http://www.esnbrussels.com

In a previous post, I discussed the issue of writers burning out and some tips about what to do about it. One of the most important things that you can do if you’re suffering from burnout is to get away for a while. Sometimes a break is all that is needed to be able to beat the burnout beast and get back on track. If you need to get away for more than a day or two there are some things you can do to make your life easier, save your writing reputation and possibly save your writing business.

Here is the right way to go away:

• Contact your clients – Quite possibly, this is the most crucial step of going away and it will certainly be the most difficult. Examine what projects you have on your plate and where you are in the process of completion. Contact the clients who may be impacted by your absence. If possible, phone contact is best. Just sending an email with a statement announcing you’ll be away for a while will not instill any confidence from your clients and they are apt to be less forgiving about your absence. So the question is, how much do you divulge in terms of why you are going away. The answers is: It depends. You know your clients. Which ones are more laid back and flexible? Which ones will profess an end to the world as we know it? The most important aspect of providing a reason for your impending absence is to not give a whiney, blubbering dissertation about how life has turned unfair and you need to get away from all this #$?<@! stuff. It’s not fair of you to burden your clients with this.
• If you can outsource some of your work, go ahead and do it.
• For your blog, email your closest writing blog friends and explain you will be away for a bit and need some guest posts. For this part of going away, all you need is one a week so even if you’re going away for a month, you only need four guest posters. The simplest way to help get this accomplished is to register each of them with your blog so that they can go in and post on their own. The alternative involves getting the posts as emails and posting them yourself. You are trying to get away for a bit so try and avoid this.
• Set your email up with an “out of office” reply, including your anticipated date of return.
• If you normally respond to comments on your blog, you may want to publish an “I’m going away for a while” post. Again, not a lot of details are important here as to why you’re going away. You’re just letting folks know when you’re leaving and when you’ll be back. It may be helpful to set this as a featured post so any new clients who may be interested in you will know not to expect a response until a certain date.

Finally, relax. It will all be okay. Chances are, when you come back you’ll be able to pick up where’ you’ve left off. There might be consequences and perhaps you will lose a client or two, but your sanity and long term wellness is well worth it.

From: http://www.bachfloweradvice.com

Writing burnout is a real danger for us freelance writing types. Considering the type of work that we do it really does make sense that at one point or another, we’re going to realize that we’ve gone past deep fried straight into crispy.

Signs of burnout:

One of the most difficult things about dealing with burnout is recognizing the signs. Don’t rely on your significant other booting you out of the abode before you recognize the signs.

Let’s have a look:

• Pushing deadlines – This is one of the biggies. This classic sign of being burned out is not to be confused with your garden variety procrastination. Procrastinators, you know who you are. Pushing deadlines just feels different. Instead of “Jeez, I can just do that later.”, your thought process is more along the lines of, “Man, I really hate that project. Why won’t it just go away!”
• Irritability – Being generally irritable can be a good sign of burnout (unless that’s just your regular mode. And if it is, what the heck are ya doin’? That’s no way to go through life!). Pay particular attention to irritability towards clients. Resenting the people who are paying your bills is absolutely a sign of burnout.
• Doing anything but what you’re supposed to – Are you up to level 96 of World of Warcraft? Bad writer – no biscuit. Didja get your closets and garage organized? Yup, you’re burned out. Not feeling like doing your job qualifies as a sign of burnout.
• Not seeking more work – Even though the folks at VISA would be tres happy if you did. If you have an organized home business you should know how much you need to be bringing in each month. Adopting a “Who Cares?” attitude is a sign of critical burn out and could spell big trouble for your freelance writing career

What to do about it

Now that you know some signs of being a crispy critter, check out some of the things you can do about it.

• The most important first step is to take a brutally honest evaluation of the relationship you and your writing have at the moment. If something is amiss (see the signs above) then how bad are things? Would a long weekend spent at a B&B take care of things? Will a few sessions of counseling work or is it time to bring in the lawyers?
• Give yourself permission to move things off to the side for a bit. Are there consequences to this? Absolutely, but if it will save your writing career the short term losses should provide long term gains.
• Strive for balance between your life and your writing life. Set strict work hours and stick to them. No checking emails during family time. Get out and do things that have nothing to do with freelance writing – take a class, join a gym, conspire with your poker buddies to achieve world domination.

This short list is really just a starting point. Burnout is serious and can have serious repercussions in your personal and professional life. If you recognize any of the signs, do something about it now.

From: http://republica-de-angola.blogspot.com/2009/11/webecoist_15.html

In the relatively short time that I’ve been writing to make my living I have found that one of the nuggets of wisdom thrown around is actually very true:  Writing with passion makes a difference.  I think we’ve all been there at one point or another.  You have a post that you have to write and then you have another that you want to write.  I’ll just bet that when you go back and examine the numbers for each, you’ll find that the big winner is the one you wanted to write.

I love the feeling of a passion post.  The words just flow and completing the article takes little time.  It’s almost perfect in the first draft.  I can’t hardly wait to press the publish button.  I sit in anticipation of the comments that will come.  I know the comments will be there because I know that passion was the platform on which the article was built.

Passion bleeds.  It nourishes our writing and permeates it with a rich crimson that shouts to be read.

This is why all of the sage writers pound this point home again and again.  You should be writing about things that excite you.  With that said, as a freelance writer we often have to write about things that we wouldn’t pee on if it caught fire.  Sad, but true.  So the question really is:  How, as a freelance writer do we invoke the passion that we would otherwise feel for a topic we give a rip about?

Master the answer to this question and I can almost guarantee your success as a freelance writer.

Here are the ways to capture the passion:

• Realize that your passion does not have to be permanent.  Let your cup runneth over for the time the project is on your plate, remembering that the project will be completed at some point.
• Become the expert.  If the project is about the mating rituals of South African songbirds, find out as much as you can about those horny little devils.  As you search, let the passion of those with a songbird calling rub off on you.  Remember it’s important to:
• Drop all of your barriers.  No matter if the only interest you have in songbirds is seeing them as squab kebobs.  Your job is to get past that and not let your interests get in the way.  This isn’t about you, it’s about the project.  You are nothing more than a portal through which information flows and is transformed.  How you transform it is where the concept of passion comes into play.
• Don’t delay.  The longer you push the project towards deadline, the greater resentment you will have towards the project.  Trying to become passionate about something you resent will increase the difficulty of your work ten-fold.
• Realize the benefits you will gain from writing a passionate post.  Your client will be thrilled.  Word will get out about your fantastic writing abilities.  More and more work will head your way.

Passion is crucial to successful writing.  Take the time to do it right and watch your thoughts flourish.

What is your take?   How do you drum up passion for things that you don’t really care about?

Posted by: George

From: Instructables.com

This freelance writing stuff is a very strange beast. There isn’t really any right or wrong way to go about it necessarily. Most of us kind of find our own way to do things and we sally forth. Some are successful, others not so much. Here is a list of freelance writing concepts that you may want to consider tossing.

• My Writing Is Good Enough – “Hey, I can write real good. Lots of people have told me so.” Well, even if you are a good writer, it’s not enough to carry you through. The ability to write good copy is an excellent start but if you rely solely on that fact and ignore all of the other things that go into being successful in freelance writing you won’t get far. Toss out the concept that your writing will get you by.
• Clients Will Find Me – Just because you’ve hung a shingle on the web does not mean that clients will beat a path to your door. If you are taking a passive approach to getting new clients then clients are passing you by. Your success depends on a proactive strategy on your part to seek out and find a set of good clients who can help pay your rent.
• There Is Not Enough Local Work – Malarkey, says I. If you are focusing on web based clients only, you are missing out on a huge potentially lucrative market. Don’t forget your local community.
• I Can’t Afford To Advertise – I know. It’s tough. But you have to. Even if your advertising budget is meager, you can and should work on getting the word out. Build partnerships, print flyers or business cards, connect with other writers and ask about reciprocal links. This may be an area to test your true creativity.
• I Don’t Have The Time To Engage Social Media – Make the time. It’s worth it in every way. My two biggest paying freelance jobs have come through relationships I have built on Twitter. Get your Twitter, Facebook and Stumbleupon life in order. After the initial set up is complete, these are easy to  keep updated.
• I Need To Work 24/7 – Oh, no you don’t. If you do not try to achieve some sense of balance in your life, you will burn yourself out. At the end of a year you will be a crispy, burnt smidgen of a crumb, curled up in a fecal position in the corner of your room, asking for your mommy. Serious. Take the time to get away from the computer and live a little.  You won’t regret it.

Sometimes we have to take what are assumed to be “givens” and turn them on their head. Talk about getting a fresh start!

What say you? Are there any concepts that you have taken as gospel that need to be turned on their head?

Posted by: George

“What’s that empty little slot for, nurse?”

“That’s for the scalpel you used to cut his stomach open.”

“Oops. And now I’ve just sown him up. Never mind, it’ll work its way out.”

No. It won’t.

Writing isn’t saving lives, but we are equally beholden to produce top quality results to the best of our ability. For a freelance writer, a failure to make final checks can be seriously detrimental to the success of their business. This is the QA (Quality Assurance) part of your job description and you CANNOT skip it if you want to be part of the cream on top of that huge vat of so-so milk.

Spelcheque

This, as the saying goes, is not rocket science. If you’re writing in Word you will notice that red squiggly lines appear under certain words. This indicates a spelling mistake, or at least a word that Mr. Word doesn’t have in his dictionary. Or you may get a green squiggle which indicates the spelling is okay but it isn’t right in that context. Then again, you may have a whole sentence underlined, and a right-click over this will reveal: “Fragment – consider revising.” This means your sentence is questionably phrased, according to Mr. Word’s programming. (I always ignore this – he’s not taking my artistic licence into account, luv.)

If you don’t have an automatic spell-check, then you need to manually activate one after you’ve finished writing and make certain nothing pops up.

I’m sure some of you will think I’m teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here, but the evidence would suggest that many writers simply don’t run this basic check.

Neither, it seems, do they bother to actually reread what they’ve written. This is a quite astounding oversight and I am always thoroughly stunned when I see it happen. I’ve seen websites belonging to some of the largest companies in the world with obvious spelling mistakes and sundry errors on them. Sometimes you think you must have landed on some bogus doppelgänger site.

I repeat: it is simply not enough to run a spell-check as your final activity. Your words may all be in the computer’s dictionary, but you may not have them in the right order or the right context. For example, had I written “write” just then instead of “right”, it would not have been flagged up.

One of the most common errors occurs when you have rewritten a sentence but have not completely removed all remnants of the old version. Thus you end up with something like: “This is a great products that you will want need to buy.” That would have started off as “These are great products that you will want to buy”. Then the writer decides to make it singular but fails to remove the “s” from products, and also thinks it should be “need” rather than “want” but ends up keeping both in by mistake.

This is laziness, pure and simple.

Yeah, well it looks fine to me, buddy

There is also a real skill to editing your own work because it’s easy to develop word-blindness. This is where you can’t see your mistakes because you know what you intended to say. Thus, that’s what you see when you read through – what you intended to write, not what’s actually there. This is why I put all the ellipses in the word “Review” in the title; to suggest a slow process.

You should check your work out loud one deliberate word at a time, as though you have just learned to read. Don’t assume anything. Mistakes that head off to a client can always be corrected, but can never be recalled. If your client spots them you will look unprofessional. If your client misses them, publishes them to their website and someone else subsequently spots them, you will likely lose that client.

If you’ve ever read a novel and seen a spelling mistake in the prose, you’ve seen just how easy it is to screw up even under the most vigorous scrutiny. Check out the following process and then ask yourself how the hell any mistakes could remain.

The novelist writes the novel, then probably rewrites it several times, and rereads it countless times. Friends and family also often take a peek. It’s then read by an agent who sends it back for revisions, then reads it again. It goes to a publishing editor who reads it and suggests revisions. The novelist rewrites and the editor rereads. This can happen more than once. It then goes to a professional copy editor who scans for mistakes, then sends it back to you for approval. You reread and approve. It then goes to the typesetter who gets it ready for printing, and has to read it to do so. You receive a proof copy for approval, and it goes to a professional proof reader to make sure the typesetter got it right. The proof reader makes corrections and you make sure you agree. Then it’s printed.

How many people have been involved there? How many times has the work been read through? And yet mistakes still manage to survive the process.

You shouldn’t get paranoid about it. There is a time when you have to fire it off and you don’t need to read something fifteen times before that happens. However, my opinion is that you should give your work three reads minimum.

Ultimately, it all depends on how much you care about the quality of your work.

Olaf Loose/iStockphoto

Most of the work you will probably do as a freelance writer – at least initially – will consist of writing copy. Web content, various articles and maybe the occasional magazine piece or two. At some point you will probably be asked to edit something that a client has written on their own. This is a very cool thing and often time is the initial marker of moving up in the writing world.

I remember the first time I was asked to do an editing assignment. I immediately shut off my computer, hopped in the truck and headed to the office supply store and bought a gross of blue pencils. Well, I wanted to anyway. Instead, I took a deep breath, hunkered down and got right into it. It was such a refreshing change from struggling with word production. Heck they were already produced! All I had to do was slash and cut! Whooppee!

So, I’m about half way done and my monitor looks like something from the cutting room floor of a SAW sequel. You never saw so much red in your whole life. A moment of clarity struck me pea brain and I realized I was hacking away at the piece trying to make it sound like something I would have written. Moment of clarity number two then came whizzing around the corner and smacked me between the eyes. It’s not my job as editor to make the piece sound like something I wrote.

Back to the drawing board. I got rid of all of the changes and started anew. I fixed the foibles and rearranged a few things for the sake of clarity, but by and large I left it in tact.   It was fairly well written as it stood. Not anywhere close to what I would have written but still a good piece.

Then I reflected back to something that happened early on in my writing career. I had queried a trade journal about an article and it had been accepted. I had written for the journal previously and that had gone very well. So when I received the manuscript back from an editor at the magazine and it had been completely trashed, I was quite frankly, pissed. The grammar corrections were few. Near as I can tell, there wasn’t anything changed for the sake of accuracy or clarity, this editor wanted my article in her voice. Still fairly young in the business, I grudgingly made the changes and submitted the hacked up manuscript back. She still made even more changes after that and the published piece ended up with a factual change that put a great big helping of egg on my face. I still cringe.

Back to my lesson. When I returned the manuscript back to my client with the changes, he was very happy. He said the changes made perfect sense and added to the effectiveness of the article. A happy ending for editor and writer.

The moral here is that when you are asked to move into the editing arena for a client, keep your head about you and do what it takes to help the writer end up with a piece that is clear and still captures the essence of the writer’s distinct voice and style.

Posted by:  George

From: Alfresco.com

Another year has gone and you’ve got a clear freelance writing field ahead of you now. Are you interested in doing things a little different this year? Let’s hope so. This is the time to take advantage of the new sprung optimism and enthusiasm that comes with a blank slate. How do you move your freelance writing forward?

The Ghost of Freelance Past

Take the time to review your last year. There will certainly be clues about what worked well and what could be kicked to the curb.

Writing – Look at the writing that you did for your clients and on your blog. Is it up to the highest standards? Are there any that make you particularly proud? If so, what is it about those pieces that stand far apart from the others? Are there consistent grammar errors that indicate some work is needed in that area? Are all of your writings the same? For example, do you mix things up a bit and include top ten lists, how-to lists, best ofs, that sort of thing.  you are looking to see if your writing is in a rut.

Clients – Look at your client list. Did you drop any? Did any drop you? Ask yourself “why?” in both instances. Did any clients provide you with valuable feedback about your writing or business tactics? What could you learn from them? Did you gain any new clients? Have you thanked them for their business this past year?

Your Business – How was your business savvy the past year? Did you do your market research and then direct your advertising budget (if any) in that direction? How are your files looking? Are you organized and ready for the tax season or do you cringe when you look at the cardboard box that has all of your “stuff” in it? Did you put enough money back into your freelance writing business to keep it growing?

The Ghost of Freelance Present

Writing – Think about your writing today. Right now. What can you do to improve your writing at this moment?  Could you write at a different time of day or in a different location? Are you willing to Google “grammar tips” and spend two hours researching the resultant pages? Do whatever it takes to improve your writing today, right now.

Clients – Pick up the phone and call one of your clients today. No, email is not allowed. Call them. Touch base and see how things are with them. Make a connection.

Your Business – Organize your business today. Label the files, organize your folders and contacts on your computer and develop a spreadsheet to track your business.

The Ghost of Freelance Future

Writing – Schedule your freelance writing blog posts. Sit down and develop a schedule by month. Include titles for the post if you can. If it helps, pick a theme for each month. Mix it up a bit to include top tens and such.

Clients – Think about the writing you do for your clients. Mix that writing up a bit too, but confer with the client about your new inspirations. Commit to seeking out one new client for each month in the coming year. Also commit to contacting each current client once a month to see how things are going.

Your Business – Set aside what you can afford, then add another 10%. Use this for marketing efforts for marketing efforts. When I worked at a car dealership, the General Manager wanted all of us to buy cars that were a bit more than we would feel comfortable with. “People who run scared are more motivated than those who run happy.”  I’m not convinced that advice is completely sound, but hey I’ve got a bad ticker and that complicates “running scared.”

I hope this plan gets your 2010 off to the best freelance writing year you’ve ever had.

Posted by:  George

Kermit the Frog has a very distinctive voice. So does Miss Piggy, Fozzy Bear, Gonzo and the rest of the Muppet crew. Personally, I wouldn’t want to sound like any of them. (I may have Gonzo’s nose, but that’s a different matter.) It’s possible to alter your speaking voice to a certain extent – you can alter your general tone, and certainly improve or remove an accent you may not like – but what most people are trying to do here is to make their voice less distinctive.

I’m shooting from the hip when I say this (what’s new?), but I suspect that many writers often try to do the opposite. They worry unduly that there is nothing that makes them stand out from the crowd, and they think that they can rectify that by creating a writer’s voice.

This is fine if you naturally fall into a certain rhythm or style of writing, but it can be a problem if you have to force it. That’s the equivalent of you adopting an accent you’re not very good at and hoping people will take you seriously.

Two writers who spring to mind who have distinctive voices are Stephen King and Elmore Leonard. Once you’ve read a bit of King it would be practically impossible not to recognise his work from a couple of random paragraphs. He writes as he might speak, seemingly letting his words fall from his brain in whatever order they manifest themselves, then he adds afterthoughts in parentheses where you or I might think we should rewrite to make it all flow better. Part of his voice derives from what he terms “Skull Cinema” – his ability to see everything he writes as though he’s watching a movie in his head. Personally, I think it works; when I finish a Stephen King novel I’ve already seen the movie, and, apart from Misery, Hollywood’s interpretations have always been a terrible disappointment by comparison.

Just remember that the man’s a genius and his name and reputation afford him the ultimate artistic licence.

As for Elmore Leonard, he writes in his Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing: “My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” Here then is a writer who is very consciously aware that he wants his own voice, and he would seem to be openly admitting that the end result is occasionally contrived with this aim in mind. Just occasionally, I think he tries too hard. Hey, who am I to criticise, right?

What I’m trying to say is that you and I cannot afford to try too hard. You could spend an hour on one sentence just to give it a “voice” that a lot of people may actually find pretty grating.

I was given a piece of advice by my first acting teacher – the guy who coached me for my successful RADA audition back in 1987. When I was desperately looking for an unusual audition piece to stand out from the crowd, he said, “Mark, you don’t have to be different to be good; being good is different enough”.

You don’t need a writer’s voice to succeed. You just need to have something interesting to say, and you need to say it well.

A Freelance Writer Needs To Be:

• Flexible – There are going to be a lot of times that you think a project will go a certain way and all of a sudden you’re making lots of left turns all over the place. You have to zig when sometimes you were certain a zag was in the equation.
• Diverse – You need to be able to take on a wide range of writing assignments. Limiting yourself limits your income. One of the best (and most fun) assignments I ever did was naming and writing product descriptions for a line of all natural lip glosses marketed towards teenage girls. I use artificial lip gloss, with plenty of preservatives. 
• Thick – No, not in the head – in the skin. Sometimes a client is going to eat your writing and spit it back at you.  You need to be prepared for this eventuality and not let your undergarments become tangled. It happens.  Work to find the root cause of the issue and give the client what they want.
• Driven – This is hard work. Very hard. You are going to be paid by clients who are counting on your work.  Taking a few days off just because you feel like it is an option only on rare occasions.
• A good writer – Not an exceptional one necessarily. And certainly not a perfect one. But you had better be able to write in a way that will make people want to read what you have written. As well, don’t lay awake at night worrying about perfect grammar. Do your best and understand that the more practice you get, the more your grammar will fall in line.
• Business savvy – Freelance writing is a business and you better understand at least the rudiments for owning and operating a business. There are licenses, taxes and government forms. There are marketing plans and bank accounts that need tended. Ignore this part of freelance writing and your business could sink, or worse.
• People friendly – If you decided to get into freelance writing so you wouldn’t have to deal with people, then you’ve made a mistake. This is all about people. You will have to deal with all types of personalities regarding a wide variety of issues. You need to be able to put on a friendly face and make things happen. Of course you do get the option of throwing foam bricks at the monitor and waving an extended digit at the computer, but when you tap the keys, you better be nice as pie.

These are a foundation for your success. There are other helpful traits as well. What are your thoughts? Are there any other indispensable traits worth mentioning?

Posted by: George  (There is some snarkiness in the post, I didn’t want folks giving credit to Marky-poo on this one)

Image from: uconn.edu

Talk to anyone in sales and they will all tell you the same little piece of ancient wisdom:  It’s a numbers game. No surprise here, but if you’re a freelance writer you’re in sales. This is an excellent time of year to dive in and have a look at those little beasties. Reviewing your numbers helps you to identify any gaps there may be in your marketing efforts.  In general, having a good look at your numbers will help you to set up how you do things in the new year, on a new day.

Look at these numbers

• Google Analytics – Assuming you have a web site with a blog, your first stop in the numbers game should be at your Google Analytics page. Most of us head on over and have a peek at these numbers on a fairly regular basis, but often times we look at the unique views and we move on. There is so much more to see. You want to take as much time as necessary to review all of the metrics and think about what they mean. Where are your viewers coming from? How long do they stay? Which page do they land on and which page do they leave from? What posts draw the most traffic for you and what similarities are present between them? Are the trends moving up or moving down? The answers to these questions should drive how you structure things in the future.
• Marketing – Other than the web site analytics, how are your marketing efforts holding up? Look at the amount of money you spent advertising and what income was derived from those efforts. Is your print advertising working or do you need to consider focusing your efforts in a different medium? Do you know which medium is responsible for bringing each of your clients over the past year? These are important questions. If your marketing budget is as limited as it is for most of us other freelancers, you can nigh afford to be wasteful in your efforts.
• Financials – Dealing with the financial records is my absolute least favorite part of having a freelance business. If I wanted to look at financial data, I would have become a dad-blamed account. Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I have to tell you that there really is no choice in the matter. Chances are at some point in the near future you will need to inform the government of all the loot you hauled in and what your cost was to haul in the said loot. Hopefully you kept things organized enough to easily find these documents. As well, if you were a very good girl or boy, you kept track electronically so that you could have a short look at your spreadsheets from time to time.

Freelancing by the numbers is not necessarily difficult. It’s a matter of taking the time to have a look at the numbers and adjusting your course based on your interpretation of the results. The other important point is that the numbers game should be played on a regular basis throughout the course of the year – not just at year end.

Posted by:  George