Guest Post: It's Summertime And the Living is Easy... by Jodi M. Webb

When she isn’t sending out queries, Jodi Webb has spent this summer getting her oldest daughter ready for her first year of college and playing lifeguard for her younger daughter and son. She’s also found time for a trivia book, a book for writers and arranging WOW! Blog Tours(http://www.wow-womenonwritng.com/ ).

Photo by Pink Sherbert Photography

"It’s summertime and the Living Is easy…"

…but not if you’re a freelance writer. While the rest of the world is sprawling by the pool, enjoying long weekends, and generally taking it easy, many freelancers are frantically sending out queries. Why? Because the rest of the world (including many writers) are enjoying summer. Haven’t you been paying attention?

What types of people do freelance writing? OK, there are those who depend on freelance writing as their sole income. But most use freelance writing as a boost to their primary income—heading IT departments, writing advertising jingles, remodeling bathrooms, fill-in-the-blank-with-your-job. Another large group is parents: stay at home parents, work at home parents, work at work and write at home parents.

The first group is counting the days to their treasured annual vacation and savoring those early Fridays and three day holidays that break up the summer months. They plan to use that time to write and query but somehow…they don’t. The second group is suddenly surrounded by invaders who have escaped from school. Those hours of guaranteed quiet writing time have been replaced by trips to the playground, marathon viewings of Spongebob, and those sad cries of “I’m bored.” They have been sucked into the black hole that writers call summertime.

Don’t make the mistake of abandoning your writing for summer fun. Remember that lots of freelancers make that mistake and, whether freelancers feel like writing or not, editors still need articles to fill their pages. Jump into the void left by vacationing writers by filling editors’ empty inboxes with your fabulous queries. Now is the perfect time to get noticed by a new editor. Your competition is all at the beach!

If you failed to use June, July and August to your advantage don’t worry—November and December are fast approaching. Writers will be stuffing turkeys, attending parties, doing some holiday shopping. Once again editors’ inboxes will be emptying. Fill them! And not just with holiday greetings!