The Market List Fluctuates

Towards the end of each month in 2015, I intend to submit my fiction to the marketplace.  The stories are as complete as I can make them, so out they go.  Firstly I have to check each market to see if they have changed the rules, or they may have closed to submissions for a time period, or...the list goes on.  Unfortunately my list of potential markets shrunk this month,  alarmingly, because of the magazines or e-zines closure.  Done.  Kaput.  Not good for the number game that is submissions.  I send each story to five markets at a time (if possible) and then as they come back they are sent to five more.  I chose five because if my work is accepted in a market, I only have a few markets to notify.  And I will send to markets that disallow simultaneous submissions although that is not my first choice.  But back to the number of markets, shrunk as they were; it is obvious that I will also have to search for new markets on a monthly basis too.  And this is part of the marketing scene as well.

Query Letter - Done This Morning!

The Update- 

Everything is finished.  The query letter has been sent.  The wait begins now.  This collaboration may or may not be accepted at the market, but it is already a success. Together with Linda White and Cheryl Whitten (visit their websites - see side bar) I have been part of a exciting journey to produce the article and the query letter.  Pretty cool.  And very satisfying as well.  Good job, all of us.


The original post -  

 

I am so thankful that I have fellow writers to help me.  I'm trying to draft a query letter and I am finding it very difficult.  So the e-mails go back and forth and slowly it is coming together.  It's my first query and I want to be as professional as possible.  It is a baby step towards a more intimidating goal, and with 'group' support I hope to take it successfully.  Thank you Wainwright Writers Group members Cheryl and Linda. 

The writer has to be a marketer too. 

Mission Statement

I write to transcend my life

to reach beyond it

to teach myself to speak to others

to record the journey with all its wonderings, to expand my world

to feed the sparkle

to find the meanings of those lives i examine. 

to know

to see

to share 

to feel the passions

Showing Up

There is no other way for a writer to write than to show up.  And through the years I have taught myself how to do that.  I've had a keen interest in reading how other writers do this, but in the end it is up to Liz Betz to put herself at the keyboard. 
And there is where you'll find me. 
The writer process that I am employing at the moment is close reading of a master story teller.  John Updike's 'My Father's Tears' is my collection to study and use a model.  He's miles ahead of me, but I'm stretching myself to echo his methods. 
In the last few days I employed a set of 40 questions - from a Writer Digest book - to study my own feelings as I read one of his stories.  I loved what I discovered.  Not only did I get back in touch with being a reader, the writer in me discovered some very important concepts.  In all, it was great to show up for this.