Not Responding They’d love to, you know. But there’s only so much they can do. And while each e-mail you send will determine where your next paycheck comes from, an editor will get paid regardless of number of queries rejected. Their job is putting together quality content. No one’s going to promote them for being nice to freelancers. It’s a simple matter of priorities. And when choice is between finishing up issue and answering yet another freelancer’s query, get real—the editor will finish up and go home.

Killing Articles We tossed a coin. The losing editor would have to tell freelance writer that his article had been killed. That too after we asked him to send us a dozen writing samples, come up with a dozen off-beat ideas, get a feel of our style and send us a 600-word piece. We’d even negotiated price. It would have taken him at least a day’s work, if not more. We felt cruel, but decided that guy had potential for future assignments.

I lost toss and sat down to draft e-mail. I explained at length how our policies had changed, told him that we’d be willing to give more assignments and even added a touch of humor. But writer was obviously blinded. He thought of me as devil. And by doing so, he’d just lost a perfectly good opportunity for more assignments.

Editors aren’t out to take advantage of freelancers or make their lives miserable. In fact, if you get to know them a little, you’ll find that they’re often a very friendly bunch. Stop looking at your editor as enemy, and you might just find a friend.

The day I started writing in my journal, was day my month-long block finally came to an end. And as I wrote, I found my mind racing faster than my fingers could type. Soon, I was writing not only about my day, but also my holidays, my last semester and last time family went on a holiday together. Incidents kept springing to my mind and I was caught in adrenalin rush. I was writing!

I had needed a spark for my creativity, and journal had done just that. It had made given me push that I needed to start, and once I was writing, ideas and words came to me like they had never left my side.

Journals give writer three things she needs most: Practice, Motivation and Ideas.

Now, everyday before I begin writing my articles or stories, I simply pen down a page in my journal. If I don’t feel like writing on paper, I’ve maintained a journal on my computer too. Not only do I get a jumpstart on my day, I also feel more energized and ready to write pages and pages of prose.

Journals can also be a great storehouse of ideas. When you think that you’ve suddenly become unresponsive to ideas around you or can’t find a character to fit into your stories, peek into your journal, and you’ll find something priceless there. The trip to lake last summer or fight with your neighbor might just become incidents in your next best seller.

Journals are not necessarily diaries in which you record your personal thoughts and feelings. They can be lists of goals, pet care tips, or simply freewriting that you do everyday before you get to work. They needn’t even be focused on one topic – you can introduce random thoughts whenever and wherever you like. In writing a journal, there are no rules; you simply write what you want.

As of writing this, I maintain four journals to suit my different moods. I don’t write in all of them everyday, but do try to write in at least one each day. On days that I don’t have too much work to do, I spark my creativity by writing in all four. Who knew, that a journal would become my best friend?