Brand new to blogging, I'm detailing my experiences as a writer and exploring the endless possibilities freelancing contains for the new writer.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
I've been completely fascinated with some personal research, so I haven't posted in a few days. Been submitting articles too, but no word back on any yet. In the future, I plan to query first and then write, as opposed to writing first and then querying. Right now, I feel like I'm collecting articles. LOL On some topics, however, I just can't help it. I get an idea, start writing, researching and, before I know it, I've completed yet another essay or article that I need to shop. I'm sure some of you can relate. Then there are all of the articles that I wrote for the magazine thing that I almost jumped into earlier this month. Right now, I'm up to my nose hairs in articles...but that could be a good thing, right?
I recently read about a company, Daily Candy, who grossed 8.9 million dollars in revenues last year by producing advertiser supported e-newsletters on what's hot in food, fashion, travel, etc. Can you believe it, 8.9 million!!! Yep, these articles I've collected will end up somewhere...trust me!
I'm also cleaning out my mailbox and came across an interesting call for writing mentors for youth mentees in my FundsForWriters.com newsletter. If you're interested in corresponding with a young person interested in a writing career, check THIS LINK out.
Okay, it's back to work for me right now, but I hope all of you are enjoying your writing and that the rest of your week is prosperous...and fun!
Has anyone else struggled with their voice when writing? When I write, I'm really put off by the stiffness of my words (not necessarily here, but in my professional writing). I always feel like I'm writing a term paper or something. But when I edit and try to loosen things up a bit, I don't feel as though I'm being as effective. Does this make any sense? Ugh, I can't tell you how this irks me. Am I alone?
I guess I could always create my own language like Holly Lisle suggests, but then I'd have the burden of teaching it to the world or, perhaps, just to my readers (let's see, that would be mom, my best friend and about 5 others. Hmmm, this could work!). By the way, I just learned of Holly's site, but it seems like there is a lot of useful information for up and comings like us. Check it out and see for yourself.
I'm off for now, but here are a few random links before I go. Hope you enjoy and come back soon!
And, even if you miss, you'll be among the stars. (~Brian Littrell)
Well, that's what I've been doing lately...shooting for the moon. I'm working on selling several completed articles and coming up with new ideas daily. Admittedly, I feel a little overwhelmed at times, but even that feels good. I'm certain that, if I maintain my momentum and my focus, God will bring it all together into something I can be proud of.
Hopefully, all of you are keeping up with your passion as well. I know it can be difficult at times, but I encourage all of you to keep the faith that your gifts and talents aren't without reward. When you express yourself in a way that is natural to you and helpful or entertaining to the world, you make the world, in general, a better place to live.
The Princeton Reviewhas presented a very informative career profile for writers. If you're struggling to find your way and define where you fit in, this article may help you to better understand the opportunities available through a writing career and give you a general idea of different salaries within the field as well. Remember, however, that your level of success depends almost entirely on your effort, so your results can be drastically different (hopefully, this means greater). For all of the details, read the article first and then click on the sidebar areas which will offer more detail. Bear in mind that this is a college oriented site, therefore there is also a lot of information pertaining to college majors, etc. It's not necessary that you have a college degree for all fields of writing, so don't feel discouraged if you don't.
A few other tidbits for you this morning:
First, FundsForWriters.com is sponsoring their 5th annual essay contest. Full information can be found HERE, but here's a brief description of the topics and prizes taken directly from their website:
Theme Topics (Choose One):
1. Someone has a a $5,000 grant open to writers. Only one writer can be selected. Write a narrative explaining why your writing is worth funding.
2. Most grants for writers are small. If you won a $1,000 grant designed to further a writer's career, how would you use it and why?
3. Where will you be as a writer five years from now? How will you get there? 4. If you were a mentor to a new writer, describe the who, what, when, where, why and how lessons of becoming successful. 'Successful' is your own definition.
Prizes:
ENTRY FEE Category First Place - $150 Second Place - Complete Set of FundsforWriters ebooks and TOTAL Subscription Third Place - TOTAL FundsforWriters Subscription
NO ENTRY FEE Category First Place - $50 Second Place - Choice of Five FundsforWriters ebooks Third Place - TOTAL FundsforWriters Subscription
There are several other income and funding opportunities available at FundsForWriters, so be sure to spend time checking the rest of their site out too.
If you're interested in learning more about essay writing and markets that will pay for your essays, visit WritingToHeal.comand take a look around.
And, hopefully, you're still regularly checking the job sites I listed in my July 22nd post Gigs, Clips and Tips. I don't know how I forgot it on that previous post, but Deborah Ng's, WritersRow site really is one of the best job sites available. You may also want to bookmark About Freelance Writing and keep your eye on Absolute Write's Paying Markets forum for frequent updates.
As always, I hope that you find this information useful.
May you reach the moon...or at least the stars, very, very soon!
I was always taught to put the copyright symbol on all of my submissions. My college writing professor said to do it and the first version of Writer's Marketthat I ever owned further reinforced this. So, after years of submitting works with the symbol, only now have I learned that this is definitely NOT the thing to do!
Since our work is copywritten from the moment we put it in a tangible format and since editors are well-aware of this, it screams 'newbie' when we insist on including the symbol. Some have even reported that certain editors have been downright offended by the gesture (I guess they feel like we're suggesting they might steal our work, otherwise).
For more on copyrights, in general, here are a few informative articles I'd like to share. Brad Templeton debunks 10 myths about copyright HERE. And here's an article, by Moira Allen, written to help us all better understand rights and copyrights. For a quick review on determining the life of a copyright (and what's in public domain and what isn't), check THIS quick reference out.
Also, as mentioned in an earlier post, I'm in the process of querying and submitting 9 different articles. Not to mention that I had that little back and forth thing with the magazine that hired me a few weeks ago (btw, there's still no word from them after my last contract edits...I've pretty much written them off at this point [for a few reasons], but I'll keep you posted if I hear any further). I needed to brush up on the various rights that need to be negotiated and was directed to a really good reference HERE.
Speaking of those 9 articles, I really thought I could get everything finished this week, but it looks like I'll be submitting them next week as well. I'm finding out that writing is only half of a freelancers job. Seems like the bulk of our work begins only AFTER the last word is written (and rewritten, lol). There's researching markets, writing queries, submitting queries, keeping records and, when appropriate, finally submitting manuscripts. No complaints here, though. I find it all immensely challenging and am optimistic that my efforts will be well-rewarded soon.
I'm turning in early again tonight (well, at least by 1 am...lol), so that's it for now. I do wish everyone well and hope that you're closing out an awesome week in preparation for an even greater one next week!
I appreciate the wealth of quality responses on my sidebar issue. Seems on some browsers it's okay, but on others (like mine) it's all the way at the bottom. I'll try everyone's suggestions in the next day or two.
I also just tried to check my stats and realized that no visitor activity has recorded since the 15th even though I've had several comments today (the 16th). I probably interfered with that code too.
Will get it all together soon though.
In the meantime, I'm curious about writing quizzes for magazines. I haven't come upon too many writers who do that sort of thing, but the few who do claim that they've brought in some good business. Does anyone here have any experience they'd like to share with quiz writing? I'd love to hear your stories.
I'm being pushed off the computer now, so I guess it's goodnight! lol :)
I have fiddled with this stubborn sidebar for several hours now and the silly thing still resides at the bottom of this page where it's been since like day 2 or 3 of my grand opening.
I've searched the web, visited multiple blogs and support forums and have tried every solution posted that I could understand (I don't speak html very well, I'm afraid). I've changed my template about a dozen times and I've run my code through an html validator (that would have been pretty cool had I been able to interpret the results, lol). I've changed the width in my html on my header and my sidebar, but it still won't bring my sidebar up.
It's approaching the 3a hour and I'm officially clueless. So, BabyBlogger is off to bed now...if anyone has any suggestions, please, please, PLEASE post.
My new schedule is working really well, I'm getting a lot of writing accomplished, but I'm thinking about bumping my internet free time up even further. I'm a night owl by nature, but I'm finding that getting online to read boards and research topics at night is also keeping me up until the wee hours of the morning. Last night I was up until sometime after 4a and the night before, I went to bed at around 4:45a! Both nights I was reading up on traditional vs. self-publishing (incl. POD and Vanity Presses), the greeting card industry and creating a greeting card line. Fascinating stuff, but it keeps me up waaaay too late. This evening, I'm going to adjust the time again and see if I can get to bed by 2a (my usual time is btwn. 2a and 3a...I told you I'm a night owl).
Since I've been reading up on the topic, let's talk a little about publishing. I've owned my own publishing company since 2000 (Lamasa Publishing, LLC) with the intention of self-publishing my books, songs and my play. I just love Tom and Marilyn Ross' book "The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing" and Peter Rubie's "The Everything Get Published Book" (though I always want to move the 'Everything' to it's proper place in the title...lol). I think it's always been in me. I'm an entrepreneur at heart, so the idea of paying for professional editing, printing, binding, creating cover art, buying ISBN's, creating marketing strategies, self-promotion, etc. has never discouraged me, but has always excited me. I also am a bit of a control freak and have found myself, many times, cringing at stories I hear of publishers changing book titles and cover art into something that a writer finds difficult to stomach. Or the urging of writers to write what sells as opposed to what's naturally in them. Besides, I'm quite impatient and the thought of waiting for an editor to find my books worthy of publish could take forever, if it ever happens at all. Freelancing articles and such is one thing, but when it comes to my books and my play...the independent route is definitely my thing. Plus, it's all just so exciting. To each her own, right?
What I read about one so-called "traditional" publisher was particularly disturbing. Publish America (PA) has duped many an author into believing that they are signing with a bona fide, old-fashioned publishing house and that their books will be sold from major bookstores all over the country. Relieved authors, believing they have reached the elusive goal of being published, happily sign away their rights for 7 years only to find out that PA is nothing more than a POD (Print on Demand) company. You can read more about PA in this Washington Post Article from 2005: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25187-2005Jan20 or explore this threadon Absolute Write's forums.
And, speaking of Absolute Write, I found both of these threads on self-publishing to be quite helpful (not just in helping me stay up past 4a either...lol):
In true Absolute Write fashion, both threads are packed with information and give plenty of FFT on the whole notion of self-publishing.
(No eloquent seque here, just a quick change of subject...lol)
No word yet on my Blue Mountain Submissions, but I've been considering the idea of publishing my own line of cards in the near future. I have 9 articles that I'm querying for this week, but I plan on spending next week just working on prose (If I can get all of my queries done this week). I may end up submitting a few more, but most I plan on publishing myself.
I'm wondering about the whole Blue Mountain test market too. If you'll recall, I told you that BM often takes up to 2 years to accept a submission as they send it through a test market first. What I don't get is are they testing it with review panels or focus groups or are they actually running public test markets (i.e. selling cards)? If it's the latter, shouldn't the writer still be credited and compensated on those sales? I'm assuming that they are sending it through review panels and focus groups for now (but why the 2 year process?). I'd hate to think of them literally testing the sales market while offering no accounting to authors. Does this make sense to anyone? I'll have to remember to ask the few people I've met who have actually been picked up by them. Or, if you're reading, please comment.
Which reminds me, I read my stats and want to give a warm welcome to all of our readers all over the U.S. and, a special "hello" to those of you stopping by from Germany (hi Rachel!), the U.K., Uganda, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Israel and Singapore! A few of you have posted comments and I hope all of you will post your blogs (even if they're not about writing) so that we can connect to one another. I haven't taken the time to revisit my sidebar issue in a while, but soon and very soon, I'll get it fixed and I'd like to add all of your links to it. I sincerely hope that my blog is helping you. I don't know it all, but I'm sharing what I do know as I fumble along.
Hope everyone has a blessed week and I'll see you all again soon!
Several days ago, I mentioned creating a schedule for myself. I quickly discovered that, while I can easily create one, I wouldn't stick to one. LOL
Since then, however, I've found a method that works for me. I've begun working in 60 minute increments followed by a 60 minute break. I even have a timer that sits next to my computer to keep me on track. I still don't have a particular start time, but at whatever time I do start, I make sure that my timer is set. Occasionally, I've really been into a project and have not wanted to stop at the designated time. In those cases, I reset my timer for another 60 minutes and keep writing for the whole extra 60. Then, when I do break, I do my best to set my timer for another 60 minutes so that I'm prompted to get started again after a brief rest. In all honesty, I don't always come back from my breaks, but most of the time I do. Overall, though, it's helped me add some structure and discipline to my day. So, while I'm not quite there yet, I have been able to get a lot more accomplished and remain a lot more focused throughout the day.
Another thing that is helping me tremendously is to stay off of my favorite message boards during the daytime hours. When I started the timer thing, I was allowing myself to visit AbsoluteWrite.comand WAHM.comduring my hour-long breaks (as well as other non-writing boards and blogs that I enjoy hanging out on). And, even though, most times I'd get back to work after an hour, what I found myself doing was ONLY working one more hour as I was longing to get back to various topics on the boards. :) I was justifying doing so by the fact that I learn so much from other writers on these boards, but after a few days, I had to be honest with myself...I was procrastinating. So, as of yesterday, I'm trying a new discipline which only allows me to get on my favorite boards at night. Last night, I scheduled myself for after 10:30p, but starting tonight, I think I'm going to bump that time up to 9p instead.
The discipline is paying off too. I had a lot of unfinished articles that I needed to wrap up and edit and a list of new article topics that I've been able to tackle now that I'm better focused. I'll be doing a lot of querying and submitting next week as a result. Yay!
Oh, and I keep forgetting to update everyone on the freelance position I landed a couple of weeks back. I shared with you how I was offered a contract that I wasn't even close to being satisfied with and that I immediately voiced my concerns to the magazine. I also told you how I was told to disregard that particular contract as it was sent by mistake. Well, they sent me another one that was a little better, but not quite what I could agree to just yet. I revised it a great deal and returned the revisions to them while making it clear that I'm ready to sign and submit (I have several articles ready) if we can agree on the revisions. At that point, I was asked to be on their Executive Committee and told that they will review the new terms and get back to me. I told them that we can discuss the possibilities of me joining the EC after we shore up the contract details. It's been 2 days and I haven't heard anything back yet, but I'll keep you posted on the details as they develop.
I just want everyone reading this to understand the importance of, not only reading your contracts, but making adjustments in areas where you can't agree. I don't know how all of this will turn out, but I do know that it will work in everyone's best interest, either way. We're self-employed professionals, not employees...if we don't like the agreements as they're presented to us, we don't have to agree! If we take this approach, from the beginning, I'm optimistic that we'll have a much better time in this business in the long run.
There's more to blog about, but I'm really hungry right now and you know I'm on this hour break thing, so my tummy is winning the battle between writing and eating right now. ;)
Here are a few quick links to paying eZines open to freelancers before I go (you didn't think I'd leave you without a little further exploration, did ya?):
I can't personally vouch for any of these (yet), but they're all on my list of markets I've looked into and I understand them to all be paying markets. On some, the guidelines are available online, but for others, you'll have to shoot the editor a request. You may also want to find out if a query is necessary or if manuscripts can be sent directly. Remember NOT to submit emailed queries or manuscripts as attachments, but to copy and paste them in the text of your email.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and that next week will be our best ever.
Recently, I had a brief exchange with a very talented writer who expressed a fear of rejection so strong that it was keeping her from publishing. Her feelings have been on my mind for a while and I just want to share a few thoughts in case there are others out there feeling the same way.
The Princeton Review reports that there are only 357, 000 writers (I'm assuming they meant in the U.S. although there wasn't a specification noted). Now, while that number may seem like a whopping estimate, when you think about all of the markets that are available, that number is really low. Everyone's not a fiction writer, a non-fiction writer, a lyricist, a novelist, a journalist, a copywriter, a grant writer, a technical writer, a freelancer, a screenplay writer, a playwrite, etc. So, with that 357,000 spread out amongst so many markets, I figure it's a wide open field for the creative go-getter who's not afraid to take chances and who doesn't let a little word like "no" defer their dreams.
I love and encourage constructive criticism of my work. Sometimes it brings about a change in my writing and sometimes it doesn't. Either way, I don't fear it. Having my writing flat-out rejected has never bothered me much either. Since I write, primarily, for myself, if I'm happy with something, I don't give much thought to the fact that someone else rejects it. I also bear in mind that the rejection could be for a variety of reasons besides disliking my work. Perhaps the editor didn't feel it was right for her audience, perhaps the publication recently ran a story on the same subject and it was too soon to repeat, perhaps someone else wrote something from a different, more preferred angle...doesn't mean mine was bad, just that a business decision had to be made and mine didn't make the cut. My point is that I don't stress over rejection and I hope that none of you do either. It's par for the course in this business and something that we all have to get used to. Besides, what one editor refuses, the next one just might embrace, so just keep submitting until you find that right one, okay?
And speaking of submitting, take a peek at these sites and see if there's anything you can use:
http://www.chickensoup.com/ (note that the last email address that I posted for them hasn't been confirmed yet. This is the official site, so it's best to start here with submissions)
I received word that one of my links wasn't working properly in my 7/31 post encouraging you all to check out the freebies at Volition. The correct address is http://forum.volition.com/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=11. I've corrected it in the 7/31 post as well. Thanks to the anonymous poster who gave me a heads up. ;)
Note that, with this link, you'll have to wade through the freebies to search for the magazine ones (or you can use Volition's search function), but they're definitely there.
CraigsList has posted some good jobs this week. I love the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, so I want to make sure everyone is aware of this writing opportunity for an upcoming project with them: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/wri/188667931.html.
Don't forget to check regularly for updates at other job sites either. Previously, I've posted quite a few links, but here are a couple that deserve a second mention:
Fillers are usually between 50 - 100 words and are what magazines used to use to fill empty spaces left over on pages. Thanks to technology, filling space is no longer the issue it used to be, but magazines still regularly use so-called fillers. Each magazine is different, but from what I hear it's not uncommon for a mag to pay $50 just for a short quip, quiz, poem, etc. Filler writers have reported that a query letter is most often not necessary when submitting and that most fillers are welcomed by email. From what I can gather, ditto for sidebars (which sound the same as fillers, to me). You can read more on this topic by logging into THIS THREAD on AbsoluteWrite.com. I swear, that site is one of the most educational sites on all the web for freelance writers. I don't think I've logged on there a day when I haven't learned something new.
And, speaking of sidebars, does anyone know how I can get mine from the bottom of this page back up to the top? I screwed something up when I inserted my ads a couple of weeks ago. I've read up on the topic, but my HTML skills seriously lack, so it's difficult for me to see what I need to fix and where. I'd really like to add some links to my sidebar too, so bonus love points to anyone who can advise.
