Pick up a number of big-name magazines and it won’t be long before you run across Sharon Anne Waldrop’s byline. She writes for Parents, Parenting, Women’s Health, Woman’s Day, Health, and more. I “know” Sharon mostly from a writers’ bulletin board online, but we’ve actually met in person and she’s a smart, energetic whippersnapper. When I heard how she not only survived but also thrived during a recent writing slump, I knew we had to talk to her for the blog. Luckily for us, she agreed. So if you’re currently in a slump (it seems like most every writer I’ve talked to in the last month is!) listen up. [db]

So, let’s do some background … why did you start freelancing?

I’m a magazine junkie. When my friends were going out to shop the malls, I would be out shopping for magazines. I knew when the latest issue came out, and I’d buy it and plan when I’d sit down to read it. I’d make sure everyone had their dinner, and then I’d be off with my magazine. One of my favorites was Parents. My mother read it, then I read it – (laughing) so I’ve had that magazine in front of me for 35 years!

One day I was reading an article in there and I noticed I was thinking of things I would have put in the story. I thought, “Someone was paid to write this. Why can’t I be that person?” This was seven years ago. I wasn’t working outside the home, I’d just had baby #4, and money was tight. I wanted a way to help the family financially, and I figured I loved to read magazine articles … why not write them?

I searched around for some online writers groups, and I thought about what I wanted to write. I asked myself, “What would I want to read? What would make me pick up a magazine? What questions would I like the answers to?” I’m a real sucker for cover lines – there have been times when I picked up a magazine because of them – so I thought of stories that would make great cover lines.

Two months later, I got my first paying assignment. It was for Oxygen Media’s “MomsOnline” and I got paid $100. $100 was amazing to me, and I was excited and thrilled to death to get that check. I did two more stories for them, and approached other print and online markets. I started getting regular work from magazines like Pregnancy, ePregnancy.com, and then ePregnancy when they went to print. I developed some good relationships with the editors there, and I was doing something I enjoyed and helping out financially.

How did you make the transition to bigger magazines like Parents?

I wrote for these magazines for two years, but I was also querying the bigger markets. Before I learned how to write a good query letter, the rejections were standard ones. The three things helped me were getting the query letters you offered through the Renegade Writer (see below), reading Kelly James-Enger’s Ready, Aim, Specialize!, and studying all the query letters posted on Freelance Success‘s [members-only] bulletin board. Once I learned how to write a good pitch, I started getting e-mails from editors, even phone calls, where they encouraged me. I started getting constructive feedback on my ideas. Some editors would help me with my story – we’d flesh out ideas together, which made a huge difference.

That’s what happened with Parents. I sent the pitch, the editor reworked it, and I got the assignment in less than a week! In a short time, I not only had the assignment from Parents, but from Women’s Health, Health, and Parenting.

I know you went through a slump earlier this fall. I was so impressed that you got 40 queries out there, and they are starting to bring you some very impressive assignments. Can you tell our blog readers how you fought the urge to hang out on the sofa all day and weep into a bowl of ice cream?

I just queried like crazy. I told myself, Okay, you’ve got to write and send one a day. One a day, Monday through Friday. I’d spend one to four hours each day working on a quality query letter that would get me a response where I could sense the editors were interested in working with me. I have to clarify, though … with those 40 queries, some were ideas that I’d reslanted from other queries.

I got a feature assignment from All You, and when I was done, I had no work. I sent two other ideas to my All You editor, but she came back and gave me one of her own assignments (the two other ideas are still circulating). During my slump, I wrote an essay, which I submitted to Good Housekeeping – and it sold. Then I got an assignment from Woman’s Day, and editors at other magazines let me know six or seven of my queries were running up the channels for approval.

During the slump I told myself, I’m not going to get work unless I go out there and get it. I’m not going to use this time to catch up on housework! I’ve learned to treat my work time as business time, although I do give myself more time off than a boss would. I used to eat lunch at my desk, but now get away for an hour and fix myself a nice lunch and go outside for a breather. The break helps me focus when I return.

What are your three tips for getting out of a work slump?

First, get busy. Ask yourself, do I want assignments or not? If you do, you’ve got to devote the time to getting that work.

Second, e-mail editors you’ve worked with before. I do this – I let them know what I’ve done recently. Or when an editor leaves a position and moves to another magazine, I’ll contact them.

Third, realize that very little of your time is spent “writing.” It’s all about marketing. If you want more work, you’ve got to market yourself more. Devote more of your work hours reaching out to editors or working on pitches than you’ve ever have before.

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To get the same free packet that Sharon received — a dozen magazine queries that landed assignments ranging from $850 to $3,750 — send a blank e-mail to queries [at] renegadewriter [dot] com and our autoresponder will do the rest.

If you liked that post, you might also like:

• Why Your Article Ideas Aren’t Working
• Customizing Your Queries and LOIs
• Break This Rule: Always Follow the Magazine’s Writers’ Guidelines
• Boost Your Chances of a Sale with a Query Letter Critique
• Faith and Focus