Hell is writing and sending queries

Queries are the reason I am not a freelance writer. I do not like to write queries. I do not like to send queries. I do not like having to wait to hear back from people I have queried, especially knowing that in this day and age, unless my query has been accepted, chances are I'm not going to get any response.

When I first got laid off I was going through all my contacts at what had been "competitor" publications trying to find freelance work (I knew there were no jobs to be had.). When I e-mailed one particular contact, she told me she was surprised I was putting so much time into finding work with one of the trade publications. She said I'd be better off sending out dozens of query letters a day to the consumer pubs.

Can I say, I didn't even consider it for a moment! Sure I'd love to write for a consumer pub, and maybe if I have a great idea and know the perfect match, I'll send out one query letter. But dozens of queries a day. No way! Call me lazy if you want, but its just not my cup of tea.

As it is, I still have to write query letters to the editor of one of the trade publications that did offer me some freelance work. Thankfully, they're not full-fledged query letters. Instead, they're quick e-mails with a few story ideas that I hope she'll either like, or will trigger another idea that she'll then offer to me.

And like with all query letters, the minute I hit the send button on that query e-mail, I'm on pins and needles waiting for an answer. If I don't get a response right away, I start becoming afraid of new e-mail notices. Is it a response to my query? Did the editor like my idea? Hate it? Did I just blow my chance of ever getting another freelance article again?

Totally irrational, I know. But that's what query letters do. They mess with your brain. So imagine that on a scale ten times larger. I'm sending one or two queries a month, not dozens a day. I think I'd be a trembling, quivering mess if I sent that many queries in a day.

Does that make me less of a writer? I think a lot of writers (i.e. freelancers) would say so. But every writer is different and as much as I love the travel industry and am determined to stay in the industry, my path for doing so will not be through becoming a freelancer. I do write on a freelance basis, but I am not and never will be a freelancer.

The scary thing is, while I've managed to escape (or run away from, if you prefer) the query monster in my professional life, when it comes time to try and get my mystery novel published, I'm not going to have any choice but to face querying head on. That's the ONLY way to get an agent or publisher.

But just thinking about it gives me the creeps! Thankfully, that's at least a year away or more. So for the time being "out of sight, out of mind" is my motto!