I Don’t Only Submit to Paying Markets, But I Keep in Mind the Writers Who Do

 

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Before the month of August came around, I decided to take a break from not only my monthly newsletter, The SPARREW Newsletter, but also from my weekly Substack posts. My brother passed away close to the end of July and I needed time to focus on my grief. Plus, I had eye surgery coming up (or so I THOUGHT I did; it’s being rescheduled again! This time, possibly in September), so I did not want to stress over gathering material for my newsletter while recovering from eye surgery. (But rest assured, subscribers, that even with my eye surgery being in September, the September issue will STILL go out! I have a cut-off date of the 20 for every month on curating material for the newsletter, and the eye surgery will likely be AFTER the 20 and then that issue will go out on the 30 of September, which gives me a few days to focus on recovering from surgery!)

 

However, because there is a submission deadline coming up for one of the anthologies mentioned in previous issues of the Substack, I decided to take a break from my break to send out an “upcoming submission deadlines” issue tomorrow, August 18, to remind everyone about it. And because I recently gained 100 subscribers to my Substack (thank you, readers!), I am celebrating by throwing in other submission calls that also have forthcoming deadlines.

 

So, as I was gathering that material over the past couple of days, there is one call for submissions that made me pause.

 

This particular call for submissions did not pay writers. However, it was also hosting a contest, and only one lucky winner would receive $100.

 

That still counted as a paying opportunity for writers, right? Not in my book. Why? Because the odds of winning that contest and getting the $100 was seriously stacked up against anyone entering it, because they probably would receive a ton of submissions for it, making the competition fierce.

 

Even so, while I submit to both paying AND nonpaying markets, I understand that there are writers out there who ONLY submit to paying markets. I respect these writers, especially since I tried doing that once myself and I know how hard it can be to get an acceptance! I also keep these writers in mind when I am writing articles containing paying markets.

 

These writers would not be interested in the nonpaying markets! 

 

So in order to keep my own list of pending deadlines something that subscribers would want to know more about, I should only list the markets with forthcoming deadlines that pay writers.

 

This does not mean I frown upon the nonpaying markets. Heck, I used to be a nonpaying editor too! I have no ill will towards the nonpaying markets. They can go about doing their thing!

 

Also, the WOT anthologies which Twisted Dreams Press is still accepting submissions for only pays with a print copy of the anthology and not with money. With 70 writers in all 7 books, paying each writer with money would create bankruptcy! (Everything is out of pocket for us.) So until one of us gets an angel investor or someone makes a generous donation to the press or one of us wins the lottery, we can only pay our anthology writers with a print copy of the book.

 

But when I am the author of an article sharing about OTHER submission calls for writers, then I will list the paying opportunities. This will also apply to other submission calls I list in my Substack posts. I think that sharing only the paying opportunities for writers is my best bet, and what a majority of writers would be most interested in.

I Failed at My New Plan for the Freelance Writing But I Will Try Again

 

 

From Monday through Friday, there are several things that I do throughout my day. They usually fall under these categories:

 

Book Review (reading books I review, writing the reviews, posting and sharing reviews)

Writing (I try to write something new every day)

Freelance Writing (fiction, essays, poetry, articles)

Author (either writing, revising or editing a book – and doing book promo!)

Self-Publishing (rare but I do this sometimes)

The SPARREW Newsletter (gathering material, interviewing people, finding people to interview)

 

And, as Dawn Wilson, I’m usually reading or editing submissions for Twisted Dreams Press. I also try to do promo work for the press when that need arises.

 

(Note: Colclasure is my maiden name. All of my writings are published under this name. As Dawn Wilson, however, I am an editor and marketing rep. Wilson is my married name. I’m also a wife and mother!)

 

And in addition to publishing my own newsletter every month, I also publish and promote The Big Scream, which is the newsletter for Twisted Dreams Press. Unlike my own newsletter, these go out any time.

 

The work I do for both the press and my newsletter can take several hours to complete.

 

During the weekends, I do website updates, send out my latest Substack, do the book reviewing, hunt for new markets to submit to, work on my books, continue research for either a book or an article, and try to write something.

 

So, yeah, my days are pretty full. Which is why I’m not going to beat myself up too much over being unable to try something new with the freelance writing this week.

 

See, with the freelance writing, I was just submitting stuff. I hardly ever pitched any articles. Predictably, the work dried up, which was not good, given that I have recent financial problems. (A job I had my eye on to apply for won’t have any openings until September.) So, I tried to change things up a bit. With all of my market research, I was able to put together a list of markets to pitch every day of the week this week. And submit something. And write something.

 

Thing of it is, though, the stuff I wanted to submit this week was not up to snuff. They needed some serious revision! In fact, an essay I wrote was turned into an article which I needed to do more research for.

 

Another essay needs a lot of work, so that, too, was not submitted.

 

A short story I wrote also required more revision. After two rounds of revision, it still isn’t ready to submit!

 

And while I had ideas for articles and short stories to write this week, there were only so many of them which were written.

 

The reason? I didn’t have enough time in my day to do all that stuff, in addition to all that other stuff I do, along with my work for the press.

 

And I need to be there for my kids, too. And try to keep clean laundry and dishes in the house.

 

Yeah, life is pretty busy and my days are pretty full. So of course I was not able to perform my new plan for the freelance writing this week. I have been posting about my progress every day on BlueSky and Facebook.

 

Things worked out well for the first couple of days. Then things got busy! And my time with the work for the press is very important to me. In fact, I wanted to finish developmental edits on a manuscript today and thankfully, I was able to do that. And edit a short story. And read another submission. Got ‘em all done today.

 

But the new plan for the freelance writing? Not so much. I submitted a short story today, but I did not pitch as many articles or write certain stories for my book. The week started off strong but then I wasn’t able to do all the rest of the other things.

 

I won’t give up on those tasks I had planned for the week, though. I have kept all of those Post-It Notes with markets to submit to, articles to pitch, and stories to write. I’ll get them all done, too! At some point. Maybe after I get the newsletter out tomorrow – and even THAT might be going out late!

Planning for the New Week

When I just started out working as a freelance writer in 1994, I spent my weekends planning ahead for the new week. I would make a list of the markets I pitched as well as brainstorm for ideas on other articles to pitch.

 

In my early days of freelance writing, I sent out several pitches Monday through Friday, hoping something would take.

 

These days, I do freelance writing differently. Instead of writing articles on a variety of topics, I stick to a niche. And instead of jumping at the opportunity to pitch an idea to a market that I feel I COULD write about if I did enough research on it, I stick to the topics that I KNOW I can write about well. I guess after going into different directions and trying everything for a certain number of years, I figured out what works best for me.

 

Not only this, but the bulk of my freelance writing isn’t about articles. It’s about essays, poems and short stories.

 

But one thing I still do even after all this time? Plan ahead for the new week.

 

I still spend my weekends hunting down new places to submit my work to, but nowadays that list is limited to just ONE market.

 

 

That’s right. Just one.

 

I have way too many irons in the fire these days, so I am not able to devote hours of my days to freelance writing like I used to. Nope; I’m either freelance writing, working on my newsletter, reading a book I have to review, writing that book review, creating new content, working on any one of my several books, working on requested edits/revisions for editors and publishers, doing book promo, doing research, or interviewing people for one thing or another. Plus there is the work I do for Twisted Dreams Press! So, no, spending hours Monday through Friday doing the freelancing is just not doable for me anymore.

 

And on the weekends, I do website updates, research for articles, working on the books, and, of course, writing whatever the heck I want to!

  

All the same, ever since I made the decision to get serious about freelance writing, I make it an effort to make time for submitting to the market that I planned to submit to for that day. Even if I don’t wanna! Sometimes, my days get so busy that I’m not able to get around to doing that until late at night. But if I’m going to be submitting a short story to a market at 11:30PM at night, then by golly, I’ll do it! Because I owe it to myself to do it!

 

And, anyway, I already had it scheduled to get done that day. A note I had made long before the day came around reminds me of this.

 

I started by writing on a Post-It Note™ what I would submit for each day of the week.

 

 

 (Note: FFW is FundsforWriters)

Then I started using my planner.

 

My planner has been a godsend in scheduling submissions and reminding me of deadlines. On any one of the given months I open it to, I can see deadlines of anthology calls, writing contests and submission deadlines written on various days.

 

 

And when I plan ahead for the new week, I’ll also use Post-It Notes on each day of the week for markets to submit to.

 

 

That right there is enough to motivate me to get on with that submission, already. No matter how tired I am, how self-conscious, how depressed or anxious I may be, I will look at that note and have a voice in my head screaming, “You’ll submit your work and LIKE it!”

 

Yes, I could step away from all of it. I could say “screw it!” and never submit anything again, but I don’t want to. Freelance writing is just ONE of the things I want to be doing during the week.

 

Plus, that call to submit can turn into an interesting experience!

 

For example, I discovered that an essay I wanted to submit to HNDL Mag was too long. I switched that submission to another market which I thought might not be interested in it. (Well, maybe they will. Who knows. I try not to self-reject!) Meanwhile, I discovered I had another essay I’d written years ago which might work better – if I just cut it a bit. (I had the mental energy to cut 200 words, not 700!) So I fixed that essay up and submitted it instead.

 

With another submission, I realized that it probably would not be a good fit. I mean, they DID have articles on writing, but they were written in a style that matched the blog’s topics. After some reading of their works published and using a little creativity, I rewrote my article in a way that fit their topic and sent it in.

 

I was surprised how these submission reminders have challenged and perhaps strengthened my creativity!

 

I have many more weeks ahead with many more markets assigned to days for me to submit fiction, poetry and nonfiction (articles or essays) to. In fact, one week alone has me submitting nothing but short stories.

 

I really enjoy doing the freelance writing this way. It’s less stressful, less time consuming, and more exciting because of all the surprising information that can pop up along the way.