Melbourne Freelancer

How to research efficiently as a professional freelance writer

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:15:00 +0000

Being a freelance writer you have the chops and you are proud of it. But how would you rate your research skills? You might be a whiz at framing the right keyword phrase and know Boolean inside out; there's still more you can do to research more efficiently and craft original content.

Do you spent a lot of time researching for an article?

How long is too long? Is it worth it? It pays to keep these questions in mind when you are engaged in freelance writing for a client. If you spend an inordinate amount of time researching, your pay will be incommensurate to your labour and time spent on the job.

As I have mentioned earlier, it is important for a freelance writer to keep compensation, time, and effort to a healthy proportion in order to earn money, maintain self-respect, keep deadlines comfortably, and boost your freelance writing career. A major part of our labour is research. So streamlining your research efforts is a big step towards a professional writing career.

Freelance writing research Photograph Courtesy Kakisky morguefile,com

Here are a few things freelance writers can use to make their research efficient

Google Quick Scroll

Doing research is unthinkable without Google. Normally this is accomplished with the first 10-20 results that show up on page 1 and/or 2. It is a surprising fact, however, that some websites that come up on page 1 in response to your search may have nothing related to what you were searching for.

Or there might the one line tucked away in some obscure below-the-fold basement region. Some travel sites even have the nerve to ask you to contribute to their site by way of reviews and comments after coming up with zilch in relation to your query. My point is that each of these events cost you time and eats up your freelance writing energy giving you nothing in return.

Tools such as Google Quick Scroll come in handy by quickly pointing out relevant information. When you click on a search result, Google Quick Scroll pops up in the right hand side bottom corner of your screen with a link to where exactly your query appears in the web page. Click that link to go straight to the information bypassing all irrelevant material.

If there are more relevant references, they will all be listed in the small window. The scroll window will not appear if the page you're on is completely relevant to your search. Now that's another indication that you're on the right track and not wasting your time with useless sites.

Yolink

And then there's Yolink, a search accelerator. How often do you go beyond the first few pages of your search results? Even if you were tenacious enough to go through with it, how long would that take?

Yolink scours the web including your search results and finds your information even if it's on page 100 of your results! Now that's power search you can use to boost your writing and take it to the next level.

It's a free download that helps you get straight to the heart of the matter without scouring through less than useful information to finally arrive at what exactly you were looking for. Saves time and effort.

What's more, it lets you save relevant information for future reference and even share it. You can compile your search results in Google Docs. All you need to do this is open an account with an email id.

Bing, Ask

Now we all believe Google is all that when it comes to search engines. Or is it? Sometimes it might pay to try out Bing or Ask to see what they can come up with. These search engines have a different 'decision algorithm' from Google and from each other and so may be able to give a bit of extra information. So the next time Google plays hard to get give Bing or Ask a look-see.

More Information Sources for FreelanceWriting

Speaking of search engines, there's plenty more where these came from. Here's a list of search engines that you can use to search by country, profession, News, People, Media, information type and more. For instance, if you need information that is only available in Russian, go to Yandex.ru, type in the Russian term, and use Google translate.

While we're at it here's another source that might help with getting information for your freelance writing jobs with a variety of topics including government information, technology, primary sources, medical, legal, and more.

Efficient research for freelance writers. Photo Courtesy ppdigital morguefile.com

Libraries

You might think library research is time-consuming and rather unwieldy when it comes to keeping pace with the frenzied pace at which we seek to gather information these days.

But if you are able to find the right book, you can use the table of contents and the index to pinpoint the very page on which relevant information may be available. At least on occasion, it might prove more productive to flip through the pages of a book rather than keep up with six different web pages.

These days when original content is what it's all about, browsing a book may be just what freelance writers need to do to get some of that.

So, there you go. There's more to searching for information than just pages 1 and 2 of Google as you can see.

Broaden your search, minimise your research time, find specific information, write stunning informative articles, retain your well-paying clients, and watch your freelance writing career take off.

If there are other ways in which you optimise your research efforts, please do share it here.

How to Meet Deadlines in Your Freelance Writing Career

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:05:00 +0000

Meeting deadlines comfortably is an integral part of being a professional freelance writer. If you are unable to do so, the next best thing to do is to let your client know and work out another date that might suit the both of you.

If you don’t, you come across as irresponsible, unprofessional, and are well on your way to sabotaging your career. If you are bent on a successful freelance writing career, keep your deadline, always. Even with the best of intentions, however, a deadline has that slippery quality that somehow manages to thumb its nose at your best laid plans.

Photograph Courtesy Cohdra morguefile.com

Deadlines are hard to keep,

When you procrastinate for whatever reason
When you don't quite know the topic
When you don't quite like the topic
When you're sick or depressed
When you forget due to other pressures of work or life
When you underestimate the scope of the project
When you find out in the last moments that you have misunderstood client specifications and have to rewrite an entire project
When your faithful old computer crashes and dies on you
When clients suddenly turn around and add to original job descriptions without extending deadlines
When social situations get out of hand and your presence is mandatory, like at a wedding or funeral, in the critical period before a deadline
When a loved one falls sick and needs you
Of course, there must be at least another fifty that you can come up with.

The sad part is that when you try and explain this to a client, it more often than not comes out sounding fake and pathetic. Your professionalism is in tatters and you stand there like goat got your fig leaf. You've lost your advantage and may kiss any chance of an ongoing project goombye.

Here are some tips that may help you keep deadlines and surge ahead in your writing career.

It's all very well to say never procrastinate, but that's easier said than done and we all know that. Fact remains, it is important to fight procrastination in order to be able to beat deadlines.

Keep a journal of all writing activity, including due dates, completion dates, and payment details.

Make an outline or write an introduction as soon as you land a project and are still feeling energised by the event. Having some word count on the board keeps you inspired to go on.

Avoid distraction in the form of browsing out of context, watching mindless television, taking unwarranted breaks, or social networking

Keep fixed work times just as if you were in an office.

Meditate. Take a deep breath, smile, and begin.

Decide how long you'll need for research and refuse to over indulge. Keep working hours, payment, and time in mind when you set out to research. For instance, if you spend half a day researching for an article of 250 words that pays you $5, your payment rate is 0.0416 per hour. You might as well go back to McDonalds and flip burgers.

Pick topics that you're familiar with and know you can write on backed by minimal research.

It is important to give the clients what they're paying for and do that to the best of your ability, the rate of payment, as well as within a reasonable amount of time.

On occasion you may need to educate the client as to the nature of the job. If you need to do extensive research for a project, let the client know how much that adds to your job in terms of time and research. This may help you fix a deadline that will reasonably accommodate the demands of the project.

Optimum management of time, effort, and compensation are the hallmarks of a good freelance writer. It gives you a feeling of accomplishment that does not come with slogging like an overloaded mule. To be able to give the best of you to a project and the client, you need to work at this optimum level.

Always make room for unforeseen circumstances when allotting deadlines. Give yourself the space to draw breath. Ideally you should have the time to keep the work aside for a day or at least a few hours before you come back to it and revise it. This little exercise is known to increase the quality of your writing considerably.

Follow these guidelines and you will never have to stress over meeting deadlines. They will help you establish yourself as a punctual, reliable provider, a freelance writer who not only writes great copy, but also delivers on time, always.

The Mental Block that Ties Writers to a Content Farm

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:40:00 +0000

How long have you been tethered to a content farm? You need to consider consequences seriously if your answer is more than three years. Content farms are a stepping stone to a successful writing career. It is an integral part of a training process where you are happy to write for peanuts while you work on your writing skills and experience.

Photograph Courtesy Xandert morguefile.com

You work your way up from the El Cheapos to better paying gigs that boost your self confidence along with your ability. Once you feel you've graduated, you need to leave this comfort zone and go on to the next step. Find high paying jobs and clients who value quality rather than quantity. So what makes you reluctant to leave the nest? Let's examine that mental block that keeps you tied to a content farm.

What Keeps You Trapped in Low-paying Jobs

It could be the nervousness of making it in the big bad world that somehow appears to have a huge amount of professional writers who make you feel inadequate.

Or it could be that you believe your learning process is by no means over and you need to hang in there for some more time.

Again, it could be that your quotations for higher rates have been rejected a number of times causing you to question the wisdom in daring to raise your rates from rock bottom.

You feel safe closer to the ground and believe that's all you are capable of.

Or it could be for the simple reason that you do not know where to look for well-paying jobs.

If your aim is to be a professional writer, hanging around a content farm indefinitely is not going to make you one. Content farms are always full of newbie writers who are willing to write for a pittance in order to gain an entry into the market, just like you did years ago. If you hang around after growing wings, your competition is with the new, inexperienced writers who are albeit talented. You will have to bid lower than them to win a quote. There will always be clients who want content written for pennies. If you decide to cater to this bunch you will remain a low paid writer even after your skills and experience have improved considerably.

What Should Writers Charge For?

Writing is a craft that improves with experience. Your pay should rise commensurate with your experience. Figure out how much time, effort, infrastructure, and physical health goes into your writing. Determine their value in terms of how much they cost you. Infrastructure is not just the computer you use; factor in the use of electricity, printer ink and paper, telephone time and charge, marketing, trips to libraries for information that is not available on the net, and anything else that may be incurred depending on the nature of the job. A writing job is not just putting words to paper; it includes all of the above. Your payment should, therefore, take into account all these extras that go into the end product. When you're starting out you might be focusing on the writing. But as you progress in your field, you're gaining the level of an expert. Newbies may come cheap; experts do not.

What Low-paying Jobs Do to Writers

Courtesy scott m. liddell morguefile.com

Low paying jobs rob you of your self-esteem. Some of the prices offered on content farms such as elance, guru, freelancer, and others are downright humiliating. Getting selected for one of these may even feel degrading. When this feeling hits you instead of jubilation, you know it's time to get out.

They will take the joy out of writing and make you an automaton. You will be dogged by a feeling of being exploited and disrespected. Refuse to be a party to that. You may have your reasons for bidding for these exploiters and I'm sure they are all justified. But if you have the experience and the skills, refuse to even consider them.

Besides robbing you of your self-esteem, it can hurt your prospects. With low paying jobs littering your track record, you will lose reputation and find it very hard to gain entrance to the well-paying niche. Aim high, work hard, be conscientious, and watch your writing career take off.

Time is of the essence in building a writing career and establishing yourself as an expert in the field. Wasting valuable time and talent in low paying jobs writing for mean-spirited individuals is never going to work in your favour. Grab your career by its boot straps and launch yourself into the down town market area where writers are treated with dignity.

Steps to Consider for Writers

Step away from low paying jobs.

Fix a minimum rate per word or per hour below which you will not consider working.

Continue to upgrade your skills and learn new technology.

Raise your rate by at least a cent per word at regular intervals.

Do your own writing and plan a career around it rather than always writing for others.

If possible, only leave your day job after you have established a clientele that you can depend on to some extent.

Never let a few rejections ruin your self-confidence.

When going through a low period, consider joining a short writing course or learning a new type of writing that you hadn't considered before.

Be jack of all niches and master of at least one, or two.

The Importance of Writing in Ernest

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 09:03:00 +0000

Being able to write profitably for a living has got to be one of the luckiest breaks an individual in love with writing can hope to get. But the minute writing graduates from a passionate hobby to a profession something inexplicable happens. Pressure builds along with the bills. The act of writing takes on an urgency and loses some of its spontaneity. At least a bit of the joy of crafting is replaced with a touch of the commercial that may have you counting pennies when you'd rather be waxing lyrical.

Photograph courtesy Cohdra-morguefile,com

As a hobby, you wrote to please yourself and about what resonated with you. Your writing was practically an extension of yourself. Once it becomes a profession, you write for others on topics you may not necessarily be enamoured by, and are on occasion confronted by criticism and rejection. You may be forced to get the hang of technological aspects that you don't much care for. Even at your creative best, there is a part of you worried about the tiny details that need to be kept in mind.

And that's when procrastination haunts you, writer's block sets in, and worse than all of that, writing becomes a chore. You're beset by confidence issues and believe you've lost your mojo. However, now that writing is your profession, you do not have the option of dropping out. Well, may be you do. But will you really be happy doing something else? If yes, problem solved; good luck with your new job. If not, there is a way to get your groove back.

Writing is what you do best. You have the talent and the skills. The low you're going through is temporary; it’s that transitional phase in your writing career as you move into professional mode from hobby mode. Like all new jobs, your writing ability has to be aligned with new technology, new outcomes, and new working cultures. Soon these things will become second nature.

Photograph courtesy morguefile.com

Take the effort to update your skills as in any other job. As a professional writer, you need to sharpen not just your language and knowledge, but also be well informed as to what the world is up to. You also need to upgrade technologically. Over and above all, you need to keep writing. Whether you have a client or not, whether you're depressed or not, whether your writing ability is blocked or not, it is imperative that you do not let the sun go down on a day that you haven't written at least a thousand words.

You cannot call yourself a professional writer unless you feel as such inside of you. How do you do that? You write about writing, read about writing, find courses on writing and complete them, find exciting topics from everyday experiences. Everything around you becomes inspirational incentives that holds potential for a headline, a metaphor, a new angle, or a hot topic. Writing defines your world to the point that your thoughts and dreams are automatically about writing.

Photograph courtesy Mary R. Vogt-morguefile.com

This is when you're in the Zen state of writing. Your imagination aligns with your knowledge to create a flow. You become the conduit of information you did not know you possessed. The right word and the ideas come to you as naturally as leaves to a tree. There's no procrastination or writer's block as you revel in the joy of writing. You, my friend, are a writer in every sense of the word. All you have to do now is keep writing.

How to Handle Writer's Block

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 03:59:00 +0000

Writer's block is a peculiar affliction that affects even established writers at one time or another in their careers. This is not procrastination. Eventually writers work out individual ways of dealing with it and get on with their writing. I'm going to outline a few strategies that have helped me overcome writer's block.

Photograph courtesy clarita-morguefile.com

If your writing feels blocked, start reading. Fortunately there's no such thing as reader's block. Of course, there are times when you have trouble concentrating and find yourself reading the same line repeatedly. However, this will not happen with a book you find interesting. Often writer's block happens due to a lack of ideas. Reading may help unlock a few channels or give new ideas to work with. The brain is an amazing organ and will work wonders with very little information when it is capably aided by the imagination. What reading does is tickle your imagination. The rest is up to you.

Sometimes the block can be severe and leave you feeling unmotivated and lethargic. However frozen you are in your state of non-productivity, grab a pencil and notepad and head outdoors. You can do that much if you are breathing. Nature is known to stimulate areas of the brain and induce creativity. What it did for Wordsworth and the Romantics it can do for you.

Photograph courtesy morguefile.com

Once outside, take a deep breath, look around, and sit down comfortably. Draw your shoulders up, lengthen your spine, and breathe evenly. Now meditate for a few minutes if you know how, if not try to remove all thoughts from your mind. Easier said than done, I agree, but try. With your face looking forward, chin up, move your eyes first to the right and then to the left, holding each glance for a couple of seconds. Do this at least ten times. This is not meant to make you look silly, but to activate both sides ofyour brain.

Next, I'm going to ask you to do something that feels even sillier, but it follows the same right brain left brain principle. Sing a few lines of a song or rhyme, then count from one to ten, go back to the song and then count again. This needs to be loud enough for your ears only and not startle the wildlife. Alternate the song and the numbers till it comes fluently. Now your brain is ready to begin.

Next step is to get your imagination to chip in. Sometimes imagination can stare you in the face but refuse to take a step closer or flow from your pen. In moments like these, do the following. It's like enticing a child to do something he refuses by beginning it yourself. In your notepad, write down a nursery rhyme. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star works every time; you may pick any. Write it down in your best handwriting and admire it. Give your mind a few minutes to think about it. Analyse it. What was the poet thinking when he wrote each of these lines? What was his state of mind? What is your state of mind now when you're reading each word, sentence, and the rhyme?

Photograph courtesy doctor_bob-morguefile.com

Lose yourself in the rhyme and write down your thoughts. Before you know it, you are writing, page after page. When you feel your pencil is not keeping pace with your thoughts, you may reach for your keyboard if you so desire and it is handy. But staying with the pencil somehow unleashes creativity for most writers.

Enlarge upon the idea of star—when you wish upon a star, lucky stars, shooting star, rock star, Star Trek, the star of Bethlehem, Hollywood stars, North Star, Star Wars, and so on and so forth. While you are in this mode of newfound creativity, connect it to the topic you actually need to write about. And keep writing.

Mind Mapping is an effective method to get you going when you are stuck for ideas. It can also help with writer's block. Put the main idea as a word or a phrase bang in the middle of a large piece of paper and encircle it. Put around it whatever associated ideas that come up freely in your mind. Don't bother to edit; give your imagination free rein and put down whatever comes to mind in association with your main idea. Use colours to add to the stimulation. The very act of doing so frees you from the usual writing paraphernalia such as key board, pen, and notepad. This may help you relax and become stress-free. And before you know it, you may have conjured up enough material to begin writing. Check out Tony Buzan or try mind mapping for kids.

How to Take Rejection and Work With it

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:15:00 +0000

I wouldn't be surprised if the rejections in the early stages of her writing career inspired J. K. Rowling to conceptualise the dementors in her Harry Potter series. Rejections can be harsh, enervating experiences that suck the joy out of a writer's soul. It's a similar situation to when a young mother unveils her newborn to the world, glowing with maternal pride, only to be met with, "Oh, what an ugly baby!"

Photograph courtesy Clarita-morguefile.com

It may take quite an effort to get back to the keyboard and begin again. But there really isn't another option, is there? So the idea is to deal with it as quickly and practically as possible, much like the flu.

Rejection and paper cuts are probably the most painful aspects of being a professional writer. Whether it is warranted or not does not make a difference or the cut less painful. But it is important to remember that it is not the rejection but how you take it that determines whether it's a debilitating event or a learning process.

When you are faced with rejection, do the following:

Cut out the self-pity process, especially if it's not your first rejection.

Don't take it personally or as an indictment of your writing in general. See the rejection in terms of the specific work that it is related to.

Examine conscientiously whether there is truth in the reasons given.

Usually there will be truth in the editor's comments, even if there are times when you have to go on hands and knees and scour the ground to find the grain. But that grain is important. Find it, learn from it, and never repeat that mistake again. Make the necessary amendments and resend the work as soon as possible. Thank the editor/client for their patient cooperation and constructive criticism.

See it as a learning event.

If you honestly believe there is no substance to the comments, be graceful and practical. A slanging match will not help anyone. This is still a learning event; you learn that there are people in this profession who will be unreasonable, uninformed, sneaky, and plain mean. Step away, stay calm; there are more helpful editors and clients than mean ones who try to steal your work without paying. So a rejection is no reason to give up on a profession you love.

It pays to double check your work before submitting.

Edit for silly mistakes, as well as the client's specific requirements and submission guidelines. Stick to the designated format. This will reduce chances for touchy clients to lose their cool and quickly reject your work. Clients are usually forbearing and simply looking for a job well done. But it might tick them off if their requirements are not met or a rash of grammar and formatting errors jump out and screech at them even if the content is good.

Keep rejected work in a folder.

Rewrite, edit, and improve them, if necessary, and add it to your portfolio. Other clients may be happy to have them.

Publish rejected work in your own blog.

This may help if in fact the client has malafide intentions of using your work anyway after rejecting it. So now all they have will be duplicate content. Let the panda and the penguin take care of that.

Photograph courtesy Kevin Connors-morguefile.com

Persist and perfect your art. There is always a market for good writing.

A Writer's Life

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 05:18:00 +0000

In my honest opinion, the writer's life is ideally what life on earth should really be all about. My office is where my cup of hot java and my laptop are. On a bright sunny day, this could be my backyard under a shady canopy with a cool breeze ruffling my hair assuring me everything's fine. The cheerful chirping of birds regales me in the place of groaning overworked motherboards and disgruntled gossip.

Or it could be a cafe where the smell of freshly ground coffee does wonders to my inspiration. On a cold winter's day, the peace and quiet of my cosy study wraps itself snugly around me. Hearty warm soup gently simmers in my slow cooker, the aroma quietly reminding me its time to eat, take a break, and watch an episode of The Simpsons, perhaps? And when I'm ready, I get back to my keyboard energised and inspired to write more.

I didn't always have this kind of life. There was a time when I had to wake up to a shrieking alarm at the crack of dawn just to catch the morning train to work. Now I have this pleasant tweeting outside my window that tells me it's precisely 5.30 in the morning and dawn will soon be here.

I settle down to half an hour of yoga and meditation or walk on the treadmill. I read and write while the world is still asleep. I consider myself truly blessed that I do not have to commute, eat fast food, drink horrible machine coffee, or stress about bad hair and what to wear.

Then, when the rest of the world has caught up with me, I am able to devote myself to their needs. I no longer have the feeling of being totally at the beck and call of others to the exclusion of my own desires. Once the chores and errands are taken care of I slip into my writer's life with a sigh of content.

I'm back at "my office" with my co-workers; words, ideas, imagination, wisdom, humour, books, and blogs. Of course, there are the days when I get a writer's block that would make a butcher's eyes gleam, or a client who has the communication skills of a bear. But I'm no longer road kill walking. I'm a free being.

Why Blog?

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 04:03:00 +0000

Benefits of Blogs for Businesses

Blogs give businesses big and small an image of their own making rather than leave it to word-of-mouth publicity or advertising alone. Word-of-mouth publicity can be erratic and work to your disadvantage at the speed of light in the event of a mishap. Advertising, however catchy, is one-sided and can make claims that may take a long time to materialize, if ever.

Photograph courtesy morguefile.com

Blogging increases your online presence and may result in increased traffic to your e-commerce website. Blogging being dynamic as opposed to a website which is comparatively static, you are able to communicate instantly with your audience. It reinforces your brand value.

Blogging is a platform for your market to come to you with their comments, needs, pet peeves, and appreciation. This enables you to make quick amendments and bring about improvements to the various aspects of your business without having to wait till interviews and surveys are conducted and compiled into information.

In the event of a crisis, blogging tops the list of damage control measures; the public is able to access immediate information, solutions, or strategies that the business has put out in its latest blog post just for that specific issue rather than wade through pages and pages of irrelevant information. Blogging makes good public relations sense.

Blogging builds a community of dedicated followers whose goodwill and cyber presence strengthens the business and gives it a communal vibe rather than the feeling of being a distant commercial entity.

A good blog

Is updated daily.
Contains relevant information.
Is written in lucid, grammatically correct language.

For more information on how I can help you maintain your blogs, please contact me at

melbournefreelancer@yahoo.com.au

Procrastination

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Procrastination is a big ugly word that does not roll easily off the tongue; neither does it help your writing career. Besides holding you back, it leaves you with feelings of guilt, inadequacy, and shame. These feelings are even more counterproductive as far as a writing career is concerned. Here are some ways of minimising the problem of procrastination.

Procrastination is Not Writer's Block

We need to distinguish between writer's block and procrastination. Writer's block is a problem that writers have when they are simply unable to write. You could be at your desk with a new page open before you, but ideas and the imagination appear to have dried up and blown away. Of course there are ways in which you can handle writer's block.

Procrastination, on the other hand, is the mule-headed refusal to write. You will not be seated at your desk. You are actively engaged in anything but writing. Household chores, social networking, feeding the fish, anything other than writing appear to take on an urgency that will not be denied. Writer's block can feel incapacitating and almost physical while procrastination is entirely of the mind.

Take a step back and take a good look at yourself. Are you actually procrastinating or

being lazy

lacking nutrition and exercise

sick

at the mercy of hormones, drugs, and/or stress

in need of rest and relaxation

getting over an unhappy event

Find the problem and solve it. Even if you are not able to find a solution, just being aware of the issue that's holding you back may be helpful in breaking the pattern. If you believe it's none of the above or anything else other than procrastination, follow the steps I've outlined below.

Writing is a Routine Job

Make writing a part of your routine that is just as important as brushing your teeth. You would, or should, feel awful if you haven't performed your daily ablutions with care. Cultivate that same care with regard to your writing. Whether you are a fulltime writer or a part timer, you have decided to be a professional writer. Show some responsibility to your chosen profession just as a bus driver would.

Causes of Procrastination

Procrastination can happen as an unconscious defence against feelings of inadequacy. Whether it's with regard to your feelings of lack of skills in writing, a lack of confidence in style, or a feeling of ignorance with regard to the topic, it can be remedied. You do not have to join an expensive writing course or take a degree in writing to write. Writing is one profession that can be self-taught.

Learn the Art of Writing

Any number of immensely useful books is available in bookstores and online. Grab a few and teach yourself the art of writing. Most of these books come with exercises that help you get started on the road to writing. Ruthlessly examine your weak spots, whether it is grammar, punctuation, or whatever, find a book that offers a solution, and work on it till you gain confidence.

Research for Information

Photograph courtesy ppdigital-morguefile.com

Sometimes procrastination happens due to a lack of information or liking for the topic. This is usually true for ghost writers who find themselves staring at topics they wouldn't normally write about if it wasn't for the money. See it as part of your job. Research just enough to get you the amount of information you need to satisfy your required word count. You are not asked to be an expert on the entire subject; nobody is. As long as Google exists, you will be able to find what you need. Write it down in your own words and you're done with it.

Conclusion

If you have a daily writing routine, the skill to write, and the information to write about, procrastination will cease to bother you. We need to keep in mind that everything in life is cyclical. Periods of productivity will be visited by phases of procrastination. So don't beat yourself up when that happens; go with the flow. The important thing is to be aware of what's going on and not get lost in a bottomless feeling of worthlessness and negativity.

Let me know how it works for you or whether you have other ways of dealing with procrastination that you would like to share.

All photographs courtesy morguefile.com

Freelance Writing

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:04:00 +0000

Freelance writing has the look and feel of easy street where money comes from tapping on a keyboard in your jammies with the java just waiting to be sipped appreciatively at regular intervals. Most of it may be true for some people, but it would surely be a huge overstatement to believe freelance writing is all that for all who venture into that field.

Writers are a dime a dozen. And these days they are even referred to as farm inmates who sit in distant shores and type out tonnes of content for greedy employers who pay a pittance and lap up all the profits. Of course, there is the occasional whining about bad grammar and syntax but, when all's said and done, it's nothing that a bit of judicial editing can't take care of. This works out well for all concerned for the pittance paid in dollars converts nicely to handsome renumeration in local currencies.

But let's face it; that's only a small part of the freelance writing industry. While these content farms managed by various online freelancing sites are ideal for beginners and those looking to hone their skills, that's certainly not the be all and end all of the freelance writing world.

Freelance writing is a full time job like any other. Granted it's something that can be done from home and at all hours, but fact remains it usually ends up taking up a lot of your time when you struggle to keep schedules and meet deadlines. It entails hours of research and hours online, which, funnily enough, folks take for granted as being more leisure than hard work that brings mental exhaustion and eye strain; not to speak of bad back aches and cramped limbs.

Then there is the occasional ogre employer who you just can't please. This individual comes close on the heels of the thief who makes off with your work without paying. You might think the writer has rights and there would be justice at the end of it all. But the sad fact is that, if the employer is an unscrupulous person there's not much the freelance writer can do. Fortunately, however, these are a tiny minority that crop up now and then in the so-called content farm area.

Freelance writers also face the trauma of dealing with clients who treat them with a decided lack of respect. This can bring about impossible work situations where the employer actually believes she's some sort of superior being and you, a trained monkey with a typewriter. This sort expects dramatic results and adherence to impossible deadlines. They huff, puff, and bully their way around and can be very unappreciative of your genuine efforts.

Freelance writers need to keep their heads clear and their spirits calm when faced with such clients. Though seasoned freelancers can sniff out these sorts a mile away, newbies usually have to go through this trial by fire before they learn their lesson.

Freelancing becomes pure pleasure and unleashes your imagination and inspiration when you get to work with decent human beings who are sensible enough to know what exactly they want. Even if employers have no clear idea of what they want or find it hard to express their requirements, all it takes to sort it out is the ability to hold patient discussions or chat sessions. Employers who are able to do this often get the best work out of their ghost writers or freelancers.

Melbourne Metro

noreply@blogger.com (lizbeth.pereira@gmail.com) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 12:44:00 +0000

Melbourne City-- most livable, lovable city you'll probably ever come across. I hadn't quite seen it that way for folks do tend to take their own backyards a bit for granted. But now that I've turned my focus away from Me to what's about and around me it does feel good to be where I am right now.

And that's Melbourne, mate. So bear with me while I rhapsodize a bit. Great, neat city; tonnes of shopping; eclectic cuisine; quaint by-lanes; historic buildings; spanking new towers; the Yarra River; the Docklands; lovely weather; friendly people; quirky landmarks and more.

Melbourne's quite historic when you come to think of it. There are these 19th century buildings right in the heart of the CBD around Flinders Street. The Flinders Street Station building has to be the one famous landmark that grabs visitors' attention as they get off the trains here. With its range of clocks and yellow and green facade, it's quite elegant actually, especially if you're seeing it for the first time. A bit beat up, but Neo-Classical alright. On seeing tourists stop to take pictures I used to wonder what the big deal was and weren't they worried about missing their train, before I realized to them it meant more than a train station.

Right across the street from it is the Federation Square, much maligned and for good reason too. Opinions differ and are as skewed as the building itself. I personally feel it really doesn't belong there at all. It sits there like an illegal immigrant with a guilty look expecting to be deported any minute. But then having gone undetected, gradually grows to be part of the landscape and becomes accepted, and even goes on to become a useful member.

It is useful indeed as it houses the Melbourne Visitors Centre, various cafes and restaurants, the Ian Potter Centre where something interesting goes on all the time, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image if you like scientific stuff. For me the main attraction here are the park benches and the large video screen outdoors.

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A great place indeed to meet up with friends and chill and the best thing is when you're this close to the building you can't really see how weird it is. And this landmark is a hands down winner as a rendezvous. Even first time visitors get it right with no trouble. Tell them you'll see them in front of that "big, ugly building" that yells, Look at Me!!! and they're there on time, every time.