Guest Post: 5 Writing Tips From the Editor-in-Chief of Alive Magazine

I "met" Laurie of the Quips and Tips blogs through Twitter a few months ago. Then we started emailing, and I asked if Laurie would like to guest post. Now we're hoping to swap posts about once a month, so I hope you enjoy her inaugural post and leave a comment if you have requests or questions for Laurie or myself!

By Laurie Pawlik-Kienen

It’s rare for writers to get an inside peek into the editor-in-chief’s job, so when I received this email from Terry-Lynn Stone, the big kahuna at British Columbia-based alive magazine, I jumped on the chance to share her tips!

Before we go there, here’s a quip for struggling writers: “If you want to be a famous writer, keep at it for ten years,” said a Hollywood legend. "By that time everyone else will have quit and they’ll HAVE to hire you.” (This quip is from If You Can Talk, You Can Write by Joel Saltzman, and who the legend is remains a mystery).

I’m telling you, fellow scribes…perseverance is where it’s at! Ten years of determination, and you’ll be a successful writer. And, if you apply these tips from editor-in-chief Stone, you might make it in eight years! :-)

“After three months on the job, I needed to put some new procedures in place,” says Ms Stone. “Before I arrived, writers regularly missed their deadlines - and I’m talking about many regular freelancers who would miss deadlines by weeks, not just days. This made the whole editing process almost impossible. Articles would sometimes come in so late, they had to be edited the day they were being designed by art!”

Writing Tip #1: Remember that your article is simply one piece of the puzzle, and editors may be working with a 5,000 piece jigsaw. Be as flexible and accommodating as possible - and don't miss your deadlines unless you're sick, injured, or giving birth.

Ms Stone says that she wrote a friendly email to all offenders, explaining the need for a new submissions policy (submit your article on time!). "While some freelancers were fine with the new rules, others pushed back like crazy, saying ‘I only turn in well researched well written articles and those take time' and ‘I always get extensions - that's the way I work.' I politely told them I only accepted well- researched, well-written articles, but if they weren't in on time, then I wouldn't accept them - and the writers wouldn't get paid."

Writing Tip #2: Work WITH your editors! If they ask you to do something crazy - like submit an article on time - don't argue, threaten, whine, or cry. Roll with it, fellow scribes.

Ms Stone continues, "After I sent the ‘new policy' email, I received a response from a writer, which was obviously addressed to someone else. I guess the writer pressed reply instead of forward. The writer thought she had forwarded my email to a friend - who she regaled with my shortcomings. One of the sentences she wrote was, ‘Who the hell does this Terry-Lynn woman think she is? I give her three months and she'll be gone.'"

Writing Tip #3: Check your "To" line before you hit send. Twice. What was Ms Stone's response to this writer?

"Well, of course on one level I was hurt, but I recognized how easy it is to make such a mistake," she says. "I replied to the email saying, ‘Dear Ms X, I don't think I was the intended recipient for this letter.' I then went on to explain how saddened I was that she found the new rules - which I considered reasonable - so difficult."

Writing Tip #4: Thank your lucky stars if your editors actually communicate with you! This was a real, honest email from a busy woman - and it deserves a tip of the hat.

"I believe we're all capable of sending emails we regret later, so getting angry and on my high horse didn't seem genuine," says Ms Stone. "The writer was mortified at her mistake, and even more mortified when she saw herself as she must appear to me. She insisted she thought of herself as a moral person who didn't make snide remarks behind others' backs, but she saw how badly her behavior represented herself. She was very apologetic. Of course, I accepted her apology and I continued to commission articles from her."

Writing Tip #5: Be willing to eat humble pie when you do wrong, because you could actually repair the damage - some editors will actually continue to work with you. And, before you send any correspondence, take a look at yourself through your editors' eyes.

Ms Stone thinks both she and this writer learned a valuable lesson that day. "If you are sending a strong message of any kind, file it in your drafts for a minimum of 24 hours!" she says. "I'm shocked at how often I open my draft folder and find emails I wanted to send days earlier, only to realize that, written in the heat of the moment, they wouldn't have served me or the recipient well."

Writing Tip #6: Always, always, always let your writing gel for several days, before you share it with the world. You'll thank yourself later, when you catch harsh words, unintentional meanings, and even a typo or two.

If you have any writing tips - or if this article makes you remember an "email blunder" of your own - please comment below!

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen is a full-time writer and blogger who created and maintains a series of Quips and Tips blogs: Quips and Tips for Successful Writers, Quips and Tips for Achieving Your Goals, and Quips and Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility. She's also the Feature Writer for Psychology Suite101.