There’s nothing like the security of having a cheque arrive every month, but when you’re a freelancer, you just don’t have that security any more. Instead, like many work at home professionals, payment for your labour may be erratic and intermittent, and sometimes you even have to hunt down the money that should be yours by [...] [...more]
When Research Wizard Pro (also called Search Accelerator Pro) asked me to review their product, I thought I had to check it out. Anything that promised to save me time on research had to be worth a look. They were very efficient in providing an evaluation copy and it took no time at all to install. [...] [...more]
A couple of years ago, I started working with a team of writers. I had good and bad experiences with that team, and the team continued to grow. Then I realised something. It wasn’t working for me. Here’s why. I was spending more time chasing other writers for work than doing my own writing. I was spending [...] [...more]
OK, I am peeved. Someone that I thought was reliable has let me down. Here’s the story. A client whom I’ve worked with for a couple of years (and who pays well and promptly) contacted me about a job. I explained that I couldn’t do it myself, but that I could sub it out. She [...] [...more]
When I asked the other day for freelance writing questions on Plurk, AllenaTapia wanted to know about my schedule. It’s been some time since I wrote about my daily routine and a lot has changed in the last two years. My daughter is now in school and that has changed the shape of my work [...] [...more]
I asked my fellow Plurkers what they wanted to know about freelance writing. JHipkin asked: how you keep a balance between looking for the next job and doing a good job on the current assignment? I gave a short answer to that question (due to the 140-character constraint), but thought I would answer it in [...] [...more]
I was inspired by a recent post from Crystal at BigBrightBulb. She asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, encouraging us to share our childhood dreams. That thread makes good reading, but it got me to thinking that we don’t only have dreams for our lives when we are children. Our dreams [...] [...more]
I’ve always said that if you want to make it as a freelance writer, you have to take the business side seriously. Here’s another writer who is saying the same: James Chartrand. In a guest post on Poewar, called Want to be a Freelance Writer? Get Ready for Business!, James points out that there are [...] [...more]
Believe it or not, this started as a tweet, after a particularly good day. I was having one of those moments when I was in love with the freelance writing life, and I started thinking about what made it special. Putting that into 140 characters didn’t seem quite enough, so I decided to expand on [...] [...more]
Today, I’m happy to welcome Kerrie Spencer as a guest blogger. I’ve worked with Kerrie for a couple of years, and lately she’s been finding success with Elance, something that has eluded me despite success on other bidding sites. I asked her to share her secrets. I’ve talked to a lot of writers who have nothing [...] [...more]
