Tweet While I’m hardly one to call myself a success (unlike this couple), I have picked up a few learn-as-you-go tips that have seriously change my career and my life. To be honest, my freelancing career started without any preparation, focus or long-term planning. I basically decided one day that it was time to stop waiting for my life to happen and start living it. Although it’s been a rocky road, I have never had trouble finding a writing gig (*knock on wood) and have succeeded in getting bigger and better jobs throughout my career. I must have done something…
-
-
Tweet Hear me out. Nobody likes bad luck. And I’m sure most of us would rather not be published than have something difficult happen in our lives. But not only do I believe writing is one way (and a healthy one I might add) to express yourself in the midst of hardship, I also believe that if you are a writer, this is a good opportunity for you to transform your bad luck into good luck by being able to write about your experience. Think Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love or Laura Munson and her memoir This Is Not…
-
Tweet No matter how much you pray, beg, and visualize, you won’t get better at your craft unless you do something about it. That’s where quick tip 5 comes in: Learn something new every day. I received one of the nicest compliments ever from a client recently. He said that I was open to new projects and I never disappoint. I’m still glowing from his kind words actually. But after I snapped out of it and got back down to earth, I realized that challenging myself and never getting too comfortable with anything I did, helped me to be a…
-
Tweet Hope you’ve been enjoying my quick tips for Christmas. Here is another one. Hide Your Desperation Clients can smell fear and desperation miles away. If you feel anxious and doubtful that you will ever be able to make it as a writer, hide it quick. Your worries will only attract other desperate people. It will make you take jobs that are beneath you. It will make you compromise on your values and ethics. And it will get you that much farther from your dreams. Do you remember the guy you couldn’t stand in high school? The girl who you…
-
Tweet It’s Day 3 of my gift to you writers out there! A lot of writers believe that they are out of the game because they are lacking in experience. But here’s my next Christmas gift tip for you: Find a loop hole. Think about what you have to offer a potential client that your competition can’t. Think about the time you can give, the passion you have for the position, your “I’ll try anything” attitude, and you might just score yourself a job and steal that ball away from those with more experience than you. Here’s how I did…
-
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…
-
Tweet A writer friend confided something in recently. He said he grappled with the ability to step outside him self when writing. As a result, his creations at times were a bit foggy. Although they were clear to him, they were confusing to others. I completely understand what he means. Sometimes I’m up late at night after a day of writing and my writing brain is exhausted. But I push on. As the words flow through me, I get lost in a cloud of my own creation. I’m immersed in a jungle of ideas and steeped in the visualization of…
-
Tweet {photo credit} Ever read someone else’s writing and cringe? Not because they did a hacked up job of writing and/or editing, but because they are SO good! They are so good that you are suddenly reduced to the insecurities of a teenager. And from out of nowhere you hear yourself saying (in a surprisingly high piercing nasally voice I might add), “Why oh why can’t I write like that?!” Been there done that my friend. I too, agonize over another writer’s perfect prose. The witty way they used that word or the colorful way they intertwined adjectives. I usually…
-
Tweet You ever write and write, then write again. But you keep hitting a brick wall? Something’s just not quite right and you can’t put your finger on it? You may be suffering from the inability to let go. A frustrating writer’s syndrome. Second to only writer’s block. It happens when you’ve grown attached to your writing. You’ve spend weeks, months, maybe even years on the same piece. But it’s just not where you want it to be. Yet, you remember all of the good times you had together. The state you were in when you wrote it. The feeling…