by Catherine L. Tully
Writer’s block–the foe of every writer. Nearly every author has experienced it, but how can you conquer it? There is no one way that works for everyone, but here are some great tips for getting those creative juices flowing again… Continue reading Kill Writer’s Block Now!
Bloggers use social networking sites like MySpace for self-promotion all the time. But how can a struggling freelance writer take advantage of the same type of strategies bloggers use? It’s easy. Here’s the breakdown in five easy steps:
1. Cultivate lots of “friends”. The law of averages says the more MySpace friends you have, the higher the response rate will be when you post a link to your material or send a bulletin saying “Hey, look at this!” The extra eyeballs on your work means the greater likelihood that your article will get comments and feedback. The more activity on a given article, the better you look in the eyes of an editor who has to decide whether to use you again.
2. Add “targeted” friends. Got somebody else in the biz you want to make friends with? Maybe an editor or a publication you want to get published has a MySpace site. Add them as friends and start up a casual “relationship” with them by sending the occasional message or posting a nice comment. This is standard MySpace behavior, but when it comes time to strike up a conversation with someone at that publication you won’t be such an unknown quantity at a medium-sized or smaller operation. The key here is to be a semi-regular MySpacer, posting and commenting without mentioning your own work–until you need to.
Continue reading Five Ways To Use MySpace to Advance Your Writing
by Catherine L. Tully & Joe Wallace
Having a writing business usually means that you operate out of your
home. This makes managing your space is a priority item. Here are some
creative organizational techniques that can help you win the war on
clutter and stay organized…
Continue reading Organize Your Office Space
Tunnel vision. That mode you go into when you’ve got your head buried in five deadlines at once, money on the line and probably your professional reputation too if you don’t deliver the goods. It happens to all of us in one form or another and for me, it usually takes something awful to snap myself out of it. I got snapped out of mine in a major way by two big news stories this week. One made national headlines, the other is all over the news in Chicago.
The national one you already know; the death of Heath Ledger. Everybody was shocked over the passing of this talented 28-year old who seemed to have everything going for him. So shocked that some in our business couldn’t resist connecting the dots to the worst possible explanations with nothing more than a few scraps of information. No surprise there, really.
Folio blogger Dylan Stableford’s two cents on all this pretty much sum it up for me, and while I normally nod my head, agree quietly and let things go, another blog entry made me passionate enough to blog about the whole thing. Stableford laments the shoddy journalism connected to Ledger’s death, the haste which some in the media took rumor and partial information, tying them together however it seemed to fit best.
Many ask, few are happy with the answer. It’s time to go fulltime freelance when you have one or more of three basic questions answered in the affirmative:
1. Is my current gig interfering with my growing career?
2. Is at least half my income coming from freelancing?
3. Do I have work to rely on as a fulltime freelance writer?
If you can’t answer all three questions “yes”, you might not be ready for the leap. There is one major reason for this, money issues aside. Networking, having contacts in the industry, and knowing where you can pick up work are the essentials you need to survive as a fulltime writer.