All posts by Catherine L. Tully

Catherine L. Tully is a writer, photographer and educator. She has been published in magazines such as American Style, Boys' Life and Chicagoland Business Elite among many others. See more about her at www.catherineltully.com or view her photography at www.moonbeamdigital.com.

Your Freelance Lifestyle

by Catherine L. Tully

photoFreelancing can mean a hectic schedule–which can then translate into unhealthy living patterns if you aren’t careful. Scheduling interviews, juggling deadlines and trying to run errands in-between may mean skipping meals, grabbing fast food and passing on exercise.

But it doesn’t have to.

Here are five top tips for staying healthy despite feeling the crunch of freelance time-management:

  • Always have a few fruit pieces on hand in case you are hungry and don’t have time to make a healthy meal or prepare a good snack. Great examples are apples, bananas–even frozen fruit works in a pinch. Mix in a teaspoon of peanut butter and it should be enough to hold you for a while.
  • Run errands on foot or on your bicycle when you can. This may not work in the winter, but fall, spring and summer are all good candidates for this.
  • Remember that sleep is sacred. Don’t push yourself to push and stay up to get extra work finished–or if you do–take a nap the following day. Sleep keeps you on your toes mentally and healthy physically. It’s not worth the risk to skimp on it.
  • Pre-make a couple of healthy meals for busy weeks. Low-sodium broth soups, turkey chili and whole grain pasta are all good examples of healthy foods that keep well.
  • Stay hydrated. Don’t just drink endless cups of coffee to stay sharp–make sure you are getting enough water as well. Dehydration can seriously hamper your physical ability to stay on top of things.

Do you have any good, healthy tips for your fellow freelancers? If so, please do share below!

Writing The Rough Draft

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully
Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

I’m going to encourage you today to write from your gut and just go with it.

Writing a rough draft should be a kind of mental dump of your research, your personality and, most likely, your clichés. Getting everything out of your brain as quickly as possible is something I think works very well for most people. I’m going to take you through my general process in hopes that something here clicks for you…

First there is research.

I do a lot of surfing on the web–first getting overall concepts, then fact gathering. The concepts I don’t write down, the facts I often do, along with a link to the site I found it on in case I wind up using one and need to give some kind of attribution. I spend a while doing this, then – and this is really significant for me – I take a total break. I go and do something completely unrelated and let the things I just learned simmer in my subconscious.

This portion of the rough draft-writing process keeps me from plagiarizing. All the things I have learned kind of melt together and become a tangle of ideas that I can then sort through to create an outline in my head for the piece I’m going to write.

Next step? Pen to paper–or in my case–fingers to keyboard.

I sit down and write the entire rough draft in one go. I don’t care if it stinks. I don’t care if there are clichés everywhere. I just get it done. You can always (and, I would argue, should always) go back  and polish later. Just get it out. There’s no big secret here, but there is definitely a predictable process that works–at least for me.

If you struggle with writing a rough draft, try some of these ideas and see if they work for you. If you have suggestions to add, please do leave them in the comments section below–I’d love for you to share them!

On Being A Professional Writer…

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully
Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

Let’s talk definitions today, shall we?

So what exactly does being a “professional” writer mean?

Many people talk about professional writing in terms of money. After all–isn’t that what most people think of when they hear those words? If you are making money at writing you are professional. Right?

Well…sort of.

Professional writing is also an attitude. Acting in a “business-like” manner is also a part of being a pro writer–whether you are getting paid, or doing an assignment for free. So what are some of these characteristics that would make one a pro in this regard?

  • Always turning assignments in on time–or early.
  • Checking facts and figures.
  • Following the directions for an assignment to the letter.
  • Returning e-mails promptly.
  • Anticipating customer needs.
  • Maintaining professional correspondence.

That last point is one I’d like to say a word or two about…

Maintaining professional correspondence means not getting to “friendly” with your client. Now this doesn’t mean you can’t be friendly. Just remember that your client is a client. Because of the nature of the web, sometimes the relationship may begin to feel less formal, but it doesn’t mean you should start e-mails with “Hey there” or assume that you can turn something in a day late because the editor likes you.

Do you have any “requirements” for people who use the professional writer moniker? Do tell!

No Pressure! Do You Need A Deadline?

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully
Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

Some writers work better under pressure. At least – they think they do.

I used to be one of those writers. But now, I do something a little bit differently. I set my own deadlines.

This is a monumentally different approach. You see, I’m still putting pressure on myself, but I am also able to control the workflow much better. Instead of working all night long to meet a client’s deadline, I can schedule myself a few rough draft deadlines first. And I don’t miss them.

I take my deadlines every bit as seriously as if I were the client. Otherwise the approach simply doesn’t work. The pressure must be real, but the deadline can be your own. If you are one of those writers that finds themselves working like mad at the last minute to get something in on time–I challenge you to try my suggestion.

It’s simple, but it works!

Here are three ways to incorporate this type of deadline system into your work week:

  • Put it on your calendar/to-do list. If it’s actually in print (or online), it is far more real than when it’s in your head.
  • Start with one project. Don’t try to do this with everything at once. Try one project first and see how you do, then add more.
  • Reward yourself! When you meet your deadline, do something nice for yourself. Take a bike ride. Buy a latte, or an ice cream cone. After all, it feels pretty darn good!

Do you create your own deadlines? How do you make it work?

Freelancers: Turn Your PC Into a Lean Mean Freelancing Machine

By Celeste Heiter

Throughout my life, it seems, I’ve had to wait for technology to catch up with my dreams. As a child, I grew up in family that valued both academic achievement and creative expression, and in high school, I excelled in the clerical arts. So, as a young woman, I graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in both English and Art.

I loved ad layout and graphic design, but had little patience for the technical precision it required. In those days, graphic artists were still using Letraset dry transfer font sheets to set type, and wax-adhered paste-ups for publication layout. And although my veins practically course with printer’s ink, and I had always dabbled in creative writing, I hadn’t a clue how to break into the world of publishing…Unless I count my first real job, working as a classified ad typist at our local newspaper, a short-lived summer job that never segued into the editorial department.

Upon graduating college, with zero prospects in journalism or graphic design, I earned my daily bread waiting tables and tending bar. I was good at both, and although I loved the culinary world (and still do), I never gave up on the notion of someday working in the publishing industry.

Fast-forward twelve years, to the day I got my first computer. By then, I was the mother of a precocious toddler, and my first attempts at publishing were two parenting books: one called Potty Pals, a children’s book for potty training; and another one for parents titled The Reading Seed, outlining how I taught my son to read at age two. But even with the advent of the home PC for “desktop publishing” (as it was called back then), neither of my books took flight. So I shelved them both and went back to the restaurant business.

Fast-forward another nine years, to the day I submitted my first story to a publisher of web-based travel articles. Not only did he publish the story I submitted, he assigned me to write four more articles, which eventually became the foundation for my first published book, Ganbatte Means Go for It…Or How to Become an English Teacher in Japan.

There was no stopping me now. I had finally cracked the publishing nut, and I wanted more. So the first thing I did was streamline my computer (now a laptop model) for optimal productivity. I set up my Internet browser to maximize my research time, customized all my publishing and bookkeeping software, and organized my documents for easy access. In less than a year, I had transformed myself and my laptop into a lean, mean, freelancing machine, and had written an e-book to show other freelance writers how I did it.

celeste heiterThe next thing I did was quit my day job, and…I’ve never looked back. Ten years and six laptops later, my gaze is firmly fixed on the future of publishing: E-Books! In the past few months, with the help of that precocious toddler who has since grown into a brilliant young man with a degree in computer science, I’ve been hard at work learning to design and code e-books for Amazon Kindle. I’m now offering my e-book design services to independent authors, and have more than a dozen of my own titles in circulation, including Turn Your PC Into a Lean Mean Freelancing Machine.

With machete as metaphor in the jungle of the publishing industry, this lively and colorful e-book (for which I also designed the layout) teaches aspiring writers to streamline their computers for productivity, and shows how to maximize the potential for publishing success.  Each page is packed with my best tips and secrets as a successful freelance writer and published author: from customizing software and setting up time-saving shortcuts, to finding sources for freelance writing jobs. And of course…Freelance Zone is mentioned on my short list of the best resources for freelance writers!

About the Author: With her lifelong love of Japan, its people, and its culture, Celeste Heiter believes that she may have been Japanese in a previous incarnation. In this lifetime however, Celeste was born in Mobile, Alabama, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Art and English from the University of South Alabama.

Inspired by a lifelong dream to visit the Great Buddha at Kamakura, she moved to Tokyo in 1988, where she spent two years teaching English conversation. Celeste now makes her home in California’s beautiful Napa Valley, with the most treasured souvenir of her life in Japan: her son Will, who was born during her stay in Tokyo. Her books are inspired by her travels, and by her culinary creativity as a cookbook author, food writer, and photographer.

Celeste Heiter
Celeste Heiter

Celeste 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 (PottyPalsBook.com). She has also written ten books published by ThingsAsian Press (ThingsAsianPress.com); and spent eight years posting her recipes, food photographs, and film reviews on ChopstickCinema.com.

Visit her website at CelesteHeiter.com, and her Amazon Author Page at http://www.amazon.com/Celeste-Heiter/e/B002OXU6S2

Becoming A Writer: Should You Quit Your Day Job?

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully
Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

I have been asked this question many, many times and my answer has not changed. Aspiring writers often want to know if they should quit their day job and go full time into freelance writing.

My answer is no. A solid no.

Freelance writing is an extraordinarily difficult career field. It’s tough for even those of us who have been doing it full-time for a long while. And it’s one field that ‘taking the plunge” so to speak, is not advisable.

But let me be more specific…there is a why to this. Here are my top four reasons to transition slowly to the freelance lifestyle…

  • The money is unreliable. You are depending on a variety of clients to pay you, which means that checks may or may not be on time. Or, they may not pay you at all. Do you want to bet your rent (or worse yet, house payment) on that? Once you are more established you’ll get a better feel for how to budget like this–but I’m here to tell you that it isn’t easy. Going from a regular paycheck to this type of income is an adjustment.
  • You need regular clients. Despite the idea of freelancing for all different kinds of publications, a lot of us freelancers have a cache of regular clients that we work for to pay the bills. This takes time to build.
  • Habit changes are hard. Are you used to working for yourself? Do you have the discipline to get up and get to it in the morning…or are you more likely to watch some television? How are you going to do errands like banking and grocery shopping, but still make sure you are on deadline? Give yourself some wiggle room and build toward all of this slowly.
  • Having a savings helps. If you can sock away a few bucks to help get you through the lean times at the beginning of a freelance career (or as an emergency fund for times when a client is late paying), your life will feel a lot better.

For you seasoned freelancers out there–do you have anything to add to this list? Feel free to share!