While You Wait…

We’ve all said it before. You know, the old, “I’m just waiting on God to make this publishing thing happen.” The truth is, most of the time, God is waiting on us!

You see, waiting on God isn’t like waiting in a long line at an amusement park. We’re not supposed to wait around doing nothing until our desires are finally met. Rather, we should be like the high-class waiter who watches for the needs of the people at the table she serves. We must actively serve God and attune ourselves to Him while we patiently wait for Him to accomplish His plans. We do all that we can. In other words, we do the natural stuff and he adds the “super” to our natural.

Here are a few “natural” things you can do to be more productive while waiting upon the Lord for your publishing dreams to come true.

Split your Time 50/50

Spend 50 percent of your time writing and the other 50 percent marketing for future work. This may sound extreme, but it keeps assignments coming in and your writing going out to magazines, newspapers, websites, and book publishers. Try to contact five to 10 editors/publishers/publications each week. That may seem like a lofty goal, but it is not that difficult if you have already crafted a standard pitch letter to use when applying for freelance gigs or a generic query letter that you can hone for each different publication or children’s book publisher.

Then, spend a couple of hours each week doing “follow-up” work. Maybe it’s sending a thank-you note to an editor who took time to write you a personal note on a rejection letter. Or maybe it’s reaching out to editors you’ve already established a relationship with to ask if they’re in need of a writer to tackle any work-for-hire projects in the near future.  Or it might be pitching another story to a publication that recently purchased one of your articles—why not strike while the iron is hot?

Apply the “Ten-In” Rule

This rule means you should have at least 10 query letters/pitch letters/proposals (or a combination of the three) circulating at all times. So, if you get a rejection letter back from Clubhouse Magazine on Monday, sit down right then, grab your Writer’s Market guides and find another magazine to query. Write a query to that publication and send it out on Tuesday! I’ve found that if I don’t do it right away, I won’t do it. So, like the classic Nike ad says, “JUST DO IT!”  

Recycle, Rework and Reap!

If you’ve been writing for a while, you probably have lots of published articles under your belt. If that’s true, then you have a gold mine of untapped resources. I have sold one of my articles 13 times in the past twelve years! (“Every Dog Has its Day”) The key is this: never sell all rights to your article. If you only sell first rights, then you can sell second serial rights/reprint rights after that. Then, you can resell the exact same article numerous times as long as the magazines you’re querying accept reprints. The various writers market guides will have that information for you.   

You can also rework a piece enough that it will be sellable in different markets than the one you originally intended it for. (To sell first rights again, the piece must be reworked 50 percent or more.) For example, I once wrote a hair-care article for a wedding e-zine, telling brides different ways to achieve great hair on their wedding day. Well, with a few tweaks and a funny poem about bad hair days, I sold that same “tweaked” article to Brio.  And that’s not all. Part of that Brio version is now a sidebar in my devotional book for tweens.

With these three tips, you can increase your productivity and build your platform while waiting on those other publishing doors to open. Now, go forth and be productive!

Michelle Medlock Adams is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author of over 90 books with close to 4 million sold. Her many journalism and book awards include top honors from the Associated Press, AWSA’s Golden Scroll for Best Children’s Book, and the Selah Award for Best Children’s Book. Michelle currently serves as President of Platinum Literary Services, a premier full-service literary firm; Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Serious Writer, Inc.; and a much sought-after speaker at writers conferences and women’s retreats all over the United States.  

When not writing or teaching writing, Michelle enjoys bass fishing and cheering on the Indiana University Basketball team, the Chicago Cubbies, and the LA Kings.

 Michelle is celebrating the recent release of her books, Get Your Spirit On!, Fabulous & Focused, Dinosaur Devotions, and C Is for Christmas, and she’s anticipating the upcoming release of What Is America? (Worthy Kids) and They Call Me Mom (Kregel), a devotional book she co-authored with Bethany Jett.