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July 25 The Page of Fives Hi all - I have another announcement to make here, in the shape of a new section on my new blog. It's called the Page of Fives, and it will deal with lots of aspects of my writing that will be good to share with you. For example, the first one is 5 websites that I couldn't do without as a writer. It was hard work narrowing these down, but I think I've come up with the five that I would really miss if they disappeared! You can look forward to more 'fives' in the future too. And if you subscribe to the RSS feed on my new blog you won't miss any of them at all. So... isn't it time to see which 5 sites mean the most to me? Perhaps you could suggest your own? March 30 A good day for taking on more work!First of all I'd like to welcome all my new readers. No matter whether you read my blog regularly or you use the RSS feed to keep up to date, it's good to have you aboard! Last week was relatively quiet on the writing front; enough to keep me ticking over quite happily, but also enough to warrant a couple of extra days off in the garden! And it was great weather too - I can now write some articles about growing your own tomatoes from seed, among other things... But after taking Sunday off I have arrived back at my computer this morning to find an influx of emails with new jobs for me to do. That was great news as I was itching to get back into the swing of things again. I have several new batches of articles and an eBook to take on as well. So I am prepared for a long day - and evening - typing away, and I am really enjoying it. The purpose of this blog post is to share the benefits of having a few extra days off when it's quiet. It is good to try and grab some more work and apply for new jobs of course, but you should also take some time for yourself to recharge your writing batteries. Gardening is how I do it, when the weather permits. It has done me the world of good, and I now have a nicer garden to look out on as well! So it could be a busy week, one way or the other. But I'm ready to take it on with both hands and a fresh mind and brain too. I'm planning on blogging more this week as well, to share how I am getting on with this new batch of work. But it's days like this when I feel really grateful to be able to stay home and write to my own timetable - it's what I love, and it is why I recommend that anyone wanting to write for a living just gives it a go. Don't let it pass you by! I'll catch up with you again soon. March 11 How much writing do you do for yourself?This is a topic I have been grappling with a lot of late! It's always great to be working for such a broad cross section of clients, but all writers tend to have other projects that they want to work on for their own benefit as well. For example, there is a website called Constant Content that you can write articles for and simply put them up for sale. I love writing for this site, but quite often I find I don't have the time to do so. And yet once I have a good body of work on there I know I will be able to sell steadily through the weeks and months to come. The trick is finding the time to write those articles in the first place. Now I have a plan of action for every single day that I write. At the end of each day I will take a look at what I need to do on the following day, and write a list accordingly. But until recently I never put anything for myself on that list. Obviously the most important work is the work that is due for other clients; if I find myself pushed for time for any reason then the client work always takes precedence. But I have learned that if you don't put any time aside for your own work - and if you don't remind yourself about it on a daily reminder list - then it can get pushed to the bottom of the pile and forgotten as a result. So ask yourself what there is that you would like to do for yourself, as well as for others. And remember that sometimes working for yourself can bring in new clients anyway! March 07 The need to be versatile and plan ahead with your writingThe idea for this blog post came to me after three weeks of visiting a relative in hospital. Our usual work from home timetable (get up, start work, stop for lunch and then work through til early evening) went out the window, as we took up afternoon visiting hours. All through those three weeks my partner and I kept saying to ourselves, 'Thank God we work from home!' Even though we ended up having the afternoon off and working all evening until going to bed, it meant we could still get the work done and also visit pretty much every day. That was something we never could have done in a 'normal' job. Luckily I plan my writing as far in advance as I can, breaking longer jobs down into bite sized sections so I get something done on them every day. Obviously with our amended timetable of late, I had to take another look at my timetable to make sure I could fit in everything that had a time sensitive deadline on it. When real life intrudes in this way, it's a case of getting your priorities in order and dealing with the most important jobs first. I also tend to build in a couple of days leeway with each job I do, unless it is very small. So for example, if a job is due on the 10th, I will try and complete it by the 8th if I can. That way, if anything happens to throw me off course, I know I don't have to worry as I have some breathing space built in. It's easy to think you have plenty of time to do whatever needs doing each day. But sometimes the unexpected can really cause problems - so always make sure you look after your writing needs (and those of your clients) by planning ahead as much as you can. March 06 The silence of being rejected for work onlineIf you have ever tried applying for online writing jobs you see advertised all over the internet, you will know what the silence of rejection is like. Magazines are different. You will usually (not always but usually) hear back from them with a polite 'no thanks' if you are not successful with your latest article idea or manuscript. But when you apply for online writing work you never hear back unless you are successful. Boy did I find this difficult when I first started out! You have to develop a new tactic when you start doing this. Basically you have to send the best application you can, and then you forget all about it and get on with finding and applying for the next writing job. I actually won a small but regular writing job recently that I had applied to (and forgotten about) over a month before. It took me a few minutes to place where the work had come from! But it just goes to show that quite often you'll get writing jobs coming in when you least expect them to. You definitely shouldn't be discouraged if you haven't heard back from that latest application within a few days of sending it. Even if it is past the closing date for applications, don't get disheartened. Writing work online is hard fought for and hard won. You may get lucky and get the first few jobs under your belt virtually straightaway. On the other hand it could take weeks or even months. But don't give up. Work at improving your pitch. Get out there and start a writing blog, publish some articles on websites like Hubpages - get your name known. It will all benefit you in the end. And don't worry about the silence you'll get after submitting an application for a writing project. Sooner or later that silence will end - and then you will be in the flow of writing once again. February 14 The benefit of recommendationsOne of the best things about writing is that you can never quite be sure how or why new clients will find you. I learned that last night, if I didn't already know it. I write articles for a guy who contacted me through Squidoo several months back. He's a really lovely client, very helpful and friendly, and we get on very well. Last night I was contacted by someone through my website, who as it turned out had been recommended to contact me by this original Squidoo guy! It looks as if this new clients is going to be a regular, with blog posts and an article or two to do every week. It just goes to show how connections you make through your writing can reach out and continue to pay off months - if not years - into the future. Here's another story for you. Years ago - and I'm talking probably fifteen years here - I wrote articles for a lovely lady living in the UK who had her own magazine. Eventually I think we lost touch, but I often wondered how she was doing. I had a few years away from writing for one reason or another, and then I came back into it with a view to writing for online markets. Anyway one day I received an email from someone promoting a book. And this book turned out to have been written by the same woman I wrote for all those years ago. I hopped on her website and sent a message along the lines of 'do you remember me?' Needless to say she did, and after we had caught up on things she asked if I still wrote articles... Now I write four well paid articles for her once a month, so it just goes to show that those writing connections you make have a habit of leading you in all kinds of curious and wonderful places! This is one good reason for making sure you keep on going, no matter how dejected you might feel at times. That connection you make with someone today could lead to a well paid writing job at some point in the future... February 12 Writing anything different lately?Well they say variety is the spice of life, don't they? You might remember I said I'd had a long break from writing eBooks for a while, because I just felt worn out with them? Well I am itching to get started on this new one! I sent off the table of contents to be approved yesterday, but I'm so ready for this that I might just make a start on the introduction before I get confirmation back. I never usually do that, but I don't think it will be wasted somehow. I've also had some more work come in which is made of product reports. Once again, something different to get my teeth into. So how are you doing with your regular work? If you are finding things a little hard going, why not try doing something a little different to fire you back up again? This is especially worthwhile if things are a little quiet, as they were last week. They're picking up again now, but it was an excellent chance to jump on some new opportunities and make the most of a few websites that I haven't previously had the time to do anything with. If you're into your writing, stay tuned as I may share a few of my sources with you. Be sure to visit the link on the right though, which takes you to my best Squidoo page on the subject! Happy writing - I'll be back soon. February 11 Back to longer projects?Hi all. Well after a long weekend off, I have just snagged a new project - a 100+ page eBook. That's good news as I did take a step back from writing them for a while. I do love writing articles and I'd done so many eBooks on the trot that I was feeling a little worn out! But after having a break from them for a few short months and focusing largely on articles, blogs and web pages, it's back to writing longer material from this week. It's a nice subject too, so I think it will be rather enjoyable. Do you have a favourite topic or type of work that you prefer over all others? Or do you always try and get a good mix of work to keep you entertained? February 04 An early start to finish some articlesHi all. Yes this is my second blog post in as many days! I'm just grabbing a slice of toast at my desk so I thought I'd get back in touch again. I'm getting ahead of myself a bit today, finishing some articles that aren't actually due until next week. It's one of those times when the deadlines are mostly a week or more in the future, but luckily I'm motivated to get as much done as possible today! It certainly frees up the next week to slot in more work as and when it comes in. So how motivated are you feeling at the moment? It comes and goes in waves for me. So for example, I tend to find that whenever some new work comes in I get a rush of excitement and a new urge to get it done well. I could never say that about any of my previous jobs! lol I'm still waiting to hear back from a few article suggestions and emails I sent out to people last night, but I have a handful of articles to write for myself today. Remember I mentioned Constant Content yesterday? Well they could be seeing a few submissions from me today... Another possibility is to get on Hubpages to find some new work and get myself out there a bit more. Hey it worked with Squidoo, so there is no reason it shouldn't work for Hubpages as well. In case you didn't know, Hubpages is basically a selection of 'hubs' (or single pages) which each deal with a different subject. A friend of mine has had some really good successes on there, so I'm thinking of having another go at it. To date I have two hubs live, and I'm not happy with either of them! I think I took the same approach to it as I did to Squidoo, and they don't work in the same way. So we'll see what happens as I start to revamp my account on there. Will keep you posted... February 03 A brief break in the mountain of work...Hi again all! Yes I'm still here and still at my desk pretty much every day, even though I've not been blogging that much recently. It seems the January doldrums hit me a bit late this year. I'm back on track now though, and I've already landed one nice regular monthly job from someone who used to send just the occasional piece of work. That's been good news, and we get on extremely well too which is always a bonus! So how is your writing progressing during 2009? Have you set clear and worthwhile goals to further your writing during this coming year? I have stuck by mine pretty much - it's a shame I didn't add 'regular blogging' to that list... I've jotted it on the bottom now though, so let's see if it works! One of my main aims this year was to be more active in finding new clients. It's so easy to settle and never get any new work or challenges coming your way. Although I have three main sources of work that I fully intend to keep up with, slotting in other smaller jobs here and there can really be beneficial. So far it's worked well for me, and I've put my fees up too with no problems at all. Hopefully this new pro-active stance will continue to pay off. My next aim is to get more articles onto www.constant-content.com. I've sold a lot on there in the past but those sales have slowed to a trickle just lately. It's on my schedule for tomorrow though, so I'll let you know how it progresses... November 13 Balancing work and playHi all, it's been another busy week here and yet again seven days have flown by without me posting to my blog. But here I am to discuss the subject of what working - and writing - from home is really like. We have found that it has become necessary (at least at the moment) to get a day off every week by actually going out of the house to see friends and family. More than a single day off would be nice, but it is rather impossible at the moment, because eBay is flying so well that we need to keep up with all the orders. Our Sunday evenings off are sacred - it's our way of winding down for the week, even if we work during the day - but for the last two weeks we have stayed up working until about 10pm because we have sold so much during the evening. And of course if we don't do it right then, we end up getting behind for the week ahead. And that isn't good customer service. So what has all this got to do with writing? Well I am of course still writing plenty of articles and completing projects for different people, but it has become even more necessary to grab a day off each week to wind down and relax for a while. I need to help with packing up eBay orders now and again, so my writing needs to fit in around that as well. I'm not really cutting back on my writing as that is the last thing I want to do, but performing this brand new balancing act in the latter months of the year is something that is definitely called for! So we have decided we are having a week off at Christmas, when work can be a little slack anyway. Once the last posting dates have passed, we will work up until the day before Christmas Eve, and then start back on 2nd January 2009. Seems like a good pay off for working so hard over the previous three months! As I said it really is a balancing act, but it's a time when both writing duties and eBay duties need to be balanced out with real life. How do you find your own writing pans out at this time of the year? Is it easier? More difficult? Or pretty much the same? I'm off for lunch now, and to do some online Christmas shopping. Multi-tasking again... October 29 Practical writing considerationsHi all. It's been a strange few days with some necessary tasks getting in the way of my writing a bit. Firstly it's that time in the UK where we have to make sure our accounts are all ready to be submitted, so we can pay all that lovely tax! lol Mind you it's kind of good to have some to pay, because it means we've been earning money this year. And seeing as this is for a year where I was only writing full time for about 3 months, we did rather well all in all. But we've also been shopping around for some business insurance of one kind and another, and although it's all sorted now it is still a pain having to go through the motions. So now that's all done it's back to work and focusing on listings for eBay and doing my other writing jobs too. We've got nearly 200 listings live on eBay now - how on earth did that happen? Our office looks more like a stock room but we're selling it all so it's looking good. It's really taught me the value of being organised with my writing though. I was anyway, but having to organise it round practical business tasks as well as social time isn't always easy. Still, once it's all done you can focus on writing again, so it's worth getting it out of the way. And now the insurance is sorted we shouldn't have to go through all that again... October 22 Writing with a migraine...... can't be done. As
I found out yesterday - and coincidentally at the same time that I
found out I do in fact suffer from migraines. Hey ho. So instead of having two days - yesterday and today - with a quite easy workload, I've had to pile it all into today instead. But it's really made me think about priorities. I love my writing but it isn't the only thing in my life. And yet it can take over at times. I think it is a lot harder to manage your day when you finally take that leap and become a full time writer. I've been a full timer since January of this year, and I am still trying to balance things out. I don't like to turn work down but I have discovered that sometimes you have to for your own benefit - simply to prevent yourself from getting tired and worn out. So don't be scared to say no to things if you know you will struggle or feel really stressed out doing them. You only get one life, and wouldn't it be great to live this life as a successful writer AND a successful person too? And let's face it, if you can get out and about and experience different things you will also gather valuable life experience to use in your writing. And hopefully avoid those migraines too. August 20 How fast can I write?August 12 Balancing writing with life... |
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