When all else fails, send a hail-mary plea to your editor. A good writer-editor relationship is paramount for any freelancer, but this is especially true for the columnist. Some weeks you’ll be late, and you’re going to need your editor to be understanding. Some weeks you’ll push the boundaries a little too far, and your editor is there to walk you back. And then there are the weeks when you have absolutely no clue what to write about, and your editor will reply to your sad, harried email with a great idea, suggesting you write a column, say, about how to generate column ideas every week. Meta. Perfect.

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Ann Friedman is a magazine editor who loves the Internet. She lives in Los Angeles