…And We’re Back

After a few technical hiccups and an issue or two still needing to be ironed out, we are back to our regular posting schedule. New content coming soon! Thanks for your patience during our transition to the new server.

Construction Nearly Complete!

We’re entering the final stages of our behind-the-scenes work on Freelance-Zone.com. We return to our regular posts come Monday, though there may be a few bumps in the road between here and there or beyond, depending on how everything goes. We’ll be back very soon!

Happy 2013!

We’re taking a time-0ut and wishing all our readers a very happy New Year! May 2013 bring you closer to all your ultimate writing goals. It has been an honor to be a part of your journey. Keep an eye out for more from our wonderful columnists and a guest post or two that might just surprise you…

We look forward to serving you in the coming year and hope you have a happy, safe celebration!

Happy Holidays From Freelance-Zone.com

We’ll be on a reduced schedule for the remainder of the year, but we’ll be back at it in 2013. We want to thank all of our readers and contributors–we could not do it without you! Happy holidays from Freelance-Zone.com and we look forward to a new year. Have a safe holiday and remember those in uniform who can’t be home–there are plenty of military members (some of whom are writers, bloggers or aspire to be) deployed or stationed overseas, celebrating with friends and co-workers there. We salute you!

The Holidays, Writing & Marketing

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

Every year I do something that helps move my career forward during the holidays…

I market myself.

This means reaching out to people to touch base, getting my contacts organized, sending out some new feelers and other strategies designed to both keep me working and find new jobs. Here are some great things you can do to stay on top of things for 2013:

• Send holiday cards. Sending out a simple holiday greeting is a great way to remind editors you are out there. Touch base and write a short note in the card. It’s good business.
• Organize your address book. Add contacts that you should have in there and delete old e-mail addresses.
• Research places to send an outreach e-mail to in the NY. Get an Excel document going with names and e-mails of people that you would like to reach out to for work in the New Year. Don’t send these e-mails over the holidays–they’ll probably never see light…but do get ready for your marketing push in January.
• Look for reprint options. Sift through any articles you sold in 2012 and see if you can re-slant them for another publication in 2013.
• Do your tax prep. I’d advise using an accountant, but no matter what you do for taxes, you’ll need to organize your receipts. Get it done while things are quiet and you’ll be thanking yourself in April. Believe me.
• Network. Arm yourself with business cards for all of the holiday parties that you will be attending and pass them out like crazy. You just never know when someone will need a writer.

Do you have any good tactics for marketing yourself during the holidays? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Success by the Inch

As a dedicated freelancer and creature of habit, I typically begin each workday at my desk. Regardless of whether I have a project or an assignment, I can always find something constructive to do. However, last spring, after a routine physical and a few lab tests, my doctor informed me that I was woefully deficient in Vitamin D. Wary of taking the 50,000 unit megadose he prescribed, I decided instead to begin each morning sunning myself for an hour on my balcony overlooking a creek that runs through a shady ravine.

To pass the time, I began reading the books that have been patiently waiting on my bookshelves for years while I worked diligently away, growing more Vitamin D deficient with each passing day. At first, I experienced pangs of guilt as my mind strayed toward my vacant desk. But it wasn’t long before I found myself craving that sunny hour on my balcony each morning, indulging in the long-forgotten luxury of reading purely for pleasure.

My summer reading list began with a folksy Southern cookbook called Screen Doors and Sweet Tea (a Christmas gift from my brother Nolan); followed by Inspector Saito’s Small Satori, a collection of Japanese detective stories. Next came the classic tale of Zorba the Greek, and believe it or not…all 564 pages of Alain Danielou’s Complete Kama Sutra.

And then along came Don’t Worry, Make Money by Richard Carlson, a boutique-sized book comprised of 100 little essays on various business-related tips, many of which are based on social pleasantries and old-fashioned common sense. One in particular however, an idea described in Essay Number 22, has since become one of the most effective productivity tools in my repertoire. It’s called: The Critical Inch.

The concept behind this technique is to step back from the big picture and focus instead on the minutiae. As with any goal or project, it’s often the small things that eventually add up to its completion; and at any given moment, there’s usually one piece of the puzzle causing a log jam in the flow of productivity. Whether it’s making a crucial phone call you’ve been procrastinating, running an errand to buy supplies and sundries, or even something as simple as tidying up your workspace, there’s always one small step, that Critical Inch, which is, in reality, a giant leap toward achieving your goal.

On the day that I read Richard Carlson’s Essay Number 22, once my sun-drenched reading hour was up, I marched straight into my office and began making lists of all the tasks, both big and small, that would get me to the finish line of each of the projects I had in development. As a result, I’m pleased to say that, thanks to Critical Inch thinking, I’m now on the threshold of launching a line of boutique spice blends, and finally publishing a children’s book that has been 20 years in the making.

Celeste Heiter is the author of Turn Your PC into a Lean Mean Freelancing Machine, the creator of the LoveBites Cookbook Series for Kindle Fire, and the author of Potty Pals , a potty-training book for children. She has also written ten books published by ThingsAsian Press; and spent eight years posting her recipes, food photographs, and film reviews on ChopstickCinema .

Visit her website, and her Amazon Author Page.