• How Did You Start Blogging? - David Bridger
• From Paper to ‘Puter - One Woman’s Journey - Deb Wunder
• Blogging Start - Shelly Bryant
• How Did I Start Blogging? - Lissie
• My Blogging Genesis - Dana Prince
• Why I Started Blogging - Sheryl Adair Vanvleck
• The Born Again Blogger - Sharon Hurley Hall
• How we started working for ourselves - Alex and Justin, Freelance Twins
• How I Started Blogging - Umar Siddiqi
• How I Started Blogging, Or Ready, Fire, Aim - Brad Shorr
• In The Beginning - Deb Boyken
• WritingUp’s Failed Social Experiment - Claire Moylan
• The Joy Of Being A Blockhead - Jean Browman
• 30 Things I Didn’t Know Before I Started Blogging - Joanna Young
• How I Got My Blogging Start - Sue Jeffels
• Why I Started Blogging - Courtney Ramirez
• Why In The World Did I Start This Blog? - Joan Kremer

If your post is missing from this list, please let me know and I’ll add it.

Starting My Blogging Career

The real start to my blogging career came in 2005. When I went freelance, I read a lot about setting up sites and raising your profile, and I was advised to set up a blog. So I bought a domain and set up Sharon’s Writing Lab, which has now moved to Wordpress.com.

Even then, I didn’t quite get it, though it was nice to have somewhere to put my creative writing. However, a month later, I joined a now defunct site which had an active blogging community, many of whom were writers. We spoofed famous novelists and poets, had writing competitions and generally had a good time. I discovered that blogging could be fun and I made friends and connections whom I’m still in touch with today.

The Addiction Begins

When I joined that site, I blogged daily and soon became addicted to it. Plus, people were enjoying the stuff I wrote, which gave me an incentive to continue.  I was distraught when the site disappeared, but was able to move my content to an interim home on Blogger before giving it a permanent home on this blog. You’ll find much of that content in the archives. (Go on, have a peek at my early posts - you know you want to.)

Spreading My Wings

That was the start of something big and I now describe myself as a born-again blogger. Although I no longer blog daily on my own sites, you will see me popping up all over the web. I blog regularly for three or four sites (more to come soon), and guest post on many more. My blogging career had a humble beginning, but turned out to be very worthwhile.

This is my entry for the Blogging Start Group Writing Project.

I am a professional blogger and writer, so pay me in cash. Pay me by Paypal, wire transfer, direct credit or even e-cheque, as long as I get paid for my work. Why do I feel the need to say this? Because I applied for a blogging job today. The ad stated that it was a paid blogging job. I spent some time crafting a suitable letter, emailed it off and waited for a reply. When it arrived, it turned out that the ‘compensation’ they were offering was simply ad revenue share.

The ad asked for high quality bloggers. I’ve been blogging for a few years now and have racked up a lot of well written posts on a lot of topics, so I think I qualify. But that’s exactly why I expect to get paid for my work. What they want me to do is to spend hours, days and weeks creating a good blog for someone else’s site on the off chance that their marketing methods will drive lots of traffic to the site. Sorry guys, been there, done that, got the hole in my bank balance to prove it, so I won’t be taking up your underwhelming offer.

I have nothing against making money from blog advertising, but I don’t need to go to another site to do that. Somewhere out there are about four blogs making me a pittance from the measly page views they garner despite the site owners’ promises of promotion and traffic, so I’m not going down that road again. On this blog, where I have put in the time to develop it and nurture it, I make money from advertising - and I don’t have to share it with anyone.

ProFreelancing often makes me think. If you are wondering if you are doing the right job, consider 13 Reasons Why You Should Not Be A Freelance Writer. Have you ever wondered what to do if a potential job just didn’t feel right? Maybe you should think about rejecting work based on ethics. It might help with career improvement.

I always want to know how to be more effective as a writer and a blogger, so I was interested in three steps for beating the boring content blues and five steps for writing effective articles in less time. (That makes eight steps so far, but who’s counting?) Actually, the fact that I mentioned that shows that my inner boss is alive and well.

Problogger weighed in with advice on adding depth to your blog. I had to wonder if using any of the eight ways to make money with my blog would end up increasing my blogging workload, but then I thought that if I used my daily life as inspiration I might be able to make better use of these valuable post types and use them correctly. I might have more time if I cut these five words from my vocabulary.

I was glad to read a post that cut to the chase, and told me exactly how to get piles of subscribers. links and comments on my blog. There is a danger, though, that this might turn me into even more of a blogging addict.

Finally, I want to end with a few favourites from the Pen Men, who ask whether it’s ok to charge more, whether low rates are holding you back, and if you’re a good web worker. But for me, the most interesting question I was asked this month was what writing means to me.

Happy reading.

• Bob Younce
• Chris Garrett
• Dana
• Daniel Scocco
• James Chartrand and Harrison McLeod
• Jeanne Dininni
• Jen
• Laura Spencer
• Michael Martine
• Patrick Bisaillon
• Rebecca Laffar-Smith
• Skellie
• Suzanne James
• Yvonne Russell

Thanks for providing inspiration, mentoring and insightful comments.

• Amy Derby
• Blantonius
• Bob Younce
• Chad
• Chelle
• Chris
• Dana
• Dave
• Debra
• Gerald Rae
• Guilherme Zühlke O’Connor
• Harrison McLeod
• James Chartrand
• Jean
• Jeanne Dininni
• Jen
• Jessie
• John Lockwood
• Katherine
• Kathryn
• Kristen King
• L. L. Woodard
• Laura Spencer
• Lillie Ammann
• lornadoone
• Mark W
• Matt Keegan
• Miranda
• Misti Sandefur
• Monika Mundell
• Mulda
• Rebecca Laffar-Smith
• Rebecca Muller
• Sarah
• Simple Mindz
• Stamford Talk
• Stephen
• Sterling Okura
• Sue Jeffels
• Suzanne James
• Wordvixen
• Yuwanda Black
• Yvonne Russell

So when I woke up on Saturday morning to find that the site was unavailable, I was flabbergasted. No one had warned me. Several emails later I worked it out. Two things happened. First, IXweb was moving datacenters and took everyone offline without warning. That accounted for Saturday. Second, my reseller is in the middle of dispute with them. That accounted for messages about the site being suspended. (That also happened to my other site, which didn’t make me happy at all. ) So through, no fault of my own, I was blogless.

Then, a stroke of luck. I speeded up the move to my new host and used the last backup to restore the blog. Unfortunately, that meant that the last two posts weren’t there, but I was able to restore those from Google’s cache. (Thanks, bigbrightbulb). I figured it was time to cut my losses and move on, so that’s what I’ve done.

So here we are. There are still a couple of things that don’t work (like the contact form), and if you left a comment on the previous two posts, it won’t show up. (I have a couple of ideas for sorting that out.) Twitter has been a lifeline, with lots of great advice from my Twitter friends. Thank you all, especially James Chartrand, who made a great suggestion about dealing with the loss of my other site.

I’ve still got a few fires to put out, but I’m glad to be back, and I’m looking forward to writing some more freelance writing posts. Has anything like this ever happened to you?

(And by the way, this is not an April Fool’s hoax).

Earlier this week, I read a post on Freelance Switch about turning clients into friends. In that post, Andy Howard made the point that when you work in an office, you invite clients over for meetings all the time, so why change your habit as a freelancer? I thought it was an interesting point, though I’ve never thought of doing it myself.

Since there are 3,000-5,000 miles between me and most of my clients, my approach to getting personal is different. I have never met any of my current clients face to face. Nor have I met any of the writers I work with every day, nor the bloggers I interact with daily. Since humans thrive on contact with others, you might think that that’s a disadvantage, but it hasn’t been.

Making The Connection

My experience suggests that we always find a way to make that connection if we want to. I have different levels of connection with the people I have met online. With some of my long term clients, emailing back and forth several times a week has built up a relationship. I may not know everything about them, but I know enough to make the relationship personal, while still professional.

For example, I had an exchange a couple of days ago with an editor about wisdom teeth. She’d had hers pulled; I’d had mine pulled in the past, and we sent a couple of emails back and forth about pain and swollen faces. It didn’t harm our professional relationship and gave us some level of connection.

Something In Common

I have a lot in common with the writers whom I work with. Many of us have chatted on IM and we have a lot in common. Some of us are parents who work from home, and although we don’t spend much time talking about these issues, they come up from time to time. Even though we haven’t met, some of us ‘get’ each other, and some of us are friends.

I think the same is true of many of my fellow bloggers. It’s true that we only know a particular slice of each others’ lives, but over time you conjure up a picture of people through the posts they write and the comments they make, particularly if you all end up commenting on the same posts. You find that you share attitudes on some things and agree to disagree on others. That’s not so different from offline relationships.

Adding The Glue

So where am I going with this? I think every relationship is personal. Even if you can’t use Andy’s method of inviting your clients to your workplace, it doesn’t hurt to wish someone a good weekend, ask if they had one, or send them a birthday or Christmas greeting. That’s part of the glue that holds personal relationships together and if you’ve never met, you need all the glue you can get. It makes your online working life richer and less isolated. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: blogging,freelance writing,writing business

What Is My Worth? is a question that many freelancers ask. Maybe it’s time to think about Reviewing Your Writing Rates so that you can work smarter and improve your net worth. 80-20 Freelancing will help you with that goal, but first, make sure that you join 50 Professional Networks for Freelancers. It’s one of many Ways to Get More Customer Referrals for Your Freelance Business.

I’m working on a list of Things to Consider Before Applying for a Gig but first I need to Create an Automatic Flow of Work With a ‘Hire Me’ Page and read up on How to Use LinkedIn to Create Authoritative Content. It’s all part of How to Use the Web to Build A Powerful Reputation In Any Industry.

For me, one of the most important parts of freelancing is client communication. To get started I’m building My Blog Client Wish List and considering Five Signs that You Need to Say No. And if negotiating new terms is an issue, there’s advice on What to Do When Your Project Outgrows the Agreement.

It’s always wise to think about your business, which is why I enjoyed 10 Things University Didn’t Teach Me About Writing and Five Blogs That You Should Already Be Reading.

I’ve also been checking out 10 Completely Free Guides to Building a Better Blog and The Blogger’s Guide To Building Your Own ‘Advertise Here’ Page. Most bloggers will appreciate 48 Unique Ways To Use WordPress as well ass 99 Ways To Improve Your Blog.

Finally, here’s something to ponder: What You Don’t Publish, Defines Your Site.

Happy reading.

• Will Content Kill the Web?

‘PLR content drives down the market value of web content. Why buy pricier work when nearly-free (and sometimes free) is right there for the taking?’

• Handling Your Perfectionism

‘One of the biggest problems perfectionists have is setting realistic goals. I never realized I set the bar too high for myself. Halfway through whatever I was working on achieving, when nothing went according to my vision, I would give up in frustration.’

• What a Camera Can Teach You About Customer Service

Sorry, you’ll just have to read this one. No excerpt would do it justice.

There is so much good stuff in there it’s hard to give you a flavour of it. The blog focuses on blogging, business, design and writing, and currently has a great series on fiction writing. Just to round out the list, here are some posts with great titles that made me stop and look:

• Bloggers That Fake It
• Don’t Be Efficient if You Want a Successful Business
• Knitters Never Comment!

Over the past year, posts from this blog, and its predecessor, have turned up regularly in my links roundups, which shows how consistently readable it is. If you haven’t done so, check it out.

Technorati Tags: writing,blogging,reviews

• Katherine
• Suzanne Lieurance
• Michele Tune
• Sue Jeffels
• Kristen King
• James Chartrand
• Yoga Grl
• Laura
• Matt Keegan
• Jay
• Matt
• Valencia
• Rachel
• Writing The Cyber Highway
• Jessie
• Dana
• Hope Wilbanks
• Ryan
• Alexander Kohl
• Shelly
• Cindy
• Writing Nag
• Keala
• Jeanne Dininni
• WFU
• Laurie Lacey
• Misti Sandefur
• Colin
• Lori
• Jo
• Monika Mundell
• Jeana
• Allena
• Yuwanda Black
• pujutengineered
• Veronica Davis
• Gary V Carter
• L. L. Woodard
• Bob Younce

Thanks, everyone.

Pureblogging

• The Best Way To Feed Yourself
• Is There A Book In Your Blog?
• Blog Advertising: A Quest
• There’s Gold In Them There Archives
• Entrecard: A One Month Review

Daily Writing Tips

• A Sweet Story About Marmalade
• For Want Of A Letter … Bated, Baited
• Laugh About Writing
• Street Slang For Scriptwriting
• Months: A History Of Time
• Fun With Words: Palindromes
• Warning: Microsoft Did Not Invent Grammar!
• The Unfortunate Dys
• Wether, Weather, Whether

Mixed Market Arts

• Setting Goals For Blogging Success

Writing White Papers

• Freelance Bidding: The SMART Approach

PiggyBankPie

• Three Ways To Regain Your Blogging Oomph Without Going Online
• Coming Out As A Blogger

Of course, if you’re going to make money, then you have to get visitors, so you might find it useful to explore 20 Ways To Promote Your Freelance Writing Services Using Forum Marketing Techniques. Problogger Darren Rowse tells us How To Write Posts That Set StumbleUpon On Fire, which is definitely worth studying, while Daily Blog Tips advises on Extending Your Reach From Blogger To Influencer.

As always, I’m interested in what’s going on in the freelance world, so I was fascinated by the results of the FreelanceSwitch survey. One of the cool things there is information on average charges for different types of freelancing work. The report is available if you make a donation. There were also plenty of useful posts on writing including:

• Who Owns Your Words?, a guide to the rights you might be asked to give away.
• Top Five Tips When Bidding For Freelance Work (my favorite piece of advice is ‘watch out for pirates’)
• 8 Ways To Kick Start Your Freelancing Career (I found a link to a new bidding site)
• Getting Creative With Your Content (if you aren’t reading Men With Pens yet, why not?
• Are Your Words Like A Tornado? (all about having energy in your writing)

Finally, here are a few posts I bookmarked to blog about later (I guess the time has come):

• Wayne Gretzky’s 8 Tips For Freelancing Success
• Who’re They Gonna Call? Ghostwriters!
• Why Freelance Writers Should Have Blogs

Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: blogging,freelance writing,get paid to write,make money online,ghostwriting,monetize

That seemed to fit well with a post on Skellie’s new Anywired blog about leveraging a blog. This post is all about adding value - and making money while you do it.

Freelance writers are often overworked, so I was interested to read a post on FreelanceSwitch about the work life balance. The post gives 12 tips to help writers get themselves back on an even keel.

One of the suggestions in that post is to learn to say no. If you’re wondering how to do it, then the Web Content Copywriting blog has a whole post on this topic. Meanwhile, Dana Prince advises us not to let our manners get in the way of getting paid to write.

Finally, here are two useful resources to round out the list. The first is a list of other freelance writing job sites. It’s no secret that Freelance Writing Gigs is my top choice, but it never hurts to have alternatives. (Thanks to Freelancing Journey for the tip.)

And there’s something for all the non-US writers who are looking for the right paperwork to fill out. Sometimes companies ask you to fill out a tax form. If you don’t pay taxes in the US, then they may still ask for a form to meet their reporting requirements. The form you need is a W8-BEN - and here’s how to fill it out. The instructions are for the UK, but they work for everywhere.

Technorati Tags: writing,writing career,writing business,resources,blogging

Pureblogging

• Windows Live Writer Review
• So You Wanna Be A Problogger?
• What To Do When Nobody Likes Your Blog Post

Daily Writing Tips

• Days: A History Of Time
• Averse, Adverse
• For Want Of A Letter … Tic, Tick
• Positions, Please

PiggyBankPie

• The Joy Of Blogging

Writing White Papers

• 4 Ways to Get Going for Freelancers

Mixed Market Arts

• How To Create a Successful Blog

• Michele
• Yvonne Russell
• Laura
• Misti Sandefur
• Shirazi
• Jeanne Dininni
• Chris
• Courtney
• Jason A Clark
• Proofreader
• sue jeffels
• Tim E
• Dana
• Jagat
• J C Carvill
• Lillie Ammann
• Rebecca Laffar-Smith
• lornadoone
• odchoi
• Rachel
• James Chartrand
• Lori
• Hope Wilbanks
• Austin
• Writing The Cyber Highway
• Katherine
• Yuwanda Black
• Shelly
• Pinhole
• Barbara
• aruna
• Addicted to Writing
• Ramesh

The 850 visitors we are talking about in this article are, as I like to call, organic visitors. They are neither sponsored visitors, nor social media users spending .025 second on your site. They are pure organic visitors with an interest for your site. In this article you will learn the different strategies I used to attract 850 quality visitors by using free simple methods available at your fingertips.

The post gives a breakdown of the steps the writer took to attract more visitors to his site, one of them being guest blogging. It’s certainly worth reading, as you might pick up a couple of new ideas.