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.

Starting the Freelance Life

Starting Your Writing Business

If you are thinking about starting your writing business then there are a few things to consider before you start. You need some sort of system, whether you use a notebook, dedicated software or a spread sheet, you need a method of keeping track of clients, deadlines, invoicing and payments - all that as well as dealing with tax issues.

Stick With Your System

Once you have decided on a system then stick with it until you come up with something better, but you must keep track. The writing business is very much hills and valleys and you can find yourself overloaded with work if you're not careful at points (although there is always outsourcing). At other times there may be a work famine. This is the time to promote your business vigorously and to look for other sources of work. Read this book for more ideas and markets - and look out for part two on here.

Take a Look

Blog Hosting

You may have seen my interview with the author Patricia Guthrie a couple of weeks ago, here.

Yesterday Patricia offered to host my (as yet not quite finished novel) Two Women a Week on her blog. Needless to say I jumped at the change. If you want to see the interview, read a clip from my book or wonder what I do when I am not rambling on here then just click this link.

Page Rank and SEO

The Importance of Keywords

If you want to improve your site's search engine ranking then you need to know the importance of keywords. Keywords should be related to the title of your page and to your meta tags.

Don't overload a page with keywords, usually 1-2% density should be enough, so if you are writing a 500 word article then your key words should appear between five and ten times. You should vary your key word phrases, either break them up here and there or find synonyms.

Take care where you place your keywords, the most important places are the first paragraph,in the middle and in the last paragraph because this is how Google reads the page. The next thing that you need to improve your page rank are links. Read some more on all this here.

The Importance of Linking

Google likes links, only they have to be the right kinds of links.SEO gurus will all tell you that one way links from higher ranked pages than your own, can really help
Click Here!


The other thing that helps your pages to get ranked higher by Google are internal links. For some really great information on this you should see whamwriter's post.

Post script: When I really thought about what I had written here I had forgotten that I had written this post.

Life Manual For Over the Hill Frenzied Freelancer?

Frenzied Freelancer

I was reading Life Hack today and have come to the conclusion that if there was a life manual for an over the hill frenzied freelancer then I should have a copy. My latest escapade was to post to the wrong blog.

Scribefire

I was catching up with my blogs this morning, entering text blithely and hitting publish once I'd checked for errors only I had clicked the wrong blog and the post that was meant for my creative writing blog ended up here. Only I didn't realise it had published but I did notice I had the wrong blog ticked, so I ticked the other one and clicked publish again. Voila, it is now on both blogs I hope Google doesn't string me up for duplicate content.

All Work and No Work

Just a couple of days ago I wrote about trying to fit work and promotion
into an already crowded schedule. Life as a freelancer is like that, there's either more work than you can get done in the time available, so you end up ghosting it; or you haven't put sufficient time into promotion and the work dries up.

Finding the Balance

Successful freelancing is about balance, balancing the work you do against the time you need to spend finding more work. One way of doing this is to have a couple of things to fall back. Associated Content and Constant Content are both sites where you can earn money writing articles and it is worth writing some during your down time because they could bring you in some money. Another site that will pay you for news reviews is Brigit they provide links to news articles and you review them in a hundred and fifty words - if your review is accepted then you earn five dollars.

It is not easy to forecast when the work is going to come in which is why it is a good idea to have some kind of fall back plan where you could earn a bit of money, and put the rest of the time into promotion.

What do you do when the pendulum swings from all work to no work?

Promotion and Pint Pots

Packing It All In

I have just been reading Bob Younce on promotion and trying to get a handle on it. This guy really packs things into his day, virtually no time wasting unlike yours truly. Although having said that on days when I am not wasting time it does feel like I am trying to do too much.

Pint Pots

Since I lost my eldest son last May I have had trouble sleeping so I end up working ghosters and feeling wasted during the day but still not able to sleep. I have been managing on 4-5 hours a night for months when I really need 6 and a half hours sleep.

At the same time when I look clearly at what I am doing in my life, not just as a writer, but as a lecturer, researcher, wife, mother and doting dotty dog owner it does sometimes feel that I am trying to squeeze a gallon into a pint pot. Now I am trying harder to promote by twittering on twitter, and burning most of my posts - besides bidding for writing work. How do you fit everything in and do you sometimes feel that you're squeezing in too much - even if you're not the most highly organized person.

Sometimes the Writing Gets Tough

Why Am I Doing This?

Much as I love writing there are times when I find that it is one of the most difficult tasks I have set myself. I find that it's especially hard when you do your best to please a client and then they want three quarts out of a pint pot - that's when the writing gets tough, and I have to ask myself why I am doing it. I have had some very similar problems lately
and I have to say that unless I can believe I am writing for myself as well as for others then I lose the spark that makes me a writer.

That is the Rate

No matter how many times you say it there will always be clients who will try to get you to lower your rates. Unless it is a project that really interests you, or you are having trouble getting any work at all, then don't do it. Word soon gets around and other people will start to jump on the rates boat. The fact of the matter is that whether you are contracted to write 10 articles or 50 unless you can learn to type faster than the speed of light your hourly rate does not change - and I for one refuse to work for less than minimum wage. How about you?

Getting it Done When Life's Getting You Down

Yesterday Sharon wrote a great post on productivity and how she had started tracking what she actually did in a day using some new software. I have also been tracking what I do but with a notebook and pen - some days it makes surprising reading, and other days there is very little to write about. Which brings me to my point how do you go about getting it done, or being a productive writer when life is getting you down.

It's not always apparent but life has been getting me down since before Christmas - while I have good days and bad days sometimes it seems as though the bad is winning. Last May I lost my eldest son when he drowned, while the cirumstances were unclear both the police and other members of my family felt that he meant to drown. I haven't written or talked about this too much as there is too big a hole inside and I am frightened of falling in. This weekend was particularly bad as the 8th of February would have been his birthday and this has been constantly on my mind the last few days.

I have spent most of my time site hopping and looking for work rather than getting on with things so the above really struck a chord with me. Apologies for this post, but I did want to respond to the productivity post, just wasn't sure how it would turn out - well here it is, offend or please, and perhaps now I can get on with the business of writing.

Could Get Crazy for Qassia

Just in case you hadn't heard of the site called Qassia you should check it out. When you sign up you will get links to your page and be able to promote any other sites that you have.

It's a pretty cool site where you add short blogs or what Qassia calls intel. These can be excerpts from existing blogs or a snippet of fresh content. Check it out here. It is well worth a bit of time now and then.

Sunday Flu Blues

Why is that anything you catch in the latter part of the week always feels worse on Sundays? I seem to have caught some sort of flu bug which started with a sore throat on Thursday and today has had my temperature rising and soaring and my bones aching. Woe is me I've got the Sunday Flu Blues.

If you ever get the Sunday Flu Blues
Then be careful about the fluid you choose.
I usually like a nice cup of tea
But when I'm down with the flu,
Tea doesn't like me.
It makes me feel sick
And it makes me feel wan
So the old cuppa is out til the flu blues have gone.

Getting Started as a Freelancer

Can Anyone Be A Freelance Writer?

If you are thinking about getting started as a freelancer then there are a few things you should know before you start. While I have to agree with Deborah NG that not everyone is cut out to be a freelance writer plenty of people think they can. Whether you can be a freelance writer only you can answer; only you know whether you write on a regular basis and only you know whether you are prepared to put in the hours that becoming a freelance writer takes.

Freelancing is fun but it is also hard work. Once you start getting writing work you can't just sit back and wait for the money to roll in - you have to look for more work. Freelance writers have to promote themselves as well as bid for work and complete the projects that they already have. If you only write a thousand or two thousand words a day then you may have a hard time making a living in freelance writing.

How Much Will I Earn?

Many beginning freelancers ask this question. How much you can earn depends on how much bidding and promotion you are prepared to do and how many hours you are prepared to put into writing. When you are writing for money you have to plan your work and proof read it - you may have to do some significant research on unfamiliar subjects; and you may get scammed by clients who just don't pay up.

Most of the freelance writers that I know started small and as their expertise and reliability was noted they got more work. Take a look at Sharon's blog and at Dana's work. Both of these are now successful freelancers with their own writing teams but they got there by dint of a lot of hard work. So if you are thinking of getting started as a freelancer be aware that you will need to work hard. You can begin with a blog; that's how I and many other writers got started. Then you can try places like get a freelancer or digital point forums, I have picked up a couple of repeat clients there. If you are still game then good luck; but remember it is not for everyone.

Time Management

Is It You Or Is It Time

We read about time management and most of us try to apply some sort of time management technique especially if we are writers. But is time really the problem? The fact of the matter is that whichever way you swing it there are only 24 hours in any one day. The real problem it seems to me is not so much time but what you or I do with that time. Perhaps we need to organize ourselves, manage ourselves, rather than try to beat the clock..

Manage The I And The Time Will Take Care of Itself

Perhaps we should stop trying to manage time; after all it was there before we arrived in this world and it will no doubt continue for some time after we are gone. Maybe we should just opt for managing the I and let time go its own sweet way