The Renegade Writer Blog

Carol asks, “Over the years, much of my freelance work has come from a non-profit organization that is somewhat controversial due to its conservative views and religious affiliation. As a result, I’m hesitant to include this organization in my queries. My question: Is this fear warranted? I wonder if I’m doing myself in by […]

I just started teaching the spring session of my class yesterday, and I decided I wanted students to be able to communicate with each other and also to share their work, if they choose to. I thought I’d try out Ning, a service that I’d been hearing about. It lets you create social networks (sort […]

Whenever my husband Eric has to get a shot, he pinches the skin on his hand so hard that the injection feels like nothing in comparison. Sure, the pinch hurts, but it makes Eric feel better that he’s the one controlling the pain.
We can do the same with rejections. If rejections from Family Circle and […]

I found on my hard drive a folder called “Queries in Progress.” Thinking there might be a few salvageable ideas in there, I read through all the forgotten queries. At the end of one from 2002, lacking a real conclusion, I had written:
I have near-godlike powers, and should be given this assignment without hesitation.
I am […]

I learned the value of injecting humor into my queries and articles a few years ago when my Family Circle editor called in the middle of editing my diet article to tell me that the article was cracking her up. Her favorite line? “When the fat hits your thighs from a big pizza pie, that’s […]

Valeria asks: Life’s a funny thing. I’ve spent years thinking I really would rather work from home as a writer than go to my computing job and life has handed me a situation that may well take all my leave time and donated leave time to resolve. In short, I may lose my job! Crisis […]

Rebecca asks: When I pitch a short FOB to a magazine, do I include the entire short in the query? For example, if it’s a one paragraph short, that’s my entire lede and article in one. Instead of including a lede, do I just describe what I am planning on doing, or do I […]

Diana and I just posted another query in the Query Letters That Rocked section; it’s a query that landed a juicy assignment at West, the Los Angeles Times magazine.
If you’re an editor or a writer and you have a query that you’d like to nominate for this section, please contact us at questions [at] therenegadewriter […]

Caroline asks: Hello! I am new to this whole freelancing thing-a-ma-jig (yes, that it is a made up word), and I have a question about electronic clips. Now, being the good little renegade writer that I am, I have been working on putting together queries that I would like to email. I have several that […]

A pair of students in my last 8-week e-course on breaking into magazines, Wayne and Treba Thompson, wrote a killer query that was accepted by Blue Water Sailing magazine! Their query had a lot of style, with clever use of nautical terms, sharp language, and great quotes from impressive experts. Not to mention that their […]