Freelance Writer and Social Worker

What Being Called a Bitch Taught Me about Freelance Writing

My first social work position was in a hospital emergency room where I sometimes had to be very firm with drunk or drugged patients who were acting out. I had all the training I needed to do the job, but I wasn't ready for clients to call me names, scream obscenities at me, or throw half-full urinals at my head.

After a few weeks of this, I went to my supervisor in tears and told her I couldn't take it anymore.

She then told me something I've never forgotten: "You know," she said, "given the clients you work with, if you don't get called a bitch at least once a shift, you're probably not doing your job right."

What an eye-opening concept. I returned to the emergency room with a whole new mindset. Each time a client cursed me out, I held my ground and reminded myself that the verbal assault was an affirmation that I was, indeed, doing my job.

Eventually, I developed a greater comfort level with my clients, as well as a thicker skin. I even started to joke with some of our regular patients, whom we called "frequent flyers."

"Why don't you call me a puta (prostitute) anymore?" I asked one of our Mexican patients who was wide awake despite having a blood-alcohol level that should have been lethal.

He clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Is no fun now that you don't cry no more."

"Come on, call me a name for old time's sake. I haven't met my nightly quota."

He gave me an odd look and muttered something that ended in "loco."

Query Letters and Procrastination

I know I'm missing a valuable source of income: the printed press including newspapers, magazines, and trade journals.

When I had my first phone session with my mentor, Carol Tice, she advised me to start sending out query letters immediately. I thought it was great advice, put it on my "to do" list...and there it sits.

I'm not usually a procrastinator, so why can't I seem to get my feet moving on this one project? I think it's a deadly combination of two factors: Being insecure about my query-letter writing abilities and having no specific deadline.

The first factor is simple. I'm just not used to writing for the printed press. The few times I have done it, either the editor contacted me first, or the editor wanted to see the complete article so I didn't have to query. So, my experience with writing query letters is next to nil. Oh, I know how to do them in theory. I've even edited query letters that have gone on to win assignments. But as for writing them myself? Nope.