Danger of Over Eagerness

Writers are often an earnest lot, falling in love with stories, jumping for joy at the idea of an assignment, and ready to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Unfortunately, if you want to have a profitable writing business, this is a tendency that you have to correct - now.

If you find yourself doing any of the following:

• spilling details of your personal life as asides in your communications with clients
  
• adding smiley emoticons to your business emails
  
• spontaneously offering to turn articles in several days early
  
• forcing yourself to be jovial when talking to a client
  
• immediately responding to any email from a client, no matter what else you are doing
  
• wanting to become "best friends" with a client
  
• panicking because you sent a query a whole two days ago and you still haven't heard back
  
• sounding breathlessly enthusiastic

or if you do other things that could easily fall into such a list, then you're suffering from WPS - Writers Puppy Syndrome. Puppies are cute, they're fun, but you don't expect anything serious from them because ... well, because they're puppies.

The same thing goes in the writing business, just like in any other business. If people are so enthusiastic as to to bounce and beam, your inclination will likely be to find their care takers and seem them safely back into a room with soft walls. Think of this is a more common setting: dating. Do you now or did you ever get interested in someone who would follow you around, anxious for even slight amounts of attention? Probably not. You can't take someone seriously if they have no sense of self worth and dignity. That's one big reason why people who stand off a little have so much more of a draw.

Don't creep out your clients and prospects. Get yourself calm and centered before speaking with or writing to one. Remember that this is not the only fish in the business sea, and that you have other things you also need to do with your time. That's not to suggest being frosty or unaccommodating. But when you're interacting with others, be relaxed, self-aware, and yourself. You might find that suddenly you become far more attractive to those who need work done.