So....I pulled my chair away from The Table for a bit

And look at all that's happened here!

Amazing!

And in all honesty, if it weren't for a couple of members here, I'd still be miserably seeking out freelance work to no avail.

Thank you Robert and Ashley!

So....since this new work has given me an excuse to pull away from my mall job (Yeah, yeah....I know!) I couldn't be more happy.

My plan tonight was to write about networking and how important it is.

I see it's been done which is awesome and Ashley, your story is very inspiring to me.


To add to that post, part of networking (and freelance writing in general) is confidence.

I'd even go as far as saying that without it, you'll get nowhere.

I've lived and I've learned.

The past few months have been truly amazing for me in all aspects of my life.

I had a little help from books and influences in my life but in all actuality I was able to find the confidence in me....well...by me!

When it comes to writing, and life in general, we often are so clouded by the challenges and issues we face when it comes to pursuing our goals that we don't ever realize that the answer is almost always in the room.

We look to outside influences so often when internalizing is really the first step we should have taken. Think about things. Make decisions. Figure out what you want. Figure out how much you're worth. Are you worth more than 5 cents per word? Are you worth more than that internship that's not paying you?

Granted, often times as young writers (fresh ON the market, if you will) we'll take anything that's thrown our way.

I had many a short story published with no pay just to get my name out there.

I'll even admit to being AFRAID to go for ones that did pay because well, I thought I just wasn't good enough.

Not good enough???

Most writers send out 10 submissions and get denied 9 times.

My very first published short story was the first submission I ever had the courage to send in to an editor and THAT is a serious accomplishment.

And speaking of accomplishments, often times we don't take the time to recognize what we HAVE done with our writing. We'll look towards where we want to be and mope because we're not there yet. Or maybe we want to get paid....or maybe we want to get paid more. Well, how about what we HAVE done?

Looking at my list of things I've done with writing over the past two years, I came to the conclusion that I've made huge leaps in the right directions and am now being recognized and offered even more freelance work for the work I've already done.

That's a beautiful thing and something to give yourself a pat on the back for instead of thinking "Yeah, now if only someone will fill me in on how to sell my fiction?" lol I saw a post down below about that. If ANYONE finds any info....please pass it along. ;) (I've been told many a time that agents or self publishing are really the way to go with that unfortunately.)

So, back to confidence.

It's key.

Seriously. In EVERYTHING.

We're salespeople. We sell ourselves as writers and we sell the thing we're most passionate about. That's a tough thing sometimes. We pour our hearts and souls onto pages and sometimes, hey, someone will reject it, say it's not good enough, or even rip it apart.

Ya gotta let it go.

Don't take it personally. SOMEONE will like it or feel that it's fit for their publication. You just have to be patient and work. A lot of people claim to be writers but they're never "in their offices", ya know?

They're not WORKING.

It's not just about writing, it's about getting it out there.

The editors will not come to you! (Ok...well...sometimes...but usually not if you don't have anything out there first!)

Developing a good web presence is another tip a published author gave me. He said that agents are very web savvy these days and that a lot of times they're picking up bloggers and freelancers that way.

So, give it a go.

I'd say our little Table here is a step in the right direction.

But above all, we have to know we're worth it and know that we deserve the jobs we want.

Without that we have nothing!

So believe it.

You'll achieve it.

And the editors will believe it too.

:)


P.S.- A Table meeting needs to happen in the near future for sure!