Word Count - how do you know?

[Diannecp]

How can you possibly know when writing a query letter how long your proposed article will be! Okay, make that a question mark I guess! ??? I mean, you're not supposed to write the article first, right? I can guess, going from my outline and proposed paragraphs, but what if I propose a 1200 word article and only come up with 1000 words? Is there a rule of thumb I can use?

[jvdoles]

Publications often have the word count as part of their submission guidelines. Then, your job as writer is to write within the guideline. Sometimes it may take some very judicious editing to get the count down into the usable range. But that's okay--its part of being a writer.