Query, Query, Query

I am exhausted. I gave myself the goal of sending out 10 new magazine queries this week and it is harder than I originally thought. Many writers don't realize the "pre-query" part of the process is more time consuming than actually writing the query. I've contacted several possible experts for my article ideas, and in two cases heard back quickly. While these two sources don't think they are the best fit to provide expertise for the articles, they referred me to more qualified colleagues, which I am very grateful for.

For national magazine queries, it is best to have a few experts already lined up before securing the sale of the article, thus all this extra legwork. But it will make things easier when you do land an assignment so you won't be scrambling to find sources before deadline. I also hammered out an article for consideration for a writing publication, so I did get to sharpen my creativity skills somewhat today. Hopefully the extra queries will result in some good assignments for the next six months. I get nervous if I don't have two to three assignments on my roster at all times.

What are you working on today?