How FundsForWriters.com Taught Me to be a Successful Writer

How FundsForWriters.com Taught Me to be a Successful Writer Once upon a time, there was a writer. Shed had over a hundred feature articles published in various magazines, before she heard about FundsForWriters.com. Hey, Im a writer! I bet I could tell other writers a thing or two, and earn fifty cool ones, she thought. So she dashed off a submission to the editor, Hope Clark. It was rejected. She tried again. And again. She had to pitch four times before her fifth submission was finally accepted. Even then, the piece seemed so less-than-satisfactorily edited, it spawned not one but two irate editorials, back-to-back, on the importance of perfecting a pitch before submitting making her the only writer to have inspired such an occurrence. Hopes words stung her. She couldve quit then. She couldve packed it all in, declared this market unfit for her work, proclaimed its editor crazy and never looked back. Sour grapes? Likely. But she didnt. That writer was me. Last year, a writer had five articles published with FundsForWriters.com. Meaning nearly once every couple of months, you read her name in the newsletter. She came this close to landing a 3-in-3: three acceptances in three days. She became one of only two people to ever have two feature articles published in the newsletter in the same month, a record. That writer was also me. This is my story. Heres how I went from 0 to 5 FFW credits in less than 12 months: 1. I learned to edit. I am naturally verbose. If a thing can be said in four words, I use ten. So when asked to include voice, flavour, anecdotes and practical tips, all in under 600 words, I cursed and shook my head. Impossible! But then I did it. Five times. I grit my teeth, hardened my heart against my trademark lyrical prose and took a machete to the verbiage. As the word count dropped, my bank balance climbed. 2. I studied the market. It helped to subscribe to the newsletter for several weeks, to discern a pattern to the features presented. The guidelines themselves said it best, they couldnt have laid it out any clearer. I took note. 3. I didnt encumber myself. Ive written on diverse topics from parenting to mobile-optimized websites. I drew upon my interest and experience from other fields to apply to writing. Nobody told me it couldnt be done, so I didnt let it stop me. I was bold. I took risks. Sure, theres a chance of failure, but at least I wont regret not trying. 4. I didnt spread myself too thin, either. Im online social media shy. All I have is a blog to showcase my