I love it when my writing clients are happy. Usually I know because they send me effusive emails saying that I have captured exactly what they needed. I get a lot of those. (Lest you think I’m big headed, I also have several clients who simply pay up without comment.) This week was a first, [...] [...more]
I love discovering new freelance writing blogs and one of the blogs I’ve discovered recently is Quiet Rebel Writer. The rebel writer is Amy Lillard, who says: Writers have to be rebels. We have to take the idea of normal and turn it on its head. We have to examine the status quo and the world [...] [...more]
I was chatting to someone on Twitter the other day. One of the topics of conversation was motivating yourself to keep on working. I made the point that when you work for yourself you have to crack your own whip. I immediately began to think about what that actually meant. When you’re a [...] [...more]
Does this ever happen to you? Sometimes you are confidently going along, thinking that everything is under control, when all of a sudden an unwelcome thought snakes its way to the forefront of your consciousness. Although you don’t really want to believe it, you suddenly realise that you have forgotten something important. I have to [...] [...more]
Many of us try to balance our home lives with our freelance writing careers and most of the time we succeed. We manage to get breakfast for children and get them off to school, talk to clients, meet deadlines, collect children, supervise homework and tuck them up in bed. All without breaking a sweat (most [...] [...more]
How many times have you been in this situation? You’ve talked to a potential client, who is enthusiastic about your services and promises to hire you. You sit back in your office chair, feeling smug about having landed another job and rearrange your diary to make space for this lucrative new commission. Then … nothing. [...] [...more]
I haven’t been quite as rigorous in collecting posts in the last month. That was in part due to blog woes, to an unexpected trip and to switching back to Google Reader after a three month flirtation with Netvibes. However, I have found time to stop off at a few favourite (and new) sites. Here [...] [...more]
What’s your online personality? Do people really get a good idea of who you are from your site, blog and interactions in the blogosphere? I don’t often have face to face meetings any more. I talk to most of my clients by email, IM or Skype. That has to be enough to [...] [...more]
Everyone’s heard of Copyscape, the super duper plagiarism detection tool. Sometimes it’s the bane of our lives (like when clients who pay 1 cent a word want you to check every article on Copyscape even though you KNOW that you never plagiarise). At other times, it’s a useful tool, such as when you’ve subbed out [...] [...more]
A post from Allena Tapia made me think more about the process of querying for freelance writing work. The post outlined all the stuff that writers sell to editors along with their idea when they pitch to a magazine. At the end of the post, Allena asked three questions: How long do you spend on a [...] [...more]
