Tweet It’s a story I seldom tell, but needs to be told… I got a degree in English, but never believed I could actually make a profession out of it so I squandered those early years taking whatever job looked intriguing and didn’t require experience. Every afternoon, I’d pull out the jobs section of the newspaper and became everything from an usher to a research assistant and even a private investigator. Looking back, there were oodles of gems to pull from. All those late nights with my homemade burrito wrapped in foil surveying the area for criminal activity or working…
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Tweet There are a lot of people who want to be writers. Some of them are friends and acquaintances I’ve met along my path. They envy me in a shameless way. My life seems as close to Carrie Bradshaw as possible without the single life and the large shoe closet. Many, I believe, think that I spend all day shopping and galavanting. Yes it is partially that I suppose. But the truth is, I spend more days sitting on my butt, pulling out my hair, trying to find the best words to squeeze into my prose. It’s not fun nor…
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Tweet This may be late breaking news for those who already read this, but I L-O-V-E stories about how writers became writers. When writer and blogger Charyn Pfeuffer tweeted me from @charynpfeuffer and later emailed me about her personal journey to freelance writing, I was smitten. I asked if she would let me share her story with you here. Happily she agreed. Although we all have our own individual paths that led us to writing, there is a common bond that we all share-passion, wild determination and a quiet knowing that this is the right career. You’ll find it all in her message…
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Tweet I love hearing about the journey that prompted other writers to write. Some writers believe they were born with it-a passion for writing that began as soon as they learned how to write. For others, writing came later in life. Something spurred them to get words down on paper and their career took off from then. My guest blogger this week is author Jessica McCann. She’s another writer that I’ve admired from afar and it brings me great pleasure to share where her writing story began. It’s a good one! by: guest blogger One Saturday morning, not long ago,…
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Tweet Quickie Tip #2: Be Easy {This is only good for freelance writing and other career-related endeavors of course.} {photo credit} Here’s what I recently realized. I’ve found one of the greatest inventions ever for writers and journalists. HARO. Doesn’t it sound Star Wars worthy? It stands for Help A Reporter Out. Basically, it’s a win-win situation where journalists get quotes from leading experts in the industry and leading experts get free PR for their business. I’ve been using it a lot lately and have gotten several pitches returned from potential experts. Pretty exciting! But here’s what all that long-winded…
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Tweet I’m not sure how common this is, but I rarely find jobs on online job boards and never found any in the newspaper. So how do I rack up the clients and freelance writing opportunities? Instead of going on the same path with the rest of the thousands of other freelancers vying for the same positions, I find the path least traveled. It’s kind of like waiting until the crowd flocks to the parade at Disneyland, then running quickly toward the rides on the other side. There’s less competition and more chance for better opportunities. Here’s a few often…
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Tweet photo by broken thoughts I took an evening writing class late last night. For 4 hours I sat, listening to the teacher speak. Four hours later, I realized. Why didn’t I learn this as an undergrad in English?! Then it hit me. There was this entire aspect of freelance writing that I hadn’t even considered previously…the Business Side of Freelance Writing! Doh!