I read an excellent article at Editor Unleashed called 5 Questions To Ask Before You Write For Free. Among the good points in this post by Maria Schneider–the question, “Are the editors of the site you want to write for respectful of your work?”
I once did freelance editing work for a client who wanted one of my writers to endorse some rather dodgy practices in her blog–endorse by way of participation, that is, not a direct “You should do this” sort of thing. But in the end it didn’t matter. Objections were raised, which I backed. Some legitimate concerns were voiced and the people who owned the website disregarded them.
Turns out they disregarded them to their own detriment, as this very good writer took a hike shortly after–the writer saw the, um, writing on the wall. The site lost a good writer with a strong work ethic, and the worst part of all–I don’t think they really know what they missed out on. Too bad for them.
Well, the holidays are right around the corner–so I thought I would do a “gift ideas” post for writers. Most of us are friends with other writers, so it goes without saying that we not only would like to get some of these, but can give a few as well. Please share if you have others!
Here are my ten suggestions:
1. Stephen King’s book, On Writing. It’s terrific.
In recent weeks there’s been a bit of discussion on a variety of freelance writing blogs about writing jobs, scraping, controversy, and what pays and what doesn’t. I thought I would give a bit of behind-the-scenes insight into how we find freelance jobs and what makes our process “unique”.
Truth be told, there’s nothing unique about it. I simply hunt for freelance jobs the way I would if I were actively searching for work. When I find a freelance job on another freelance writing site, I link to that site rather than post the contact information directly. Ditto for when I find a freelance gig lurking on one of the talent agencies. I also find my jobs directly–USAJobs.com, for example, is the government job portal for people looking at Civil Service and related positions–and yes there ARE writing jobs listed there occasionally. Continue reading Transparency: How Does FZ Find Its Freelance Writing Jobs?→
I have posted on this subject before, but since my degree is in Exercise Science I have to bring it up from time to time…exercise. Yes, there, I said it. As a freelance writer, chances are good that getting enough physical activity in on a daily basis is quite a challenge. That said, if you can create simple goals for yourself and work toward them, at least you’ll be going in the right direction.
Do you know how many steps a day experts recommend you take for health? 10,000. Do you know how many you take? One simple device that can help you become more active is the pedometer. You clip it to your waistband and it counts the amount of steps that you take each day. (Sedentary people may only average between 1,000 and 3,000 steps per day.) A good way to increase your activity level is to invest in one of these, wear it for a week and record your step count. Then, gradually try to increase it–a little bit at a time. If you want to get a little more info on this, check out The Walking Site.
If you have had problems getting your tweet fix today you are not alone. Apparantly Twitter has been hit by a “denial of service” attack, and the popular social networking site has had issues because of it. Early reports suggest that Facebook may have had problems as well. The latest is here on CNN, but more is sure to follow. Just thought you might like to know what is up! I was trying to get on and had no luck, so I looked into it and found I wasn’t the only one!
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I read an excellent article at Editor Unleashed called 5 Questions To Ask Before You Write For Free. Among the good points in this post by Maria Schneider–the question, “Are the editors of the site you want to write for respectful of your work?”
I have posted on this subject before, but since my degree is in Exercise Science I have to bring it up from time to time…exercise. Yes, there, I said it. As a freelance writer, chances are good that getting enough physical activity in on a daily basis is quite a challenge. That said, if you can create simple goals for yourself and work toward them, at least you’ll be going in the right direction.