The Filler That Bit the Dust

Good things may come to those who wait.

...or not.

Take my Filler experiment, for example. I may have been a little overconfident that one of the 13 publications I sent it to would accept, so I decided to wait and see how much they paid before spending valuable time submitting a second filler or writing a third. Now, that would've made sense if I was guaranteed an acceptance within the week (a girl can dream).

But one week and an empty inbox later, I've relearned the same dang lesson I learned two years ago: don't stop. Keep moving forward. Because now I still don't know how much I'll earn from these fillers and I've killed a week of writing time.

On the other hand, holding out hope for the-filler-that-bit-the-dust wasn't a total waste of time. After rereading it and thinking about the markets I'd submitted to, I realized the format needs to be changed. So the next filler I submit will be that much better, and hopefully my parched inbox will feel the love soon. It won't be feeling the love from me though. I'll be busy writing.

Here's to resuscitating my filler and leaving bad habits in the dust.

**Update:  fillers aren't  what they used to be. With current technology, publications don't need to fill "white space" like they used to. But there is still a need for short, freelance-written pieces in areas of a magazine. You can find them on pages that list "Reader Tips" or "Bright Ideas", for example.**