Freelancing Mommie

Long time, no post!

2013-07-28T21:03:00.001-04:00

Wow! It has been quite sometime since I lost posted here at my 'baby', The Freelancing Mommie. I can honestly say I missed it!

What kept me away, you might ask? Health issues, as usual. Diabetes type 1 is no joke, especially have 20 years of it! But things are slowly but surely improving and I am very grateful! With that being said, I am ready to jump back in to this blog, continue where I left off & share all of the information I have learned & discovered over the very extended break!

Most of my readers know, while I thoroughly enjoyed writing online & absolutely LOVE blogging (which is evident since I have three: Infallible Beauty on all the girly girl things I love & Where the Heart is, my family blog), my dream...hope...deepest desire..was to be a printed author. Yep, I have had articles and short stories and such printed but my goal was to be a successful fiction author, preferably fantasy or romance. And I am proud , thrilled and in awe to proclaim, I have a few books in the works as we speak! Books that editors are actually interested in and I could NOT be more excited!

While I still plan to post helpful articles in online writing, blogging, etc, I plan to continue where I left off and take the next few months to focus on print writing. While trying to follow my dream, I learned that there isn't that much free help out there. There are a some articles...some self help guides...and a few forums but the things that actually help a hopeful author in the fiction world are pretty expensive. So I have decided to take all the things I both paid for, discovered, learned through trial and error and share them here with you guys. The next few months will be a variety of things: articles, workshops, exercises, reviews, etc...all focused on writing fiction, editing fiction, submitting fiction and getting fiction published!!

I can't wait to get started! See you soon!

Missie

Suite101 Feature Writers

2012-05-20T12:00:00.002-04:00

I am not sure how I missed this. Anyone who writes or visits the Suite101 website has noticed the large range of changes they have made. As a writer there, it has taken me some time adapt to the new formats. I usually read through every announcement and at times, the forum posts, regarding it change. However, there is one area of recent Suite101 changes that somehow escaped my knowledge. I lost my feature writer title, along with all the other feature writer and topic editors.

Since I obviously missed the announcement, it came as a huge shock to me today to check out my Suite101 profile and notice that the sweet "Feature Writer" title by my name has been changed back to "Contributing Writer." After investigating what happened (read: send an email asking when in the world did THIS happen), I learned that although my title and obligations had changed, my bonus would remain intact. This should make me happy, right? Keep the bonus without the required contributions. But I am actually a little sad.

I enjoyed seeing the title by my name, evidence is right here in this Freelancing Mommie post. I liked having the monthly writing obligations associated with being a featured writer. Alas, I didn't complain. It's not that big of a deal, in the grand scheme of things. I initially was shocked, thinking I had done something wrong. Now that I have learned that wasn't the case, it doesn't really matter one way or another. I guess I just liked the title! How silly I sound! LOL

Writing For Print: Query Letters

2012-05-18T12:00:00.002-04:00

After focusing on what each magazine was looking for in freelance writing submissions, I moved on to query letters. A majority of any print publications from newspapers to magazines to books required the author submit a query letter. I knew my query writing skills were not up to par so I made this Step Two in my attack plan.

The query letter is the first thing the submission editor sees. It works as an introduction not only to the author but to the article you are selling. If the query letter is the deciding factor between acceptance and rejection, then I figured the query letter better be top form.

There literally thousands upon thousands of websites that give information on writing the perfect query letter. After spending a day or two reading and making notes on the different viewpoints on a great query letter, I realized that all of the information I had been reading was based on opinions only. Every article seemed to contradict each other. I decided to compose a list that included only the important points that five or more articles seemed to agree on. Here is my initial list:

Query letters are the first view of your writing skill that an editor will have. Make each query letter as top quality as you would your articles, including spelling, grammar, tone, etc.
Remain professional at all times. Even if it sounds cute to address your query letter to "Dear Fellow Mommies, this article is for you!", don't do it. Editors expect professionalism, no matter how relaxed or fun the magazine's tone may be. If you did the research on the magazine, you will know the submission editor's name and address the query letter accordingly.
Keep query letters straight to the point. Introduce yourself, including a brief listing of any experience you may have and any experience with the magazine publication itself, introduce the article you are seeking publication for, including why it would be an excellent addition to said magazine and close out the query letter professionally by including any important details such as "the article is enclosed", "At your request, I would be happy to send in the article immediately", etc and end it by thanking the editor for his/her time.

I knew this was a good starting point and was most likely correct information, as almost every single article I read agreed that those three points were of utmost importance. But, being the perfectionist that I am, I wanted details and more details, including samples. So where did I go from here? Straight to Harlequin Romance Writer Section, of course.

Being the romance novel lover and aspiring author, I was well aware of the writer's section on the Harlequin website. I knew that writing a query letter for a magazine article was much different than writing one detailing a fictional novel. But I was also well aware that the format for the query letter would be very similar. If you haven't visited this writer's section, I suggest you do. There are tons of informative posts and links there for all aspects of writing, publishing and submitting. This includes a large bank of information on query letters, including a entire online course from a submission editor on writing a great query letter. Instead of detailing all the information here, just click the link and check it out!

Once I had made yet another large folder of information, I went to work. Yes, I am a little fanatical. I wrote a generalized query letter. Then, I went back over said query letter using the information in my folder, tweaking each and every section until I felt my query letter is at its top form.

Of course, for each and every submission, the information on my query letter will vary. But the format and tone will remain the same. Now, I have a great query letter sample that is of my own creation to use as a guideline for all future query letters!!

Print Submissions: Where Do I Start?

2012-05-17T13:45:00.000-04:00

Warning: I tend to use the Freelancing Mommie as a way to gather my thoughts and monitor my progress while sharing my knowledge with readers. This may be a very long post! My sincere apologies!

I have been published in print several times before but never really made it the sole focus of my writing career. When I decided to give this aspect of writing 6 months of serious hard work and dedication, I knew I would be dealing in an unknown domain, full of rejections. But I also knew it would be worth it in the end.

No, I am not giving up online writing. I still love every second of it. I just decided to give the print world a go. If you are heading in this same direction, you are probably wondering where to begin. In the beginning, I made two huge mistakes that resulted in thirty formal rejection letters in about two weeks time. Who says it takes six months or more to receive a response from magazines? My file of rejections letters begs to differ.

1- I wrote about what I wanted. I created a large amount of (40+) articles that covered either topics I was very educated in or topics that had recently caught my attention and I wanted to give my view on. Then, I did several searches online to find magazines that focused on these topics, located their addresses and I sent in my articles. Big mistake. I figured sending out random articles in large amounts was swaying the odds in my favor that at least a few of them would be published. Wrong!

2- I spent the few weeks wallowing in self-pity, doubting my skill and knowledge and almost giving up. I make decent money as an online writer and almost convinced myself during my pity party that I would leave the print world to the real writers. Big Mistake Number Two. I had suffered rejections before- maybe not thirty in two weeks times with NO acceptances- but why did these specific rejections hurt so much?

After my pity party concluded and I located my confidence again, I decided to start completely over with a new method. I made a detailed plan of attack for the printing publication world.Writing this plan led me to see that I skipped a crucial part: planning and researching.

Actually, let me backtrack and say I started with the 'Write What You Know' mentality. Instead of focusing on new topics, I decided to stick with topics I could write from my own knowledge and that required little to no research at all. Then, I made a list of about 10-12 well-known magazines that I felt confident that my topics would fit nicely with. Then, I began my research.

I printed off the submission guidelines for each magazine on my list. It never crossed my mind that each different publication would have a specific set of guidelines for freelance submissions. When I realized this, I had a huge DUH moment. Some magazines want query letters only. Some what email submissions. Some want standard mail submissions. Some don't accept freelance submissions without an agent. Some require a query letter, a short synopsis and a resume. Every single print publication on my list was different. After learning this, I realized a large portion of my rejections probably stemmed from not following these guidelines.

After learning what each magazine required for submissions, I researched each magazine's content. I made note on the various topics each magazine covered, the tone of each magazine, a list of regular featured topics/columns, the average amount of words per article, etc. At the week end, I felt I had a much better grasp on about every single one of these magazines and what they wanted/expected from freelance writers. My notes and print offs resulted in a fairly large file for each magazine.

Once I had completed this research, I felt more confident to move forward with my plan. I have rambled on enough today so I'll save step two for the next post. But I will share just a little bit of the outcome with you.

Out of 14 articles submitted to various magazines, 9 are going to be published, including one for Reader's Digest, two in Parenting magazine, one in Glamour Girl and one in Baby Talk. Hey, its not the New York Times but for the topics I covered, these are fairly big magazine names and I couldn't be prouder!

Standard Submissions: The Good Old Fashion Way

2012-04-19T18:44:00.001-04:00

My precious electronic companion.... my writing best friend....my sweet laptop has crashed and took all my hard work with it, as my external memory was hooked into it and was zapped with it. Repairing it would cost more than purchasing a new one. I admit I am unbelievably picky about such things. Needless to say, I have not yet decided on which make and model I am purchasing. The options are overwhelming!

Did I let this get me down? Nope, I decided it was time I learned the ropes of standard print submissions. I have mentioned that I have experience in getting manuscripts rejected many moons ago and even had an article here and there published in print. I have made it no secret that part of my career goals is to have a print book published. So I decided I would use this down time to refresh my memory and update myself on the ins and outs of submitting magazine and book submissions the good, old fashioned way: paper, envelopes and snail mail.

Boy, did I learn a lot! Things change so quickly, too. The hardest part was locating all of this information using only my iPhone and a handy dandy notebook and pen. I have spent two weeks spending my normal writing schedule researching standard submissions, taking notes, writing articles, working on.book outlines for the thousands of ideas I have rolling around upstairs and I am even taking two workshops on this subject via my smart phone.

I admit my fingers hurt and my brain is swollen with knowledge. But I am so excited and bursting with ideas, plans and goals. I have learned so much and am currently organizing it all into much more accessible formats. Since discovering this Blogger app, I can easily update The Freelancing Mommie with my phone. With that being said, would it benefit any of you for me to start a series of posts covering standard submissions for print? I think it would be a great addition to my site and helpful to so many who have goals to be published both online and in print.

Wow, I just rambled on and on about myself, didn't I? Sorry guys, I am just so excited!!!!

Recipe Writing and Recreating

2012-02-14T10:31:00.003-05:00

I love cooking and creating new recipes. At Suite101 I have included several recipes for traditional, holiday and party cooking. When the opportunity presented itself to recreate 30 recipes for a print edition holiday cookbook, I jumped at the opportunity. But this was a whole new writing experience!

The pay method was fairly simple. I would retain full writer and creator credit for the recipes. I would be paid a decent sum for my contributions, half at the time of contract acceptance and the other half upon completion, along with royalties on book sales. I read the contract thoroughly and then handed a copy over to a friend of mine (who happens to be an attorney) to examine. Everything was legit so I signed it and got to work. This is the only part of the entire experience that went smoothly.

When it came to the actual recipes, I was told I had total creative powers to choose and recreate thirty popular American holiday dishes. There were only three rules to follow: the recipes must be entirely my own adaptation and never previously printed anywhere, each recipe should use inexpensive, every day ingredients to make affordable holiday dishes and and each recipe must include 3 unique ingredients that people wouldn't normally use but that wouldn't alter the traditional flavor. Here is the method I used to create the recipes:

1-Selected the thirty popular dishes I wanted to recreate, mostly southern favorites since I am a Georgia girl!

2-Wrote down my normal method of preparing the dishes.

3-Played around with each recipe, changing the ingredients, adding more flavors, etc.

4-Researched each recipe individually to look at the many variations to make sure my take on each recipe was entirely unique.

These four steps work well for anyone wanting to change a traditional, common or popular recipe into their own creation and publish it online. Most of my online published recipes earn quite well each month!

Except the client had a problem with every single recipe I submitted. I would modify the recipes to fit what he was asking only to have him once again find a problem. After many, many edits, he finally sent an email that basically said, "I hired you to write 30 recipes and you seem unable to complete the task. I do not have time to find someone else; Please go to any of these popular recipe sites and copy the recipes verbatim." He also included a list of dishes and upon swimming a little further into the online recipe pool, I noticed these specific dishes were identified as some of the most popular recipes online.

WHAT??? That 'method' is stealing and not only completely against what I believe is wrong but nothing like the job description I received. I hate when someone plagiarizes my work; why would I do it to anyone else?

I emailed him back, explaining all of this in great detail. In the end, he admitted that he never had any intention of accepting any variations of the recipes except those that were exact replicas of the popular recipes he had requested. Pretty much, he just wanted MY name attached to the stolen recipes, to clear him of being liable for copyright concerns.

Thanks to my lawyer friend, I was able to get out of this contract entirely and have the client sign a legal waiver stating he would not use my recipes or my name.

Another writing lesson learned! I'll write recipes for myself from now on. After all, I make a decent passive income off my published recipes that continues to pay long after the initial publishing instead of a one time payment anyways!

Delayed Absence

2012-01-15T20:25:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since I last posted. As usual, things have been pretty hectic and a lot of things have happened. I am sorry for the delay in posting. I have made a lot of changes in my freelance writing career, most of which have been both positive and profitable.

I have several scheduled posts to share the ends and outs of these changes, the new things I have learned and the many mistakes I made along the way! I made some changes to my sites (and even more mistakes and lessons learned), made some detrimental, yet profitable, career decisions and went back to work on my book. I also started a ghost writing book project with my dear cousin Duane. He was diagnosed with stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver and wished to put his assortment of recorded audio inspirational thoughts and ideas into book format.

Along with the recent writing related changes, I recently learned some exciting news! My husband and I always wanted a huge family and we are proud to have baby #4 on its way! Children are a blessing from God and we are thrilled that God chose to bless us with our three beautiful daughters and a new edition later this year! For anyone who is interested, I have started a parenting/pregnancy blog here.

I can't wait to get back into the swing of things here!

Would YOU Work For Free?

2011-10-29T23:47:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I was helping a friend of mine set herself up with a few of the mass hiring websites. She is a writer as well as was looking for a few short-term positions to get her through Christmas with her 4 small children. I was shocked at the rates that were posted for jobs. And not in a good way either.

Who in their right mind would work for those wages? What type of person/company could honestly sleep at night, knowing they were paying mere pennies for long hours and hard work? Sometimes we all have to take a cut in pay in hard times but this was outrageous. Need examples? Here you go!

Job One: Full-time virtual assistance-5 days per week for a total of 30 hours per week- maximum payment available $2.75 per hour

Job Two: Article writer- 30/450-600 word articles per week/ $1.50 per article maximum payment

Job Three: Copy editor for small website- 35 articles edited and published per week- maximum payment .75 per article

There were thousands of jobs like this paying barely pennies for large amounts of work. The saddest part of all is that these postings had a hundred or more bids from people wanting the job. Maybe I am expecting too much. Maybe this is the norm. But just because you work from home or most of your work is online doesn't mean you shouldn't be paid fairly.

The people posting these jobs should be ashamed. They expect top quality work. Many of these job postings said things like "Only hardworking individuals willing to work 40+ hrs per week need to apply." and "Do not exceed the maximum pay rate or your application will not be considered!" They want the very best but only want to pay the very minimum.

This spreads like an infection. If there are a thousand other job postings getting by with paying 10 cents for 100 articles, then other recruiters are going to follow suit on the cheap wages! Eventually, sites like these will offer nothing but this type of poorly paid opportunities.

I know this is more of a venting post than an informative. If this were the only jobs available to me, I wouldn't be able to provide for my family even if I had 40 of these jobs at one time! I'd do better to return to the land of the living for employment than to fight with tons of others for the barely there income.

Backup Plans

2011-10-27T20:36:00.001-04:00

As freelance writers, our income depends solely on ourselves. What happens when the unexpected occurs, as it often does with freelancing/self-employed careers? I recently had a similar discussion with Felicia from NoJobForMom. As she pointed out, freelance writers need a solid backup plan? I learned this little lesson about 11 months ago.

At that time, I was writing for several places, including different private clients. About 1/3 of my income came from one of these clients. Suddenly after several months of prompt payments, the client stopped paying....after he received a large sum of articles. This left me seriously short for the month. I had no choice but to cut my losses and move on but in the meantime I still had to meet those ends! I won't go into all that right now. Let's just say I wrote around the clock for days, barely making anything on a per word rate. That mad writing dash to make ends meet taught me not to limit that much of my income to one place. I learned a solid, reliable backup plan is a must, if I want to succeed as a freelance writer.

The freelance writing word is full of what ifs, maybes, sometimes, coulds, woulds and shoulds. Your blog/site could get a Google drop kick, taking your page views and add clicks with it. Revenue earning websites could shut down. Private clients could refuse to pay. Paypal transactions could fail. Upfront paying sites could shutdown. Your computer could crash. There are so many variables in the freelance writing world that I couldn't begin to name them all.

I learned the importance of a backup plan first hand. I have shared my weekly writing plan. It is pretty much just a specific amount of active and passive articles contributed weekly to take care of my finances while building a decent residual income. My backup plan is a little different than this. It has several different factors of supplementing the different aspects of my career whenever those 'what ifs' hit. Here's how mine works.

Part A: This is my savings. 25% of my weekly income goes automatically into a savings account. Then, when the once per month residual payments come in, another 25% is added to my savings account. This way I have emergency money in case things get tight. If I don't need it, I continuously build a decent savings.

Part B: I decided some months back that having at least one contracted, top-paying writing gig in print form would be a good idea in case an internet disaster strikes. I sent out twenty or so query letters to magazines and landed a column with a one year contract, paying $1.10 per word. I write the 750 word article only once per month, based on my own experience as a single mom. I know I will receive $825 around the fifth of each month for a full year, as long as I abide by the contract. This literally takes me about twenty minutes to write, edit and proofread.
            I subscribe to sites like Elance and oDesk where I can find thousands of print writing jobs. Of course, they have large amounts of online work, too. Private clients have the highest rate of skipping out on payments but I require a signed contract to provide services. So far this has worked out for me. I can apply to jobs just by clicking a button because all of my professional information is saved to my profile. If any of my active income sources become unavailable, I can grab a few private client type jobs to compensate my monthly earnings.
            I also freelance for two local newsletters and the local paper. They always have something that needs covering and a simple phone call can get me a decent paying writing gig to help with any gaps in my pay. I do not have to work every month for these print sources. I volunteered a few times to get exposure where I was offered regular job. I declined but asked to be kept in mind for future assignments. Sometimes they call me, offering topics that they feel I would cover well and other times, I contact them. With three simple calls, I can put the word out that I need work and usually get several paying assignments for each source.


Of course, this backup plan isn't going to be much help to freelance writers who focus entirely on internet work. I enjoy writing for both print and web.With all the 'ifs' associated with online writing, I chose to put my eggs in offline baskets, too. Some months, I am a little overwhelmed because I feel it necessary to contribute to the offline sources regularly to keep myself in good standing. However, except for the one contracted writer position, I am under no obligation to write for these offline sources.

Another thing I have implemented is the 20% rule. No more than 20% of my active income can come from one place. Replacing 1/5 of my income is much easier than replacing all of my earnings or writing around the clock to keep the money coming!

Rearranging Plans and Goals

2011-10-23T14:22:00.002-04:00

After becoming a feature writer at Suite101 and landing my first big magazine column (more about that later!), I decided to once again cut my upfront paying obligations for a more passive focus. I cut out five active income articles per week and was writing five passive articles instead. Every two weeks, I would cut out an additional five upfront articles and add five passive articles.

But Google sent Panda out on another mission right in the middle of my transition plan. My revenue earnings plummeted and I was forced to return to the previous number of upfront paying gigs to cover my monthly income needs. This, once again, forced my passive income to take the backseat because my family's needs, which will ALWAYS outrank my career goals. But this got me thinking. When the effects of the first Panda round wore off, my passive income (and page views, too!) became the absolute highest of my entire freelance writing career. Since this is a been there, done that situation, I knew that I would be crazy not to increase my passive income articles as much as possible in preparation for the time when Panda removes his large paw from my earnings.

I kept thinking over and over that my already published article's earnings increased by almost half last time. Imagine if I could get 25, 50, 75 or even a hundred more residual articles published by the time Panda effects faded again. I could even double or triple my earnings. Of course, I am not a fortune teller and can't predict the future but like they say, history repeats itself. Even if this is a different scenario this time around, adding more passive income articles can only benefit my career and I will eventually see an increase in earnings, too.

Enter new plan. I must make X amount of $$ per month to meet my household needs. This is a given. But I usually go with my gut instincts and my gut is screaming at me to write as many residual articles as possible. I thought, planned and prayed until I finally had a workable solution. I limit the amount of time I write per day, making sure I have plenty of time for my wonderful family and other life obligations. I determined exactly how many articles I would need to complete to meet my monthly needs and calculated how many hours per day it would take me to complete the articles. Between my sites and active income needs, most of my self allotted writing time was gone. I wasn't going to give up!

Where would I find the time to write passive articles without cutting into my family time and direct paying/much needed obligations? I remembered an opportunity I was offered a few weeks ago that would cut my writing time down by a third. After a quick email, I had freed several hours a week which would be used to write at least ten residual article without cutting into my income needs or my family time. Sure, I had to take on another project that someone else was going to reap the most benefits from but I was adding many articles during the newly freed time that put me one step closer to my goal! So this time around when Panda lightens up and my passive earnings begin to rise once more, I will have published a good amount of new articles to increase my passive income that much more!

Panda, You Got Me Again!

2011-10-22T23:50:00.002-04:00

The return of Google's Panda resembled having a flashback. I went to bed one night, proud of the stats for the day. Suite101 was steadily climbing higher in both page views and earnings. My sites, especially FM, was growing in page views and revenue.

I awoke the next day and logged on to go through my normal stat check routine. What can I say? I love watching the FM stats rise. But this site hadn't had a single view. I wasn't too worried; it was still early. I moved on through the various sites that provide my residual earnings and my heart was dropping lower and lower. By the time I made it to Suite101, my heart was somewhere around my stomach. And with the huge drop in my Suite stats, I had succeeded in walking on my own heart.

A quick search proved my gut instinct was right. Panda was back. The latest Panda smack down is pretty bad. I'm not ashamed to admit that my earnings took a swift nose dive into the land of barely nothing and they took my page views with them. I had my very first 0 page views day in 13 weeks here at FM on Friday and haven't made a penny in three days. At Suite101, my page views dropped by 71% and my earnings are close behind at a 64% decrease. Since I combine my other passive income sites into one statistic in my spreadsheets, that group is down about 58%.

I expect Google to make changes often and I figured there would be many more similar Panda attacks before Google was satisfied with their content returns. But I didn't expect it would be so soon or that my stats would be affected so drastically. But I know as quickly as they fell, they will rise again. As long as I continue to publish articles, my earnings will continue to climb. Freelance writing is like a roller coaster and to succeed and finish the ride, you have to be able to stomach the hills, drops, loops and turns.

Where Do You Write?

2011-10-13T09:54:00.001-04:00

I recently have been doing some rearranging, turning my room into an office/studio. I have mentioned before that part of my freelance writing career pertains to beauty topics. I have loved makeup since I was old enough to smear my face in my mom's Avon lipstick. I have a cosmetology diploma and recently completed my degree in makeup artist mastery, which was always a goal of mine.
No, as I've mention before, beauty isn't all I write about. I write about several different topics because I love all kinds of things! Beauty just happens to be one of them. On my beauty site, I create makeup tutorials with simple step by step instructions but to do this, I actually have to use trial and error until I capture the look I am going for. I also do product reviews and other beauty type posts.

I used to write all over the house; laptops make it easy to move around. But I wanted an office of my own. With three kids filling my 4 bedroom house, there isn't any available rooms. I decided to turn my bedroom into a place to work, just for me. On one side, I have my vanity and organized beauty products. On the other, I have my desk, books, office supplies, computer, printer, etc. It is so exciting to go to work in an area that is decorated and organized in my own special way. Really makes me feel professional...LOL.

It got me to thinking, how many freelance writers have their own office, specifically for a freelance writing career. Do you have an office or do you just go with the flow, writing where ever you want? It's hard to get used to having this specific area to write. All though I love it, I still spend a lot of time with my laptop in the living room, watching cartoons with my kiddos. Old habits are hard to break, even with a newly decorated office right down the hall.

Suite101 Feature Writer!!

2011-10-11T15:50:00.001-04:00

I am so excited to share with you guys that I was recently promoted to Feature Writer at Suite101. At a website that has since closed down and resolved its domain, I was the feature writer for Parenting-Inc.org, with no upfront or rev share at all. I was the SAHM feature writer and loved it! For 12 months, I was the feature writer for Ready Hair print magazine, making a .07 cents per word. But both of these jobs were temporary, gained through ads, with one writing sample. Anyone could have landed the positions.

**photo labeled licensed for reuse via Google search performed 10/11/11 courtesy of targetaustralia.blogspot.com**

At Suite, there is a 15 article minimum plus your writing style is evaluated before being promoted to feature writer. In other words, I really feel like I EARNED this promotion instead of being randomly accepted.

I know Panda had a huge impact on content sites. My Suite101 revenue took a nose dive and I had to focus more on upfront pay sites to make ends meet. This last month, I have watched my Suite earnings shoot up, exceeding what they were before Panda. Because most of my articles pertain to the holidays from Halloween to Easter, these months always shows a much higher revenue than normal. Today, my revenue earnings exceeded last years by almost 42%, with only 4 new articles added so far.

All and all, I am happy writing at Suite101. The topic editors are friendly and polite, always complimenting my articles and writing style even when improvements are requested. Making feature writer gives me such a sense of accomplishment and a boost in confidence, too!

Hi Guys!

2011-10-02T22:17:00.000-04:00

Whew! It's been awhile! It has been so super busy around here. The kids went back to school, the hubby back to work, my classes started back up and I took on a few offline writing obligations, including two fiction writing opportunities which thrilled me to no end. I love creative writing. In fact, I got my start by writing poetry (which I do not enjoy now but used to love to write) and short stories for The Old Red Kimono, a local fiction magazine.

I'll get back into the swing of things soon. So many new things I want to share with you guys! Including information I learned during my classes about fiction writing. I am so sorry about the gap in writing. See you soon guys!

Just Had To Share!

2011-08-27T15:11:00.000-04:00

Hi guys! This will be a quick post...not really informative but a first for me and I just had to share.

This past week has been downright frustrating. Not really having to do with freelance writing but more on the normal, every day life type side. Among other things, my husband, and his entire crew, have been laid off for 3 weeks without pay. My middle daughter is having some issues with her school work. And AT&T talked me into signing up for auto-pay where they promptly hit my account back to back to back for three transactions, totaling more than $900 (when I only owed one bill that wasn't even due until 9/13!!!). My bank account has been frozen for fraudulent activity, my debit card too. UGH! Then, I logged on this morning to find a sweet email from a wonderful topic editor on Suite 101.

My recent article (click HERE to check it out) made the front page of that particular section! I have never had a featured article there before and was so excited, I started showing everybody! Not such a huge thing to many people, but an accomplishment that I am very proud of. It was the start of my new holiday articles (after I took a short break from Suite 101) that I mentioned in my last post about seasonal articles.

If only I could get somewhere with AT&T and the bank, I think this headache might go away! LOL

Just had to share! Thanks for reading!

Seasonal Articles

2011-08-22T13:42:00.001-04:00

At Suite 101, I contribute mostly holiday and special occasion crafts for kids and am one of the top three contributors for Holiday Kids Crafts. The most popular holidays include Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have mostly crafts and kid friendly recipes for these particular holidays. Why would I focus on a specific topic with specific time frames, knowing that the rest of the year those articles might not get read at all?

Believe it or not, I planned it this way purposely. Let me give you a little insight to why I would make this decision:

Halloween, Christmas & Thanksgiving kids crafts gain more than a million search inquiries per day from September to the end of December.
In my experience, my holiday crafting articles receive more views and revenue at Suite 101 than any other place I have published them.

But why would I continuously publish these types of crafting articles, knowing I won't see the monetary pay off until September-December? This is simple.

Because I have three children under the age of 9. This means Halloween costumes, Santa presents, stuffed stockings, classroom parties to fund, two birthdays in December, etc. Since I already know I need to increase my income for these months to afford the added expenses, I publish articles that I know will be profitable during the same months. In other words, I write throughout the year so I can see the benefits during the more expensive months. And I chose to write passive income articles instead of increasing my direct pay articles so I could continue to make the extra income each year, without having to slam out many low-pay articles during the holiday months EVERY year. My revenue crafting articles will continue to pay, whether I actively contribute more or not.

Here's an example of my income increase from Suite 101.

August 2011: $99.56

November 2010: $301.22

That's a $200 jump. And believe me, that $200 increase goes a long way toward funding the holidays for my girls. When I caught on to how profitable these holiday articles would be, I made a plan to continue contributing them, even though I knew I would only see the pay off for the last four months of the year.

But what about Panda? Will this effect my passive income that I have become dependent upon for these higher cost months? Only time will tell!

What in the Blogging World is That?

2011-08-21T16:39:00.000-04:00

I was recently searching around the web for information on the best, user friendly WordPress templates. I have a new blog there, using a free template but was looking to purchase a new theme in the next few weeks.

I came across a site that described implementing Infolinks into your WordPress blog. I have been wanted to do exactly that but WordPress is a new dimension to me so I was taking everything in baby steps, researching and implementing things as I go. And adding Infolinks is definitely something I wanted to do.

I followed the instructions exactly. Downloaded the Infolinks plug-in, added it to my template and clicked the "View My Blog" link. After the page loaded, I bet I hit refresh twenty times. What in the blogging world was this? It wasn't my carefully designed, fully functional blog. In fact, it was a huge jumbled mess of symbols and icons. It reminded me of abstract art by a not so talented artist.

The worst part is I didn't really know what I was doing in the first place. Much less being able to identify the problem and correct it. But I am not the type of person to flip out or get discouraged. Instead, whenever a problem arises, I step away for a little while so I can approach the problem with a fresh eye and find a workable solution.

Two hours later, I logged into my WordPress blog. Everything was back to normal. No problems anywhere and Infolinks working perfectly. All of my information and posts were accounted for. Had I not taken a break, I would have immediately began researching what had happened and trying to solve the issue which may have only done more damage than good.

This goes to show that sometimes problems will work themselves out, if you give them time. Whenever I am faced with a problem, whether it is a leaky sink or a completely out of place rewrite request, I step away for a few moments to clear my head and then attack the problem with a "I can do this attitude" and sometimes, the problem corrects itself and I can smile in relief. :-)

<3 Missie <3

Moving Forward

2011-08-16T23:51:00.003-04:00

As I was checking out my stats for the month of August so far, I realized just how much time I spent writing for direct pay sites/clients versus my own sites/revenue sites. Before I get into that, let me give you a little run down of what I was trying to do and how I ended up spending an hour making calculations & catching up my spreadsheets.

I recently posted about earning a full passive income from my own blogs and sites. Today, I had some time to kill so I decided to calculate the percentage of increase or decrease my sites were averaging. When I entered last weeks daily income amounts, I didn't like the way things were looking and I decided I had to dig further. I needed to know exactly where I stood so I could put my plan into action. I am determined to receive all of my income from revenue, specifically my own sites.

I use the income spreadsheet from No Job For Mom, but I tailored it to fit my needs. Here are my total earnings for the month of August.

	Residential Income	Direct Pay	TOTAL
August-11	$ 778.81	$ 950.50	$ 1,729.31

This means passive income was only 45% of my total income. Not too bad considering my totals at the end of 2010 showed only around 20% of my income was revenue. But then, I asked myself how much of that was from my own sites? It ended up being a tiny, barely there 7%. I realized what a lonnnnnng way I had to go. Here's the breakdown:

August	Google Adsense	Suite101	Amazon Associates	Info Links
August	$ 21.33	$ 94.27	$ 7.17	$ 26.02
Print &eBook Revenue	Examiner	Guest Blog Posts	Associated Content	Direct Pay
$ 429.33	$ 18.80	$ 99.99	$ 81.90	$ 950.50

Google AdSense, Amazon Associates and Info Links are the residential outlets for all four of my sites which comes to a total of $54.51, of which $12.22 belongs to my sub domain at HubPages. I include my HubPage earnings with my own blogs because the AdSense, Amazon, etc on my sub domain there is directly reported to my accounts at the revenye outlets.

The figures do not lie. 55% of my monthly income comes from direct pay opportunities. The problem is I need the direct income to support my family. Right now, I cannot drop my active income sources. Baby steps is the key to change. Jumping into something head first usually leaves you with a painful knot! I knew what changes I wanted to make so I mapped out a game plan and a time frame. If I do not reach my goals in the time I set for myself, I will be confident in knowing that I am actively working toward them, getting closer day by day.

I am a 'write what you know' kind of writer. Whether I am writing for direct or residential pay, 99% of the time it is about the same 5 or 6 topics that I am passionate and knowledgeable of. Each of my four blogs covers these topics as well. By keeping my writing focused on just a handful of topics, I gain a broader knowledge of the subjects which leads to more ideas which in turn leads to more articles. No matter what type of income I earn, these articles can be published at any of the sites a regularly contribute to.

I won't go into all the details right now. I am creating a spreadsheet to detail my goals and my plan of action. When the "100% Residential Income (from my own sites)" spreadsheet is complete, I will post it and explain. Do you keep spreadsheets of daily, monthly or yearly totals? Do you add all of your income together or do you keep them separate and calculate percentages?

Lesson Learned: Why Give Them a Cut of Your Cash?

2011-08-12T23:02:00.001-04:00

Nearing two years now, I have published articles at a large variety of sites including Suite 101, Hubpages, Examiner and several others as well as several smaller sites, guest blog posts and etc. This is where earned all of my passive earnings until one day, almost a year ago, that I stumbled upon No Job For Mom and read Felicia's post about earning revenue from your own blogs and sites. Like a light bulb, the realization of what this actually meant flashed in my head.
By creating a blog or purchasing a domain, I create a site where all the profits from Google AdSense (the most common revenue program used by large content sites), Amazon Associates and Info Links, among others, come straight into my pocket. Nobody gets a cut of my cash. Well, except maybe the company behind the ads. Nobody takes a percentage of each ad click into their pocket. There are no pesky "How much do I actually make" formulas to figure out. You already know if someone clicks an ad, the entire profit from that click goes to your account.

Did I immediately jump on the band wagon and create a mass of well written, great producing blogs/sites to increase my revenue earnings? Not exactly. Yes, I created the Freelancing Mommie and when it had only earned about $10 in six months, I left it alone for awhile. I justified it by thinking "I didn't really know what I was doing anyways." I returned to content sites to post revenue articles. Then it HIT.

What hit you may ask? But if you are a residual writer, then you know the big bang that depleted our revenue earnings on these content sites was none other than Panda.

For those that may not know, Google changed their algorithm which resulted in any site that offered a large variety of topics by an even larger amount of writers with articles being published in the thousands each day being labeled a content farm...content mill...content factory. I heard all the terms, didn't like none of them.

The simplest way to look at this algorithm change is to understand that these types of sites lost their page index with Google, resulting on being knocked to the bottom of the list on search results when they previously were frequent first pagers. When the page index dropped, so did our page views and earnings. It was then I realized I should have been more focused on Freelancing Mommie as well as other ideas I have for blogs and sites and less focused on providing content for sites who only give my a small portion of my articles earnings.

Did I let this get me down? Did I give up? Nope! I watched my earnings continue to drop while organizing and creating new sites and improving Freelancing Mommie. I wasn't angry at the Google slam down. I was upset with myself that I allowed myself to give up on my site to place my articles on other people's sites. If nothing else, Felicia from No Job For Mom is my inspiration as a freelance writer and I should have taken her advice long before the elusive Panda came crashing into my passive income.

Today, I have four functioning, income earning blogs and two more in the works, some receive better views than others...some make more revenue than others. Am I saying this isn't hard, time consuming work? Nope, I have had many sleepless nights working on my sites and researching tricks of the trade. But the more high quality articles I write, the more revenue income I earn.

Do I still publish articles at content type sites? Yes, I do. My earnings have continued to rise at several of these sites and I feel the more passive income articles I have online, the higher my earnings will be. Writing is writing...if you have a passion for it, it doesn't matter where you post it. Good quality, well written pieces will earn money.

My Passive Writing Retirement Plan

2011-08-10T17:45:00.002-04:00

I recently responded to my fellow writer Joni's comment (Go check out her site on the history of American women...it's great!) mentioning my 'retirement plan' as a freelance writer. I immediately received an email asking for more details. Instead of responding to an individual email, I decided to address my writing retirement plan in a short post, so other writer's who may not have thought about it this way could benefit as well.

Most freelance writers agree that passive income is the way to go. Passive income, also known as revenue or residual earnings, are not made in one lump sum with publishing your articles but comes from different revenue outlets like Google AdSense or Info Links. These revenue based payments increase with the more articles you publish. Its a slow and steady pace to create a decent revenue income but since this type of compensation continues as long as your content is available online, it is well worth the time and effort.

The first year and a half as a freelance writer, I focused solely on upfront, direct pay jobs although I did write for Suite 101 sometimes because it was the first site I was hired to. When I really researched passive income, I knew immediately that was the way I wanted to go. My first revenue payout was $23 in November 2010. In July 2011, my payout was $738. And it increases daily.

Because passive income increases with the amount of articles you publish, I try to focus on this type of articles one day per week. After all, I still rely on direct paying gigs to pay the bills. Working for yourself doesn't offer a 401k. I decided passive income would be my retirement plan. The way you contribute each pay period to your retirement fund through an employer, I contribute weekly to increase my amount of published passive income articles, which increases the likelihood of ad clicks which in turn increases my income. It's my weekly contribution to my retirement fund. Because one day, I will retire from writing and will have a substantial monthly income from various places across the web through passive income sources. This income will come even when I am not actively writing a single word. When I am too old, eat up in arthritis from hours of typing at the computer. When I spend my days relaxing on the porch with my husband, rocking side by side in comfortable rocking chairs and sipping chocolate milkshakes, this income will still come in.

I write revenue based articles on websites as well as my own sites. I am in control how often and how many articles I publish. And I am building my retirement slowly but surely, in a similar manner as one pays weekly/bi-weekly/monthly to their retirement fund! Except my retirement doesn't take a percentage of my income, it only takes an hour or two of my time. And the best bonus is, I don't have to wait until I am 62/65 years old to draw my retirement income...mine already comes monthly. :-)

Beating Writer's Block

2011-08-07T23:17:00.001-04:00

On Friday, I sat at my computer for literally two hours writing a few words...hitting delete...writing another sentence or two...hitting delete and so on. My goal for the day was two revenue articles, one for Suite 101 and another for Hubpages. Unfortunately, my normal "Ah ha" moment where a great writing idea hits me and I bang out an article with lightening speed never came.

Normally, I stick to my own advice and write what I know. A topic that I love, something I read or saw interesting, new found or old time loves are things I normally write about, unless I have a pre-planned article. But when absolutely nothing came to mind, I began to feel somewhat panicked. How do I build a good, steady revenue income if I cannot even round up an idea for one? Have I written so many upfront pay, 'here's your title' articles that I cannot muster up one on my own?

I decided to take a stroll through memory lane and read my published revenue articles. By the time I had made it through twenty or so, I had a list a mile long of ideas and angles on topics that I had not covered but had information and inspiration to shed light on. Within an hour and a half, I had wrote ten rough drafts of articles.

It hit me that my perspectives, ideas and knowledge on different topics could result in new, exciting revenue articles. I decided then and there when I had an idea or view on a particular subject, I would make note of it immediately. I should have been doing this all along but what can I say? Sometimes it takes my light bulb a few seconds to come on.

By 6PM today, I had so many topics, ideas and article outlines that it will take me a year to write them all. The next time you read an article and know you have something to add, turn it into a passive income article. Your writing portfolio and revenue income will thank you!

Write What You KNOW!

2011-07-31T17:46:00.002-04:00

I think the most valuable piece of advice for those just beginning their freelance writing careers is to WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW! I receive emails and questions all the time regarding this very topic, with some focused on specific sites such as Suite 101 and Demand Media Studios.

I've posted about this topic before and answered many emails with this same piece of advice. There are several reasons I believe this is most important, both for your own sanity and for monetary gain.

The first reason is obvious. It is easiest to write about a subject that you already understand and have knowledge of. When writing for revenue sites such as Suite 101, you can take your basic knowledge and spin it into several easy to create articles. This builds your online writing portfolio while increasing your revenue pay.

The same rings true for DMS. If you select titles that you are already familiar with, the time it takes to create the article and locate references will be reduced and therefore, increase your pay scale. For active income sites like DMS, the amount of articles you complete in a specific amount of time determines your pay scale. For example, if you spend 20 minutes writing a 'how to' article on a subject that you are familiar with, then you can produce 3 articles per hour. On an average, this will result in $45/per hour pay scale. However, if you spend 45 minutes researching and writing a 'how to' article on a subject you know nothing about, your pay scale will be $15/hr. In my opinion, active income sites are pretty much all about the $$$. Your pay scale is an important factor.

If you are writing for pure enjoyment, choose subjects that you WANT to learn more about. The research, time and writing will be fun, if you cover topics that you are interested in. I began my online writing career focusing on crafts, parenting, cooking and beauty. Those were 4 topics that I could write thousands of articles on with little research and without getting bored.

The less you know about a subject, the less you WANT to know about a subject, the longer it will take you to produce an article. It will become a chore...something you feel you have to do, not something you want to do. Many writers never make it past the 'beginning' stage because they lose their love for writing...lost in topics and subjects that bore them stiff. Writing is about free creativity. Write what you love and love what you write!

Guest Blog Posts For Revenue Share

2011-07-25T22:13:00.001-04:00

Although Panda's attack on many content fueled sites does seem to be dwindling, there are other ways to build passive income. Of course, you could create your own blogs and sites and receive 100% revenue share on ad clicks but if you aren't ready for this step, you can try guest blogging.

Many popular blogs have "Write For Us" links. Because blogs are not viewed as 'content mills', they weren't impacted as bad, if at all. Unless the Google Adsense account is disabled or the blog deleted, your guest post will continue to make revenue indefinitely. I contribute blog posts a lot, usually under my pen name.

It doesn't work much differently than other passive income outlets. In fact, when Panda attacked several of the revenue share sites that I frequently contribute to, my guest posts were pulling in the bulk of my revenue income per day.

Because blogs make money from revenue share outlets, like Google AdSense and Infolinks, you should sign up for these accounts. Once accepted as a guest poster, your account information will be linked to the ads placed on your blog post. Usually, you earn 50% of each ad click with the other half going to the blog owner. I manage my own blogs and guest post occasionally on other's blogs. I believe the more passive income content I publish throughout the web, the closer I am to my goal of all of my income resulting from passive income sources.

Your guest post will continue to earn money indefinitely. The more revenue share based content you contribute to, the more income you have. It may take an quite some time to build decent revenue earnings but this type of income keeps rolling in while active income stops after the one time payment.

Usually, we all have a reaction to things we read. If you are reading a favorite blog and think you know an easier way of tackling the project...a different way of looking at a certain topic...a new idea for something turn it into a blog-style article and submit it as a guest poster. All it can do is make you a few bucks!!

Writing Quality, Not Quantity

2011-07-18T18:09:00.002-04:00

Wow, I am amazed at the relief and lightness I feel today. I spent a better part of the morning recreating my income spreadsheets (compliments of Felicia at No Job For Mom.) If you want a detailed spreadsheet that automatically completes total, calculations, completions and statistics for your writing career and income, visit the No Job For Mom link above. Felicia did a terrific job of creating a working spreadsheet and it is a huge value to us freelancing writers!

Then, I created a more workable, less exhausting daily schedule, daily goal, monthly goal and yearly goal spreadsheets. Ahhh, sweet relief! Now, I can retain my sense of accomplishment, maintain an active income, work on my own 3 sites and build my passive income. Although, I cut out many daily work hours I still found a workable way to continue earning a substantial income and building my revenue based income to reach my goal of a total passive income.

After completing the updated spreadsheets, I knew I had found a solution perfected for me and is so I begin my work day a little later than originally intended, but with the new daily goals in place, I already know that I will work for 4 hours on my writing obligations, take a few hours off to cook supper, spend time with my kiddos, do the bath/teeth/story/tuck into bed nightly routine. Then, put in another 2 hours working on my own sites, checking and answering comments & emails and organizing my articles keywords, notes, etc for the following day.

I feel an excitement about writing again! I love my career, I am passionate about writing and always have been. But the constant, never ending workload was breaking me. Now, my focus will return to quality instead of quantity!

Til next time...happy writing <3 Missie <3

Time Management

2011-07-17T17:32:00.002-04:00

Today, I had the privilege of chatting with Felicia from the No Job For Mom site. She is my go-to source for information when something in this whole freelance writing world causes confusion. Thanks Felicia!

Recently, my need for a steady income to support my family and my 2011 goal of getting out of debt has caused me to write around the clock. The pay is well worth it but my sanity and my sleep are suffering the consequences. Along with writing for direct pay income, I am still attempting to write several passive income articles per week as well as maintain & advance all three of my own sites. Can anyone say writing overload?

One of the benefits of leaving a traditional 9-5 job was the fact that I could work in my pajamas, with my family by my side while making & controlling my own hours. I thought, I might be one of those individuals that require a set in stone schedule to accomplish their goals and still have time for other obligations, family, friends, and sleep, sleep, rest & sleep. Maybe I was trying to cram too many goals into small amounts of time. Maybe I was even effecting the quality of my work, in order to produce quantity and income.

It is time I reevaluated myself, my goals, my time & my expectations. I love to write and am lucky to be able to do it for a decent living. But on the down side, how long til I am so completely burnt out on writing topics other people request that I lose the passion to write the way I want to, about the things I want?

My final decision is that I will not think I can rid my family of our debt in 1 year when it took us 11 years to obtain the debt in the first place. I will not focus 90% of my writing time on active income, instead I will be splitting it 50/50 with passive income. I will give myself weekly goals based on the amount of needed income for the upcoming week with 15% focused on debt relief. I will also plan ahead my blog posts and passive income articles, focusing a few hours a week. Then my weekly goals will be broken down into daily goals, five days per week. I spoke once before about my writing schedule, which went haywire recently. Its time to try a different tactic.

No more working nonstop just to make large amount of income. The bottom line is I will only get compensated once for active income content while my income will only increase over time with passive content. Setting weekly goals, instead of a set in stone schedule, offers a much more comfortable, self reliant pace. And as I mark each goal off my list for the day, I can experience the same sense of accomplishment that I felt in the very beginning of my writing career.

Til next time...<3 Missie <3