flow of discussion here.

It was a great idea, really. Before, when we were posting based on specific themes, I’d see of all kinds of fantastic resources and then kill myself trying to think of a way to fit them into the topic of the month. Or I’d have an idea for a post that seemed especially timely or helpful, but then I’d file it away to post about later, when it fit the theme du jour. (I never did. They never did.)

Several years ago, before I’d gotten serious about my freelancing career, I was talking with somebody about whether or not I REALLY wanted to write for magazines.

"I mean, I love to write," I said. "I’d love to write for a living. But I want to write about what I WANT to write about, not what somebody ELSE tells me I have to write about. I don’t want anyone else telling me what to dooooooo." 

Somewhere along the line, though, I gave in, and now have even become so accustomed to writing for others that writing for myself no longer comes as naturally as it once did. Perhaps I simply don’t have the time, brainpower or creativity left to let a flood of ideas flow from my fingertips after filing how-to stories on contracted, assigned topics.

Once upon a time, I was a prolific blogger (long before D2D or any of my current blogs, I had a regularly-updated personal blog). My entries were fun and off-the-cuff and plentiful. And essays; I was forever starting (and sometimes even finishing) essays about a variety of topics. And I dabbled in poetry and half-written short stories and even plays. On the other hand, I had a very hard time coming up with ideas that anyone else might like to buy. I had a hard time tailoring my early articles to the markets I was writing for. I was overflowing with stuff I wanted to write. The only problem was that much of it wasn’t publishable.

There’s that tradeoff thing again. Most of us already know that the life of a working writer–especially a working writer with children–doesn’t usually mean a life of luxurious creativity, choosing only the projects one feels passionate about, and having plenty of time for everything else in our lives–being there for our children for all of their waking moments, practicing yoga for two hours a day, and perhaps a hobby, like breeding and training hairless guinea pigs for profit. We can have SOME of these things, and on a good day, we might manage to squeeze it all in, but day in and day out, something’s gotta give. And so it goes with our careers. Last year I was giving a talk to a group of college students in a writing for publication class, and I told them "When you’re first starting out, you have to make a choice: Either you can write only what you want to, when you want to, on the topics that you want to; OR, you can make a living at this." Okay, so it’s possible you could make a million dollars off your first novel, but you’d STILL have to put in a lot of time before you see a dime. There’s always a tradeoff, and I think we have to be prepared to make it when we are getting started. It helps to know, very specifically, what your career goals are. Somebody who wants to make a name for herself writing serious think-pieces for the Atlantic should probably choose a different path from someone who wants to pay the bills by writing advertorials. And if you’re moving your career along in a certain direction, the tradeoff is that you may just not have as much time or energy left for other things.

But isn’t it great? We can choose! And we can have the writing life and career that works for us right now and a year from now, whether that means we want to pen the occasional story when we can take a moment out of raising our families, or whether we’re hoping to build a career writing for magazines. If tomorrow I decided that I was tired of writing as my main source of income, I could get a different job and still write essays and stories and even magazine articles only on topics that move and excite me. I’m a writer for life, but I can choose the way writing fits into my day-to-day existence right now and change it later.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s exciting. It means I can be many things during my lifetime. It means that the novel I have always felt is in me somewhere has time to percolate until I’m in a place in my life that I can get it down. Making a choice sometimes feels like giving something up, but I like to think that I’m just making room in my future life for whatever I can’t do now.

And look–I managed to write a whole blog post, without anyone telling me what to do. See? Turns out I’ve still got it :)

–Happy writing!

Meagan

Are You Lovin’ It? September 21, 2006

There are days when I wonder, "WHY am I doing this to myself?" The schedule juggling and the child care cancellations and the tantrums (the kids’) and the tantrums (mine) and the deadlines and the stress. And a Pithy Thought About the Writing Life came to me the other night as I talked with my husband, who is contemplating a career change but has no earthly idea what he’d like to do. He mentioned sales, saying he’d have to really believe in a product in order to sell it. And I agreed, saying I wouldn’t want to put myself through the stress of a sales career if my heart wasn’t in it.

That made me think of a writing career (which, don’t be fooled, involves sales–you’re selling your talent and ability to deliver).

I haven’t been freelancing for all that long, but ever since I got the sense that I could succeed at it, I’ve felt lighter inside. I’d switched majors three or four times in college, jumped from job to job after, and even spent a tragic amount of money on a now-dormant legal career, but never found "it." Home. When I caught on that you can make a decent living writing for my beloved magazines, I finally grasped that long-elusive vibe I’d seen in friends who felt really passionate about their livelihoods.

I don’t feel that writing is the only thing at which I could be happy (member of the idle rich, National Geographic photographer, stand-up comic, over-the-hill inde rock band leader), but it’s the best fit for me right now, and that’s really comforting. Especially during the times when a check is four weeks late or a source who insisted would call YOU instead of the other way around leaves you waiting like the cable guy or dishwasher repairman.

You really have to love writing to endure all of this tail-chasing, rejection, and deadline despair. Because when you see your byline or read that graph and think, "I wrote that?" "Yeah, I nailed that!" or cash that check, it all feels worth it somehow. To quote that kid at the end of X-Files episodes, I made this is a pretty heady feeling and a pretty great way to make a living, but you’ve gotta love writing to get there.

–Toni

Why do you write? If you couldn’t be a writer, what else would you do?

I Hab a Code September 18, 2006

The kids’ inaugural head colds have migrated to me, and I’m a joy to behold, let me tell you. While I may threaten to share "before and after" photos of my crazy-cluttered office, I promise not to send you trembling under your computer desks in fear of glimpsing my Kleenex-addled face.

In the past, getting sick has been a huge worry of mine as a freelancer. We all know that Mom isn’t allowed to get sick. Nobody will bring her chicken soup or give her the day off from housework or kid-schlepping. And for us writers, deadlines are deadlines, regardless of our symptoms. Or are they?

I freely admit that I’ve requested and received deadline extensions due to illness. To me, as with most things, it’s a balancing act. If it’s a huge-for-me market I’ve just cracked, I’ll prop my laptop over the toilet bowl if I have to in order to make that deadline. But if I have an ongoing relationship with an editor based on mutual regard and trust and a good sense of his or her needs and time constraints, I’ll ask for the occasional extension if my body and brain simply refust to cooperate. And you know what? The world hasn’t ended because I dared to extend a deadline.

I’m not advocating that you go crazy with this approach, but I think those of you reading who either work as professional writers or aspire to be one are doing so with kids underfoot in part out of a desire for flexibility–in choosing our career paths and having the great good fortune to be home with our kids. So when life forces us to slow down, know that it’s okay to take heed of those "you really could use some rest" warning signs. We may have to manage our own deadlines, but those of us who work from home also don’t have to portion out sick days through a monolithic HR department, either.

So even though a few interviews and two deadlines loom for me this week, I’m slowing down in other ways to conserve energy and precious brain power. Most housework can wait, and I’m not shy about asking my hard-working husband to chip in even though he commutes a long way and works outside the home. I’m skipping all non-vital errands and activities and resting up as much as possible, knowing that if I push too hard, I’ll just remain sick that much longer.

Consider these ideas as you tentatively enter cold and flu season, and remember to be kind to yourself and think of ways to slow down when you’re not feeling well. Your family and colleagues will understand and adapt, just as you will for them. How do you cope when illness and deadlines collide?

–Toni

Take Yourself Seriously July 4, 2006

How many times have you done one of the following?

• Put off getting childcare you desperately need to work because you can’t justify the cost. No, you’ll just find a way to write that 2,000-word article after everyone’s gone to bed, when your eyelids are hovering at half-mast
• Found yourself interrupting your work to tend to requests for snacks or break up a squabble–when your spouse is also in the house, watching TV or reading the newspaper
• Apologized to your spouse for asking him or her to watch the kids while you make a deadline

July’s theme is Taking Yourself Seriously. I’d like to tell you something I learned the hard way: nobody is going to take your writing seriously until you take it seriously yourself. Not your husband or wife or partner, not your kids, not your mother, and certainly not the editor you’re trying to impress.

It can be really difficult to do this, whether we’re just starting out or have been established for years. When we aren’t widely published or making a lot of money from writing, it’s hard to justify the time we spend working on it. Sometimes, even when we are well-established, it can feel like we’re letting somebody down if we’re taking time away from family needs to work–even when we’re squeezing writing into the hours nobody else wants from us (usually sometime after midnight). Hiring child care or household help can seem like a luxury we neither need nor deserve. Asking the spouse to help out in the off-hours just seems unfair. After all, doesn’t he (or she) deserve a break, too?

But here’s the thing–if you’re serious about having a writing career, it’s illogical to try to cram writing in after every other commitment in your life. It simply won’t work. There has to be an investment made in your role as a writer, whether it’s financial, or time, or even emotional–the mindset that you deserve to have it and that it’s valuable not just to you but the whole family. Think of it this way: if you were working outside of the home, it’s not as though you’d look at childcare, or a work wardrobe, or a business-related trip as an expense you couldn’t justify. And I’ve never heard of a single mother expecting her husband to tote a toddler to the office with him.

I’m not arguing that every writer needs or has to have child care when they’re just getting started. I didn’t for a while, for a variety of reasons. Often, money is so tight that the budget simply won’t allow for child care expenses, no matter how badly you want a sitter. In those cases, you have to improvise for a while. Some people make a commitment to keeping their children at home while they work, and I respect and admire that. But if they’re going to gain momentum–without completely losing their minds and burning out after a few months–there’s still going to have to be compromises made in some other area. It’s not about child care, specifically–what you really need is a mindset that your writing is a priority. It’s not shoved to the bottom of the list somewhere after vacuuming the drapes. If that means you have to get somebody else to vacuum the drapes, so be it. If you don’t want to use a sitter, then your partner or spouse might have to take over for you in the evenings and on weekends so you can write. Don’t apologize for it. Your career is not unimportant, and it’s not selfish. Even if you aren’t making money yet, the time you’re putting in now is building a solid foundation for income later. That’s what owning your own small business–and really, being a working writer is running a small business–is all about. You put in a lot of hours at the beginning for a payoff down the road.

It’s not always easy to convince the people in our lives that what we’re doing is important and valuable and that there will be a return on investment later. That’s why you have to convince yourself first. If you aren’t certain that you deserve or need the family to invest in your career, fake it until you make it. Don’t apologize for your work. Don’t grovel or beg for scraps of time. Figure out what you absolutely need and arrange to make it happen. Expect some resistance, but don’t give in. Just re-state what you need over and over until it sinks in.

This month at D2D we’ll be talking about taking yourself seriously. We’ll tackle some of the age-old writing-parent questions: how can I afford child care when I can’t afford child care but I need child care to work? How do I get my family on board with my plans? How do I get them to respect my working time and space? How do I get editors to take me seriously when it’s obvious I’m an at-home writing parent? We’ll offer practical tips and inspiration, but one thing that’s going to pop up again and again is that it starts with you. Take yourself seriously. Start right now. What is one thing you can do to invest in your business? We’d love to hear about it in the comments, below. And look for more posts about giving yourself–and your writing career–the respect both of you deserve.

Happy writing!

–Meagan

Focusing on Your Business January 13, 2006

So far, this month’s theme of "New Year, New Plan" included discussions about goal setting and tearing down the traditional resolution to think about incremental changes. Let’s continue applying some of our ideas about simplicity and clarity to our businesses.

In this week’s interview with accomplished author Kelly James Enger, something she said really struck a chord:

New writers often don’t plan how they’ll spend their time very well—then they get on the Internet or start researching an idea and realize they just lost two hours. Deciding what markets you want to target first and/or what subject areas will make you more efficient (and less distractible) and planning your day/writing time will help you make the most of it.

The more ideas you have, the more markets you crack, the more momentum you build–it can start to become overwhelming. How do I track all of this information? Where should I sell this next idea?

As your career begins building–or even if you’ve been established for a while–it can never hurt to sit down and have a planning session with yourself. Be your own career coach and examine:

• how you’re using your time;
• where you’re frittering away the minutes, hours, days–and opportunities; and
• how you can up your efficiency.

This doesn’t just apply to those of us who write for consumer or trade magazines. As Kelly pointed out in our interview, she budgets time to work on her books, otherwise, those books wouldn’t make it to our bookshelves to help us boost our careers! As she steps it up in one area (honing a book proposal), she cuts down on pitching to magazines in order to sell that book, all the while balancing incoming paycheck projects already slated for deadline. We must each do a similar balancing act – examining what’s working, honing what’s working, and ditching what’s not.

You’ve thought about choosing one good thing to improve your business. Keep applying that idea, adding one "one thing" incrementally as you build good work and business habits.

You’ve considered how to set goals that’ll stick to your ribs because they have some heft to them if you set them properly.

Now think about how you use your time and how you might best focus your energy. Do you need to block out time daily, weekly, and/or monthly for planning? Is it time for you to consider specializing in one or two areas? Maybe it’s time for a new agent or to ditch that low-paying PITA market in order to allow a bigger fish to swim through.

Have a great weekend!

Toni

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