Skip to main content

Write for Success!

More than likely, you've been there, pounding the pavement for a job, or, hoping to retain the one you have. You'll come across plenty of tips for job security; even what to wear. The common mantra is: Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Dressing for Success is supposed to reflect your professionalism to the outside world, while making you feel confident enough to continue moving forward.

As a writer, you don't often get the chance to influence editors or publishers or even readers in this way. The threads that adorn you are woven with your words on the page or on the screen. Make them count...

Write for the Market you Want
...not (only) for the one you have

Appropriate Attire...
Make sure your work is a good "fit" and doesn't clash. Your sci-fi story is out of place in the personal essay market.


Choose your Accessories wisely...
Make sure your bright and shiny metaphors reflect your work-- everything should be held together in a fitting presentation.

The Glimpse in the Mirror... 
Glance at your Copy. Is your eye is drawn to words that look uncomfortable dangling there? If so-- edit them! Distractions will make your work busy, even if you meant them to accessorize.

Outerwear...
Cover letters, E-mail subject lines, profile photos-- these give the first impression. When your work struts into a room, make sure these convey the message you want to send--The enclosed story is going to make you laugh/cry/think, etc.

Look like you Paid Full Price...
Just because your work hasn't hit the big time yet doesn't mean it shouldn't be presented in rags. Tailor your writing with seamless edits, even if you have to thread the needle yourself (or find a trusted friend).

Don't worry about Overdressing...
When you haven't yet become the writer "invited" to every affair, your work isn't in a position to turn down an appearance-- so let it shine! If you continuously show up looking like $1/word at the $ .10/word parties, you will get noticed.

Of course, don't let yourself get stuck slumming for too long. If you truly belong in the higher end soirée, by all means go there as well. Don't allow yourself to think of it as crashing. Consider this your invitation to the front gate.

The rest is up to you!


Labels:

Comments

  1. Laura S.April 13, 2010 at 11:08 AM

    Great post! Love the analogy. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tina HaapalaApril 13, 2010 at 10:34 PM

    Thanks, Laura! I am enjoying "Wavy Lines" as well-- loved your quote about the guilty writer:"I don’t know of many jobs where people feel guilty when they’re off on the weekends." Great stuff!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Favorites:

Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Experience

The popularity of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books is beyond extraordinary. What started out as a multi- rejected book idea has turned into a multi-million dollar book empire. More than 110 million Chicken Soup for the Soul books have been sold. Many of the books have been translated to 40 different languages. I'm proud that my personal essays have been included in some of these books, and I hope to continue being a Chicken Soup contributor. My Story I thought I would share a bit about being published in these collections. I'm very happy with my Chicken Soup experiences, and part of that may be that I went into it with little expectations at first. I started with them because I had a few stories that seemed to fit what they were looking for, and I thought I had nothing to lose. Unlike some of the other markets and contests I was looking at, submitting to Chicken Soup could be done at no cost to me, and I didn't even need to worry about a postage stamp, because they ha...
6 comments
Read more

All the Right Ingredients to Writing Advice

Last time, I talked about people in our lives that are pretty sure they know how to be successful writers, because they spent much of their time reading. Sometimes their advice can be a blessing, sometimes just the opposite. It is the same with the plethora of advice available from other writers. Have you checked out almost every book about the writing process from your local library at one time or another? Are your shelves lined with your own copies of "the-perfect-writing-advice-that-will-get-me-published-once-and-for-all"? Are you a member of multiple online writing communities? Do you hold your breath just a little bit when waiting from the critique from that "certain someone" in your writing group? Yeah. Me too. And I don't think that gaining knowledge is a bad thing. We just have to be careful. Don't Let Too Many Cooks Create a Recipe for Disaster I love great food, I savor the tastes and textures of all kinds of cuisine; but unless I have specif...
3 comments
Read more

Why Ghostwriting? Guest Post by Kelly James-Enger

Is it Time to Disappear?  Why I Became a Ghost--and Why you Should, Too I never intended to become a ghostwriter. After all, why would I spend months of my life toiling away on someone else’ s book? No thanks. I only wanted to write my own books, and that’s what I did. I soon found, however, that the life of a book author wasn’t quite what I’d envisioned. I was working long hours, yet making less money than I had before, when I wrote only articles. The reason was simple—the time I spent promoting my books left me less time to write articles and other books, which cut into my income.             Fortunately for me, I was approached by a nutrition expert about coauthoring her book. I found I enjoyed collaborating with her, but the real payoff came when we finished the manuscript. As the author, she now had to start promoting it—but I was all done! That was enough for me. I decided to pursue coauthoring and ghostwriting, and “my” next book was ghos...
4 comments
Read more