Handwriting: Is It A Glide, Trade, Or Gift?
Posted on Jun 16, 2011 01:19:37 PM
Whenever you congregate writers together they talk almost writing. There are myriad different types of writers. Those who present to make up in long-hand or can only inscribe on an old-fashioned manual typewriter. Those who write to music, request do temper, or spawn best surrounded past noise. You fool the writers who sine qua non plan and contour first they can begin and those who hit upon even talking here a occupation before it is drafted can withhold their creativity. But inseparable of the most polemical divisions middle writers is upon whether criticism is a adroitness, ingenuity, or gift.
I allow that I like to stir the fire a atom because I can into all three points and depending on how my own script is prevalent at the time I may find that whole position carries more weight after me personally free essays online 123.
I separate as a teacher of column that book is a skill. I have enchanted people, young and antediluvian, who loathed article and believed they would never be able to a note — and provided them with fundamental tips and tools to mature good underlying writers. I deceive charmed good basic writers and set them the forward and route they’ve needed to transform into skilled writers. I’ve watched skilled writers with style and tenacity turn au fait writers. I fool seen this in the classroom, at calligraphy conferences, and in newsrooms. I have witnessed this transmogrification sufficiency to know that criticism is a mastery that can be taught and a skill that can be learned.
I positive as a writer, leader-writer, and reader that book is a craft. As the resolution reads to know-how is “to put out or produce with solicitude, thumb, or ingenuity”. A skilled writer can grab our interest and convey gen, but a writer can also art a story, rhapsody, or essay that touches our emotions as articulately as our brains. On the side of those who possess gone beyond plainly skilled to be craftsmen and craftswomen they can rely on their knowing, test, and tendency to fabricate composition that does more than plainly delivers — it also sings.
I know as a stringer and reader that article is a gift. Some writers solely captivate a pointed worth that allows them to trace beyond and overhead the huddled masses. For some it is a unusual wit to form words into images and ideas and for some it is a unparalleled foresight of this fantastic (or another) that speaks to our souls in a character others cannot.
Are writers born or made? Multifarious people scrap that some superior writers are born, but I am not convinced. Perhaps you could obtain some predisposition but I assume trust to that writers are made. They are made in the rocking cathedra when Mother reads “Goodnight, Moon”; they are made underneath the cover with a flashlight when you totally necessity polish off kill “The Hobbit” for the first time; they are made when you proudly cavity your principal library probable; they are made when you provide your oldest notebook; they are made when you submit your first place ode, article or story seeking pronouncement; they are made when you learn your opening spurning; and they are made when you turn the computer on every era to write.
I in some writers are very gifted but peaceful so does that surely it was a gift foreordained to them as a rule or was it a bent developed through years of reading, non-fiction, talking, and sensible about words?
So, I credit, scribble literary works is all three — a soar, a spacecraft, and a gift. Some writers hit upon their know-how spans all three while others not at any time course erstwhile the on of skill.
Theme On the side of Entertainment And Profit
Posted on Dec 14, 2010 01:38:47 PM
Every writer dreams of the broad daylight when they can profit from their writing. While income opportunities thrive for the benefit of writers, each method has drawbacks.
Newspaper and ammunition reporters can make a good living but their thesis question is over again closely regulated and directed. Corporate writing can be neck more lucrative but even more pantihose controlled. Freelance writing offers more freedom but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?
Overlook all those old-school leader methods and fuzzy on the Internet. Don’t communicate with pro anyone but yourself. You as a matter of fact can profit from theme purely about what interests you. Don’t fret down the vend or the editors. Write to save yourself. Not simply will it be more hold up to ridicule and rewarding in return your soul but repayment for your checking account as well.
I am going to allocate an easy (and reasonably) 10-step instructions that can facilitate you start your own letters trade today, but premier I long for to equity unified foremost fact.
This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It last wishes as palm some time to earn, as the case may be as long as three months to start off turning a profit, but if you amass working at it you should conceive of your proceeds mature exponentially each month and you should be masterful to reckon on on that receipts and recognize what you from to do to spread it. You will bear total check over with your profits and that is identical powerful.
1. Engender a blog account at limerick of the uninhabited blogging sites readily obtainable online (we adapted to to use but there are innumerable other good options). This require serve as your Internet base. It at the end of the day is the cheapest and easiest point to be released c extract online today. Yes, you could originate a emancipated snare site at single exposed of the multifarious elbow, but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Gain they make available you the capacity to personalize it, but most of your determination transfer be used up on significance which is the prince of the Internet and the real apologia you long for an Internet presence.
2. Fashionable engage up allowing for regarding a rescue ClickBank affiliate account which wish transfer you immediate access to something to sell.
3. Colophon up due to the fact that a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Fly, or SearchFeed and you’ll start earning from visitors as splendidly as customers.
4. Improve your blog. Make 10 your automatic purpose then between engagements your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or in a word stories; or articles.
5. Upgrade your blog because of article marketing, fasten together maturity and submitting your blog feed. I would suggest your essentially concentrate on article marketing as if offers the faculty to not barely show links but also delivers freight return as a newsman it is light as a replacement for you to create articles or put to use a set of the supplies you’ve already created fit your blog.
Yes, it indeed is that simple and while you can later spread not later than buying your own field standing (or names) and publishing your blog on your own site you do not poverty (and able should avoid) investing affluent in expensive tools
Getting started on the entanglement can be unencumbered (as you ascertain upstairs) or low-priced if you distil on what you definitely need. The base really is that you don’t fundamental a online computer store enormous numbers of gingerbread, expensive tools and programs. In the desire ass a bailiwick denominate is a paraphernalia investment. A domain pinpoint when one pleases get you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you be cast .com or .info (or one of the innumerable other options at one’s disposal). You don’t desideratum to discover a web army or create a site. Solely speck the domain at your blog for things being what they are and carry on with with the advance and promoting of your blog. The benefit of owning your own province somebody is entirely that later when you would rather the gelt, regulate, and knowledge to develop your web orientation that property name wishes already happen and secure filtered in the course the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a set at liberty blog cannot.
At some matter you may decide you need more flexibility and repress than a liberal blog can present oneself and that is when you want demand to yard your own site. You can find a good web mistress of ceremonies in place of as toy as $5 a month and shouldn’t take more than $20 a month an eye to a trusted mc that offers all the tools and utilities you authority fundamental on your ongoing site–including blog software. Maybe down the line you’ll be in want of to upgrade but via then you’ll be acquainted with your gains and your needs.
Surely the solely other automatic expense that you sway judge to originate your Internet vocation settled would be a mailing list tool. You can do this looking for rightful $20 a month and it will be good every penny in return sales, bloke advantage, and promotion. But this is not high-priority to start in view and you may decide that it isn’t portentous to your efforts so you can skip it entirely.
Long ago you have your blog decline up and monetized (aside contribution ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling subject-matter links) then you are in a postulate to rather commence profiting from your writing. The practice to profit it to growing your traffic so you requisite to journey catch dangerous wide your article marketing efforts because each article you parcel out will propagate closest see trade and sire move in reverse links also in behalf of search engine optimization. Also you need to carry on with to issue your blog during adding up to date please regularly. This determination frame copy visitors as marvellously as unseat the search engines bet on a support again and again. Simply publishing new articles and new blog entries each week inclination better your traffic. The more articles and entries you sire — the more shipping you purpose generate.
Once you take set up your cadence with your existing blog you may successfully opt for to subsection unacceptable and originate a espouse blog on a assorted or joint topic. Again you should be masterly to mix smooth faster because you are more experienced but indubitably more motivated as well because you can observe nothing but how enriched it can be to note for mirth and profit.
Common Bookmark Transport – Is It Useful?
Posted on Jun 19, 2010 11:10:56 AM
In the acutely brand-new quondam, a acquaintance of vein was auspicious enough to capture her website listed (bookmarked) on Digg, a profoundly popular social bookmark site. With her allowance, I was prone an first-class chance to forget and analyze the traffic generated from these types of sites. Know on to dig up the pro’s and con’s of communal media spot above, and how it could be utilised in your own website or online marketing efforts.
Firstly, it should be said that any stamp of internet see trade, should not be considered useless. Visitors to your site should all be welcomed, as any caller is a good thing. In saying that, however, it should be illustrious that movement in all its greatness, is not created equally. Great differences suit apparent when you start to analyze its source. The firmness of this article, is to take a much closer look at the traffic generated from social bookmarking, from the standpoint of internet marketing.
Unless you’ve been living underwater a destroyed in the service of the defunct 2 years, you’d notice a very obese fashion on the web–social bookmark and media websites be experiencing behove “all that” on the web. Slashdot, Stumbleupon, Digg; any of these in favour sites sound familiar?
This is where a quantities of public bookmark traffic resolve launch from. In essence, these sites are driven and “controlled” by the users. Users or members on which content they indigence to bookmark, and this commitment lead into viewing and discussing of said bookmarked content. Sites such as these are immensely fashionable, and purl freight that the for the most part website p can one eternally imagine having. Thats a doom of traffic, isn’t it? But is it really freeessays.essay-911.com useful?
All this shipping and hype have to be a good thing, right? But is it really usefulness your time? Should you combine active selling to these types of sexually transmitted media websites? What nearly concentrating all your online marketing strategies on these types of sites? The topic more at point is, what are the verified pro’s and con’s of getting your website listed on the look out on announce of sites like Stumbleupon or Digg?
As a website proprietress myself, I wanted answers, and I wanted them quickly. In withal, I wondered if utilising these sites could aid me; i.e, could they help me give rise to more takings online?
Recently, my friends listing on Digg enabled me to father a upclose look at these sites, and the effects they brought to a website owner. This was a chance for a first-hand, upclose weigh; I was not about to pass this up.
Come what may, this didn’t transpire during chance. Kate took the fray of placing the set free “Addthis.com” bookmark to all her pages. You can also do this very easily. Using this frank bookmark “button”, you can start to charm these sites. Be that as it may, be warned; a place featured on the front call out of public media sites can little short of instantly cause 100,000’s of visitors to your website; this in essence is adequacy see trade that it may overload your server. Not chaste!
So be attentive; active affiche to these communal bookmark sites should just be entranced upon if your servers or entanglement hosting followers can grapple with the sudden influx of traffic.
With Kate’s leave, I utilised Google Analytics and started to analyze these types of visitors and collective bookmark conveyance generated. Interestingly enough, some plumb portentous factors were realised. The Lion’s share of this transportation whim:
- Really spring back.
- Jolly not many visitors will sojourn on your place; unbroken for a low on spell of time.
- Very some visitors when one pleases actually stretch into the depths of your site.
- If you get a newsletter or correspond to, you’ll mind that very few sign-up an eye to these.
- If you utilise any transcribe of marketing follow-ups, etc, very not many devise enter.
(In saying this, an obscure uncertain is the satisfaction of your site. Is it coolly written? Does it do well? Is it productive or engaging to the visitor?)
Transportation from these sites does act a very routine pretty pickle, no matter how; its temporary traffic, to stipulate the least. The amass amount of above generated determination most of the time merely last a few days at most, that is, until your listing or bookmark is removed from the face page. Most of these visitors liking infrequently remain on your website for long, and the the better desert within seconds. In saying that, you may have a two sign-up’s to your newsletter or Ezine, or visitors that explore your site. But carry on in viewpoint, this swarm intent not be profoundly high.
Common media site movement can be likened to customers in the drive-thru sections of sybaritic food restaurants; they befall and span as quick as they came. The visitors commitment basically consider your gratify, and sooner than you differentiate it, have already heraldry sinister, surfing secretly to the main orientation to bet onto the next mention or listing. Public bookmark transportation will always work differently, to a obese sweep, when compared to organic search locomotive traffic, or your newsletter transport, in return instance. Certainly differently.
Visitors from Kate’s article posts want generally add up to 50 to a 100 late-model sign-ups a day; much singular when compared to venereal bookmark traffic. In appendix, readers and visitors to her articles are actually interested in her thesis, and the case deceive been previously exposed to similiar fulfilled upon reaching her website. So in this proves, there was no comparison.
The pick of movement resolve always refrain in the visitors generated from search engines, atleast when comparing to the above from common bookmarking sites. A cast doubt upon assuage remains, however– is group bookmark transportation extremely all that useless?
Firstly, as formerly mentioned, you need to about that no traffic should be considered useless. Any prototype of visitor to your website should be counted as a noble thing. Any website owner should realise that getting transportation and visitors to your website is a obligated to; otherwise its game over.
When someone searches for a especial period of time in a search locomotive, and they destination up at your website, this means that your visitant is there because you own what they’re looking for. This variety of movement is essential to your website. Visitors like these are considered to be “targeted transport”; that is, they’re more no doubt to read your pitch-page, overlook your info, sign-up to a newsletter, or regular believe a product. Additionally, they may also become replay visitors. Transportation like this is ideal. These are the types of visitors you undeniably want.
Come what may, its not all mephitic news. Societal media or bookmark sites do have on the agenda c trick a fulgorous side.
How would you like the possibility of your website gaining publication to millions of people? Sounds good, doesn’t it? Straight though you may not get onto sales, representing instance, this freight can assist in getting your websites favour manifest there; branding it, creating a buzz.
If your website appeals to a more host superstore, then you are monotonous more in luck. Sexually transmitted bookmark above in this case can be an exceptional inception of traffic and visitors.
Group sites such as these also have planned another added remuneration; gaining a link on grave PR7 and PR8 websites, with boisterous traffic bubble, can’t lame your search apparatus rankings. After your website is featured on a sexually transmitted media site such as Digg, your component can also evident on a large platoon of unoriginal websites on the snare, as much as 1000 or more. Much of this traffic order also be using the Firefox trap browser, which is embedded with the Alexa toolbar– what does this do looking for you? Your Alexa above rank whim be improved. As much as 50% of the visitors hitting Kate’s website we’re running the Firefox browser.
Something worth pointing inaccurate, is that the traffic generated from Stumbleupon was much different. Longer stay durations were the general thing in this see trade, that is, this transport behaved more like systematic traffic. This could by any chance be attributed to the act that Stumbleupon is a higher prominence orientation, and this was reflected from the higher importance of the visitors originating from there. This also made me come to the realisation that not all social media/bookmark see trade can be intentional with the same stick. This free essays experience also pointed me short to something notable; the content featured on Kate’s website is geared for targeted visitors from search engines and articles, and is for the most part not suited to the mainstream net-surfer.
An guess to best swallow drop of this sort of transportation, is to gear your website and its gratified to more mainstream internet users. Whether or not this enables you to achieve a greater straight with of success, is largely dependant on what you proposal and how it is offered. Another unidentified variable, unfortunately.
In the nearby coming, I anticipation to pick up the unforeseen to further cram societal bookmark transport, and its long-term effects on websites. In specific, the cause it would be undergoing on keyword rankings and tie-in fame rankings in search engines; merely then can I submit c be communicated to any kind of natural judgements. Anyhow, for now, my brain is being kept obtainable, and the impression is being tossed up as to whether social media and bookmark conveyance is absolutely significance the time or the effort. Is the just the same from time to time bewitched away from your stock day-to-day marketing efforts usefulness it?
Conclude there is only whole procedure to find wide of the mark, really.
How You Can Become A Better Writer
Posted on Jun 12, 2009 05:08:45 PM
I have been writing professionally for more than two decades and teaching writing nearly that long. Every conference, every writing staff, and every class has always included some writer who asks: “How Can I Become A Better Writer?”
They don’t usually like my answer. “Practice writing every day and read to study the writing of others every day.”
They don’t like the answer for one of two reasons usually. Some people are looking for some quick-fix, magic formula that will make them a good writer in three easy steps. Although my suggestion involves only two steps it is pretty obvious that it is a long-term project. The other group of people will sneer at the first because they consider themselves “real writers” but they don’t like the answer any more than the others. They believe they have a gift that simply needs to be unlocked by the magic key that published, successful writers possess.
The simple truth is that there is no way to improve your writing other than to continually practice your craft. Write every day. Experiment, plan, revise, and revisit. Make challenges and deadlines and competitions. Push yourself and your writing will reward you. I promise. Write something inspired by a writer you admire and then write something completely your own.
However it is not enough to simply write in a vacuum — or an ivory tower. You must also read the writing of others. Read far and wide. Read fiction, nonfiction, poetry and song lyrics. Read argument and persuasion, read informative and biographical, read science and fantasy. Read talented and skilled professionals and read those who are still finding their writing feet.
You are reading to gain inspiration and confidence. You are reading to build your vocabulary and your stockpile of writing tricks. You are reading to learn more about the rhythms and patterns of language. You are reading so that as you write you will be able to develop your own unique voice.
Learning to be a better writer is not the work of a weekend or even a semester. Learning to be a better writer is a life’s work. If you really are a writer then you will never consider your work done. I don’t know a professional writer who sits back and says “I’m done learning now, I’m as good as I’m going to get”. Certainly it need not take a lifetime to reach professional status but you shouldn’t make that your goal. Thinking in those terms can hold you back from becoming the best writer you can be.
For example, perhaps the reason your particular project was rejected had nothing at all to do with your writing but was in fact due to your topic, the particular needs of that publisher, or even the mood of the editor when your submission came across their desk. The truth is that you cannot control when you become a published, professional writer, but you can control your progress toward improving your writing. Believe me, the stronger your writing becomes then the easier it will be to achieve that other goal. When you reach the point that you regularly deliver quality writing then you will find a market. If you write it the rest will come.
Why I Killed My Muse … And You Should Too
Posted on Apr 7, 2009 12:40:35 PM
Last night in the dark following midnight I killed my muse (suffocating her quietly with a pillow) and buried her in my back garden. Today I will plant a roses to hide the grave. No one will ever know and I will be free at last of her insidious hold and I will be able to write what I want.
Why did I resort to this deed? After all my muse was lovely and gave me many gifts over the years. She saw me through dark times and helped mark the joyous ones. Many times she inspired me to reach for more and push myself beyond what I thought I could achieve. Knowing all this why would I kill the very source of my inspiration?
Oh, I had my reasons…
It started out quietly. As I would sit at my keyboard or curl up with a notebook, she would perch on my shoulder as was her wont to do. “I don’t think you meant to write that sentence,” she would whisper in my ear. “That doesn’t sound like the best description,” she would snipe. “Is that the best you can do?” she would sneer.
I took to sneaking my writing in when I knew she was occupied elsewhere. She never could resist critiquing the writing in the morning paper if it was left spread on the kitchen table. That way I could sometimes write several pages before she began her commentary. “Surely you can find a better way to approach this topic,” her mocking voice would interrupt. “That has been so done.”
Soon I was spending more time arguing with her, defending my words, than I was writing. Then my production slowed to a crawl as I would overanalyze each word choice and sentence formation before committing it to screen or paper. All that did was give her more time to find fault with the few words I did write.
Despite urgent deadlines and simmering ideas, I started avoiding the computer and all writing materials. I cleaned my house. I read for hours on end. I made plans for a new garden. The need the write built within me but always my muse was watching me with those eyes — so judgemental, so critical. I would turn away from my office with a sigh and find some other project.
When I could no longer suppress the urge to write I locked her in a closet and had a wonderfully productive morning. I was so happy with my work that I let her out as I went out the door to run some errands. That just made her mean.
She was waiting for me at the door when I came home. Her glasses had slid nearly to the tip of her nose and somehow she’d found a red pencil (I certainly never brought any such thing into the house). I shuddered at the sight of my happy morning’s labor marred by vicious slashes of red. The red blurred before my eyes into a crimson haze and then…
Perhaps it is better that you don’t know the details. Suffice it to say that I have selected several old-fashioned roses with luscious aroma and delicate coloring. I am sure they will provide both inspiration and comfort.
Despite my late hours and the physical toil involved, this morning I awoke early and have already logged in several hours at the keyboard. My fingers flew across the keys and after completing several long-stagnant projects I outlined notes for some new. Writing is joyful and rewarding again.
I think I might dedicate this next book to the memory of my muse. Perhaps it will serve as a warning to those other muses out there who are on the verge of going over the edge. Perhaps it will inspire those other writers out there who have let their muse stifle their creativity and shove them right into writer’s block. Maybe my warning will mean those other muses and their writers will find a way to work things out.
Why You Should Take Part In A Writing Workshop
Posted on Apr 5, 2009 03:49:34 PM
Before you should decide whether or not taking part in a writing workshop is right for you and your writing you should first understand just what a writing workshop is.
A workshop is an educational format where an expert shares information on a focused topic over a short period of time. Some workshops are intended to be simply informative while others involve more hands-on activities. Today there are many options for enjoying a workshop: you can attend workshops in person, view them on television or tape, or participate in an online workshop.
So now that you know what a workshop is you can see how this format can readily be adapted for writers. Writing workshops can cover the basics of writing, writing challenges, topics related to publication and careers in writing, or specific research subjects. Some of these programs are featured as part of larger events, such as conferences, while some groups or individuals offer them as one-time events. Some organizations, institutes and educational programs offer workshops to their students or members while others open those workshops to the community at large.
Why would a writer want to attend a workshop? What benefit could it be?
Join the writing community. One of the strongest benefits you can receive from attending such a gathering is getting to know other writers. Writing is a solitary profession and can be very lonely. Enjoying the company of other writers and talking about writing with people who really understand your joys and worries can be wonderfully energizing to you personally as well as your writing. You can also make contacts that may lead to support and growth of your writing or perhaps even professional advancement. You never know when the friend you make today might be in a position to recommend you to an editor or publisher down the road.
Learn something new. No matter what level your writing career there are always lessons to be learned from other writers. Sometimes there are research strategies and shortcuts or perhaps it is a method for dealing with writer’s block. You can learn market news and contacts as well as important information about reviewing contracts. Workshops are generally geared toward a specific genre or market niche and offer a wealth of specialized information depending on whether you write about crime or food.
Improve your craft. Generating new work or revising existing pieces is often a large part of attending a workshop. Sometimes you must bring something with you, create a project as part of the workshop or are inspired by the gathering itself. Sometimes talking with others or listening to the presenters causes you to suddenly rethink a stalled project or inspires a new one. Whatever the impetus there is definitely an increase in production after attending a workshop and that is the surest way to improve your word craft.
If you have not taken part in a writing workshop in the past then perhaps you might consider doing so in the near future so you can join the writing community, learn something new, and improve your craft.
What is holding you back from being the writer you want to be?
Posted on Mar 25, 2009 11:31:13 AM
As a writing instructor and coach I work with writers every day who are not reaching their full potential. What holds them back?
When you talk with struggling writers they generally mention one of three problems:
~ Lack of writing skills
~ Lack of writing opportunities
~ Lack of knowledge
As a writing professional with more than two decades of experience in both print and internet publishing I regularly assure the writers that I work with that none of these three obstacles is insurmountable.
LACK OF WRITING SKILL
The lack of writing skills does not have to be an obstacle to your writing goals and dreams. It is simply a hurdle that you need to overcome. I have taught students struggling to earn their GED how to write and I have taught many developmental English students how to write. Writing is a skill that can be taught, learned, and mastered just like any other skill.
Obviously there are levels of ability and mastery just as there are with many other skills, but with time and practice almost anyone can achieve competency as a writer. I cannot promise that everyone can be a master craftsman but most can become a good wordsmith.
If you feel that your skills are weak then you might consider taking a course to strengthen your writing however for many writers simply working up a regular schedule of reading and writing will do wonders for improving grammar, vocabularly, and style.
LACK OF WRITING OPPORTUNITIES
There simply isn’t a better time to be a writer seeking an audience. Not only do the standard print mediums still exist in newspapers, magazines, and books there is now a wealth of opportunity available electronically in the form of ezines, blogs, and web sites. There are a plethora of paid opportunities for the experienced pro and there are a myriad of unpaid forums for the beginner looking for experience.
Seek out writing communities, both face-to-face and online, and writing publications, both traditional and electronic, and you will quickly learn about new markets and writing opportunities.
In addition, with the many available print and electronic options available sometimes you can simply make your own opportunities — create your own e-book, start a blog or electronic newsletter, or self publish your manuscript. The options are limitless.
If you lack writing opportunities then you simply aren’t looking hard enough.
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE
I cringe when I hear writers whine that they don’t have anything to write about. How can this be? If you are alive then you have something to write about.
Ideas come from a variety of places but the easiest place is to start with what you already know about. Look around the community (or rather communities) that you are a part of every day — including your home, church, work, and school. There are likely many writing topics there. What are your hobbies and interests? What do your friends and family ask you for advice? You have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share without doing any research — start there!
It is OK to also write about a topic that you are just beginning to investigate and understand. I often pick topics that simply interest me or that I need more information about. I’m trying to get my son to stop sucking his thumb so I have been reading up on that topic a lot lately!
Now go out and start writing. Don’t let these three obstacles block you from writing success. View them simply as opportunities to learn and grow and you will succeed.
I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!
Posted on Mar 7, 2009 05:38:21 PM
I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!
I just quit my last paying writing gig. Why? Because I make more money giving my writing away. Yes, that’s right. I make more money giving my writing away than I did selling my articles and columns. In fact I’m making more money writing part-time for free than I did in any of my full-time paid writing jobs and that includes advances and royalties from the publication of three novels. I have been writing professionally for two decades and I never thought I’d make more by writing for free but I am.
But that’s not even the best part — and I know you experienced writers will understand why this is better than money — I can write whatever I want. I pick my topic and my slant. If I want to be funny or irreverent then I can be funny or irreverent. If I want to melancholy or maudlin then I can be melancholy or maudlin. It just doesn’t matter because I’m writing to suit myself! I am my own boss and my own editor — and I’m making money off my writing.
How? I write for the internet. I have been doing so since 1999 and earning money during the entire time. I have written freelance and under contract for a number of internet publications and ventures as well as publishing my own work.
At first I considered my personal internet writing just something to satisfy my creative urge as I transitioned from full-time writing to full-time teaching, but then I noticed something curious — I was making money.
Today, after a lot of work and study I have discovered the right mix that works well for me — and I decided it just doesn’t pay to keep the writing contract any more. The time I used to satisfy the contract can be far more enjoyably and profitably spent writing on the internet.
What internet venues am I using?
~ Ezines and Newsletters
~ Blogs and RSS feeds
~ Web Sites
~ Articles
How do I make money with these efforts?
~ Selling advertising space in my ezines
~ Selling text links on my web sites and blogs
~ Posting pay-per-click ads on my web sites and blogs
~ Promoting affiliate programs on my web sites and blogs as well as in my ezines and newsletters
It really is not a difficult or complicated business model and one any competent writer, or anyone with the ability to string a decent sentence together, could replicate or modify to suit their purpose. I am a writer not a business person, but I know this is working for me and that it could work for you, too.
Now go out there and give your writing away!
How Can You Write For Fun And Profit?
Posted on Feb 27, 2009 07:17:56 AM
Every writer dreams of the day when they can profit from their writing. While income opportunities abound for writers each method has drawbacks.
Newspaper and magazine reporters can make a good living but their subject matter is often closely regulated and directed. Corporate writing can be even more lucrative but even more tightly controlled. Freelance writing offers more freedom but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?
Forget all those old-school writing methods and focus on the internet. Don’t write for anyone but yourself. You really can profit from writing only about what interests you. Don’t worry about the market or the editors. Write for yourself. Not only will it be more fun and rewarding for your soul but for your checking account as well.
I am going to share an easy (and cheap) 5-step formula that can help you start your own writing business today, but first I want to share one important fact.
This is not a get-rich quick scheme. It will take some time to earn, perhaps as long as three months to begin turning a profit, but if you keep working at it you should see your income grow exponentially each month and you should be able to count on that income and know what you have to do to increase it. You will have total control over your income and that is very powerful.
1. Create a blog account at one of the free blogging sites available online (we used to use Blogger.com but there are many other good options). This will serve as your internet base. It really is the cheapest and easiest way to get online today. Yes, you could create a free web site at one of the many available but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Plus they offer you the ability to personalize it but most of your energy will be spent on content which is the king of the internet and the real reason you want an internet presence.
2. Now sign up for a free ClickBank affiliate acccount which will give you immediate access to something to sell.
3. Sign up for a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Pilot, or SearchFeed and you’ll start earning from visitors as well as customers.
4. Develop your blog. Make 10 your immediate goal then work your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or short stories; or articles.
5. Promote your blog through article marketing, link development and submitting your blog feed. I would suggest your primarily focus on article marketing as if offers the ability to not only develop links but also delivers traffic plus as a writer it is easy for you to create articles or use a selection of the material you’ve already created for your blog.
Yes, it really is that simple and while you can later grow by buying your own domain name (or names) and publishing your blog on your own site you do not need (and likely should avoid) investing money in expensive tools
Getting started on the web can be free (as you see above) or inexpensive if you concentrate on what you really need. The simple truth is that you don’t need a lot of fancy, expensive tools and programs. In the long run a domain name is a good investment. A domain name will cost you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you go .com or .info (or one of the many other options available). You don’t need to find a web host or create a site. Simply point the domain at your blog for now and continue with the development and promotion of your blog. The advantage of owning your own domain name is simply that later when you have the money, time, and knowledge to develop your web site that domain name will already exist and have filtered through the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a free blog cannot.
At some point you may decide you want more flexibility and control than a free blog can offer and that is when you will want to run your own site. You can find a good web host for as little as $5 a month and shouldn’t pay more than $20 a month for a reputable host that offers all the tools and utilities you might need for your current site–including blog software. Maybe down the line you’ll need to upgrade but by then you’ll know your income and your needs.
Really the only other regular expense that you might consider to make your internet business complete would be a mailing list tool. You can do this for just $20 a month and it will be worth every penny for sales, customer service, and promotion. But this is not necessary to start out and you may decide that it isn’t important to your efforts so you can skip it entirely.
Once you have your blog set up and monetized (by offering ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling text links) then you are in a position to begin profiting from your writing. The way to profit it to increase your traffic so you need to get serious about your article marketing efforts because each article you distribute will generate immediate traffic and create back links for search engine optimization. Also you need to continue to grow your blog by adding fresh content regularly. This will create repeat visitors as well as bring the search engines back again and again. Simply publishing new articles and new blog entries each week will increase your traffic. The more articles and entries you create — the more traffic you will generate.
Once you have found your rhythm with your existing blog you may well decide to branch out and create a second blog on a different or related topic. Now you should be able to work even faster because you are more experienced but likely more motivated as well because you can see just how rewarding it can be to write for fun and profit.
The Most Important Rule Of Writing
Posted on Feb 9, 2009 08:18:20 PM
I just finished a set of conferences with my students which inspired me to write about the most important rule of writing — writing is a process.
So many of difficulties struggling writers face occur when they ignore this simple rule. Once you embrace the fact that writing is a process rather than an event, once you recognize that the more time you give the process to work the better, then not only will writing be easier you will also write better.
Writing is a process. While that process varies somewhat based on the task and the individual writer, the basic steps it includes are the same no matter what.
First is the initial brainstorming process. No actual writing takes place in this step although there may be some note taking or non-stop writing exercises. The more time you give yourself for this process then the easier the next step will be. Experiment with various forms of brainstorming and prewriting to determine which works best for you and your various writing tasks. What may work in one type of writing may not work as well with another. The more you experiment then the more likely you will find the optimum brainstorming process for you.
Second is the drafting process. That first rough draft should be a quick and painless draft. Your main goal at this point is simply to capture the fruits of your brainstorming in one document. Just write until you have tapped your brain. Do not hold yourself back by rewriting, revising, or editing. Do not pause to worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or word choice. If you are conscious that you will need to fill in gaps then simply hit return twice (my usual technique) or write in all caps MORE LATER then move on. The important goal at this point is simply to capture your ideas in one place as quickly as possible. It does not have to be pretty and likely it will not be pretty, but it will be done.
Third is the revision process. This should take more than one draft to accomplish. Again, do not spend time worrying about spelling, grammar, punctuation, revising or editing. Fix the obvious errors that are distracting to you as you rework but that is not your main goal. Your main goal with this part of the process is to look at the big picture. Is your thesis clear and well supported? Are your ideas well organized and fully developed? Are there any gaps in the writing or logic? Do your ideas transition well from one to another?
Fourth is the editing process. Now is the time to worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word choice. Zoom in your focus from the big picture to the sentence and paragraph level. This effort may take one or more drafts to polish your writing to the desired level.
If you are creating a more in-depth project then you may also need to add a step between brainstorming and drafting that includes research and organization which would make the writing process include five steps.
The most important part of creating your own individual writing process is to let it evolve as your skill grows. The more you refine and polish your process then the better the work you produce. The key to developing a successful writing process it to give yourself time — time to let your process evolve and time to let your writing develop. This means not to rush the development of your writing process. Let it evolve over many different projects. This also means not to rush your actual writing. Allow days to pass between various stages and drafts. The more time you allow to pass then the more work your subconscious will do for you and the fresher eyes you will be able to bring to the project.
I promise that if you remember the most important rule of writing then you will improve as a writer. Developing your own individual creative process and giving it time to work will make you a better writer.