I was a little bit more canny with my next choice of assignment titles.
“Write about what you know” is almost a mantra for writers, so I decided to put it to use in a practical sense.
What do I know?
Well, sometimes that’s a hard question to answer. I know loads. Lots of little bits about a lot of subjects. But what do I know really well?
Writing.
I know how to write, and I know how to teach other people how to write – or at least how to make their writing better and avoid some of the pitfalls.
I plugged ‘writing’ and various alternatives into the demand studios filter and came up with a title on the writer’s code of ethics which I quickly claimed.
Having one title left out of my initial three, I did a little thinking ‘outside the box’, and found another title relating to telling stories to preschool children which I also claimed.
Writing about the code of ethics was easy for me, the research and writing combined took just over an hour. That’s better than my long ramble with the raccoons of a few days ago. I’d like to do it faster, and maybe when I’m more familiar with the DS style and voice I’ll be able to. For now, I’m happy with that.
Shock, horror. The article came back within hours asking for rewrites. Glancing through the rewrite requests it seemed just about everything I’d written was flagged for change.
I’d expected the raccoons to come back. They didn’t. I didn’t expect the code of ethics to come back. It did. Lesson. Don’t assume anything with Demand Studios. Copy Editors work to strict guidelines (as do the writers) and theoretically we’re all working to the same rules. Interpretations, however, differ.
For instance, I didn’t include a caption with the illustration I sent with the raccoons. No problem there according to the CE who reviewed it. But the copy editor who reviewed my second article insisted all photos must have a caption.
To be fair, the rewrites were very simple changes and on reflection I couldn’t argue with any of them. They were small changes, but as writers we know what a huge difference small changes to word order or language can make.
I made the changes as requested and resubmitted and, happily, the second version was quickly accepted. Again within hours.
The point I’m making here is that you just can’t be precious about your words. If you get a rewrite request, just do it. Of course there are instances when the request is wrong or will change the meaning or angle of your article, and in those cases you need to think carefully about where you stand on the issue. If the change goes against the grain with you then maybe you need to walk away from it. But you don’t niggle about the small stuff. It’s not worth it, not even when it surprises you.
If I had just a penny for every time I’ve heard the advice to ‘write every day’ I’d definitely be rich by now. And sometimes I think if I hear it once more I’ll scream.