It could be a pen or pencil, but some prefer typewriter or computer. I’ll admit that I’ve had somewhat of a fetish of pens and vintage typewriters lately. Yet, everything goes from notes on notepaper to words on my computer. When it comes to shorter prose, like poetry or an essay, putting pen to thoughts is the only way inspiration flows.

It was a golden pen etched with a floral design that got me feeling mature and serious as a writer in junior high and a fun one that makes me feel like a kid again now.

So in honor of my favorite writing tool, I’ve rounded up a basketful of fun pens for all you writers:

This might not be your go-to for every writing project, but these novelty pens are an easy way to add a bit of playfulness to your day. With different ice-cream flavors like chocolate chip and mocha latte, they’ve inspired this sweet review.

My favorite pen right now is this one from the Walt Disney museum in San Francisco. I love a bit of whimsy and this one is full of it. I can’t help feeling like I’m a kid again or an animator painting my next great picture. Pretty fun way to add a feeling of fantasy on a Friday!

I love these pens from Etsy because it’s warm outside and they exude an air of spring. It satisfies both my desires for aesthetics and practicality.

I can see this gracing a modern office with an equally modern graphic desk and chair and with pops of orange. Is it just me? This one is from Paper-Source. It comes in black too.

Do you guys have any utensils that help get your inspiration flowing? If so, let me know, I’m always open to hearing the latest, coolest tools out there.

]]> http://brandi-annuyemura.com/resources/a-pen-for-your-thoughts/feed/ 2 http://brandi-annuyemura.com/freelance-writing/the-free-in-freelance-writing/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://brandi-annuyemura.com/freelance-writing/the-free-in-freelance-writing/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:43:59 +0000 brandiwplogin http://brandi-annuyemura.com/?p=712 Ever wonder what the “free” in freelance writer stands for? Is it free for freedom? Or free as in non-paying?

According to Dictionary.com, the word came from the 1820s meaning medieval mercenary warrior. And later referring to journalism in 1882. What a long way we’ve come from the original meaning. Or have we?

As freelance writers, we’re closer to a mercenary warrior (a courageous one who works for pay) then one that works for free, aren’t we?

Yet, I’m noticing more and more job ads requiring freelancers to write “on spec” (essentially for free) first.

MY CONFESSION:

I’ve been guilty of applying for several of these jobs. Jobs that ask me to write a blog or a short article for free. I’m always one of the top candidates when I’m asked to do yet another sample. And the end result? I typically don’t get the job.

WHaT Do YoU ThInK?

Have you ever written samples for free? What was the end result? And do you think it was worth the risk?

Surprisingly, I got the job.

My one year stint as a PI was more than I bargained for. But one thing I learned from the book and the job was to follow my instincts.

Or so I thought.

Like Jesaka I’ve had to relearn the lesson time and time again.

As a P.I., not trusting my inner teacher (as I like to call it) was dangerous. And as a writer, it was bad business.

Here’s what I lost in the process:

• Precious time. I’ve gotten countless job offers and phone calls for potential opportunities (in fact I just received one yesterday) that made my stomach tie up in knots. Instead of turning down offers right away, I spent time returning calls and meeting with potential clients in person. In the end, I would regret all that time wasted on a job I knew wasn’t right for me from the beginning.
• Money. This is a big one! Not listening to my initial instinct that something just didn’t feel right about a new job ended up costing me not only time, but money. I’ve had a handful of clients who were wishy-washy from the start (e.g. not directly answering questions, unclear about what they wanted).Those were the ones who stiffed me in the end.
• Better opportunities.  The time I wasted with jobs that weren’t right for me ended up costing me better opportunities. When I think of all the time I spent working for jobs that didn’t fit me, I mourn the missed opportunities. I think about the better jobs that could have passed my way, if I hadn’t been occupied with the wrong one.

What have I gained in the process?

Hopefully, the courage to listen the next time a wrong job disguised as the right one makes my stomach turn.

The next time a high paying job comes your way that just doesn’t feel right, remember my story. No matter how much you think you need the job and how desperate you think you are, remember that taking it is the difference between finding “the right one” and the one for right now.

Surrounded by boxes of pizza and eager interns, I felt a shock of recognition listening to the communications manager who had agreed to speak to my charges. She said that finding and forging her career path was “simple.”

“I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I was in high school and editor of the school paper. I studied journalism in college and got a job.” She had worked in corporate communications for an international travel outfit, a well-known natural beauty brand and a global coffee company, which is where we met. She added that she’d always been focused on writing and editing, even in high school.

I was, too, in high school. Like my guest speaker, I’d written for the school paper, plus I’d edited the yearbook and competed in journalism contests. So, why was she the head of a communications division and I was wrangling interns?

We made different decisions. I chose a school that didn’t offer a journalism degree, but did provide an independent, unique approach to learning. However, I lost focus and tried a variety of subjects and post-grad jobs, including managing a small business and recruiting. Employers would rave about my writing and find ways to use it, but I didn’t (and they didn’t) see me as a writer.

Inspired by my guest speaker, I started thinking about what I wanted to do with my writing as well as my goals. Several weeks later, I approached her to be my mentor—and less than a year later, she hired me as a writer and editor for her team. Now she’s claimed the title of my “biggest fan.”

Between being the high school journalist, the corporate newsletter editor and the freelance writer I am today, these are the lessons I had to learn twice.

• Dream big. In the late 1980s, I wanted to be the editor-in-chief of Sassy magazine. When I was the fiction editor of my college’s literary magazine, I wanted to be a playwright. And, when I hit the real world, I wanted to pay my rent, so I took temp jobs and lost sight of the big dreams. Once I started focusing on my goals again, I refueled my writing dreams—and started pursuing them.

• Believe in yourself. I was so nervous the first time I turned in a writing assignment to my mentor—and I failed! She told me the style was unnatural, stiff and not at all what she expected from me. I’d used formal business language that I thought I should use. When I revised the assignment, using my gut instincts, my mentor loved it.

Much later, when I was applying for my first writing job, my current manager said, “But you can’t write!” It shocked me to hear those words, but I was determined and still applied. When I got the job, I learned from someone else in my former department that my manager just didn’t want to lose me. Good thing I believed in myself and didn’t let her stop me.

If you want to freelance, you have to believe in yourself. Your clients and prospective clients aren’t going to give you business if they suspect you’re unsure and timid.

• Fight limitations. Growing up in a small Texas town, the writing-related career options presented to me were newspaper editor and journalism teacher. The local newspaper editor even told us to find a better-paying occupation. I was determined to find more options for myself.

Once I worked in corporate communications, the prevailing mentality was that if you wrote for an internal audience, you couldn’t write for an external audience. Are you kidding me? I fought hard to earn assignments that included press releases and other marketing materials.

• Invest in your word skills. My high school journalism teacher enrolled me in contests my very first year—and I continued those contests until I graduated. I didn’t take many writing classes in college, but I certainly relied on those skills to get me good grades. But I took them for granted. It wasn’t until about six years ago that I realized I should keep pushing myself, not just relying on mentors or talent. I took creative writing classes as well as copywriting-related courses and was amazed at the leap my writing took. My clients noticed, too.

Sometimes I wonder how my life would be different if I’d followed a journalism or writing path from high school. Most likely, I’d be where I am today. But I’m glad I veered off course, picking up business skills, new subject matter expertise and a diversity of experience. It’s made me a much better freelancer, a more well-rounded writer—and it’s definitely provided me with plenty of juicy tales to tell.

Jesaka Long is a freelance copywriter who’s helped companies craft their stories for nearly 14 years. Based in Denver, she’s known for creating outside-the-lines branding and marketing content for forward-thinking, entrepreneurial companies. She’s also been known to wield a mighty pen for Fortune 500 companies, including Starbucks Coffee Company, REI and Seattle’s favorite software industry leader. Jesaka is also a drama editor for Conclave: A Journal of Character. Connect with her on twitter @jesakalong and through her blog at www.jesakalong.com.

As a relatively new full-time freelance writer, I surely had my share of rejections. Yet somewhere in the midst of it all, I’ve actually got published in a few magazines (even a favorite one at that).

If you’re still struggling to get your foot in the door, don’t sweat it. I’ve got a few tips that may help you get from published wannabe to magazine writer.

1. Start small. Everyone’s heard the story of that one beginning writer that sent in a query to a popular national magazine and got accepted and paid well for it. Kudos to that writer! You might want to try it, but if querying top magazines isn’t working, try aiming lower. Either write a small piece for a top magazine or a bigger piece for a local, lesser-known publication. This will increase your chances of getting published. If you get accepted, you’ll get your foot in the door. The first from clips and the second from demonstrating your writing abilities. I’ve done it and both have helped me to get published.
2. Keep going. Some might see one or even two rejections as game over. I see it as a starting point to get better. It might seem like a waste of time to keep trying with a publication that has rejected your query. But if you really want to get published, you need to persevere and keep going. I sent in 3 queries to the same publication before I got published. But since then, the editor has accepted 2 of my articles. In the end, the initial time spent querying was well worth it.
3. Be helpful. Sure my main focus is getting published, but the editor doesn’t care about that. They care about filling the magazine with unique, interesting pieces. Focusing on what they need, instead of my own, in the end also helps me. What I’ve done in the past is to ask editors what columns they need filled and what kinds of ideas they are looking for.
4. Stay abreast. I am an avid reader and I read everything: newspapers, magazines, blogs, online articles, autobiographies, fiction, etc. I think staying current and keeping abreast about what’s going on in the world helps foster an environment for fresh ideas.
5. Be observant. In addition, to reading and observing what’s going around me, I also pay attention to things that are going on in my own life. It’s how I got published in my first national magazine. Chances are if you’re going through something, someone somewhere has also been through it too. That makes an interesting topic, one an editor might love to publish in their magazine.

These are just a starting point for beginning freelance writers. Getting published takes a bunch of different things like luck and timing. But in the end, the only real way to get published is to keep trying.

*Veteran writers please feel free to jump in.

I’ll admit that I was one of the roamers, sticking my head and leaning my ears in between perusing books*, but what I got was pure gold. Here are a few snippets of their sometimes provocative and always apropos talk on being a writer:

“I often worry that I’m on a treadmill.  Running without doing anything meaningful.”

I love this for the simple fact that all writers feel this way.  We write to work and work to write. But sometimes it seems like we can’t ever catch up. If, for example, we’re ahead financially, we may feel we’re not living up to our writing dreams. Perhaps, the worst fear is that life will pass us by and we’ll still be an unpublished writer or author.

“What a great time it is to be a writer.”

This hopeful statement made me want to stand up and cheer! It is a great time to be a writer because there are more opportunities than ever. But then check out what they said next:

In response, someone from the audience made this comment, “There is less opportunity so my writer friends are making writing more of a hobby.”

“But was there ever a good time?”

Like the age old statement that “Life was much better when I was younger,” this topic got everyone split 50-50. Some felt that the economy and the internet has made competition crazy and pay insanely low. While a few on the panel felt that it has always been hard to be a writer regardless of circumstances. One of the writers said it’s all about working through it and writing no matter what. What do you think? You think it’s easier now or was it better “back in the good old days?”

“Blogging makes you a better writer.”

You can imagine how thrilled I was to here this. Especially since I have three blogs! The arguments were that blogging gives you practice, makes you more vigilant because others will read it, and you have the option to go back and edit it.

“The good news is that now you are responsible for everything. The bad news is you kind of have to be.”

This couldn’t be more true. While we can now self-publish, self-market and essentially design our own publishing careers, we also can’t rely on or blame anyone else for our failures. The torch is really in our own hands. It’s just good or bad depending on how you perceive it.

“Words don’t lose its value once it’s online.”

Another gem for me since a lot of what I do is online. While the panel agreed that e-readers like Kindle and Nook will in no ways take away from print publications, they also debunked the myth that putting words on the internet didn’t necessarily take away its value.

All in all this talk made me 1. wish I brought a tape recorder (so I didn’t have to type everything on my cell phone) 2. want to attend more writing events. What a wealth of information the panel presented in an hour’s time!

How about you? Any presentations/talks you’ve attended lately that you can share here? I’d love to hear about it.

*That’s how I found this (I wish someone got me this as a gift) book, “You Know You’re a Writer When.” As in, “you know you’re a writer when writing is the only thing you do that doesn’t make you feel as if you should be doing something else.”

So here it is, a bunch of tools to get you writing successfully by doing the opposite from what I did. Keep reading if you want to avoid hitting your head over and over on your desk from low or nonpaying clients.

1. Showing my heart on my sleeve. When I first started out, I was uncertain about a lot of things. Could do it? Was I good enough? Would anyone ever hire me? I let these insecurities get to me. It dictated the jobs I got, the people I interacted with and the way I conducted my business. Instead of selling my writing as a professional, I was basically groveling at potential client’s feet. Not the way you want to act if you want to get good clients or be respected.
2. Saying yes to everything. Maybe it worked for Jim Carrey’s character in, “The Yes Man,” but it didn’t work for me as a new freelance writer. Out of fear that I wouldn’t get enough jobs, I took everyone that came my way. Here’s what happened. I got paid very little or not at all. I wasted a lot of time and money by not being discriminating.
3. Not having a contract. Ugh! I know it’s stupid. Don’t be a dummy like me. I plead naivete for not having a contract at the beginning. Contracts were foreign to me. But several scams later and I’ve learned. Believe me! When a client says, “I don’t feel comfortable with contract,” I’m going to run the other way.
4. Ignoring my instincts. From the very beginning, I had a weird stomach turning feeling with an editor. I don’t know what it was. She was nice to me so I ignored it. In retrospect, I wished I listened to my gut feeling. She ended up not only being mean, but ended up refusing to pay me for several articles I wrote for her.
5. Not asking enough questions. This goes back to #2. When I took all the jobs that came my way, I didn’t bother to ask more questions. Questions like, “How much will you pay me?” “Will you pay me to write this sample article or test-drive your website?” It’s frustrating to think back to all the times I essentially did things for free, just because I was afraid to ask.

Admitting to my ignorance isn’t an easy thing. Looking back, I really don’t know what I was thinking or doing. But I’ve learned a ton in the process. Don’t do what I did. Every new writer makes mistakes. I hope this post will prevent a lot of you from making the same head banging ones I did!

This is the reason why I used to wonder if I was born in the right family. If I didn’t look so much like my parents, I might really question where I came from.

Instead, I took on a different belief system. The belief that I could do anything and be anything, if only I asked. It still wasn’t easy, however, to get past this long-held belief. Every time I ask for something I need, I take a deep breath, grasp onto faith, cross my fingers, say a prayer, and do anything to deal with the anxiety that starts when I do anything contrary to what I was raised to believe.

It doesn’t help that when I do ask, I sometimes get the reaction I fear. On one occasion, I asked an employer for $2/hr more per hour than she was offering for a permanent in-house position. The pay was still significantly lower than she was currently paying me as a freelancer and under the average rate for a copywriter. Instead of saying she simply couldn’t offer it. She looked at me with disdain and said she was “shocked” that I would ask her for more.

Another woman employer didn’t pay me, stopped contacting me and giving me writing jobs, all because I asked her about the bonus 1) listed on her website 2) she said she would pay after a period of time. The bonus was $1.

These experiences make me continually question myself and analyze my approach. Should I be asking for higher pay? Was my family somehow right in saying I should just accept things and “not stir the pot?”

Yet, I kept hearing from my male colleagues how they always ask for more money and always get it. So I kept pressing on.

Here’s what I learned:

Don’t stop asking for what you need. Sure there are situations where I felt guilty about asking for more pay or more time, but in the end I am responsible for myself and my work. There were definitely times when I got a less than favorable reaction, but there were also a ton of times I got exactly what I asked for and more.

Case point: I encountered two new clients recently (both men) that not only attempted to meet me where I was, but did not think it was “surprising” or “upsetting” that I asked for what I needed.

Sometimes it’s not about you. Money is power and a lot of people have issues with power. I’ve come to realize that some people have issues with money that have nothing to do with me. In the end, it’s all about finding the right fit and not compromising your worth of your values.

Because you’re worth it. I think L’oreal got it right when told women, “Because you’re worth it.” We are worth it. Don’t let any person bully you into thinking that you don’t deserve to be compensated for the hard work and sweat you put into your work. You do. Why? Because you’re worth it!

I’m of the more common variety. And after reading Julia Cameron’s Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance, I was relieved that even best-selling authors go through this too. It’s actually Cameron’s phrase “keep the faith” that inspired the title and content of this post.

I think it’s easy to get discouraged in this field. Like my husband often says, “You picked a very challenging career.” Although I’m not saving lives here, because writing is such a personal endeavor, I sometimes feel like the life I’m trying to save is my own.

Staying Positive

I have to work on keeping positive and optimistic so that I can get through the valleys and get on to the mountaintops. For me, this means going out of the house to meet with weekly groups (I just joined a professional work at home women’s club.), talking to other writers, and saying silly mantras in my head like, “I’m a successful writer.” I do this all to get through the lull and discouragement that is inevitable in this business.

All Rejection is Temporary Except Your Own

I remember reading somewhere that the only real and permanent rejection is your own. You may not get that seemingly perfect writing job or get your piece published in that national magazine, but those rejections are temporary. If you give up on yourself, then the journey is over.

No matter what stage you are in your writing, don’t give up yet. Keep the faith. And do whatever you must to keep pushing through. If you quit now, you’ll never know how close you were to success. You might have been just a day away…

My husband and I hobbled on over to a used car lot recently. The reason for our less than enthusiastic attitude was our fear of encountering the dreaded stereotypical used car salesman. The man with a big persona (a.k.a. desperate man who talks too much).

You know the guy. The one who hunts you down and seems to pick up your scent even before he sees you. A swarm of salesman suddenly encircles you all in business suits, all waiting until fatigue and desperation gives way to a sale.

Okay it might not be THAT bad! But if used car salesman can smell fresh new meat a mile away, then I can tell desperation from afar as well. When a guy comes running towards me asking to show me his car without even knowing what I’m looking for, I run the other way. Desperation is not attractive when dating or when selling.

I felt sorry for the guy. He may have had the car of my dreams and I would never know it because his desperation to sell me anything made them all lackluster. Instead of giving us time to look at all his cars, he hovered over us. In the end, we really couldn’t get away fast enough.

It’s the same thing when selling your business. You may need the sale, but don’t let this on to your potential clients.

Some writers query publications mentioning how much they need this article or book proposal. That may be true but it won’t get you the deal of your dreams. In fact, it may have the opposite effect.

Think of this way. Would you rather date someone who was self-assured and confident or the other guy who calls, texts and emails you five times a day telling you how much they want to go out with you? It’s the same for your business. If you have something great to sell, let it sell itself.

The bottom line: Companies care about what you can do for them, not what they can do for you. Figure out what unique experience/skill you can bring to the table to help solve their greatest problem and you’ll win the sale.