Dear Accidentally Qualified: Is This Editor Ghosting Me?

Dear Accidentally Qualified, 

I’ve been publishing my writing (literary and journalism adjacent) for a decade now, but when I look back at my old work, I don’t feel proud of it – I feel embarrassed! Everything I’ve written (besides within the last 2 years or so) lacks an original point of view. I was just sort of subconsciously mimicking other people’s style and voice, and I didn’t realize it. I had no real innovative ideas but I wanted my work online/in print, so I catered to what I imagined editors wanted. This is causing me a crisis of confidence. I don’t know how to trust my own taste now, and as a result feel creatively blocked. I’m doing my best to read lots of different writers, which helps somewhat, and I do think my skills are better than they used to be. I’ve taken down lots of my old clips because I now find them mortifying. How else do I get over this?

-Out With the Old

Dear Out With the Old, 

I think I can safely say almost every if not every writer whose entire career trajectory can be tracked on the internet has some regrets about what they’ve published, and if it’s any consolation, probably every writer can pinpoint a piece or two or five that they wrote because it was money, not because they found it interesting or reflective of their values. I know I have and if you really do some digging, you can probably find them. I’m not going to tell you where they are though. 

The thing about the internet is that articles are getting published constantly so the chance that yours is going to pop up on the front page of Google results is very low unless you wrote about something remarkably unique (which you said you didn’t. So problem solved.) 

Plus, the notion that an idea is purely original borders on farcical, and the majority of what’s being published isn’t particularly innovative or insightful. Everyone, regardless of their level of talent, is influenced by someone else—none of us are living in a vacuum and few observations about the world appear out of nowhere.

Unless one day you’re going to get vetted as a potential vice presidential candidate, the likelihood that anyone is going to do a thorough deep-dive into your old articles is rather low, as is the likelihood that they’re going to read your work and spot your sources of inspiration.

As far as your crisis in confidence: the fact that you’re self-conscious of your previous work actually shows that you do trust your taste. Otherwise you wouldn’t be worried about it. 

Reading writers you admire is a great way to start, although be careful you don’t end up aping their voice instead of developing your own (if I watch a lot of Sex and the City, my inner monologue turns very Carrie and I once wrote a short story while reading Great Expectations and somehow it became a Dickensian knockoff.) So make a list of the things you really love about their writing whether it be something in their use of tense, or point of view, or pacing and see how that can inspire you without subsuming your own perspectives and written idiosyncrasies. 

Really though, just like confronting any demons from your past, there comes a point where dwelling on them no longer serves you. Don’t promote them, remove them from your portfolio, and let them be buried along with everyone else’s youthful follies. 

-Sonia

Dear Accidentally Qualified,

What’s the best way to deal with a ghosted pitch?  Not knowing if overworked editors have even seen my pitch when I don’t hear, do I 1.  go away  2. write the “I’m circling back” e-mail or 3.  Pretend I never sent it and start over.  Or another alternative?  I don’t want to be a pest, but I like to have my pitches read  Any thoughts?

-Boo-ed Up

Dear Boo-ed Up, 

Okay so first thing: when a pitch doesn’t get a response, it hasn’t been “ghosted.” Ghosted is when someone initially responds then disappears. If you never hear back, they’ve ignored it. Plain and simple. So before I get into anything, let me say: freelancers in general need to stop conflating “ghosting” with “ignoring.” They’re both infuriating, but the former is legitimately rude, while the other is par for the course.

Now that my own gripes are out of the way: 

I generally give my pitches the “3 tries and you’re out” treatment. The pitch, the follow-up, then the final follow-up. Depending on how timely the piece is (whether it’s related to something in the news, maybe a movie release or a TV show finale. Something relevant NOW versus something that can be published whenever), you can wait one to two weeks between each email. If you still don’t hear back, then move on. I know it’s really frustrating. Every year I have a few pieces that I desperately want to land and it’s devastating to not receive feedback. I currently have two!

As I’ve learned the hard way many times over, editors really don’t appreciate when you ask whether there’s a reason for the holdup or if you should assume they’re passing, so it’s best to cut your losses and make peace with their silence. 

If you still believe in your piece, I’d recommend running it by someone you trust to see whether they can identify any concrete reasons why the editor may have dismissed it. That may help you fine tune it if you hope to send it elsewhere. Maybe you didn’t have enough evidence or your writing was weak or the idea itself didn’t have legs. It could have been something so simple as your subject line. Having an understanding of why your pitch didn’t land, even if it’s not feedback from the editor themselves and then reconfiguring it appropriately may be what you need to land it at another publication. And if nothing else, it’ll help you write better pitches in the future. 

-Sonia

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