Interview With Stacey C. Tobin

Stacey C. Tobin

Today we have an interview with writer Stacey C. Tobin to share with FZ readers….enjoy!      

-Catherine

1. Can you tell readers a bit about the road you took to become a writer?

I was always into science – biology specifically – but I ended up going to a liberal arts college in Atlanta, Oglethorpe University, where I was bitten with the writing bug. At the time, I wasn’t even aware that there was a way to combine science and writing, and since I loved research, I continued to make my way through a master’s degree and then a PhD in molecular physiology. When I was nearing graduation, I knew that academia wasn’t for me, and I started looking into ways to use my writing skills but still stay connected to the science world. My first job out of graduate school was as a staff medical writer at a continuing medical education agency, and I continued to do some side jobs as a freelance writer and editor for academic and clinical researchers.

2. What are you doing now in the field?

Right now, I have two careers. I work part time at a healthcare advertising and communications agency, mostly doing the larger medical education projects that are more content-heavy or technical. The other half of my day is dedicated to my freelance business, which provides writing and editing support services for researchers – helping them with abstracts, posters, manuscripts, and grant applications. Many of my clients are non-native English speakers, and they often know the science but struggle with how to communicate it.

3. What is the best advice you can give to other writers? … Continue Reading

What do you call yourself, freelancer?

By Jake Poinier

What’s in a name? When it comes to freelancing, I’d argue: A lot.

What to call ourselves is a matter of frequent and sometimes heated debate on LinkedIn, as Planet Word brought up in a post today, “Are you a consultant or a freelancer?” My first recognition that “freelancer” isn’t always the best word to use was back when I first read Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer back in 2001. He uses “commercial writer,” which is a useful distinction, particularly for those of us who focus on business writing rather than exclusively writing for publications.

The problem is, “freelance” can carry some negative connotations—fly-by-night, can’t get a real job, in-between-jobs—and I’ve learned over the years that there’s a benefit to using the right phrase at the right time. Here’s how my thought process has evolved:

• Freelancer (or freelance writer and editor) is reserved for when I’m talking to people within the industry: graphic designers, web designers, ad agencies, magazine editors and other people who are hip to the concept. It’s useful shorthand, and immediately implies “I’m for hire.”
• I’ll use commercial writer or corporate copywriter if I’m talking to someone who’s in a business field. For example, a marketing director or business owner that I’m confident has some experience in marketing/advertising, but might be wary of (i.e., may have had a bad experience with) freelancers.
• Finally, when I’m talking to someone who might not be familiar with the creative industry, lately I’ve been using a complete phrase: “I run an editorial services firm.” I find that it puffs things up a bit, and will usually provoke a follow-up question.
• Personally, I never use consultant. I suppose there might be a circumstance I’d use it someday, but I haven’t come across it yet.

So….what’s your favorite term for describing what you do? Please share your ideas in the comments!

Jake dispenses business prescriptions for freelancers at DearDrFreelance.com—no matter what you want to call yourself.

5 Questions With Rachel Madorsky

Today Rachel Madorsky shares some insights with us:

1. Can you tell readers a bit about your background and how you became a writer?

The first half of my working life I taught engineering courses to senior-level students in the college. I have written a lot in my professional career. However, my first book was written under the influence of medical doctors and clients asking to share my experiences, observations, and tips. Now I am the author of several books, including “Symphony of Your Karma,”“Create Your Own Destiny,” and others as well.
 
2. What are you doing now in the field?

I began writing another book after I finished my new book “Maestro,” which will be in the print in 2011.  Also, I continue to write articles for several websites.

3. What is the best advice you can give to other writers?

Please, write, if you have the desire, and follow your own instincts in sharing your expertise, observations, and passion, despite all the obstacles in your life. Also, be involved in writing and critique groups. And, last and most important, try to find a good editor before you will submit your project to the publisher, and never be discouraged in times of hardship.
 
4. What does your workspace look like?

My workplace is one of the coolest rooms in my house where I spend time in front of the computer screen with my lovely dog next to my chair. However, new ideas come and are really written in my mind while I’m walking my dog in the park.
 
5. Can you share a special moment from your writing career?

A long time ago I decided to take a break from writing and, maybe, discontinue it. At that time I chose a book to read. There was nothing special about that book. However, this book encouraged me to prolong my writing. The book was about friendship between an agent and his friend, a future famous author. Years later I picked-up from the bookshelf in a library my own book. Each page had marks next to the important message in my book. It was an amazing moment in my life – I realized that I have to continue sharing my ideas and life experiences for people searching for answers. 

Bio: Rachel Madorsky, award-winning internationally published author, is one of those rarely gifted people with immense extrasensory abilities.

After completing her medical studies in Belarus, she worked as a children’s health care nurse. Ever on the quest to broaden her intellectual horizons, Rachel then went on to pursue her Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Kiev State University of Technologies and Design in the Ukraine and shortly thereafter undertook Graduate Studies at Grodno Technological College in Belarus. For many years, she was responsible for the graduate student projects and led her students to create fresh and innovative award-winning inventions and ideas.

The turning point in Rachel’s life came when an associate of hers was diagnosed with a terminal illness. At that point, Rachel’s interest in this person’s fate inspired her to begin unleashing her natural healing, and she decided thereafter to devote her life to research and doing what she was truly called to do – help people heal and evolve and understand how they can direct their own destinies.

Urged by physicians and associates to share her experience, case histories, and research, she authored several books, including Symphony of Your Karma, Create Your Own Destiny, Karma of Your Destiny, Your Choice, and Energy and Health of Man. Rachel’s books offer profound insights into the power of natural and spiritual healing and are filled with inspiring stories of people who have benefitted by discovering these mysteries of life. Rachel’s next book “Maestro” continues to reveal secrets of the human life is coming out of the press in 2011.

More information on www.RachelMadorsky.com  

Pronounce Things Correctly With Forvo

by Catherine L. Tully

As a writer, sometimes there are words that I come across that I don’t know exactly how to pronounce. Enter Forvo.

Forvo has a database of over 587,000 words in 241 languages that you can search to find a particular pronounciation. It’s a handy little site–and signing up is free.

(iPhone owners–there’s even an ap so you can take it on the road with you.)

Creative Space

A much younger me

by Catherine L. Tully

I find that I really need to take a break once in a while now that I’m older. When I was young, I could work endlessly and not seem to suffer. Now, I can work for long stretches of time–but it drains me.

When you read this, I will just be getting back from vacation. I will have eaten steak, hung out with friends and caught up on sleep. And much, much more.

Taking the time to give yourself some “creative space” can be just the thing you need to boost your productivity and energy level. And you really need to get away from your present surroundings. Truly take a break from life as you know it. Somehow resting up at home does not have the same effect.

Giving your brain this down time allows it to open up to new ideas and experiences. It “re-sets” your view of life and lets you just play with thoughts for a while if you want to. If you haven’t done this in a while–perhaps it’s time. Jump in the car and take a drive somewhere for the day. Call an old friend and book a hotel room out of town. Jump on a plane and go somewhere exotic.

Or just pack a lunch and head to the park.

We all need to remind each other that this isn’t a luxury–it is a necessity. Today I’m reminding you. Pass it around.

And be sure to have a good time. I know I will.

Why Hoot Suite Rocks

by Catherine L. Tully

If you are into social media (which you should be in my opinion), you need Hoot Suite. Seriously.

Hoot Suite helps you manage all of your social media accounts from one place, and it has a host of useful features, including:

- The ability to schedule tweets

- Easy updates on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook–all from one page

- The ability to shorten URLs without leaving the page

- Auto complete on your @usernames once you have used them before (I think this may be my fave feature)

- Statistics on how many people click through on the URLs you tweet. And yes–I’m serious!

I tried TweetDeck before, and while I think it looks much better (very slick interface), it is more confusing. I accidentally sent an update meant for Twitter to all of my social media accounts….

Not good.

If you are looking for a simple way to manage your social media without a big learning curve–this is it. I haven’t used the app yet–but there is one available for the iPhone as well. Check it out and you will really be glad you did! No more multiple log-ins and no more time suck. Do it all quick and easy.

I’m loving it!

Free Bookkeeping For Writers With Outright

This post is sponsored by Outright — Your Livelihood, Right Now.  Getting your taxes right with free bookkeeping.

This post is meant to give you a little peek inside of a business that we here at Freelance-Zone think is a great match for our readers. I, for one, hate keeping books–but I know that it is a necessary evil. I was excited to learn about Outright, and the thought of having all my records with me on the laptop is an appealing thing. We took some time to talk with Jennifer Escalona from Outright to bring you a closer look at what they are all about. With tax time approaching, you may want to consider signing on…

1.   What is Outright.com?

Outright.com is a free online accounting service that makes bookkeeping simple so that you can keep track of income, expenses, and taxes easy and – dare I say it – fun.

2.   How can freelance writers benefit from connecting with them?

When I started freelance writing, I kept track of my income on an Excel spreadsheet. I was so naïve that I didn’t even think about keeping track of my expenses until I’d been freelancing for months. There went those tax deductions.

I’ve heard stories of other freelance writers who buy complicated accounting software programs and then get so overwhelmed by all the bells and whistles that they fail to track their income and expenses at all. This is a big no no. You have to pay those darn estimated taxes, and it’s always vital to watch how much money is coming in and going out so you can adjust your business accordingly.

That’s why I was so thrilled when I found Outright. (I was an Outright.com user first. Working with them came later.) I’m a writer partially because numbers terrify me, but Outright.com gives me detailed charts and graphs of my income and expenses, and estimates for me the amount of federal taxes I need to pay every quarter. Better yet, it prints a Schedule C for me at the end of the year so that I can pay my annual income taxes with as little hassle as possible.

All freelance writers can benefit from a clear representation of how much money is coming in and how much money is going out. They can also easily keep track of deductions on Outright.com, which means they pay a little less at tax time. Who doesn’t want that?

3.   What are some of the specific features that freelancers might find useful?

As a freelance writer, many clients pay me through Paypal, so Outright’s integration with Paypal has saved me hours of manual data entry. Outright.com also integrates with oDesk, where many freelance writers find jobs, and several other services, like Freshbooks and Shoeboxed, that help take all the hassle of keeping track of income. If you have a business credit card, Outright.com can automatically import that data, too.

Freelance writers will also find the profit and loss report very useful. Just seeing the income (or, ouch, the losses) they make from month to month helps freelance writers track their income and make goals. Goals might include finding more clients to boost the bottom line, or maybe dropping a client who’s causing a lot of hassle but, according to Outright’s interactive “Income by Customer” chart, not bringing in a lot of income.  Outright’s reporting feature also allows a freelance writer to create reports on things like “Expenses by Category” so you can see where all of your money is going.

And, while it’s a sore subject at my house, freelance writers will benefit from watching with growing dread as the amount due in quarterly estimated taxes rises and rises. This lets them know how much money they need to be setting aside for that awful day four times per year.

4.   People will naturally want to know how you protect the privacy of their financial information. How does Outright do that?

Information security is an extremely valid concern, so Outright.com protects your financial data in a number of ways:

• Outright encrypts all information you enter before it’s ever sent to our servers.
• We use secure socket layer technology (note the https at the beginning of each page URL and the little lock in the URL bar) to protect your information, which is the same technology online stores use to protect credit card information.
• All information in Outright is backed up every hour. This means you won’t lose financial information even if the service goes down briefly.
• We strongly believe that your data belongs to you. You are able to pull your data (via a .csv file) out of Outright at anytime you like.

5.   What is the cost?

Outright.com is free! And, happily, the core Outright service will always remain free.

Outright did add their first paid add-on service earlier this year. If you hire contractors and pay them over $600 in a year, you have to file a form 1099 for them by January 31^st the next year. Outright’s first paid service took care of filing those 1099 forms for only $5 per contractor. And, if the contractor decided to sign up with Outright.com, the $5 fee was even waived!

6.   Is the system easy to use, or do you need to have a bit of technical savvy in order to utilize it well?

Outright.com is extremely easy to use. The home screen is a simple ledger where you can decide if you want to enter your expenses or income first. The tabs at the top (i.e. “Taxes,” “Reports,” etc.) are self-explanatory and easy to explore. Outright.com also offers easy setup with partners like Paypal and oDesk.

But, if anybody has questions about using Outright, they can always visit Outright.com where support folks and other members will happily answer your questions, or they can always email support@outright.com and expect to receive a quick and thorough response.

This post was brought to you by Outright

Healthcare Basics

by Catherine L. Tully

If you are scratching your head when it comes to what is going on with healthcare in the US right now, you are not alone. Until things settle down enough for us to catch up and hear more about what this means for us, here are some basics for consumers that will help you get some of the details cleared up.

Bookmark this site for future reference–it is a pretty good one in terms of finding information on everything from healthcare reform to Medicare and Medicaid. Once things get a bit more clear, we’ll see if we can’t post something specifically geared for the freelance writer.

Daylight Savings Time & The Writer

by Catherine L. Tully

Did you change your clocks? All of them? As a writer, this can be crucial–you don’t want to miss an interview or call someone at the wrong time. And don’t forget your watch and your car either…

Are you aware that the US isn’t entirely on the program? The following places don’t change:

Hawaii, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and most of Arizona.

For more info on the history of DST (which is actually fascinating by the way), check out the California Energy Commission’s site. And grab another cup of coffee. It’s always a rough transition, even if it is a welcome one.

Grammar Tip: It’s Vs. Its

First of all…if you haven’t yet taken advantage of the free app from Dictionary.com for the iPhone, Blackberry or Android, don’t waste time–get it now. This is a great resource to have with you on the go, and you never know when you will need it. Plus, it’s free.

Next. Grammar.

I’ve seen it one time too many lately, and I thought I would share a great resource for knowing when to use it’s as opposed to its. Once you know the rules, it isn’t hard. (Or should I say it’s not hard?)

As I was writing this post I realized something. It’s so easy to get lazy as a writer. To avoid looking up rules and just go with another choice when trying to put together a sentence. I’m going to start sharing the tidbits I have picked up along the way with Freelance-Zone readers. Consider this the first of many!

Writing…See All The Possibilities

by Catherine L. Tully

There are many ways to develop your income stream as a freelance writer. You can do it all by writing…or you can share some of your knowledge with others. When you get to a certain point in your career, teaching and speaking become a possibility for those who would like to diversify a bit.

Both Joe and I have spoken at writing-related conferences and panels–and have been paid to do so. You have to have some decent “clout” to do it, but if you are able to, it’s a great way to pad out your income a bit. It’s also a great way to network. Plus, it’s fun–and sometimes you even get to travel!

Teaching is also a great opportunity. You can share what you know about freelancing with others–and make some money in the process. Joe and I recently taught a freelance writing seminar in the Chicagoland area and are scheduled to do another one this summer. We have also moved into the social media realm, and will be teaching a class on that as well in July.

The nice part about expanding your horizons a bit as you advance your career is that it keeps everything interesting. You are also able to give back to the writing community in a way that helps others move forward and take those first steps into the field. If you’ve been around a while, you may want to start exploring some of these options–they are really worth a look!

The Freelancer’s Best Friend?

by Mike O’Mary

Who is your best friend? As a freelancer, maybe you will say it’s your faithful dog or purring cat because they’re the only creatures that keep you company when you’re working late at night. But if you don’t have one or more graphic designers among your best friends, you might want to make that a priority for 2010. 

I wrote my first corporate annual report in 1988. I’ve worked on at least one every year since then, and in the years I was freelancing, I sometimes worked on three or four per year. So I’m guessing I’ve written about 35 annual reports, plus countless capability brochures and other types of collateral. (If I was smart, I would have saved a few copies of each one so I could wallpaper my den.) Along the way, I have worked with many graphic designers – and when I made the move from corporate employee to freelancer, those graphic designers were my best friends because they were a steady source of referrals. 

Graphic design firms by definition focus on design, so they seldom have copywriters on staff. But graphic designers are constantly in touch with clients who need content in addition to design. Those clients often asked the graphic designer to recommend freelance writers or editors. So if you haven’t already done so, reach out to a few graphic designers and make yourself available as a resource to them and their clients. The design firm may put you directly in touch with a client, or they may prefer to subcontract work to you. Either way, it’s a great situation: the graphic design firm provides its clients with a broader range of services, you get more freelance work – and you make friends with some very creative people!

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, a book publisher and online community for writers and other artists.

Eye Tips For Writers

by Catherine L. Tully

If you are spending multiple hours on your computer you run the risk of eye strain. To help avoid this problem the Mayo Clinic suggests that you keep your monitor about 20 to 28 inches from your eyes (51 to 71 centimeters for our pals on the metric system). Also be sure that it’s right in front of you instead of off to the side. 

A good estimate for when you are at the coffee shop? About an arm’s length away. 

Also, if you get dry eyes when you are on the computer, consider using one of the over-the-counter teardrop preparations to refresh the moisture level and make your eyes feel better. Just make sure you check the label and follow the directions. If that kind of thing isn’t in your budget then just try to blink more often—believe it or not, it helps.

Hemingway’s Birthplace

by Catherine L. Tully

Oak Park, Illinois is the village where famed author Ernest Hemingway was born. His “birthplace home” and The Hemingway Museum are two local stops that offer writers an opportunity to learn more about the author in his formative years. Located on Oak Park Avenue, admission to one buys you a visit to both places. Begin at the museum where you will find Hemingway’s childhood diary, along with some rare photographs and other artifacts. Take your time and browse the exhibits, and if you are the type of person that enjoys a good souvenir, be sure to stop at the little gift shop that is tucked off to the side of the main area. There are some unique items for sale that would make good gifts for any serious Hemingway aficionado. Just down the street is the Hemingway Birthplace Home, an attractive Queen Anne Victorian that has been recently restored. The author’s maternal grandparents built the home and Hemingway was born on the second floor in 1899. For more information on admission and hours, visit the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park.

What’s For Dessert?

by Catherine L. Tully

This delicious picture is designed to remind you of something…you should be doing some writing that you enjoy. Now I understand that as a writer, there are many times you need to take the work that comes down the pike to pay the bills. This can mean writing about diapers, weird smells or even dirt. I’ve written about some pretty boring (and weird) stuff to make a buck.

Still…you need to be doing some writing that inspires you. Some that allows you to express your inner voice and your sense of style. This is true even if you aren’t getting paid for it. Keep sending out queries about things that you enjoy writing about. Keep trying to find gigs that are in a field you like. Otherwise you run the risk of burnout, and it isn’t pretty…

So the next time you saddle up to do some content writing about air conditioning or pen a piece about post-nasal drip, as yourself “what’s for dessert?” and then write something fun!