Tag Archives: writing life

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The End is Near

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Tropical landby Mike O’Mary

The universe is about 10 billion years old. A few years ago, two astrophysicists predicted that the stars will start to die en masse in about 5 billion years, and in 20 or 30 billion years, our own sun is expected to die. After that, black holes will take over, swallowing up everything over the next 60 billion years. The universe will be totally black.

No wonder I feel like driving right by the office some mornings.

Another group of scientists recently claimed to have found “proof positive” of a massive asteroid that destroyed nearly all life on earth–including the dinosaurs–65 million years ago. Incredibly, new species began appearing only 5,000 years later, and eventually, human beings evolved. It’s nice to know that if life were wiped out tomorrow by another big asteroid, it would only be another 50 million years or so before America would once again be teeming with discount stores and fast food chains.

Hearing about the ultimate fate of the universe and the havoc that a single falling rock can cause can make it difficult to go on with your daily routine. At the same time, such scientific discoveries help put everything else in perspective. So some morning when there are no asteroids in the forecast and when the sun looks like it will shine forever, have a hot cup of coffee and ask yourself, “Why am I here?” and “What am I doing with my life?” The answers aren’t always easy to come by, but you’ve only got a few billion years and you owe it to yourself to contemplate the questions.

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, an independent book publisher currently accepting creative nonfiction stories for anthologies on 15 topics.

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Becoming a Writer

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becoming a writerby Mike O’Mary

I am editing a book about creative writing. I’m very excited about it. It’s more of a “why” write, rather than a “how” to write. But in the process of talking about why write, the author sheds a lot of light on how to write, as well. I think it’s going to be a great book. I’ll tell you more about it as we get closer to publication later this year.

For now, I want to tell you about another book about writing. Editing this current manuscript prompted me to refer back to one of the first books I read about writing: Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. If you are familiar with Brande’s book, you know the story…written in the 1930s by a woman whose teaching techniques incorporated right-brain thinking and transcendental meditation long before those concepts were popular…long before there were even names for those things! The book went out of print, but was brought back to life and light in 1981 with an introduction by John Gardner. The book is a treasure.

I said earlier that the book I am currently editing isn’t about how to write; it’s about why we write. Similarly, Becoming a Writer isn’t about how to write; it’s about how to be a writer. It’s very inspiring. If you’re not familiar with it, give it a read.

Another great book about writing is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. But more on that book another day. In the meantime, I’m curious: what books do you turn to for inspiration or instruction or motivation when it comes to your writing?

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, an independent book publisher currently accepting creative nonfiction stories for anthologies on 15 topics.

advice, freelance money, lifestyle

Get Your Financial House in Order before You Freelance Full Time

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mandarin_swim_closeup_linda

By Yolander Prinzel

This week, Joe did a little tongue-in-cheek (okay, that saying doesn’t even make sense. Where else would your tongue be??) post about quitting your job today and going full time into freelancing. I thought I would piggy back on his post and write one that is tongue-out-of-cheek, which may mean I’m sticking my tongue out at you as I write this, I’m not sure.

Here are some financial things to consider and do before you quit your job to freelance full time:

1. Find out how close you are to your next vesting year. For every year that you are with an employer, you are more and more vested in the corporate contributions to your retirement plans. If you are thinking of quitting now and you are just 5 months away from being 20% more vested, you could lose hundreds of dollars by leaving too soon.

2. Save at least two months worth of expenses. Yeah, no, I know, you have a huge client list and your business is going really well, so it’s all good if you have no savings. Except that no, no it’s not. How are you going to deal with it the first time a gig falls through? The first time you lose a regular gig because the company goes bankrupt? The first time a check gets lost in the mail or sent out late? There are so many variables to worry about that you definitely want an emergency slush fund above and beyond your other savings.

3. Do what it is you think you are going to do. You know how much money you need to earn each day in order to live. If you need to make $200 a day and your regular gigs make up $150, then you need to find another $50 in gigs each day. You really do need to go ahead and do that. It’s very easy to just…not…and sit around reading instead. If you do, you’ll find you start depleting your savings pretty quickly.

4. Keep marketing and networking. Even if you have enough work this month and next, you need to be marketing and networking for your future months. You don’t want to be caught off-guard when your workload starts to slow and then try to scramble to find some real quick-like.

Yolander Prinzel, ACS is a financial writer as well as a series 7, 66 and 2-15 licensed financial representative with a decade of industry experience. She was the National Director of Marketing and the Director of Operations for The Compass Agency USA and has also been a trader for Raymond James Financial Services. None of her posts are meant to be advisory. Only an advisor with close, personal knowledge of your financial situation can offer advice. You can get her new e-book You’ve Found Your Specialty–Now What? Tips and Tricks to Finding and Scoring Clients and Making a Living Writing What You Know here for just $7.95.

editorial

Your Writing Journey

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Freelance roadby Catherine L. Tully

If you asked me in 2002 what my “writing life” would look like today there is no way that I could have told you. Simply put, I had no idea what was ahead of me on this road. The twists and turns along the way have proven impossible to have seen ahead of time.

I never thought my travel writing would be published in a book. I never dreamed that I would be an editor on an award-winning blog, or that having an article in a magazine at Borders would become something I would get used to. There is much to be thankful for. That said–there is more ahead, and I don’t know where this road is going…but that is half the fun.

I have exceeded my wildest dreams already in this writing career of mine, and hopefully I will continue to do so. I’d love to hear your story…how does your journey differ from what you thought it would be like? Are you happy with where you are right now, or looking ahead to that next turn in the road? Do tell…

advice, editorial

What Freelance Writers Can Learn From Jesse Jackson’s “Mistake”

The big controversey in the headlines at the time I’m writing this is Jesse Jackson’s gaffe on the Bill O’Reilly show. Jackson made some untoward comments about Barack Obama when he thought the microphone was turned off.

Jesse Jackson clearly never attended broadcasting school. If he had, he would know that a microphone is NEVER off, especially on network television. When the operator pushes the “off” button, it should be treated like a deadly snake some rancher has just killed. Did you know a poisonous snake with its head cut off can still strike and kill you? Jesse Jackson knows that now, all too well.

What can freelance writers learn from this?

For starters, there is the growing awareness of what happens when a potential employer, editor or publisher wants to Google you before they start paying you for services rendered. In the mid to late 90s, I knew of several people in the freelance IT industry who ran webcam blogs. Many of these people weren’t very concerned over the amount of clothing they wore on their webcams. I don’t think they thought very much about the notion that those pictures could still be floating around today, ten years later. Continue reading What Freelance Writers Can Learn From Jesse Jackson’s “Mistake” →

advice, editorial, lifestyle

Confessions of an Editor, Part Two

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Since I took my recent editing gig at an Internet publication and e-commerce site I won’t name here, I’ve jumped into the hiring game headfirst. I put out a recent call for writers and as expected, I was flooded with responses.

Regular readers of this site may recall me complaining in my last Confessions entry about a good 50% of the replies, which are totally useless. I won’t be responding to any of them because of a simple inability to follow directions. I won’t even send a mean-spirited note to say, “Drop dead!”

A disturbingly large portion of the responses–with or without my automatic dismissal based on the above–also had shoddy grammar in the cover letter, and writing samples riddled with errors. Folks, here’s a FREE WRITING SECRET for you straight from the desk of yours truly; Continue reading Confessions of an Editor, Part Two →