Tweet Businesses hire freelance writers all the time. That’s a great thing for us! And for them. Freelance writers are flexible, come with a variety of skills and companies don’t have to pay us benefits (though it’d be nice wouldn’t it?). One of the tricky things about working with companies, particularly small businesses with little experience hiring freelance writers, is that you’ve got to help them along the way. As someone who’s worked almost exclusively with small companies and start-ups, I have a few lessons I’ve learned. Here are a few parcels of wisdom for freelance writers applying for writing…
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Tweet Thank you Stephanie and Jan for reminding me about 2 things: 1) To keep up this blog! 2) To be more compassionate. Their comment comes on the heels of a short answer I compiled for O magazine. If you want to read my little published shpeal on compassion, it’s right here. But the main reason I’m writing this is that I think too many of us get comfy in our writing couches and stop taking chances. Maybe we had HUGE dreams about what it would mean to be a freelance writer and since we didn’t achieve them, we kind…
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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 Fabulous careers in creative fields (like you writers) deserve a little more attention, motivation and flexibility than other fields. You need to roll with the punches, get your tough going (when the going gets rough) and be willing to go for the ride. [Definitely met my “trite phrases quota” for the day.] Part of that is getting used to the up and down roller coaster ride of both inspiration and writing gigs. That means sometimes there will be lulls, sometimes there will be speed bumps. And when I’m on a high, I need to remember to stop myself from…
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Tweet Q: “I was wondering if you could direct me to your posts that are specifically about how to get started. I am currently in the stage where I feel like this is a field where I could be successful, and my main question right now is where to look for job opportunities (the real ones, not the scams!). I’ve had success with my writing on a very small scale- had some things accepted for publication in a national religious magazine for children, an article accepted for publication in the local newspaper, won a short story contest, etc. I am a…
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Tweet I just read Careerbuilder’s article, ‘If I knew then what I know now’: Advice for college graduates and found myself nodding my head in agreement. I wish I had, for example, thought long-term about my career, realized my passion sooner and pursued it with the kind of ambition and energy only someone in their twenties has. And then I realized the same thing could be said of my writing career. I can’t go back in time and redo my college experience nor my writing one, but I can share with you what I learned thus far in my career as…
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Tweet I have a lot of writer friends who started out all gung ho and then let their mojo slide when the going got tough. My ego would like to say it’s the way we weed out the true writers from the pack. But I know the truth. The truth is that writing is scary. We all have moments where we doubt whether we’re really that good or even good enough. And this could change moment to moment, day to day. Sometimes I think I wrote the best piece ever at night, only to wake up the next morning and…
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Tweet Fellow writer Daylin Van Zandt sent me a message over Facebook today that inspired me. He decided to quit his full-time job to fulfill a dream. I’m so excited for him! One of his dreams is to start a community magazine. While he has the networks and the know-how to get started, he wanted some tips, advice, suggestions on what steps to take to get cracking on this latest endeavor. I asked Daylin if I could post his question on my blog in the hopes that you generous and wise readers could help out. His message is below. Please leave a…
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Tweet When I first started my career as a full-time freelance writer, I didn’t know what I was doing. I made a ton of mistakes. I still do. But in looking back, I realized I neglected one thing. Myself. I’ve been reading Julia Cameron’s classic book The Artist’s Way. It’s taught me how the decisions we make about who we bring into our lives can have a powerful impact on our creative as well as personal life. She says: “Whether they appear as your overbearing mothers, your manic boss, your needy friend, or your stubborn spouse, the crazymakers in your…
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Tweet This post was inspired by two writers. If Cathy Miller’s post and Michelle Rafter’s post got married, then in my warped mind, they’d created this baby of a post. I don’t know if this is a Hawaii thing, but my friends and family loved the 12 Days of Christmas (the song, not just the real thing). So this is my ode to both the holidays and freelance writers. Here we go: On the first day of Christmas my clients gave to me a payment sent effortlessly On the second day of Christmas my clients gave to me two dollar a…