Stop Putting it Off

Have you ever written a query with great enthusiasm only to leave it languish on your hard drive unsent for weeks or months?

I’m sad to admit I do this all the time. Last year I wrote this great query for Sierra magazine about how my city, which had just endured a devastating ice storm, was planning to recover from the loss of thousands of trees in a town known for its greenery.

I was so excited about the potential for this story. I envisioned the interviews I would do, the tours of parks full of fallen trees.

But I never sent the query. It’s now been more than a year since the storm, and though there’s probably still a story in there somewhere, I probably should have been reporting it all year if I really wanted to tell it properly.

On Not Letting Go

That’s one of the more egregious examples, but it’s certainly not isolated. I’ve read editorial calendars, come up with great ideas and never queried them. Or I’ll write a query, find a market and still never send it.

I do this for all the reasons every writer procrastinates: perfectionism (as if there is such a thing as a perfect pitch sent to the perfect market at the perfect time), fear of failure (what if I really do suck at this writing thing?), fear of success (you mean now I have to write that great article?), fear of no response at all.

A Different Approach

This time I’m going to try something different. This morning I wrote a query for a market I know is looking for stories like mine. I know I have to hurry because the lead time on the publication’s editorial calendar basically coincides with now. And I’d really like to see this article — a personal essay actually — get published.

While I’d never advocate myself or anyone else sending a query right after writing it, it is important to get queries out the door as soon as you can after writing them. So my goal is to let this query rest overnight and send it tomorrow.

Of course I have no guarantee of success, just like any other writer. But I also know that there’s no way this article or any other will ever get published if I never query. The same is true of your great ideas.

A Challenge

This week, is there a query you’ve been sitting on that you could send out? Stop putting it off. There’s no harm at all in seeing what will happen. You just might end up with a sale and a clip to be really proud of.

If you take this challenge, I’d love to hear what you sent or simply that you sent. Let’s get these stories out into the light!