April 8, 2005
I just had one of my editors e-mail me to tell me the story I wrote might be postponed because the subject's husband got sick. That's okay, it'll probably run soon enough. But her last line was: How goes the blog? My response was: I'm too grumpy to work on it today.

Well, maybe not. Fridays I sometimes think are a freelance writer's enemy. Nobody returns calls or answers their calls on Friday. If I make 25 phone calls trying to set up interviews on a Friday, I'll get through to 4 people, but on Monday I'll have 15 call-backs. Today's been like that a bit. Did set up an interview with a guy knowledgeable about Medicare, and that's good. I have about another week to decide if this article needs to be postponed--I HATE doing that. I want to convince editors that I'm the ultimate pro and can find a way no matter what.

Got an e-mail from my agent telling me she hadn't gotten around to reading the rewrite of Serpent's Kiss because she was on vacation in Costa Rica (fabulous!), but hoped to get to it in a week or so. Late yesterday I quit dithering over the proposed synopses and cranked out three. I'm very pleased with all of them, actually, and am hopeful that Serpent's Kiss will get picked up and I will be inspired and lucky enough to work on all of them in a more secure creative atmosphere, rather than the "on-spec" one I've lived in for so long.

I'm struggling with this genetics exceptions article. I can always tell when a certain subject or market annoys me. I'm not a procrastinator normally, and I hate to spread the actual writing of an article out over more than a couple days. (Research, interviews, yes. Writing at the keyboard, no). I'd rather hack my way through it in a couple hours, set it aside and re-write it later in the day or the next day. But this thing I keep dragging out, working on a section then moving onto something else. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR WRITING MOODS! They may be telling you something.

Did pick up an unsolicited article assignment from one of my semi-regular clients, Honeycomb Worldwide. Editor there must like me--I sent her a pitch, which she ignores for weeks, then comes back with a: how would you like to do an article on this? Yowza.

Onward. Maybe I'll sit down and grind my way through the genetics article, rewrite it on Monday and get it off back back. Snatch that monkey toss 'im. Show 'em who's boss.

Best,
Mark Terry