A pleasant writing surprise

I had a pleasant surprise relating to my writing last week.

An editor of a magazine sent me an email requesting that I submit an article for one of the magazines she edits. I didn’t have to go through the normal process of sending a query or submitting an article on spec and that makes it a pleasurable experience. What is more – she actually specified several topics she wanted me to consider writing about. That took out the frustration of not knowing what to write about.

After a few hours of thought I set to work and the words flowed quickly. They actually flowed a little too well, and before I knew it I had way too many words. Nearly 600 words when the limit was strictly 450 words. My wife thought that this was typical of me. “Your writing is too flowery,” she says. “Too many unnecessary words.”

So I set to and did some ruthless pruning. Much to my wife’s surprise I soon had the word count down to 447 words.

Writing Hint: when an editor specifies a maximum (or minimum) word count, you ignore that figure at your peril. That is a sure way to get rejected.

Anyway, the article was soon on its electronic way to the editor. Now – I wonder if there are any more editors out there lining up to send me similar emails??? I doubt it, though this would be nice. Truth is, the editor in this case is a friend. Never mind – it is nice to get a break like this from time to time.

Now – back to getting stories, poems and articles sent off to all those editors too busy to send me invitational emails.

Good writing.