Writing Again

For anyone who has wondered where I've been and why I haven't been posting, I've been dealing with some of the things that have gone on over the past couple of years. However, I seem to be coming back down to earth and getting on with things again.

Writing has always been a passion with me, even though I go through periods where writing is hard. Just lately I seem to be writing a good deal of the time and when it comes to client's work that also means a lot of research. However, I've found a great research tool that will bring together all the search results from Google and Yahoo and summarise the content. It's well worth taking a look at this tool. Let me know what you think.

Writing and Blogging

Writing and blogging are probably synonomous but I suppose I regard blogging as writing for me and an audience rather than a client. Even on my professional writing blog I don't really see it as work - though perhaps I should.

One of the reasons I probably make these distinctions is that I make very little money from my blogs, not even received my first Google check yet, even though one of my sites has a consistent PR2 and comes up on the first page of Google for Freelance Writing and Research - probably means that I could do with some tips on monetization.

The money that I make from writing comes from the articles and website content that I write for different clients - and that is what I see as my freelance writing work. Do you make a distinction between writing and blogging?

Writing Domestic Violence

You may be wondering what domestic violence has to do with this blog - well the fact is that a lot of my writing, a whole doctoral thesis in fact has been about domestic violence.

Recently I was invited to add a niche blog on domestic violence to Today.com - if you blog and you have a good idea for a niche blog then it is worth seeing whether they will accept it. You have to be patient because they can take up to 30 days before they either turn you down or extend an invitation.

Get Paid to Blog

One of the reasons Today only has invited blogger is because they will pay you to blog, ok it's not much, just a $1 for a hundred word post, and they only pay that dollar once a day. Today also pays you on page impressions and from time to time they review blogs and your income could go up or down, depending on whether they like what they see.

If you've got a favorite topic that you want to write about then it is worth seeing whether Today.com will offer you an invitation - let me know how you get on.

Writing From the Heart

If you write, or you are seriously condidering becoming a writer, then the best advice is to write straight from the heart. Sometimes the writing will be fun to read and at other times it will make you sad
whatever it does, be sure that it will affect you in some way and this will be apparent to your readers.

Repetitive Writing

Those who already earn an income will tell you that some of the writing tasks you are given can be really repetitive - write about employment law for so long and it feels as though you are pushing through mud. The lesson here is that it is not always easy to write from the heart, but when and if you do, that writing will be more powerful than anything else you write.

Life in the Freelance Lane

Giving Advice

Over at my professional blog I have been writing a series of post on becoming a freelance writer. It all looks so neat and tidy moving from one step through to the other, yet freelancing isn't really that cut and dried. When I look back through my diary my own freelancing life is actually a lot more messy and disorganized than you might think. When I lay it all out as advice for someone who is thinking about becoming a freelance writer, or who has just started and is feeling a bit befuddled by it all, it seems like a series fo logical steps. In reality I did not make smooth transitions from one step to the next.

The Messy Business of Writing

When I look back over the last two years I sort of fell into freelance writing, that is to say while I wanted to write and get paid for it, I didn't, at that point in time, see it as part of my future career - I just enjoyed doing it and it was nice to get some money for something that I enjoyed doing. Since then of course I have decided that as I love to write anyway, getting paid for it is not such a bad idea - but I am not as organized as my advice both here and also here would have you believe. Life in the freelance lane, for me at least, tends to be a bit hit and miss at points.