Reactivate Your Writing-Brain with Other Creative Pursuits

I've always been into the artsy stuff. When all the other little girls were taking ballet or soccer I was painting a multi-colored duck I made from clay and making my Thanksgiving turkey ceramics "multi-cultural."

I wasn't so good at that math stuff so I threw myself into reading, writing, collaging, jewelry making, music appreciation, catholic iconography (I was raised in a non-devout Southern Baptist family though), Ouija board-making (complete with a popsicle-stick thingie that you put your hands on and it moves around...you know what I'm talking about?), cross-stitching, sewing (by hand, I was afraid of my tiny sewing machine I got for Christmas when I was five), and several years ago I started painting in acrylics on canvas. I am a connoisseur and appreciator of indie crafts.

I did play T-ball for two years when I was six and seven but much of my time was spent in the outfield where I picked dandelions and shuffled my feet while staring into space.
I took figure skating lessons around that time too and ended up getting kicked out because I thought I knew how to do everything and would literally skate circles around the other kids. Not because I was that good--I physically skated in circles around the group and didn't listen to the instructor.

On the other hand, my drawing of a woman with a veil in the middle of a happy jungle made it into a museum for a period of time when I was in first grade.

My point is: I no longer play t-ball or have plans to compete in the winter Olympics anytime soon for ice skating, but I still do all of these other creative things. I immerse myself in many other creative forms whether I'm good at it or not because it relaxes me and gets a different set of creative functions working in my brain which refreshes my perspective and I can tackle my writing with a new energy and insight.

So try indulging in other forms of creativity whether it be refinishing furniture, cooking, quilting, knitting, collaging or whatever, it could bring about stress relief and shake up your brain a bit.

Kick Your Writer's Block Out of the House with Blogs

I found something very interesting about my writing process the other day...I found that when I blog I write faster, it's stream-of-conciousness, and I don't worry about what I'm writing I just get it down.
This is NOT how it works when I work in a word processor. When I work in Microsoft Word or other, I stare at a blank page, every word matters and I can't seem to just "let go." It's painful and makes me move slower than I want or need to.

So...my idea is to start a private blog where I can write every day--things I'm working on for people, my creative work, a journal, etc. No one reads it and I don't have to worry about what I'm writing but I still get the feeling of writing a blog post.

Do whatever you have to do to be an effective writer. If you have to trick your mind into thinking it's doing something else, then do it!
I'm constantly playing games with my mind to get it be more efficient and get things done so my stress levels stay low. Which in turn tricks me into believing I have some sort of control over it when really it's as manic as the tweakers who lived next door to me in college and would wake me up with their vacuuming every night. My brain likes to vacuum at inconvenient times too.

Do you trick your mind to make your process easier?

Setting Your Freelance Writing Goals

When it comes to setting freelance writing goals most people have a different process. Some swear by their method, others by theirs and I think all methods are correct depending on YOU.

Here are the two main methods I see most often:

1) Set your goals to be reachable. Some say that setting goals too high will just disappoint you, and sometimes this is the case. Again it depends on how you operate. Do you like slow and steady? Do you like the feeling of achieving goals regularly? Who doesn't? It feels good to keep moving. But some thrive off of hitting those goals from week to week. Does getting those smaller goals out of the way motivate you? This is the one for you then.

2) Set your goals sky high. This is often regarded as the best way to stress yourself out and disappoint. This is the one that works for me though. When I set my goals high I am more likely to throw myself into it fully thus passing any smaller "would-be goals" along the way.
When I set a small goal I will reach it then stop there to reassess whereas when I set them higher it effectively motivates me to plow over those smaller ones to get to the next level. I don't always meet those larger goals but I am also able to feel satisfied with what I did accomplish towards it.

3) A synthesis of both. (duh). This method is highly recommended. I don't follow it well enough, I tend to be too manic but it seems to be the most generally logical way to set goals for most people.
Imagine the biggest thing you want to accomplish with your freelance writing. Then, form a tree that branches down identifying "stepping-stone goals" that could get you there. That way you have varying degrees of difficulty to overcome, can work on the smaller goals needed to get there and still have your eye on the big guy.
This helps to organize your thoughts, your process and what you want from your career. But again, you may prove to be more effective with one of the other two above or your own plan.

It all comes down to knowing how you operate and figuring out what works best for you, these are just simple guidelines to get you started.

In short: Don't listen to what self-help books tell you on HOW to set your goals, figure out what works for YOU.

Networking and Volunteering

Short and sweet:
When I started the volunteer process to teach literacy I went to a workshop/training session on how to do this.

Besides all the invaluable information provided in the workshop, I also came out of there with 3 potential opportunities for freelance work simply by mentioning what I do for a living.

One of the best...an editor for a fairly popular national publication also volunteers with this organization.

The other two opportunities were possible SEO/Copywriting clients with the potential for long-term work.

So get out there and volunteer, you'll meet some awesome people and get your name out there in the community and be able to work your way into opportunities you may not have been able to otherwise.

Tip #2 continued from the last post "What Else Can You do as a Freelance Writer?"

Last time I posted about teaching in general and identifying the needs of a client to gain work, play it to your advantage, etc.

This time I want to write about volunteering.

I recently started the process for volunteering to teach literacy to adults. 1 in 3 people in Houston are functionally illiterate so that's over 1 million people in just my area that can't even read the words we write. This often keeps them from getting better jobs as they have to get jobs that don't require any writing or reading...mostly blue collar jobs like construction where their paycheck comes up short whenever it rains.

I consider myself very lucky to have been born into a family that regards reading and writing as the bread of life which then enabled me to pursue writing and a freelance career. So it feels great to be able to pass on that knowledge that has become so commonplace to me.

Consider volunteering in any capacity. Relate it to your writing if you want, teach creative writing workshops to inner-city kids, volunteer with a literary arts organization in your area or whatnot. You'll help someone else which in turn can help you. Helping others is a great way to spark a different sort of creativity in yourself. It helps keep stress levels low and can kick depression or cabin fever out.

What Else Can You Do As a Freelance Writer?

Well, here we are at the end of September and it's been one whole month since I last posted. I apologize, it's been one hell of a month and I'm not sure where it's gone. I've started teaching an ESL English class, dealt with hurricane Ike, had future in-laws in town and have been catching up on wedding planning that I hadn't done for 2 months and now it's getting to be crunch time.
I've been working very little with my actual writing, and reading as much. I'm not worried about the money I'm losing because I'm making up for it by teaching, I'm more worried about the fact that I'm going days without writing a single word that doesn't have the words "invitation," or "non-traditional wedding" spelled out in italics to make my point heard.

That said let's talk about one of the other things you can do in addition to freelance writing and how they can benefit you.

1) Teach a class of some sort, somewhere. I started teaching ESL because my fiance (I really hate that word for some reason so I most often just say "my dude") has a lot of "english-as-second-language" speakers at his work where he is an engineering supervisor and there had been numerous complaints about the lack of understanding between them and the salesmen so some had suggested replacing them. Now, although it is important they communicate effectively at work I have to say most of them are rockin' out at their job better than native English speakers...so "why get rid of them? Why not FIX the problem?" I suggested. Then I suggested to them that I could teach a class. I drew up a short proposal of what we'd cover, we negotiated a fantastic rate and I was in.

What does this do for me?
a) It provides me with some lovely corporate rates without actually workin' for the man.

b) It gets me out of the house when I normally wouldn't leave

c) I interact with people--which, as an introverted freelancer is sometimes difficult.

d) It lets me switch gears a couple times a week and focus on different things when my brain is getting foggy from looking at the same project for hours.


Identify a need and determine what you can do to help them with it then pitch yourself.
Look for every opportunity and try it out. Nothing has to be permanent. Maybe you even take a short-term, on-site, part-time job doing some writing to get you out and meet people. It's so easy to get into a routine of holing up in your house, but I find that if I do that for too long I start getting depressed and can't focus on my work.

Do you have any auxiliary jobs you do?

Tip #2 in next post...stay tuned...

Many thanks to Wired Magazine for my geekness. Until recently, technology was a thing in my peripheral. I watched tech geeks in the same way I would watch cheerleaders at the highschool pep rallies, rolling my eyes and wishing I had skipped school that day. Although, with tech geeks it was more like rolling my eyes and being thankful I wasn't the one spending $3000 on a computer or trading out my PDA every year. Now it's: More gigs to the iphone? Rock on! (not that I even have an iphone...yet)

Now, however, things have changed as things do and I find myself saving paychecks and skipping lunches to buy these cool toys that are out. Luckily, many of them can be used in some way for my writing and since I make money off of writing it looks like they are attractively tax deductible. If that's not a reason to buy a new toy, I don't know what is.
But there are also a lot of non-geeky things out there for writers that are nearly as fun and cool and less expensive which I'll also post about as we go.

I'm going to start posting reviews, books and tools for writers on this blog since I couldn't seem to keep up with my geek blog. That blog is now deleted and gone for good! (or at least for now).

Microsoft Office 2007

If you do not have Microsoft Office 2007 you need to head to your nearest Circuit City and get a copy. Recently they had a sale on Office 2007 and you could get it for $99.99...normal price is around $150.
Maybe you're used to the drop down menus and such, maybe you like everything hidden from sight, maybe you're just used to this way of life and don't know any better.
I am pretty proficient at Microsoft Word 2003 and earlier and had become accustomed to how to use it, where to find things, etc. but with 2007 everything is right in front of you. Office 2007 is by far one of the most intuitive programs I have ever used. I am a very visual person and the first day I opened it I immediately found all kinds of things I had never known about in previous versions because everything was in drop down menus and I only went to those if I knew what I wanted but the visual interface of the 2007 version lets me see things I never even knew I wanted to use. It's actually buttons now, big beautiful buttons that so effectively illustrate what to do with each one that it takes every bit of guess work out and I can accomplish things much more quickly and efficiently and the visual quality of my work is much better.
And all of this goes for all the programs in the suite. The usability of this program gets 5 stars from me and a "hell yeah!"

This is a beautiful tool. For writers, you really couldn't ask for a better suite of programs for your writing. Well, actually there aren't exactly a lot of other options out there.

I am dragging my feet on Windows Vista however, I don't think it can impress me as an operating system as Office has impressed me in it's own category. There aren't many options out there that are comparable to this type of software so there's not much choice, but if you are still using 2003 or earlier, please, for the love of Steve Ballmer, upgrade to 2007! (otherwise you may incite his wrath and good god, you don't want to do that!)

By the way...this post was in no way influenced by Microsoft themselves, Steve Ballmer or others. If I had it my way I'd be using Google Office 2007 but 1) there's no such thing and 2) let's not go there today, I'm not in the mood to get on my soapbox about Microsoft and the shenanigans of late. We'll save that for another post.

Knowing When to Give Up on a Niche Blog

I launched 5 blogs the day I started blogging. I picked five things that interested me or niches I am relatively good at and what I thought might be helpful to others. But as time went on I found that I don't ever feel like posting to most of them, or I don't have time, or whatever other excuse I come up with on a daily basis when I am feeling guilty about not keeping up with them.

Soooooo...I've decided to delete a couple (maybe more) and focus on the ones I am more likely to post on. Maybe I'll find another niche I know and like later and try that one out, but for now I'm just going to focus on the ones I seem to be more interested in. It's all about quality, not quantity.

Some things are trial and error. Sometimes you just don't know that you won't follow-through with something.
Sometimes you just have to let go....

Organizing Your Time for Blogging

Often my mind is filled with the work that needs to be done for clients every day, or personal essay ideas I need to pursue while the muse is still sitting on the couch with me, my laptop and my pot of coffee. So when I need to sit down and do a blog post I have problems shifting my brain into that mode and focusing on a topic, or even coming up with a topic.

I use a method I described in a previous post where I save a bunch of drafts that either just have a topical title or a bit of text so I can just log in, pick one that's already started and be good to go. However, I needed a little more help to keep me on task so what I've started doing is sitting down for a couple hours on Sunday, writing 2 or 3 blog posts and scheduling them to post during the week. That way I don't have to worry about it when I just really have to buckle down on a personal essay idea I have or a client project. It helps to keep me organized, posting regularly and keeps my stress levels low because it's one less thing I have to do several times a week. Plus, when I start writing a blog post I'm often tempted to shoot off onto other blogs and get sucked in for 2 hours reading blogs when I should be working.

Something you could try if you also have trouble finding time or motivation to blog at inconvenient times.

Ten Things To Do Before Starting a Freelance Business

There are a lot of things to think about when starting out as a freelance writer, and it's not just about the query letters, the writing, the submitting, the search for publications, etc. It's about running a business and being a professional.

Here are 10 housekeeping items to do before starting your freelance business:

1) Create an inspiring work area. Set up your desk, your book shelves, your cup of pens. Put images on your walls, pictures on your desk. Whatever makes you feel most comfortable and inspired.
2) Get a website. I am a full-time freelance writer who still has not finished a website, and I'm doing alright, but I have made several connections who wanted to know what my website was and I couldn't direct them to anything. Try to do this as one of the first things you do.
3) Get business cards. A very simple and inexpensive marketing tool for networking and giving current clients little reminders when you stuff one in with your invoice.
4) Get a separate checking account for business. Never use your personal account, the IRS doesn't like this when it comes to tax time and it's easier for you to keep track of your expenses and receivables.
5) Get a savings account for your business. Then put a percentage of what you earn into it every time you are paid for estimated taxes you will owe.
6) Get a blog and keep up with it. A great marketing tool, it lets people see your expertise, your style, etc. It helps to brand you a leader in your niche or field.
7) Choose your niche(s). You can be a generalist or specialist, but either way you should have a few (no more than approx. 4) niches that you know well. More on generalist vs. specialist in another post.
8) Create spreadsheets. I use one for all corporate jobs, one for publications, one for general contact info of clients and one for general contact info for publications. Lots of database upkeep, but VERY helpful in the long run.
9) Create a filing system. You'll need this to hold receipts for things you've purchased for your business so that you may deduct them at tax time, you can keep hard copies for everything you do, keep a file for every client you have, keep your banking info there, keep EVERYTHING.
10) Make a daily or weekly schedule. This can be tentative but I find I stay on task a little bit better if I have a schedule of what I need to do for the day or week and I break it up into segments of time judging from an estimate of how long it takes to complete each task. Don't get too worked up if you don't ever end up following it exactly. It's about finding out how you work best and making changes as needed. A schedule can just be a guide for your day or week, not an absolute.

Positive Thinking and the Freelance Writer

The life of the freelance writer can be quite hard. The rejection specifically can make or break a freelancer. However, I'm a huge believer in the power of positive thinking. Perhaps a bit Romantic, idealistic, ethereal, woo-woo, whatever. It seems to work for me.

Negative thinking and discouragement brings you down, it puts up a block in your brain and inhibits your ability to write anything besides self-deprecating words in your diary. It puts a cloud over everything and what you do end up writing you will often end up deleting immediately.

As writers, we're often sensitive, easily overthrown, fragile even. Have you heard that thing about how it takes like 12 positive comments to make up for one negative one? Rings pretty true.

So, as much as I may be at risk of sounding like a certain SNL sketch from the 90's (I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and gosh darn it, people like me. ...) here are a few things to help keep you thinking positively...

1) Write down 3 things you want from your writing, three goals, three positive thoughts, whatever and tack them on your computer or somewhere you can see them. But don't write something like "I want to be a better writer." That statement causes your brain to assume you aren't already good enough and although we should all strive to be better writers, it's the semantics that put up a block in your brain. Use something else like "I am a good/great writer" or use past goals completed like this: "I got 12 query letters out last month" to remind you that you are working hard and meeting your goals. I don't pretend to be a psychologist, but this seems to work well for me. It gives me a sense of pride in my accomplishments and motivates me to keep it up.

2) Write affirmations. Freewrite some affirmations in private, in a journal or whatever. Just keep listing positive qualities about yourself and your writing in particular. Eventually they will somehow become true to you. Write things that may even feel ridiculous or arrogant. Things like: I am an awesome writer, I will get my latest article published (even be specific in the article title), etc. and even start listing your accomplishments. It will help to bring about a confidence in yourself that you can absolutely do this, you can absolutely be a published writer.

3) Be audacious. Put yourself out there and attack every opportunity with energy and focus and positive thinking. The more you do so, the more you may be rejected, yes--but also the more you have the opportunity to learn from those rejections, and the more potential you have to gain those bylines.

4) Never use "I can't" statements. Whether verbally, in thought, or in writing, don't ever let yourself believe you can't do something. If you believe it, it will likely be true and it will often come to simply being you won't do it.

I'm more than guilty of delving into negative thoughts, but practicing these 4 things helps to keep me on track more often than not. Of course negative thoughts and statements creep up here and there, but certainly less often when I am practicing positive thinking and I credit much of this practice to my successes I've had.

Deciding to Start Freelance Writing

The decision to start a freelance writing career is a tough one for some. There are numerous things to think about and organize and a certain level of motivation and commitment required in order to be successful. But you can always start freelancing slowly for those of you who are too scared to jump right into full-time freelance work right off the bat.

You can always start out as an occasional freelancer, writing when you want to, accepting the jobs you want, not starting another until you've finished with the first, all while keeping your regular job (if you need one of those horrible things). Put together a simple portfolio of some sample work you've done (whether published or not) so you can have something to show potential clients. The occasional freelancer may do some marketing or blogging but generally can just gain projects and clients by replying to ads on job sites.

Once you've gotten comfortable with your method of freelancing and you are able to complete your projects with more ease and efficiency than you did with your first project then start moving into part-time freelance. Part-time freelance (to me) means you start marketing yourself, you start blogging and getting your name out there. You may start contacting a few businesses here and there to let them know about your services and see if they need someone to do some content. You gain one or two regular clients and you basically keep a steady stream of "light" projects or one or two heavy ones.
Once you start freelancing part-time and are finding that you are enjoying it, then start setting goals for going full-time. Do you have a time-line of six months, two weeks or even a year? Where do you want to be by then? How much do you want to be making? Start making a list of all the things you need to do to to achieve your goals and put it in a conspicuous spot where it will remind you regularly about your goals.

Now you're ready to move to full-time freelance writing? Get a website, you may have done this previously, but if you haven't then it's an important step in freelancing full-time. Personally, mine is still being designed because I spent too much time trying to read Creating Web Pages for Dummies and failing. Start studying up on self-employment taxes, running a home business and finances. Make some spreadsheets to track all of your clients, payments, publications, accounts receivables, etc. or you can invest in a Quickbooks program. Then market like crazy. Network like crazy. Spend about 50% of your time marketing and doing your finances and the other 50% writing. Make sure you don't miss too many days of marketing, you may not see the effects immediately, but likely a month later you could end up with a gap in work.


All in all, this is an easy method for those who like to play things a little safer, or need a full-time regular job while starting their freelancing career, or for any other reason.

How I use Helium

If you're looking to make your millions as a freelance writer then you probably don't want to look toward Helium to help you do that. I once wrote an article on there that stayed in the first and second spots for a year and I made a whopping $.29 from it. But I still use Helium all the time.

I don't ever actually post anything on Helium anymore, but I found that it's a great starting point for getting topics and politely asking my writer's block to get the hell out. It asks questions on your opinions that you can use for an op-ed piece somewhere else. General topics that you hadn't thought of in awhile may pique your muse's interest. Then you can take off from there.

There are a couple ways you can make money with Helium, like their marketplace where content requests are posted and you submit your article based on the proposed topics. But you're submitting your article without knowing if they will select yours or not. That means you just spent time writing a specific article that may or may not be used, when you could be using that time to gain a new client or write something for a "sure thing" or whatever.

You can also write for the contests on Helium. I think there's a psychological effect at play here, somehow it seems easier to write an article or piece that you don't know will win if it's for a contest rather than just a "job." I haven't done this yet, but I'd be much more likely to go this route than use the marketplace.

Point is: there are lots of places that will pay for your content, so spend your time achieving those clients/publications rather than writing articles that may never be used. It helps prevent more disappointment if you don't champion those jobs and saves you some time better used elsewhere.

Setting Your Freelance Writing Rates

When you are first starting out as a freelance writer, one of the most common questions is "how much should I charge?" The answer often varies depending on the type of work you do. SEO content has the potential to bring in more money than a general blog post for a client so be sure you are setting rates according to the amount of research or professional, specialized knowledge required.

On another note, you may live beneath your means and not technically NEED more money. That's not to say you shouldn't still charge more. It just means you can probably work less for higher pay then those of use who have unnatural obsessions with religious icon kitch, the art of buying books (as opposed to checking them out of a library), weird gadgets you don't really need, or IKEA.

For those of you who live beyond your means, be prepared to set your rates a little higher and work a little more. It's your business, you can set the rates you want to set. There are no rules and there are people and companies out there willing to pay more than you think for their content.
Plumbers can charge around $100 just to come in your house for 5 minutes and tell you that you need to go down to Target and buy a plunger, or worse, they will unclog your toilet for you for another $100 rather than telling you to get a $3 plunger. But we pay it, right? A clear toilet is what we need and a plumber can help us achieve it if we're willing to pay.

Now consider this...how suspicious would you be if your plumber charged only $5 for the whole shebang? He took the time and gas to come to your house, take a look at your pipes, give a diagnosis and fix the clog...and he's only charging $5???? There are many writers out there perfectly willing to do a job for $5 and many companies who offer the same. Well, they'll get what they pay for.
Keep in mind that there are always people willing to pay higher rates for a good writer. If it's website content, their company's image is on the line so naturally they want great content from someone who knows what they are doing.

A Handy Tool from freelanceswitch.com to help you calculate your rates.
http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/


This link was given to me by another freelance writer awhile ago. I don't follow it exactly, but it gave me a great basis of where to start, then I increased the suggested hourly rate to nearly double. Plus, it's SO easy to use.

Freelancing: The Virtually Recession Proof Business

As freelance writers it's easy to get a little apprehensive about the future of our jobs. Will I have enough work next week? Next month? Next year? Recession or not, as freelancers we don't always have the most secure jobs. Then you add the anxiety of recession in there and it's a wonder we're not all on Xanax.
However, let's put this into perspective a little bit. Let's say you had a "real" job, a 9-5 or whatever, and the gas prices continue to go up and we dive head first into full-blown recession. If you are in an industry that is affected by a recession then you become one of the first in line to to lose your job, and let's say you do. Then what? You are 100% out of work at that moment. You had one source of income that at one time seemed like the more stable option. You thought you were being realistic, sensible, doing your duty to support your family or yourself and now it's gone and you have to attempt to find a job during a recession while also worrying about health insurance and the like.

BUT, if you are a freelance writer or other freelancer, you're likely safer than you think. Consider the fact that as a freelancer you have the opportunity to work with many varied types of companies, some of which will be affected by a recession and force them to cut back, but many others won't be affected as much. So let's say you are a freelancer who has 15 clients you work with on a fairly regular basis, you might lose some of them but the chance that you'll still have at least 20% of your clients is really quite good. So that means you're at least still making 20% of your income as opposed to losing your entire income in one day. Then you just pick up the pace on your marketing strategies a bit, target the companies that seem like they have a better chance of thriving even in a recession and go about your merry freelancing way.

Then you add the fact that as a freelancer you're likely saving on gas by not commuting everyday and eating out at lunch.

Freelancing can be stressful, recession can be intimidating, but ultimately you are likely in a better position than working for Ford in the SUV division. There's always work out there for freelancers but not always work for the rest of the country. Consider yourself fortunate.

Associated Content and Others: Why You Shouldn't "Give" Your Content Away

I found out today exactly WHY I do not generally use sites like Associated Content or eHow to make a little extra money between gigs or even just for fun. Some people swear by these sites to earn a little extra. They keep paying over time, and if you write enough, apparently you can make quite a bit of money. Also, they help get your name on Google more, and keep you writing and it's one more way to market yourself.

BUT there's one caveat that really keeps me from submitting to these sites...

As I was browsing submission guidelines to various publications I came across a pub that paid $150-$300 per article. So, a looooooong time ago on a similar article site as Associated Content, I posted an article that I realized today was a perfect fit for this publication.

And of course, guess what? They do not accept previously published material, online or otherwise. Now, I actually still own all the rights, unlike the various rights options you have at AC, but I still was unable to submit this article because it was previously published. Not a cool feeling at all.

Now, I suppose I could revise it, but the type of article it is and involving personal experience, it just didn't work that way. Years ago when this article was put on the web it never entered my mind that I would use it later and here I am kicking myself because I could have possibly sold it for a whole lot more than I originally got for it.

Before you submit to these sort of sites like eHow and AC, hold onto it for awhile and look around for other possible submission options. There is a need for all sorts of articles out there and even if you only get $15 for it, that's likely still more than you'd get at AC or others, not to mention it would probably be a bit more credible of a source that you can send potential clients to.

Nothing against AC, eHow or the like, just exhaust your options before you virtually give your content away. You may be seriously kicking yourself someday if you don't.

Freelance Writing and Clients: Effective Communication

As freelance writers we work online A LOT. We do much of our communication through email, forums, IM, contact forms, etc. If you haven't been living under a rock out in the boondocks you likely have used email and you know that the words you are trying to convey in email aren't always interpreted the way you want or expect them to be. This can result in a multitude of problems with clients including: incomplete projects, incorrect projects and on the far end of things, loss of a client.

If you are working with a client solely through email what may seem clear as an OCD's window to your client may be as clear as my nicotine-covered windshield on a sunny day to you. And it goes both ways of course. You have clients who need to provide you with the information you need to complete their project, but they may not know how to communicate that effectively. This is where you swoop in and save the day (or at least your client's project so you can be paid), you need to become the authority on effective communication and gently lead your client toward the answers you need. Yes, clients are sometimes high-maintenance. And that's ok. Most people are about one thing or another.

So here's what you, as a freelance writer, can do to coax those words out of your client:

1) Number your questions and separate them by paragraph breaks. If you are finding yourself emailing your client over and over asking the same questions because for some reason they don't seem to be reading your questions it may be because those questions are tied up in paragraphs. People, especially busy people, have this tendency to scan paragraphs looking for the info they want or need. This is perhaps what you have done to get down here to these points, scanned for the bold and numbers. Separating things, numbering them and even putting them in bold drive your reader and client to the most important parts and can help you get the answers they need. It's much easier for them to add in some answers real quick if you've already given them the room to do so.

2) The "Fluff Factor": This is a lesson in customer service. I worked at a bank a while ago and my boss was a big fan of the "fluff factor" when emailing internal and external customers. Our emails were tailored to prevent the recipient from getting defensive in any way. Often consisting of smiley faces, nothing in all capital letters because that can be patronizing or seem like yelling, lots of "Thanks!" and friendly exclamation points, not the ones that rhetorically state: "what the #%$^ are you doing!?!?!?" But even the most well-intentioned emails can be misconstrued and put certain people on the defense which causes them to shut down their receptivity. All in all, it's just good practice to be professional and friendly...although your email doesn't have to look like a high-school girl's notebook with flowers, hearts and smiley faces drawn all over the place.

3)Separate your subjects into separate emails. For efficiency and calarity's sake I like to get as much said as possible in emails. Anything that I can think of that impacts communication with that person goes into those emails. I may have several questions, then some ideas, then some contract details to work out, or whatever else. However, I find that when I separate these topics into respective emails I am much more likely to get the responses I want and need. But don't bombard your client with five emails at once, that will just annoy. Prioritize them and send one at a time and let the responses and communication flow naturally from one topic to the next.

A lot of people don't have these communication problems with their clients, but I find that I do quite frequently. Many of the clients I work with don't know exactly what I do for them, they may think I just write their content so they may not understand why I need to know these things in order to complete their project. They are not freelance writers themselves and often just don't get what we do. They just know they need their content.

Blogging: How to keep up your blogs and keep stress levels low

Lately I've been having an issue with keeping up my blogs. I either feel like I don't have time, or I'm exhausted or my brain is in a fog and I can't string thoughts together easily.
So to help myself I'm trying something new and thought it may be helpful in some way for you as well if you don't already have a process.

I've started creating an on going list of drafts in the posting area back here behind-the-scenes. Every time I get an idea for a post I come over here and simple just type the title in or a few words to get me going and it usually spawns several other ideas to which I will do the same thing. Then I just log on and type in a few lines here and there or if I'm feeling focused I finish a whole post.

Right now I have 10 posts sitting back here waiting to be written and it takes a load off knowing if my brain is in a fog I've already made things a lot easier. I can just pop in and write a bit here and there.

I'm constantly looking for ways to decrease my stress level and make things easier and more efficient. Although we may work at home and some people think we don't do anything all day, it's the same as running any business and there's always stress of some kind no matter what.

What do you do to help ensure your stress level is low?

"When it Rains, it Pours" and probably some other cliches

My mother always said: "don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
As freelancers starting out we crave work. Some of us will take anything, work for free, or what about all those "Elancers" out there who are bidding to write 30 articles for five bucks? I certainly don't have that much time for WAY less than minimum wage. There comes a time when you find you have TOO much work and what do you do? Turn it down? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Feast or Famine...when it rains it pours and so on. At times like this though, if you want to keep your clients and continue to gain new ones you may want to consider alternatives when you are bombarded by work. It's not good for so many reasons: possible burn-out, stress, less focus on each project, etc. It can end up hurting you more than helping you.

There was a recent post on Avid Writer's blog in which she talks about outsourcing your writing when you just have too much to do. Some people have quite a few freelancers they work with and pass work out to. This could be a great option for you, especially if you are finding you are not getting in enough time for marketing, accounting and other administrative tasks.

Here's another option: outsource your administrative tasks. In his book Getting Started as a Freelance Writer, Robert W. Bly talks about how he outsources all of his Fed Ex/mailing, his accounting, research, etc. I think this is a great idea, it allows you to retain your actual freelance writing work and your clients while someone else takes care of the tasks you don't have time for or don't want to do. Get a college student who perhaps wants to learn the business (I think I've been watching too much Sopranos because that somehow sounded "mafioso-ish" to me) or maybe you even get one who is working toward a marketing degree to help you out with some marketing. Get them to help you out a few hours a week, just enough for beer money and Waffle House. Call it an internship of sorts.

Point is, you always have options instead of overloading yourself to the point of mental collapse. That's probably one of the worst things you can do as a freelance writer. Just wanted to reiterate the point and make a few other suggestions after reading Avid Writer's blog post awhile ago since I think it's very important for all of us to keep a level head!

Finally added a Contact button on the top right....

Please feel free to contact me at any time regarding freelance writing questions, comments or whatever is on your mind. Tell me how I'm doing, tell me what you want to see more of or you can just write to gripe about anything on this planet--there's plenty of material out there for that! Seriously, anything that's on your mind, but also, to help me maintain this blog as what the readers want to know maybe throw in a little query here and there.

The death of glossies? I don't think so!

With all of the newspaper layoffs at The LA Times, NYT and others, and Conde Nast publications having fallen significantly in ad revenue this first half, it appears it's a sign of the times that print is all moving to the cheaper online distribution practices and out of your mailbox, whether you want it or not. Bad for staff writers, sort-of great for freelancers...although many writers still love the print, it's sexier, it's comforting, it's some writer's milk and honey, writers love the print.

Are we watching the death of print? Will we wake up and discover in the very near future that Ray Bradbury was a modern-day Job? Or did someone just need to come up with a brilliant solution for all the overstock magazines laying around....

In an article on Foliomag.com, Dylan Stableford writes "If you can make a PDF, you can now publish a magazine," talking about Derek Powazek's genius brainchild MagCloud, a print-on-demand magazine publishing solution that is currently in beta. If you are a freelance writer who has always wanted to publish your own magazine but were afraid of the stacks and stacks of undistributed copies or high printing costs with no financial backing, then this may be the solution for you. Powazek wrote in an e-mail to FOLIO:. “MagCloud wants to be the people's printing press.” Not only that, but all you have to do is upload your magazine, MagCloud handles the rest as stated on Foliomag.com: "printing, mailing, subscription management, and more.”

So you can basically kick back and focus on marketing your mag and leave all the after-design grunt work to Powazek and MagCloud. Genius.

Click here for Derek Powazek's Blog Post Announcement
Click here for a Foliomag.com interview: An Interview with the Dudes Behind MagCloud

Does Your Website Reflect Your Writing?

For awhile now I have been noticing websites that offer a certain service, but that service is not reflected on their website.

I came across a few web design sites and immediately turned away because they were hard to navigate, hard to read, had way too much content all over the place, disorganized, links I wanted weren't in plain view, the design wasn't creative or it was TOO creative and there were no readily visible links. I imagine the bounce rates on these sites are high, but I could be wrong.

If I were to hire someone to do a service for me then it should be clear on their homepage whether they would probably be a good fit for me in order for me to move into the site.

The same thing goes for writers. I see freelance writers who list SEO content on their website as one of their services--sometimes their specialization, yet their own site is not optimized. If one of your visitors notices this, you will likely lose some credibility and a potential client. Even if you have great examples of your SEO content in your online portfolio on your site, the potential client probably won't get that far. Your site and specifically your homepage is often your first impression, so make sure you are delivering to yourself what you are offering to your customers.

Transition to full-time freelance writing is in full swing...

It's becoming official. I have now cut my hours at my day job to 7am-noon and am home by 12:15 everyday to do freelance work and am now freed up to have a full-time schedule. Up until now I have been working from the time I got home at 4pm until I went to bed (with the exception of a meal in there and maybe a television show) and mostly all day on weekends. It was mostly alright with me, I love what I do and I even love the grunt-work aspect, the organizing, the billing, the finances, etc. so it didn't seem all that bad. I haven't felt like it was taking up all my time, I haven't dreaded doing my freelance work, and my Dude is usually busy playing Xbox or his work he brought home from the office. But now...now I am free to actually schedule myself, have quiet time just me and my computer and write like crazy. Then I still have time to hang out with my Dude. Also, I'm pretty much making the same as I did at my full-time day job so all is good so far.

Bullies in the School Yard

A huge pet peeve of mine lately is watching freelance writers, on their blogs, make fun of newbies that have contacted them about freelance advice. I'm not even going to give you the sites or post examples because I'd be doing something along the same lines, you'll see them at some point if you're actively in the freelance writing blogosphere. I just want to make a few points about this.

Perhaps you are a newbie, or maybe you can remember back to when you were first starting out, imagine that you have contacted a freelance writer regarding advice, if you have done so then you are probably reading their blog here and there (if not regularly) because you perhaps hold their opinion/experience in some sort of high regard and believe they have something to teach you. Then soon after you see that they have blogged about you inquiry, perhaps even publishing your email in it's entirety with everything except your name and they are scathingly pointing out all of your typos/misspellings, or making comments that are poking fun at your questions, your comments, etc. Even if others don't know it was you who wrote that email, YOU know it and I personally would be embarrassed and maybe even wonder if I should get into freelancing at all.

I have absolutely no respect for freelance writers who do this. Not to mention, I've noticed at least one who links their freelance writing blog to their professional website and if I were a potential client of theirs and read something like that I'd immediately look elsewhere for my writer.

5 Reasons NOT to make fun of newbies:

1) It's completely unprofessional. You are running a business and unless you are warning your fellow freelancers against a certain "scammer" (see post on Jessica Mousseau a few posts down) you have no business passing public judgment on a fellow freelance writer.
2) You are a teacher whether you know it or not. If you are blogging about freelance writing, you are establishing yourself as an expert in that field and your purpose is to give advice. You took on that responsibility when you wrote your first freelance writing blog post, so live up to it. Encourage newbies or find a way to gently point out what they could improve, and answer questions with patience and compassion for them. They are starting a new venture, which can be scary and intimidating.
3) You were once that person. No matter what, when you started freelancing you most certainly had questions and how would you have felt if your questions had been publicly ridiculed? People need help and experience is the best kind of help people can get.
4) You are human. You most certainly made mistakes when starting out and most likely still do because YOU ARE HUMAN. Perhaps a newbie had typos/mistakes in their email, gently point out that they may want to work on that and be sure that all of their communication with others is virtually error-free--they probably already know they make typos. I personally make typos all the time, I know this, I don't really need to be reminded publicly, a personal email will do just fine, thank you.
5) You reek of insecurity. To me, this is the worst. If you are making fun of someone else, it makes you seem as if you think you are better than another. If you appear arrogant, well, arrogance is just simply the biggest, clearest window into your insecurity. Maybe you make fun to discourage the writer because you can't take the competition? I don't really know, all I know is that if you ARE trying to cut the competition out there than you are probably the one needing advice because you should just be focused on being the best you can be. If you are confident in your abilities you won't need to worry about competition, you'll have plenty of work and no time to play petty games. If you are confident in your ability you won't need to publicly make fun of people to make yourself feel better about yourself. Who cares if you don't make typos or ask what you may call "stupid questions"?

I have no respect for those people who make fun of others and I feel sorry for them that they can't seem to be more understanding and empathetic. They are likely hurting themselves and their business whether they know it or not.

I hated middle school and high school and don't really care to go back, so let's just all be respectable as writers and just make sure we're doing our best in all arenas and having some compassion for others.

Freelance Writing: SALES

I've mentioned before about how when you're a freelancer you are every department. Marketing, HR, Accounting, etc. What I have recently found out is that you are also your own sales department.
I have ALWAYS hated salespeople and although it's one of the highest paying fields that doesn't require a degree, I have never been the type to be able to sell things. When I was a telemarketer in college we had scripts of things to say in different situations of rejection, as soon as the words "no thank you" came out of their mouth we were supposed to launch right into another paragraph to get them to change their minds. Not really my style, I'm a little more low-key, a little more chill...ok, I'm a flippin' introvert who absolutely cannot push anything on anyone.

BUT I found that I'm actually not too bad at sales in the freelance world. Recently I scored a gig writing some web/SEO content for a web design company. In reviewing their site I noticed they had a blog, I sent an email to the client letting her know I'd noticed the blog, would love to help her write articles and could send her my rates if she was interested. She said she was. WHAT? I had to read it again... did I really just cross-sell something?
THEN, since hers is a company that designs websites she also offered to start offering copy writing to her clients that she could then pass on to me...SAY WHAT?

This is by far the best client I've ever had and I've been pretty lucky in the client category so far.
I've learned that it definitely pays to cross-sell your services and put it out there that you are looking for a lasting professional relationship with your clients. Maybe most of you have been doing this, but if you haven't then please do. Look around their site and see if there are any other services you could sell them on, then like a good salesperson, perhaps even offer them a discount for it.

Your freelance writing name

Part of marketing yourself as a freelance writer is branding yourself. Part of branding yourself is making sure Google can find you.
I recently found that my name in Google comes up as a pizza joint named Courtney's in Latham, New York. Along with a few other Courtney's Facebook profiles (not mine of course), a Myspace profile, a soccer player, some kid who is on honor roll (glad one of us has been) and finally my high school graduation announcement. Ok, so I was on honor roll once or twice...I think. Ok, let's just say I made nothing but A's in a few classes and read books behind my binder in all the others.

So what to do? It's not quite an issue yet, I haven't finished my professional website, I just started the transition into FULL-TIME freelance writing about two months ago (previously it was sporadic freelance) and I just started utilizing blogs and posting to forums, etc. So no worries yet.

Courtney Latham isn't a hugely popular name, but it's popular enough to require a little more effort on my part to get in the top rankings on Google.
OR, another option is choosing a pen name of course, a bit of a romantic notion if you sway that way...OR you can jsut come up with variations of your name. This is especially important if your name is John Smith, there will of course be countless Pocahontas links before yours even remotely comes up unless you are already a celebrity, in which case, why would you be reading this blog in the first place?

Start Googling variations, how does John C. Smith come up? Or even better: John Z. Smith? How many people do you think have a "Z" initial? Plus you have the added bonus of having this mysterious persona...what's their middle name? Zachariah? Zachius? Zeek? Who knows? The world will be on the edge of their seat trying to figure it out. Alright, maybe not so much, but it helps with Google rankings a bit if you have a variation that fewer people have...less competition and easier to move up in rankings.

Also you need to check to see if that name is available as a domain name, if it is buy it asap whether you will use it or not. Then buy up similar names too if you can. You can check your domain names here.

Also you can check how many people in the U.S. have your name and work off of that, check it out at How Many of Me.

Marketing yourself as a freelance writer

Here is another freelance writing tips excerpt I wrote for a writing contest on Writer's Resources. This one is about marketing yourself as a freelance writer. Click on the links to get the full article.

Pretend you are Robert Scoble Excerpt:

Pretending you are Robert Scoble simply means you should run your freelance writing as a marketing firm. Businesses often have several different departments, as should your freelance business. You sell your own product, you do your own accounting, you perform all administrative tasks, you are your customer service representative and perhaps most importantly, you are your own marketing department.
In theory, your actual billable hours should be about 50% of your time and your marketing should be the other 50% with the rest as overtime…does any freelancer actually only work 40 hours a week? I have a day job as a marketing manager and I’m still putting in over 40 in all the tasks that must be done as a freelancer.
So here are three ideas you should consider about your freelance writing marketing efforts...

More...

Keep that creative mind working

Here's an excerpt of a freelance writing tips article I wrote for a contest on Writer's Resources click on the links to read the full article.

Mind Wandering Excerpt:

Maybe you’ve been here—you have a project due to your editor tomorrow morning and you’ve dabbled at it here and there for a week but now that it’s due tomorrow, it’s crunch time so you spend the entire day forcing words out, backspacing, forcing more words and it’s just not working. You start with a blank document thinking it will help you refocus your thoughts. Nothing. Eventually, in the middle of the night you end up with some semblance of an article that you turn in the next day, not necessarily happy with your work, but just happy to have it done. I’ve so been there. What I found as a remedy surprised me (and stressed me out until I got used to it). When you are trying to focus you are narrowing your mind, forcing it into a box that’s limited by your subject matter...

Read the full article here

Trying to write on a trip....

Ok, so I'm back from a whirlwind trip to Colorado and ready to post! The purpose of my trip was to tie up some loose ends with our previous landlord and get our beautiful deposit back, and plan this long-distance wedding we're trying to plan.
So I take my laptop with every intention of writing at every possible moment, the plane, the airport, the car, morning coffee, the hotel, etc. and so I schlep this 4.4 pound laptop everywhere, go through the irritatingly inconvenient ritual of removing my laptop, shoes, belt, jacket, dignity, jewelry, and everything else short of the under-wire in my bra to get through security--which now in some airports includes some radiation test where you stand in a tube, put your arms in the air so that everyone three rows over and behind you can see your pit stains caused from driving in Houston with no AC in the car, while a glass door slides around you...the cool thing is that you get to see your skeleton and besides the fact that you now notice you probably have scoliosis, it's pretty cool.
So, back to the laptop...I cart it everywhere on my trip, now have knots in my shoulder from doing so and do not have one damn word to show for it. My time was so consumed with appointments and trying to meet with 10 different friends at 10 different times that I didn't have a chance to write at all. Write on the plane, you say? I would have but I was in the middle seat and it really creeps me out when people can easily watch me write and read everything I'm writing. And people do...until I turn to stare at them and they bury their nose back into their crossword puzzle, but I really like avoiding confrontation and I'll still feel like they are watching me and I'll just sit there trying to find something to write that they would be impressed by, just in case I'm sitting next to David Sedaris' publishing folks at Little Brown and they want to offer me a contract. Ha.
There's no point to this, just expressing some freelance frustration. I got a few quips down from conversations that I can use later, but no actual work. Such is the freelance life, I guess.

Why there are freelance writers in the world...

While posting a press release on PR Web for the company I work for I came across a fairly recent press release for a fitness apparel company, who presumably wrote the press release themselves and if they didn't then they should have asked to see samples from their writer or at least skimmed over it before it was submitted...take a look at this line...

"We stand behind all of out items 100 percent. If we would not wear it, we would sell it."

Maybe I missed the point of this company, but I thought the idea was to encourage people to buy their stuff. It hardly inspires confidence in a buyer when it looks like you say you wouldn't wear what you sell (or something along these lines). Not to mention the typo. This is why we have freelance writers in the world, to keep people from making these mistakes that aren't just a little typo but one that changes the whole meaning of your press release. A lot of people probably can guess what they really meant to say, but you shouldn't have to make those readers guess in something that is in quotations from the owner of a company. "Wow" is all I have to say.
Read the whole press release here.

How could anything be as bad as writer's block?

There is such a thing as TOO many ideas. My brain is racing, I need to submit this here, that there, apply for these assignments, post these 35 blog posts that I have in my head (especially my book reviews blog, there's not even ONE up there yet!), start that ebook I've been talking about for a year and read other blogs and comment all while also needing to find time to read and eat and walk the dog and actually look up from my computer to talk to this dude that lives with me, I think he's still my boyfriend at least...he hasn't come home from work yet and it's getting late....
Well, then I sit down to actually start taking care of all this and...NOTHING. I sit down and I stare. Just stare. I don't know where to begin, I don't know which would be best to do first. Then if I actually DO get one started, ideas from another topic start surfacing and I have to go tend those so I don't forget those great one-liners, but then it becomes 15 open word documents of two-sentence pieces. And they don't work just mashed together in some experimental attempt to be like Samuel Beckett. Besides, I'm going to leave that back in my highschool days when I thought I was a 90's beatnik.
Soooooo what I have started doing is keeping a running list then, although not "green", I write each on separate post-it notes and only look at ONE at a time. My brain gets fried trying to view everything I have to do at once and likes it so much better when it thinks it only has to do one thing.
So does anyone else have this problem? And what do you do for it to keep you on task and get it all done? Write like mad? Stare like I do? Give up on the least promising ones and focus more energy on the best?

Jessica Mousseau, what are you thinking?

I don't know if you follow Writers Weekly and I don't know if you have heard of Jessica Mousseau, but Writers Weekly has recently posted a string of emails involving a complaint a writer filed to them involving one Ms. Jessica Mousseau and frankly I am appalled at Mousseau's behavior according to this string of communication. Go ahead and read it, read it ALL, it's so worth it. Go on, I'll wait here...


I am incredibly embarrassed for Ms. Mousseau who doesn't seem to know the first thing about effective communication, the definition of libel, the definition of plagiarism, and seems to have lied about having her degree--and it looks as if she may be lying about other things as well but that's just my opinion and you can read the site and form your own opinions. Just wanted to put this out there in case Jessica Mousseau was someone to watch out for while in your freelancing travels looking for gigs on the internet.

Feel free to let me know if you think I have been "libelous". But please make sure you know what it means: Libel: A false publication, as in writing, print, signs, or pictures, that damages a person's reputation. What many people forget is that libel is only libel if it's false. Opinions expressed do not fall into this category, opinions are "non-actionable." Everything written in this post is the author's (me) express opinion.

Regaining that creative flow

I subscribe to Pamela Slim's blog and newsletter Escape From Cubicle Nation and yesterday's newsletter was about life getting in the way of creativity entitled, "How to be creative when you feel like a brick of concrete" and I could have sworn Pamela Slim had been stalking me yesterday.

I have been running on manic energy trying to get my blogs launched, trying to get my freelance business going, it's all I've thought about, it's been my entire life for awhile now but it's all logistical stuff, I've not been as successful in my creativity lately because I'm too busy trying to take care of all these smaller matters that some part of me thought was going to allow me to be creative...and it may, but I need to slow down and back off because they are really just a distraction. My mind tricked me! I thought I was doing all this in the name of creativity and really it was just a clever ploy to get me to put off writing.

Slim wrote mostly about other aspects of life getting us caught up in the whirlwind: family, pets, other jobs until we're so exhausted that we just want to get away and we think that by sitting on the couch watching hours of TV or cuddling up with a bottle of wine will do it but that just robs us of creativity even more. (wow, what a run-on!)

She offers suggestions of exercise, getting away with the purpose of writing or engaging your creativity, helping others, etc.

I have things that I do personally to regain my creativity, that I would share now if I didn't have to get ready for my regular job. So, I will post more about that later.

The World is our Voyeur

We're all just voyeurs at heart. We seem to love to read about other people's lives. There are seemingly millions of "mom blogs" out there that update us on every tiny shriek their children make as well as flood the blogosphere with an obscene amount of giveaways for all this mom/child related stuff (which admittedly some of those things are VERY cool and I'm not even a parent). But yet...we read it. I got hooked on several blogs like this and I can't even relate, but I loved watching their lives pan out. I personally don't watch reality TV, but America in general has embraced all forms of voyeurism: reality television, blogs, memoir, they're all the hottest, sexiest things to come around the past 10 or so years. Really puts the whole deal with Mrs. Kravits into perspective.

However similar in terms of voyeuristic recreation, blogs seem to be a breed separate from the memoirs though, they seem to be more raw. There are not hours of agonizing editing and fighting with one sentence--one word: "is it better this way? Or this? No, the other way...no wait!" before sending it off to be published. Publishing is at the world's manic fingertips and many of us are taking advantage of it.

We do have creative nonfiction/memoirs where we get our kicks watching Augusten Burroughs' mother have another breakdown, or Sarah Thyre's mother who sips martinis with her friends during her prayer group, but it's different from blogs. Creative non-fiction has been edited, it is unadulterated hyperbole for effect, it is a story crafted over and over to entertain whereas blogs are more often than not, quickly written and whatever creative genius gets tossed in, great. Because I don't know about you but I'm not going to spend an entire day editing a blog post to squeeze as much wit out as I can for the sake of entertainment. What you see is what you get, right?

Blogs being more raw also means that blogs are often posted in "real time" so people can follow from day to day, live the suspense, watch real, live soap operas while also getting recommendations for exterminators from their local blogger friends. It's instant gratification plus one exterminator.

Meanwhile, I have anticipated David Sedaris' new book for well over a year AND I have cockroaches the size of hubcaps colonizing in my bathroom.