In Write for Magazines, you’ll go through eight steps to generating a salable article idea, finding markets for it, sleuthing out the right editors to pitch, and writing and sending a query letter. Former students in this course have scored assignments in Woman’s Day, Cottage Living, Black Health, E: The Environmental Magazine, Writer’s Digest, and other top-notch magazines. Interested in a piece of this action? Check out my Write for Magazines e-course page.

In Get Unstuck! for Freelancers, you’ll learn how to become more productive, more organized, and more motivated — so you can get more work done in less time. I share my secrets to beating perfectionism, writing faster, streamlining your assignments, and more. I earn full-time income working only two days per week, so these tips definitely work for me! To boost your business, visit the Get Unstuck! e-course page.

Finally, if you want even more personalized help, I offer phone mentoring for writers. One recent client had been writing for free — and less than one week after our talk, paying magazines were asking for her clips and ideas. Here’s the mentoring page if you’d like to get started.

Hope to work with you soon! [lf]

Check out the page for The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock. The best quip about the mixup in the comments below will win a signed copy. Signed by me and Linda that is. Winner announced on Friday, March 12 at 5:00 p.m ET. Or maybe not.  – DB (follow me on Twitter!)

Great question! The executive editor is usually too high up. In some smaller or trade mags you may find the managing editor assigning stories, but usually they’re more involved in coordinating the publication’s editorial activities. An editor-at-large is a journalist who contributes content to a magazine. So I’d go for the assistant editor or a senior editor. Keep in mind, though, that different editors assign at different magazines, so if you’re in doubt it’s best to call. I hope that helps!

Got a question for the Renegade Writers? Send it to rwclasses@therenegadewriter.com. [lf]

To be a successful freelance writer, you need to build relationships with your editors. Editors who know and like you will look more quickly and more carefully at your queries. And let’s face it, we don’t want to be querying forever — we eventually want to get into editors “stables” of writers they hand assignments to, and editors choose those writers they have a positive relationship with. In this teleclass, I’ll give tips on how to foster good relationships with your editors — before you ever land an assignment, during the assignment process, and between articles. There will be time for a Q&A at the end. Also, I’ll be making a special offer for conference attendees only!

Conference number: 218-895-0763

Passcode: 2244#

**This is not a toll-free number. If you have unlimited long distance, you won’t pay for the call, but if you pay for calls by the minute, it will appear on your bill.**

Here is the link where you can access the participant keypad controls: http://www.freeconferencepro.com/support.aspx. This will tell you how to mute the call, how to get help, and more.

If you’re interested in taking part in the call, please e-mail me at lindaformichelli@gmail.com with “RSVP Editors” in the subject line to let me know just so I can get a rough tally of how many people to expect. Don’t worry if I don’t reply to your RSVP — if you send it, rest assured that you’re in!

If you’d like to be alerted via e-mail whenever I have a new teleclass scheduled, please subscribe to the e-mail list on this page.

The Rules (Even Renegades need rules!)

These are some basic guidelines to help make the teleclass successful for everyone:

• Use a landline for the best phone reception for you and for others in the class. If you must call in from a cell phone or internet phone, please be prepared to either mute yourself or hang up and call back on a different line if you bring an echo or static to the call. Speaker phones are not recommended since they pick up all background noise and can disrupt the call for others. Skype is also not recommended as the conference call system tends to kick off Skype users. (It’s happened to me!)

• Not sure what time the class starts in your time zone? Use the Time Zone Converter at http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc to find out when it’s 8:30 pm ET where you live.

• Disable the “Call Waiting” feature on your phone. To do this on most phones, dial *70 before dialing into the teleclass call. After you hang up, your call-waiting feature automatically resumes. However, it’s best to check with your telephone company provider or cell phone company.

• Turn off the ringer to the second line when using a multi-line phone.

• Please stay close to the base unit if you are using a cordless phone. Otherwise, the static can ruin the call for everyone.

• Do not put the teleclass on hold if the Hold feature on your phone plays music or other sounds. It’s very difficult to conduct a class over the music or commercials piped in from your Hold feature. If you must put the call on hold, please hang up and call back when you are ready to rejoin the call.

• Announce yourself when you join the teleclass: your name and, if you like, the city you are calling from. Then, please mute your line by pressing *6 on your phone’s keypad to help reduce background noise. You can unmute by pressing *6 again if you have a question during the Q&A time.

• Please hold your questions/comments until you’ve been prompted to ask a question or invited to comment. Please keep your comments/questions concise.

• Please do not give out the teleclass phone number and PIN codes to others who haven’t RSVPed. There is limited space on the bridge line.

• You may not record the teleclass. I will be recording the class for those who can’t make it. If you object to being recorded, please don’t attend the teleclass. (You can always get a recording later, but you’ll miss out on the limited-time free offer I make later in the class!)

I look forward to seeing you there! [lf]

If you’d like to learn how to write a query that can help you land a national clip — or need to brush up on your query skills — sign up for my next Write for Magazines e-course, which starts on Monday, March 15. I hope to see you there!

Got questions on the course? Check out my e-course FAQ. [lf]

First, I checked the sound file of the interview. Okay, the dermatologist definitely said salicylic acid — so that’s taken care of. But on a whim, I looked up hydrofluoric acid on Wikipedia:

While it is extremely corrosive and difficult to handle, it is technically a weak acid…..The danger in handling hydrofluoric acid is extreme.

Holy %*@#. What if I had not happened to know the basic ingredients of a facial scrub and had left that in the article? At best, I would have lost a client. At worst, I would have lost a client and been sued because a loyal reader was missing her face. (Hey, no more acne!) That was a good reminder to double-check all facts and not rely on transcriptions of my interviews with experts.

The transcription service I use apologized and removed the fee from my bill, and promised to make that errant transcriptionist go through another training period. I do love my transcription service very much and they’ve always done a great job for me, so I won’t hold it against them. But I have to wonder was up with that transcriptionist — I mean, salicylic acid sounds nothing like hydrofluoric acid (which, by the way, is also used in chemical terrorism).

Learn from my close call: Double-check everything! [lf]

Whenever I’ve been tempted to feel sorry for myself after what feels like a brutal rejection, I think “It could be worse: I could be trying to make a living in Hollywood.” I think about what Jennifer Aniston must have felt like when a casting agent told her she needed to lose 20 lbs. before she’d ever get hired. I imagine what actors like Danny DeVito, Peter Dinklage, or Paul Giamatti have heard during auditions. (“Too short!” “Not handsome enough.” “You? Leading man? Haa!”)

Over the last month, I’ve been riding a tidal wave of rejection with a book proposal my agent’s shopping around. I’ve heard everything: my book’s got too much research, my book’s not researched enough, there’s not enough memoir, there’s too much memoir, I’m too defensive, I need to be more strident, etc. (Luckily, everyone seems to like my writing, which is a very big bright spot!)

I have to admit, though: all that rejection started getting to me. Yeah, me with my crocodile hide! I began to doubt my writing, my talent, my marketability. In my defense, I wallowed for less than a day. Something in me snapped, and I started thinking about how hard it must be for a young actress to keep showing up for auditions, only to be told, “You’re too heavy,” or “We want someone with blond hair,” or “If you were five years younger, you’d be perfect for this commercial!” My rejections were a cake walk in comparison! It made me wonder: do actors really have it harder than writers?

I asked this question of novelist (and magazine writer) Allison Winn Scotch, who just happened to be an actress in a past life. She kindly answered my question on her blog last week, and it seems like my view of rejection is valid: rejections could be much worse.

What do you think? Would you rather be told your writing isn’t worth enough of a magazine’s ink (in writing) or that your eyes are too close together (to your face)? How do you console yourself when you find yourself getting rejection after rejection? Add your comments below!

– Diana Burrell (follow me on Twitter!)

The Care and Feeding of an Editor

Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 8:30-9:30 pm ET (Note that this is East Coast time; please check for the correct time in your time zone.)

Topic: The Care and Feeding of an Editor: Building Relationships That Will Help You Succeed as a Writer. To be a successful freelance writer, you need to build relationships with your editors. Editors who know and like you will look more quickly and more carefully at your queries. And let’s face it, we don’t want to be querying forever — we eventually want to get into editors “stables” of writers they hand assignments to, and editors choose those writers they have a positive relationship with. In this teleclass, I’ll give tips on how to foster good relationships with your editors — before you ever land an assignment, during the assignment process, and between articles. There will be time for a Q&A at the end. Also, I’ll be making a special offer for conference attendees only!

About Linda: Linda Formichelli has written for for Health, Woman’s Day, USA Weekend, Writer’s Digest, Oxygen, Redbook and other newsstand magazines, plus dozens of trade and custom pubs. Linda co-authored The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success and The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock. She lives in Concord, NH, with her writer husband, toddler son, and two cats. Linda’s website is www.lindaformichelli.com.

Conference number: 218-895-0763

Passcode: 2244#

**This is not a toll-free number. If you have unlimited long distance, you won’t pay for the call, but if you pay for calls by the minute, it will appear on your bill.**

Here is the link where you can access the participant keypad controls: http://www.freeconferencepro.com/support.aspx. This will tell you how to mute the call, how to get help, and more.

If you’re interested in taking part in the call, please e-mail me at lindaformichelli@gmail.com with “RSVP Editors” in the subject line to let me know just so I can get a rough tally of how many people to expect. I may also e-mail you materials if I decide to have “handouts.” (If you prefer to remain totally anonymous, that’s fine too.) Don’t worry if I don’t reply to your RSVP — if you send it, rest assured that you’re in!

If you’d like to be alerted via e-mail whenever I have a new teleclass scheduled, please subscribe to the e-mail list on this page.

Thanks so much, and I look forward to seeing you there!