Everything I Never Wanted to Be

by Mike O’Mary

I am very pleased and proud to announce that pre-release copies of Everything I Never Wanted to Be by Dina Kucera are now available from Dream of Things. The book will be available at bookstores everywhere on October 1, but you can get your copy now by visiting www.everythinginever.com.

Everything I Never Wanted to Be is the true story of one family’s battles with alcoholism and drug addiction over four generations—as told from the unique perspective of a grocery store clerk with a ninth grade education who is trying to make it as a stand-up comic. To learn more about this amazing memoir – including excerpts, info about the author, and an early review from publisher and movie producer Mark Shelmerdine – visit www.everythinginever.com.

I also think it’s interesting and important to note that Dina’s memoir was rejected by 74 agents and publishers before it was published. It finally found a home after Dina posted excerpts on her blog and someone (yours truly) read it and fell in love with it. For more details about Dina’s path to publication, click here.

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, a book publisher currently accepting creative nonfiction stories for anthologies on 14 topics, including an anthology titled “Advice You’d Like to Pass on to Others.”

Curing writer’s block

By Jake Poinier

Call me a cynic, but I tend to think that the idea of curing writer’s block is impossible, because the phrase itself represents an unhelpful catchall for a variety of reasons (read: excuses) for not writing. Moreover, for the freelance commercial writer, unlike the college-essay writer, it’s simply something you can’t allow to interfere with your business. There was a tweet by @MenwithPens yesterday that captured my philosophy nicely: “If you’re taking money from people, you have a responsibility not to do crappy work.” That necessitates, of course, the responsibility to do the work in the first place.

Note well, I’m not saying that there aren’t times when the words are tougher to come by. What I *am* saying is that waiting for divine inspiration is a fool’s game, and you’d sound like a goofball to any editor or client if you actually uttered the words “writer’s block.” Unless you’re martyring yourself on the Starving Fiction Novelist pike, the successful freelancer needs to be able to get the words on the page.

• If you’re suffering from a lack of uber-great ideas…do a brain dump or mind map, use the best of what you’ve got to start, and try to upgrade and polish as you go along.
• If you’re lacking the motivation to write about a topic that bores you…write it as promptly and quickly as you can, so it’s off your plate and out of your head.
• If you’re not sure how to start something…look for the places that you can even get a tiny toehold, whether it’s the boilerplate “Services” page of a corporate web site or a sidebar in a feature story.
• If your deadline is looming, and the work’s still not ready for prime time…talk to your client or editor well in advance, and politely ask for additional time to get it to the quality you want to deliver.
• If you’ve sat at your desk till the metaphorical blood drops start to bead on your forehead…get the heck out of your chair and take the dog for a walk or yourself for a bike ride for a full hour.

At the risk of retreating into a sports metaphor: I’m a lifelong Red Sox fan, and, ipso facto, lifelong Yankee-hater. As such, I enjoyed watching Alex Rodriguez struggle for a dozen games before he hit his 600th home run this week. I’m sure he was wondering when the next one was going to come after every agonizing failure. But at the same time, he still had to show up every night and take his cuts.

As a professional writer, you’re getting a couple of at-bats every day. Not every one is going to be a home run, but if the bat never leaves your shoulder, your stint in the big leagues will surely be abbreviated.

Please drop by Jake’s DearDrFreelance.com site for advice on how to deal with troublesome clients, pricing your projects, finding new freelance business, and more.

Does Your Hobby Blog Eclipse Your Pro Blog?

by Joe Wallace

If your hobby blog is overtaking your professional blog, getting more hits and more attention, ask yourself a couple of important questions. After all, we all want our pro blogs to do well and make money–but some people find their pro blogs lagging behind the ones they do for fun.

And there lies the answer, I suspect.

Hobby blogs are often more informal, more fun to read, and definitely more fun to write than pro blogs. I think pro blogs could take a lesson here–at least the ones that don’t seem to be able to compete. I run Turntabling.net, which is a lot more snarky, informal and goofy than Freelance-Zone.com. While Turntabling isn’t a hobby blog per se–I do try to earn some coin on it–I don’t worry nearly as much about content there because it’s far more opinionated and as such is easier to write. While there are opinions here, I find striking a balance between information and opinion more crucial to the success of FZ in general.

If your hobby blog is outpacing your pro blog, ask a few questions of your work:

• What makes the hobby blog fun to read? What is it you do there that you DON’T do on the pro blog?
• Is your pro blogging work too long? Too densely packed with information? Or is it “skimmable”?
• What is the central idea of your pro blog? Can you sum it up in two sentences or less?
• Look at the visual presentation of your pro blog. Is it easy on the eyes? Or is it a cluttery mess?
• Give your blog the Who Cares? test for all your most recent posts. The So What? test is also a good one.

These are only a few of the things you can try, I’ll cover some additional ways to give your pro blog a good, hard look in another post. … Continue Reading

Follow Your Child’s Lead with a Summer Reading List

By Amanda Smyth Connor

I love reading. Growing up as an only child, I could often be found nose deep in a book. I owe my love of writing and words to this solid foundation in reading, and what better way to celebrate summer than by getting back to my roots.

I started by joining Goodreads.com to see what my friends were reading. I compiled a list of great recommendations, as well as tried and true heroes, and I’ll be spending my precious free time this season catching up on my sorely overlooked reading list.

Here’s what I’ll be reading (or re-reading) this summer:

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) – This beautifully written, dark tale is a classic story of narcissism, innocence lost, and man’s fall from grace. It’s also, on the most basic level, a haunting tale of temptation. It’s a GREAT read and you owe yourself at least one good period piece this summer.

2. Nine Stories (J.D. Salinger) – If you have never read Salinger, this is a wonderful starter book. To be honest, I really didn’t like Catcher in the Rye. I find Nine Stories to be a far superior read with vastly more interesting stories. Did you know that Salinger loved to play with stories about fate, destiny and psychic abilities? Now you know. Enjoy.

3. World of Pooh: The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner (A.A. Milne) – This one you can enjoy with your kids. While this may be classified as a children’s book, the stories of Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood is timeless and Milne has such a refreshingly simplistic writing style. It’s like a breath of fresh air from the wordy blog posts I torture you with.

4. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson) – Wild ride, man. Buckle up, sit back and enjoy the ride through the mind of Hunter S. as he embarks on a drug-addled, mind-bending, Gonzo-journalistic adventure through Las Vegas and back. This book is equal parts exhilarating and hilarious. You won’t regret this.

5. In Cold Blood (Truman Capote) – Classic journalistic style sets the framework for this true story about a family murdered and the detective efforts surrounding uncovering the killer and how this family died. Capote humanizes the characters in a seemingly effortless way. This is not only a piece of great literature, but a flawless example of journalistic story crafting.

I find inspiration in the great writing of others, and it’s nice to sit back and soak in the efforts of other great writer’s once in awhile. Rest, relax and rejuvenate this summer with some great books of your own. Got a great reading recommendation for me? Pass it along! I need more recommendations!

The Christian Writers Guild

Today we would like to take a closer look at an organization that is geared specifically for Christian writers. Freelance-Zone.com asked the admissions manager there (Leilani Squires) to tell us a bit about the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild, which is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado…

1. Can you tell us a little about the Guild?

The Christian Writers Guild exists to train writers through our courses, conference, critique service, and contest. For more information and details about the services we offer, visit our website.

 2. Where is your annual conference held, and what is offered there?

Our next Writing for the Soul conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt in Denver, Colorado, February 10 – 13, 2011. Our keynote speakers for this year include Liz Curtis Higgs, Ken Davis, McNair Wilson, Brandilyn Collins, and Dr. Dennis E. Hensley. The Writing for the Soul conference equips and inspires writers of all levels as they receive top-notch writing instruction, meetings with editors and agents, and unparalleled spiritual enrichment.

3. I understand that you have a mentoring program. Can you tell us what that entails?

The Guild provides several writing courses, mentored by highly successful published authors, for youth and adults. Each course is offered over email, so students can be anywhere and still take our courses. We have several international students as well… … Continue Reading

Writer’s College: The Freelance-Zone.com Interview Part Two

We continue our conversation with Stephen Morrill, Director of Writer’s College. Morrill has some recommendations for potential students alike at Writer’s College; be sure and drop by the site to learn more about teaching and learning opportunities there. If you missed part one of the discussion, have a look to learn about the types of classes offered and the qualifications of WC instructors. 

Freelance-Zone.com: What are some of the most popular classes at WC?

Any new course usually gets some action. There are regulars who may have already taken all the courses we have that fit their needs but they stay in touch via our newsletter and then sign up for new courses. Among those most popular at the moment: Article Writing and Magazine Articles (two somewhat overlapping courses), Editing For Writers and the Grammar for Writers and Editors are valuable tools for any writer. The Essays and Personal Stories, Mystery Novel and Novel Writing courses have a big audience. Publish Your Writing, Stop Talking About It; Just Write, and Seniors Do Write are good motivational courses. And the Greeting Cards course is a perennial favorite.

Is there a class that you could recommend specifically for freelance writers who want to break into the field?

My own Nonfiction Freelance Writing Business course is a must-take. Article Writing and Magazine Article Writing, of course. How-To Articles, Newspaper Feature Articles, Promotional Writing, Speech Writing, and Technical Writing are all good ways to earn money in the nonfiction trade. Relatively few writers go the nonfiction route as it is less glamorous and you have to write to certain rules. But, if you know what you are doing, it can pay the bills. It’s been paying my bills for 25 years now.

How would an experienced writer go about applying for a position teaching at WC?

Ask. We have a web page “Teach for Us” at our web site that explains the requirements. Essentially, we look for writers with experience in doing the thing they plan to teach and with published credentials in that. Academic background is secondary to in-the-trenches battle scars.

What is it that you get out of running WC and how does it impact your career?

Good question. I think the school actually earned a profit for several months once. But for the most part it barely pays for itself, if that. The prices are ‘way too low for the courses and I know that. But the thing I love as much as writing itself is talking about writing! Writing has been a great outlet for me over the years and I love to see others getting
that same satisfaction that I get out of it. And the school is merely an extension of that desire to communicate to others my own love of this wonderful job I have.

Are there any upcoming plans for WC that you can share with Freelance-Zone readers?

If the economy were any better I would double the course prices. But for now all I am doing is working on some new courses – stay in touch with our newsletter for news there. And it is time for a revise of the web site, not that it’s bad or anything, but I get bored with it every few years and make changes. But WritersCollege.com has been ticking along nicely since 1998 and I see no reason to do anything drastic to it.

Request a Free Electronic Copy of Be Your Own Editor

Be Your Own Editor is a crash course in grammar and writing basics. It covers a wide variety of topics from common errors in punctuation and word usage, to structuring nonfiction material and essays, to developing strong characters and plausible dialogue in fiction.

Until midnight on Mother’s Day, I’m giving away free electronic copies of BYOE. Send me a note at sigridmac at rogers.com and I’ll be happy to send you a copy. Please let me know if you have Kindle so I can send a Kindle version instead of a PDF.

Introducing Sigrid Macdonald

Hello there! I’ll be doing a biweekly column on writing tips, and I’m very excited about that. Before I begin, I want to tell you a bit about myself.

Sigrid Macdonald

Some of my earliest memories in grammar school are of being in the library and asking the librarian for suggestions about books to read for fun. She gave me a book called The Trouble with Jenny’s Ear, which was about a girl who could hear other people’s thoughts. I was so entranced with this book that I wrote to the author, Oliver Butterworth, and he wrote back! That was the first time I ever seriously considered becoming a writer.

Since then, I’ve published three books and countless articles. I blog on a regular basis, act as a book coach, a manuscript evaluator and an editor. I’ve made mistakes — who hasn’t? — and my editing clients have made mistakes, and from that I’ve learned a great deal. I’d like to share this knowledge with you, in the hope that it will improve your writing.

Starting with all the components that make for a smashing e-mail, I’ll move on to other areas, including how to establish strong characters and background in fiction; how to organize nonfiction; important tips for proofreading; how to ensure consistency and eliminate redundancies; if you can trust your spell-check; and anything else that you’d like to hear about.

Writing is one of life’s greatest pleasures that is neither illegal, immoral nor fattening! So hop on board and join me on the road to polishing and perfecting your writing skills.

Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, available at Lulu.com.

The End is Near

by 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.

Becoming a Writer

by 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.

Stretch Out, Stay Flexible

Greetings Freelancers! I am an editor but I come in peace!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Amanda and I’ve been a professional editor and a writer for seven years. I’ve run the spectrum when it comes to the writing and editing industry, from my early days as a music journalist to the more recent corporate world of B2B copy editing and I’ve lived to tell the tale. Currently, I spend my days as a Community Manager for RunMyErrand (a start-up based out of Boston) creating marketing strategies on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which is a fancy way of saying I screw around on-line all day and get paid. Woot!

But I digress. You, reader, come to this valuable blog site to learn how to make it in this tough and unforgiving industry, and to that I have but one piece of advice for you: Be flexible.

Within the writing and editing industry, the opportunities for job growth and change are constantly appearing, disappearing and reinventing themselves. Who knew when Facebook first popped up that there would be lucrative marketing opportunities on-line for nearly every company in the world? Who knew that Twitter would become such a powerful beast in terms of information sharing and driving website traffic? Who could have guessed that blogging would become the bread and butter for so many wonderful writers to launch careers?

… Continue Reading

Top 10 Freelance Job Tips

by Joe Wallace

It’s totally misleading to headline this post by pretending to offer you advice on landing a freelance job, because I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m starting to develop an aversion to the Ten Commandments style of freelance advice posts–probably because I’m one of the worst offenders with that particular technique.

Instead, I’m just going to tell you what’s worked for me.  And by “worked” I mean these techniques have landed me everything from small writing jobs paying under $20 per assignment to gigs writing for Wal-Mart and Shopping.AOL.com. I’ve used the same strategies for five-dollar music review gigs and $70K + per year freelance editing jobs.

That’s not a typo.

Here’s what I do: … Continue Reading

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!

What Kind Of A Writer Are You?

by Catherine L. Tully

What kind of a writer are you? Most people who enter the freelance writing field have no idea when they begin what type of writer they will be. Some go in thinking they are going to pen the world’s best novel, only to find they have an aptitude for writing children’s books. Others start out hoping to write for something like Newsweek and find they are better suited to writing a blog about a subject that they love.

What about you?

If you aren’t sure, the only way to tell is to stretch a bit. Go out of your comfort zone and try some new things. Are you always pitching health and fitness articles? Try an essay or a short filler here and there as well. Or perhaps you are a fiction writer? Why not take a chance on a non-fiction piece too?

The only way to find your way is to experiment and see what feels right. So go ahead and take a chance on something new. You’ll be glad you did.

Writing About Dance

by Catherine L. Tully

 Many FZ readers already know that I got my start in writing by penning articles for dance publications such as Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit. I have a strong ballet background, so the advice “write what you know” rang true for me.

If you are interested in learning more about how to write for dance publications, check out an article on my dance blog, 4dancers, where another pro writer gives some good advice on how to pitch articles to publications in this particular field. It can be good to start with shorter pieces to prove to the editor that you have the chops for dance writing if you don’t have a background in this art form.