Quick Query Makeover

Quick Query Makeover A full-time freelance writer needs to churn out enough salable ideas to earn a living. Your articles are your lifeline, the reason you eat and have a roof over your head. However, some freelancers still believe in the muse myth. If youre a believer in that mystical being, then freelance writing is not for you. This business is for the tough, industrious sort willing to spend many hours creating copy and appropriating ideas. Dispel the muse myth and become more efficient in your career with these tips. I used them to improve my query output. At the beginning of my career, I submitted about a query a week. As my business skills and creativity bloomed, I grew up to three pitches a day. 1. Many magazines have Twitter feeds embedded at their websites. Website tweets are great places for article ideas, especially if you want to pitch a timely topic. For example, I caught the attention of a regional business-magazine editor 2. If you receive a rejection, do what I learned in college creative-writing class. See your sources as fictional characters. Your sources can be as compelling as Mr. Darcy and Carrie Bradshaw. First, describe your sources educational and professional background; delve into their duties, their family lives, what they like, what they hate. For example, write about the fitness instructor you wanted to use in your rejected query from Prevention. Write about her college years at Princeton, her years as a corporate lawyer on Wall Street, how she escaped the rat race and became her dream occupation. Before, she was just an expert in a health article. Now, she can be profiled in a womans magazine; mentioned in a lifestyle magazine for lawyers or fitness instructors; emphasized in a regional magazine in New Jersey. 3. Write pre-pitches. This idea doesnt work when youre new to an editor. However, if you received encouragement from an editor who rejected your queries, try submitting a brief sentence describing your idea and requesting whether the editor finds it a good match. After publishing my first article on a feminist website, Ive learned to regularly send sentence-long pitches to the managing editors. Occasionally I get an acceptance. Even if you currently write part-time, my tips will help you network with editors. In an industry where youre competing with thousands of other writers and thousands of other ideas, youre only as good as submitting articles on time and building a good reputation with publications. The muse myth doesnt recognize that. Like a lazy romantic partner, it must go. Behlor Santi thebxscribbbler1980@gmail.com www.behlorsanti.net

How to Write a Good Attendance Policy

How to Write a Good Attendance Policy Attendance is one of the biggest indicators of school success. Students who attend school regularly are naturally exposed to more than those who are routinely absent. Furthermore, absences can quickly add up. A student who misses an average of twelve days a year from kindergarten through twelfth grade will miss 156 days of school which nearly translate to an entire year.  Schools must do everything within their limited power to compel parents to get their children to school. Adopting and maintaining a strict school attendance policy is a necessity for every school. Sample School Attendance Policy Because we are concerned about your child’s safety and well-being, we ask that you notify the school by phone the morning the student is absent by 10:00 AM. Failure to do this will result in the student receiving an unexcused absence. Types of absences are: Excused: An absence due to illness, doctor’s appointment, or serious illness or death of a family member. Students must go to the teachers and request make-up work immediately upon their return. The number of days absent plus one will be allowed for every consecutive day missed. The first five absences will only require a phone call to be excused. However, any absence after five will require a call and a doctor’s note upon the return of the student to be excused. Explained: An explained absence (not an absence due to illness, doctor’s appointment, serious illness, or death of a family member) is when a parent/guardian takes the student out of school with the principal’s prior knowledge and approval. Students will be required to obtain assignments for classes to be missed and an assignment form completed before leaving the school. The assignments will be due on the day the student returns to school. Failure to follow this policy will result in the absence being recorded as an unexcused absence. Extra-Curricular Activity Absences: Students are allowed 10 activity absences. Activity absence is any absence that is school related or school sponsored. Extra-curricular activities include, but are not limited to, field trips, competitive events, and student activities. Truancy: A student who leaves school without parental consent or is absent from school on a regular basis without school authorization, or has a high rate of absenteeism shall be reported to the County District Attorney. Parents/Guardians are compelled to send their child to school and could incur legal liability for failure to do so. Unexcused: An absence in which the student is out of school that does not qualify as excused or explained. The student will be brought to the office for disciplinary action and will receive no credit (0’s) for all class work missed. When a parent does not call to report an absence by 10:00 AM the morning of absence, the school will attempt to reach the parents at home or work. The principal can determine or change an absence from excused to unexcused, or from unexcused to excused. Excessive Absences: A letter will be sent informing any parent when their child has 5 total absences in a semester. This letter is meant to serve as a warning that attendance may be becoming an issue.A letter will be sent informing any parent when their child has 3 total unexcused absences in a semester. This letter is meant to serve as a warning that attendance is becoming an issue.After 10 total absences in a semester, the student will be required to make up each additional absence through Summer School, or they will not be promoted to the next grade level. For example, 15 total absences in a semester will require 5 days of Summer School to make up those days.After 5 total unexcused absences in a semester, the student will be required to make up each additional absence through Summer School in May, or they will not be promoted to the next grade level. For example, 7 total unexcused absences will require 2 days of Summer School to make up those days.If a student has 10 unexcused absences in a semester, the parents/guardians will be reported to the local district attorney. The student is also subject to automatic grade retention. Attendance letters will be automatically mailed when a student reaches 6 and 10 unexcused absences or 10 and 15 total absences during the school year. This letter is intended to inform the parent/guardian that there is an attendance issue that needs to be corrected along with potential consequences.Any student having more than 12 unexcused absences or 20 total absences for the entirety of the school year will be automatically retained in the current grade level regardless of academic performance.An administrator may make exceptions for extenuating circumstances at their discretion. Extenuating circumstances may include hospitalization, long-term illness, the death of an immediate family member, etc.