by Catherine L. Tully
Everyone has them, but they aren’t all the same.
Pet peeves are those little quirks that drive you up the wall as a writer. Not the typical fare–such as getting paid late or having a client that changes their mind all the time. I consider those normal.
It’s the other stuff I’m talking about here…
And I’m going to list a few of mine for you. Yep. Right here in the open. And I hope when you finish reading, you’ll share one or two of your own…
Here we go:
Pet peeve #1: No response after sending an invoice.
I love editors that shoot back a “thanks” or a “got it” when I send an invoice out. Otherwise I keep wondering if they did indeed receive it. Now I know it’s a quirk, but what can I say–I’m paranoid. And I like to get paid.
Pet peeve #2: The rush job panic.
I get that sometimes a writing project may need to be a “rush job”. What I don’t like is when the client still wants to get a deal in terms of price, or when they keep checking in to see the progress. If you want it more quickly, you should be prepared to pay a little extra. And if you keep e-mailing me or calling me, it’s less time I can spend getting the project done.
Pet peeve #3: Adding extras along the way.
I don’t mind scouting out photos for a piece, preparing a snappy sidebar to go along with an article or even sending in material for fact-checkers. What is hard is when those things are added at the last minute–and with a tight turnaround time. I’m happy to go the extra mile as long as I’m not expected to perform miracles.
Pet peeve #4: Silence.
It freaks me out when I have to get ahold of an editor and they don’t respond. If I have a question, I e-mail and ask it. When I don’t hear back, I hate having to follow up again and ask. I feel like a pest. I feel like I”m annoying the editor. I hate feeling like that! It’s even worse if I have to do it more than once…
So those are a few of mine–what are yours?