Every single writer out there will have their favourite part of the writing process.

For me, slowing down and doing a second edit has changed my freelance writing career for the better.

For some, it will be the generating of topics.  Ideas of what you can write about for a client based on their messaging.  Sitting down with just a short brief and being able to spend time researching the subject, finding out what’s hot, what’s not and where you think you can bring something different to the table can be a very rewarding experience.

For others, the actual creating of the first draft is fantastic.  It’s the process that allows you to build on the suggestions you’ve created and truly do what you want to do – write.

And for many more, the editing stage can be extremely rewarding, as you know that you’ve created and finished the piece and are at the stage where you’re essentially adding the final touches to your masterpiece.

But for every writer who thinks these parts are positive, there’ll be just as many who consider them to be negative and who skim over them as they want to get a certain part out of the way.

And for me, that’s editing.

I love the ideas stage and I love writing, but I’ve always found the editing stage to be slightly tedious.

However, over the last few years I’ve had to work on this part of my writing process to ensure I can properly develop and there’s one thing I do now that I believe many other writers could benefit from – a second edit.

Previously, I would finish the first draft, run through an edit and then send the piece off to the client.  The problem was, because I didn’t like editing, I’d often miss a few errors.  Usually nothing major, perhaps a comma was used inadvertently or a ‘their’ had been used as ‘there’ and obviously hadn’t been picked up by the spell checker, but I think it was largely because as I didn’t like the process, I felt pressure to ensure I got the piece perfect.

Then I realised I could reduce this pressure and onus on me by splitting the process across two separate edits.  Sure, it takes me a few minutes longer per piece, but it works, as when I’ve finished writing the piece now, I run through an edit as I would normally and pick up any glaringly obvious mistakes – then I take a break and return to it.

By taking a break – even if it’s something such as starting a new piece – I can come back to the piece afresh, something that means I often pick up on little mistakes I didn’t catch before.

And since I’ve started doing this, I haven’t had a piece go to a client and come back with anything other than the very occasional and very minor typo.

I believe that as writers, we’ve all got our own ways of doing things and for me, doing a second edit with a break in between the two makes a huge difference to my writing.

What little processes do you have to make your life as a freelance writer easier and more enjoyable?

Image:  nchenga (Flickr)

The other day I had to think about what I offered to people as part of my brand. I think it was an exercise in one of Tea Silvestre’s newsletters. I came up with these two statements.

• I help writers earn more money by providing sustainable solutions for building writing careers (that’s what this blog is about).
• I help clients reach their customers with excellent writing tailored to their needs and chosen media.

But then as part of this month’s Word Carnival, the idea was to reveal our quirks. When I started thinking about this I realized that I am really lucky – and maybe many other writers are too. All the quirks and weird interests that made me a girly swot in school, to use Enid Blyton’s terminology, have turned out to be positives for my current writing career. Let me give you a few examples.

The Grammar Gunslinger

I can spot a grammatical error at a thousand paces – don’t ask me why, that’s just the way I’m wired. Blame it on years and years of reading voraciously – not to mention learning grammar in several languages (English, of course, but also French, Spanish, German and even Latin). And I loved it. That translates (get it?) into being able to identify and eliminate weaknesses in my clients’ source copy and into being able to write clearly understandable copy of my own. That ear for language also comes in handy when switching between varieties of English – that’s why many of my American clients are surprised to find out I’m a Brit by birth.

Nerdy – and Lovin’ It

I’m a word nerd. I read books about language for fun and I find the origins of words fascinating. I love learning new ones and I love sneaking them into client copy even more. That means my clients are likely to get copy that’s fresh and new (don’t worry, I also know when clichés are appropriate, not that I’d recommend them). That, along with my language background, usually means I’m great at sniffing out nuances – useful when you’re trying to work out what clients really want.

Proof Positive

Know what else I can spot a mile off? A misplaced comma or apostrophe. That makes me a pretty good proofreader. Although I don’t usually offer this as a stand alone skill, it comes in handy for editing ebooks and the like.  I still occasionally get someone to read over my work, especially if I’ve been staring at it for a long time. But luckily this runs in the family – my go-to person for this is my sister, who is an excellent copywriter for a national health store chain in the US and is one of the few I trust to check my work (she’s just as ruthless as I am).

Deadlines Rule

From an early age, I’ve been uptight about punctuality. Someone said to me the other day: “You’re like me: 5 minutes early is on time, and on time is late”. That’s pretty much true. My clients benefit because they all get their work on time and if there’s ever a change to the schedule they know about it early – ask them and they’ll say I don’t miss deadlines. But I also don’t like to rush good writing, so I usually build in a couple of days between the drafting and polishing stages so I can approach my writing with fresh eyes.

Professional Eclectic

And here’s the biggest one – and it’s why I remain pretty much a generalist. I’m a polymath or multipotentialite – that means I love learning about and tackling new topics. I’m a voracious reader of an eclectic bunch of stuff. I learn something from all of it – or at least get new questions to ask. This helped me a lot as an academic and as a journalist – and it helps me now as a professional writer and blogger. I love spending time on research and making sure the information is verifiable from multiple sources – triangulation should be my middle name. And of course, I love asking questions – ask anyone I’ve interviewed recently. (By the way, I stole that last subhead from my friend Rebecca Leaman).

Beyond the Quirks

So these are my quirks. I’m sure I share at least some of those with other writers but they make me the person – and writer – that I am. And there’s one final thing. It’s not so much a quirk as the way I like to live both  my personal life and my professional life. I believe that my word is my bond – I don’t make promises that I know I can’t keep. That means my friends know they can trust me – and my clients do too. I will never sell them a service they don’t need or knowingly let them go down the wrong path – and I can sleep at night.

What trait that people considered weird or nerdy in your youth is part of your brand today?

This post is part of the May 2012 Word Carnival — a monthly group blogging event specifically for small business owners started by Tea Silvestre, the Word Chef. Check out the rest of this month’s excellent lineup here. (Image: Paul Downey/Flickr)

Today, I’m happy to present this guest post from fellow freelance writer Terri Carr. We had a recent discussion on the Five Buck Forum about the need for freelance writers to have websites, and she explained why some freelancers take a while to get a site up. I thought it would make a great post – and Terri agreed! Here it is …

What hurdles did you have to overcome before launching your writer's site?

If you are a freelance writer or thinking of becoming one, you probably know that you need to have an online portfolio that you can show to prospective editors and clients.

Until very recently, I did not have one. Here are the things that stood in my way and how I have overcome them.

Insecurity about my freelance abilities

The biggest thing standing between me and an online presence was my perception of myself as a professional freelance writer. As much as I want to freelance, and I am pretty sure I am capable, there is another part of me that is just plain afraid that I do not have what it takes. What if I get an assignment and cannot complete it on time? What if I turn in an assignment and the editor thinks it is horrible? What if, what if…? When someone asks what I do, I usually mention my day job first. That’s safest. And I might say, “I do a little writing on the side…”

For me, the hardest part of creating a site is writing the About Me section that tells visitors what kind of writer I am, what I specialize in, what sets me apart, etc. I find it hard to settle on a description of myself as a writer. I don’t want to tell prospective clients I can do all sorts of wonderful things for their business, when really, I am not convinced that I can. I know I can write coherently, proofread what I write, tell the difference between there and their and so on. But make more customers pick up the phone? Um, that might be lying.

Slim pickings in the clips department

For a while, my only ‘clips’ were a few content mill pieces and hard copies of press releases written for events I was involved in organizing. I didn’t see the point of making a website with clips like that. There is a lot of discussion about whether or not content mill clips help or hurt your reputation. In retrospect, I wish I had worried less about the caliber of my clips and simply used what I had available at the time.

In fact, my number one piece of advice to any newbie freelancer would be to avoid getting overly bogged down in ANY source of advice that is out there. Learn from others’ experiences, of course, but the best guide is your own real world experience, your own intuition and your own natural instincts.

If you have a good idea for a story for a newspaper or magazine and your query shows the editor that you are capable of writing that article, they may not give a hoot that you do not have more prestigious clips.

Technical challenges and triumphs, sort of

I did actually create one site using an inexpensive service, Homestead.com. They were offering a rate of $4.99/month for a basic site that you pieced together yourself with their templates. I struggled with the software and with the process but I came up with a site. However, between the dull design and the measly content I thought it looked like a homemade scrapbook version of a website. Looking back, maybe it wasn’t completely awful, but since I felt kind of embarrassed about it, and/or because when I did mention the site in a query, no editors begged me to write for them, I took that as evidence that my site showed my lack of professionalism.

And then, Homestead raised their rates. And raised them again. Since I was scarcely using it, it made little sense to continue paying for it.

From time to time, I have had periods of prosperity where I could have shelled out a couple of hundred bucks (maybe less if I asked a college student) for someone to put together a basic site for me. That would solve the design and technical issues. But not what to put on the site.

Until recently, I did not personally know anyone who regularly wrote and published. I read lots of blog posts by other successful writers. They seemed busy! Too busy to be taking me by the hand and walking me through the steps I needed to take to move forward.

This brings me to my second piece of advice for new writers – join an online forum, such as the 5 Buck Forum, run by Anne Wayman and Lori Widmer. It costs literally 5 bucks a month! Even I can afford that. Other working writers give you feedback about all aspects of succeeding as a freelance writer and suggest ways to tweak your efforts. And the atmosphere is very inclusive and welcoming.

An email course to ramp up your site

My writing website site will be re-established by the time you read this. I am enrolled in Samar Owais’ very affordable email course “Break Free From Content Mills.” Though I don’t consider myself a content mill writer, but I am taking the course anyway because it requires participants to set up their own website and come up with a marketing plan for their writing. If you are hung up with any of the obstacles I mentioned here, the structure of assignments and feedback from an instructor might motivate you to do what you won’t do on your own.

Terri Carr writes about inspiring people and practices from Washington DC. She also blogs about all things yoga at www.yogaSOULutions.net. Send her an email at terriwritingnow@gmail.com. (Image credit)

Following on from part one in the series, here we take a look at the importance of knowing when to say no (and yes) and continual networking when it comes to succeeding as a part-time freelance writer.

Don’t Think You Have To Be A Yes-Man

When you’re a part-time freelance writer, you have to pick your gigs to ensure you’re getting the most from the time invested – not just in terms of money, but also the experience and the publicity you’ll receive.  When you’ve got several hours to spend freelance writing each day, you can afford to carry out some projects that may not necessarily be great paying or which don’t increase your prominence within the industry massively, but you do them because you enjoy the topic or you just want to earn a few extra dollars.

As a part-time writer, you often only have a few hours each day – or sometimes, each week – to dedicate to writing and so you must be certain that every job you do is of benefit, meaning it’s important you don’t fall into the trap that many writers do of being a ‘yes-man’.

I openly admit I was one of them and I would say yes to almost everyone who approached me for work or anyone who replied to my e-mails enquiring about work.  I was worried that by saying no to someone, word would get around that I didn’t want to work on a certain project for a certain fee and it would damage my reputation and development as a freelance writer.

I was like this for many, many months, until I actually couldn’t say yes to one project – and nothing happened.  The client was disappointed I couldn’t work with them, I was disappointed I couldn’t fulfil the work, but that was it.  No negative comments.  No bad press.  Nothing.

This was kind of a turning point for me, as I realised that as great as being a yes-man might make you seem to your clients, it will very often only hamper your development as you carry out 10 different projects each week when only one or two are going to be of benefit.

Look at the gigs you’re applying for / the work that people are approaching you with and really work out whether they’re going to be beneficial.  Are they worth the money?  Will they make a great portfolio piece?  Will they lead to other work?  How good of a networking opportunity are they?

And that last point in particular leads on to one of my favourite freelance writing tips.

Always, Always, Always Network.  Always.

When I first started freelance writing, I used to spend hours on blogs and forums.  I would read piece after piece on freelance writing and I learnt a lot.

But – and I’ve said this before – I didn’t interact.  I didn’t communicate with other writers or engage with the community at all and I honestly believe this is one of the reasons why it took me longer than others to get to the position of writing regularly.

Now don’t get me wrong, anyone can be a freelance writer if they’re willing to put the time and effort in, but just like in most other industries, a lot of your progression as a freelance writer, particularly in the early days, can be very much down to who you interact with and the relationships you build up.

For example, I got one of my first regular blog writing gigs after contacting the owner of the freelance writing blog, talking to them and it just so happened they had an opening.  Once that gig finished, I moved onto one of their other projects and I’m still working on that today.

I’ve said it time and time again, but the freelance writing community is one of the friendliest out there.  You should never be afraid to interact with others or ask questions.  As I said above, time is really, really important when you’re a freelance writer and you have to make the most of the time you’ve got – sitting in the shadows and only reading what others are say is, in my opinion, not making the best use of your time.

Get out there.  Talk.  Ask questions.  Comment.  Make friends with people.  Do whatever you can to build relationships and increase your professional network – it really will help you develop and succeed as a freelance writer tremendously

I really hope you like this series and the points continue to be of help.  More to come soon!

Tea Silvestre introduces her online marketing survey. I know I’ll be fascinated to see the results.

Wearing all the hats at once and looking good while you do it isn’t as easy most people think.

But you already know that.

You’re a solopreneur or freelance writer, and part of a special breed. Most of us struggle initially with how to build a viable business and manage it once we have one.

Your marketing hat is probably one of those that you find a little challenging. Or, maybe not! Either way, wouldn’t you like to know how your efforts compare to the rest of the indie biz folks out there?

We would, too!

Word Chef is partnering with Get Paid to Write Online and several other curious folks to find out what solo professional writers like you are doing (in terms of online marketing) and how well it’s working for you.

We’re looking to create some real benchmarks and share that information with those who’re affected by the challenges of marketing a micro business.

The most recent US Census data (for 2008) shows that there are 21.3 million Nonemployers (what the US Government calls lifestyle and home businesses that have no employees).

These nonemployers had receipts of nearly a trillion dollars and about $639 billion of that was in individual proprietorships (as opposed to Corporations or partnerships).

Our lifestyle and home businesses go under other names too — monikers like personal business, SOHO (SmallOffice, Home Office), freelancers, microbusinesses, independent contractors, or what the Kauffman Foundation calls jobless entrepreneurship.

Let’s find out how we all feel about our marketing efforts — what we’re doing, what we’re not doing, and how well our efforts are working for us.

We hope you’ll help the community of solo biz folks by completing the survey below (it should only take about 5-10 minutes).

In return, you’ll receive a report (in mid-July) that summarizes the key findings of the survey, and we’ll enter you in a raffle with a chance to win one of the following prizes:

• 1 Year membership at ruzuku.com
• 1 of 10 Free seats in our “Find Your Secret Sauce (and Create an Addicting Brand)” eCourse ($79 value)
• $100 Amazon Gift Card
• Premium Access to Reach 360 Personal Brand Assessment
• [If you have something you’d like to add to the raffle, please list it here]

It’s challenging to wear all the hats and look good doing it.

Are you ready to help us? Great! Just click here http://thewordchef.com/2012/05/solopreneurs-and-online-marketing-survey/ and you’ll be good to go.

And please rest easy that your individual responses are completely confidential, and will only be used in aggregate with those of other survey respondents. No names will be associated with your answers or given to any other company.

Many thanks to all the survey partners:
Anymeeting.com
Firepole Marketing
Triberr.com
Deva Coaching
Outside the Cubicle
Bold Business Works
The Numbers Whisperer
Up Your Impact Factor
The Solopreneur Life
WTF Marketing
HR Gary LLC
Be Your Brand
ruzuku.com
Stage Presence Marketing
Content Strategy Hub
Right Mix Marketing
Solo Mompreneur
Virtually Distinguished
Be a Photographer
Streamline Solutions
Women’s Economic Ventures
Ethical Launch
Freelance Writers’ Den
Get Paid to Write Online

Tea Silvestre, aka The Word Chef (http://theWordChef.com), teaches solopreneurs of all types how to find and share their Secret Sauce with the online world. She’s also the author of  Attract and Feed a Hungry Crowd: How thinking like a Chef can help you build a solid business  and the founder of the Tastiest Small Biz Brand Awards. Connect with her on Twitter @TeaSilvestre.

Image: Kate Ter Haar

This week Lori Widmer of Words on the Page kicked off the fifth annual Writers Worth event. Five years ago it started as a day – and it’s so popular this year that I believe it’s now stretched to three weeks. Lori’s on a mission to get writers to value themselves and force their clients to do the same.

This year, writers have been sharing their stories of issues of worth and value on her blog. I’ve enjoyed reading the posts so far and urge you to check them out and follow Lori’s blog (you can grab the feed here) so you don’t miss any of the great posts coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Using Your Time Wisely – Ashley Festa

Why Your Per Word Rate Isn’t All That – Susan Johnston

When the Safety Net is Gone – Nancy Oliver

More Than You Realize – Paula Hendrickson

Deciding Your Own Worth – by me

And here are the posts from the second week:

Finding Niches – Allena Tapia

Confidence – Kimberly Ben

What You Don’t Deserve – Peter Bowerman

Freelance Writer’s Dictionary – Cathy Miller

Are You A Flasher? – Devon Ellington

I’m a writer, but even if I wasn’t, I think I’d still have a fondness for words.  They intrigue me and when I find a word I’ve never come across before or one that simply sounds interesting, I need to find out more.

It's a word we all use, but do you know where silhouette comes from?

I’ve talked a bit about this in the past and we’ve looked at some of my favourite words before, such as ampersand and ubiquitous, but recently I’ve come across two more that have really stood out and made me look a little deeper.  Neither are rare or ones you won’t have heard of before, but lately I’ve used them a few times and after digging around, have become even more fascinated with them than I was before.

And silhouette is the first of the two words.

Unlike many other words we use today which have derived from two or three words joining together, the word silhouette is taken from the French finance minister in 1759, Étienne de Silhouette.  Essentially needing to boost the economy, he put in place a lot of new rules and restrictions, many of which were considered to be low quality, unnecessary and were described as ‘poor’ or ‘shoddily’ put together laws.

As language has it, silhouette came to be used as a phrase to describe something that was of a poor quality or that was particularly cheap to produce.  Therefore, before the development of photography, the cheapest way to define someone’s profile was to cut out their shape on black card – today known as a silhouette.

And just as fascinating is the word boycott.  Used to describe the process of interrupting and attempting to completely stop something, it again comes from a person – Charles Boycott.

An Estate Agent working in Ireland, after harvests were poor in 1880, a 10% reduction in rent offered by a landowner, Lord Erne, was declined and a 25% reduction was requested.  Not accepting the requests, Lord Erne sent Charles Boycott in to evict the tenants – but they simply ignored him.

Rather than fighting, they made sure everyone, from the baker right through to the postman, ignored him, something we’d today suggest was a ‘boycott of his life’.

I don’t think words will ever stop fascinating me – they’re far too intriguing!

I hope these little gems help you through your Wednesday.

PS – for those wondering where the second part of ‘How To Succeed As A Part-Time Freelance Writer’ is, it’s coming next week!

Image:  Geoff Marshall (geograph)

I promised you the results of my writing portfolio survey. While they can’t claim to be exhaustive, the stats reveal that:

• 40% of respondents update when they remember
• 25% every time they get a new clip
• 15% at least once a month
• 5% at least once a week

Writing Portfolio – Your Comments

Interestingly 10% of those who responded don’t have a writing portfolio and 5% never update it. That surprised me, and I’d have been interested to know why. I think it’s always useful to have some examples of your work handy to show prospective clients.

Some people took the time to comment. As well as the person who updates when there’s a “particularly good piece” and the one who keeps a portfolio on the desktop, responses included:

• I look when I have something new – but I don’t update every time & I can’t say I do it weekly, monthly or whatever.
• I try to do it every time I get a new clip. It doesn’t always happen. But I do make sure it’s updated before I send it out.
• When I am proud of the article I just published and I want to brag about the topic, publication or my writing I put a link on my website to the piece. If not, I don’t bother.
• It has been a very long time! So embarrassing.
• “When I need to” would be a better answer for me – new clips, new marketing msg… etc.
• I average a portfolio update perhaps 3 or 4 times a year.
• Mostly I write website copy. So whenever a site I’ve written goes live, I add the link to my online portfolio. It only takes a second, and I know prospective clients do check out my work.

My answers

My answer to the question would be that I aim to update my client-focused site at least once a month, though I share posts via social media as they go live. I also update my Contently profile at least a couple of times each week.

Being a full-time writer may be the primary goal for many writers, but it doesn't have to be

I’ve been writing here on GetPaidToWriteOnline.com for coming up two years now. During my time here so far, I’ve tried to mix up my posts, thinking about what I’d want to hear if I was in your shoes.

Sometimes I’ll write about my experiences as a freelance writer to date. Other times I’ll provide some information on what I think you should – or shouldn’t – do as a freelance writer. And there have been plenty of times where I’ve just talked randomly about writing!

I like to think that although I’m not by any means the most successful or experienced freelance writer out there, plenty of you can relate to what I say because I didn’t go about freelance writing in a traditional way – I essentially fell into the career, worked at it part-time for years and although I’ve now left my salaried role, I’m not a full time freelance writer (although all of my work does revolve around writing).

In this series, it’s the part-time aspect of my career to date that I want to focus on, specifically how you can succeed as a part-time freelance writer.

Understand full-time doesn’t have to be your end goal

Before I started writing, I used to dabble in a bit of SEO. I was working in a full-time salaried role unrelated to anything writing / SEO / digital / online and wanted to develop a career in a ‘modern’ area that would allow me to be full-time self-employed. A few discussions on a popular web forum later and I was writing some articles for a SEO agency.

For me, being full-time self-employed was my primary goal. That’s the main reason why I started writing and the reason I kept at it – but it doesn’t have to be yours.

A lot of new writers start – like I did – wanting to eventually be full-time, but the truth is you can be just as successful of a freelance writer if you only work part-time.

Sure, you might not work with as many clients at once, you might not earn as much money as your full-time counterparts and at times you’ll no doubt find it particularly difficult to stay-on top of everything, but I think back to when I was writing part-time alongside having a salaried role and although I worked longer hours, it did have its benefits.

Take the responsibility as an example. Full-time, you have to ensure you please every client in the exact way they want and expect, because if you don’t, there’s a chance you could lose them and if you lose a client, that’s your income affected, something that could potentially be devastating.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t aim to please every client when you’re only part-time, but you have a safety net in the shape of your regular salary, money that allows you to take risks – albeit what should be calculated ones in your freelance writing career – as well as removing the worry of wondering where your next client is going to come from.

Sure, we all know that you need to constantly be marketing yourself, but every freelance writer will tell you there are dry patches.

Respect Your Other Roles

It’s because of this benefit from your salaried role that you need to ensure you don’t neglect it. I never got to the point where I was disciplined in my salaried role, but there were a few times where I found it a struggle to do both and the reason I left the salaried role in the end was because I physically couldn’t dedicate the amount of time that was needed to both roles.

Similarly, it’s important you don’t neglect any other roles you have, whether that’s husband or wife, mother or son.

When I was juggling writing with a full-time salaried job, working an 80 hour week wasn’t unusual for me. I was tired on occasion, but I was happy – until I realised I was neglecting my girlfriend. We were living together, but we were seeing very little of each other.

We talked about this a few times, but it never really clicked with me how unhappy she was.  One day we talked about it properly – and I felt awful.

I cut back on some of my writing work, freed up my weekends and started to enjoy my life with my girlfriend more.

It’s important to be able to dedicate the time necessary to succeed in any new career, but it’s also important to remember what matters most in your life and although I was – and still am – working to give my girlfriend (now fiancé ) and eventually our family the best life I can, if I work so much that I can’t spend time with them, is it really worth working so much?

Regular readers of my blog posts will know how much I love freelance writing and I simply want every other reader in the position I once was to succeed. I hope you’ve enjoyed the start of this series and are looking forward to reading the content in the coming weeks just as much as I’m looking forward to writing it.

Image: Håkan Dahlström (fotopedia)

Here’s a little fun for the weekend – a one question survey on writing portfolios. I’m wondering, how often do you update your writing portfolio? Click on the image or the link to go to the survey. I’d love it if you’d say why you chose your answer either in the survey comment box or below.

Click here to take survey

More on writing portfolios:

How To Create A Writing Portfolio

My Writing Portfolio – A New Approach

Writer Without Portfolio