This weekend I had an opportunity to get together with two friends I’ve known for many, many (many) years and, thanks to life and family and work getting in the way, we rarely see each other. One is a kindergarten teacher ready to start the new school year, and the other is an office manager for a highly visible and very busy chiropractic practice. We exchanged family updates, and the conversation eventually rolled around to work.

After hearing about the comings and goings of a constant stream of chiropractic patients, and adding her account of days spent “herding” hyperactive five year olds, the teacher turned to me and said, “Most days I can’t hear myself think – I envy the freedom you have to work whenever you want and days filled with quiet creativity.”

I envy that, too.

My friend’s perception of what a freelance writer’s day is like is far removed from reality. So I gave them a quick “tour” of what a typical day in this freelance writer’s life can be like… and told them the one thing that freelance writing is not… Read the rest of this entry

I haven’t had a “real” job for more than 15 years. The kind of job where you show up to the same place every weekday morning, work on specific tasks to meet deadlines, output whatever the employer needs or wants, then leave at the end of an eight-hour day.

However, those 15+ years ago when I finally left the 9-to-5 job and built my own fledgling writing business was not my first attempt at being an independent, freelance writer. It was more like my third, maybe my fourth. Each time I tried to set out on my own, I would last a few months and then I’d be right back where I started—working for someone else because I couldn’t sustain my freelance career.

But I was determined to break out on my own so I kept trying. Finally, I discovered the one rule that helped me to become—and stay—a full-time independent writer for the past 15+ years. And that one rule can actually be condensed into a single word: Read the rest of this entry

My husband is a respected expert in his field and a great writer… but he’s a less than stellar proofreader. That’s why he often asks me to proofread articles he personally writes for his web-zine (www.northernstatessolar.com) and other industry-related publications that publish his articles.

If you’re a great writer but a less than stellar proofreader, and you don’t have someone to check your work before it goes out, you may be losing opportunities that you might otherwise win if you would invest the extra time to put a “spit shine” on your professionalism.

Any communication you send out, whether is it a letter of introduction, resume, bio, book proposal, blog post, article submission or pitch letter says something about you. It can say, “I am a professional who cares about the quality of my work,” or it can say, “I don’t care if there’s a typo or my grammar is wrong—deal with it.”

Once you’ve made your first impression, you can’t take it back, talk your way out of it or edit it.

That’s the simple “why” for proofreading your work; now let’s look at the top ten ways to do it: Read the rest of this entry

I have a colleague, Jeff, who is a fine fiction writer. His short stories have been published in literary magazines and he recently connected with an agent to represent his work to publishers. While his career as a fiction writer may be promising, last month he expressed frustration that there are limited opportunities for him in a traditional freelance writing arena so his “real” job—the one that pays the bills—is far removed from the writing world. Yet, once we began examining what his creative fiction writing had to offer, we discovered that, if you’re good at storytelling, there are opportunities to use that special talent in the commercial market.

Here are three of them: Read the rest of this entry

Like many of you, I subscribe to a lot of different writing-related ezines. Some focus on things like grammar and word usage, others focus on quick tips, blogging or social media. Most give great advice and often spark ideas for me to elaborate on in the Monday Muse. Others give advice with a perspective or practice that I don’t agree with but nonetheless offer options that are for readers to personally accept or reject.

But this week, I received an issue from an ezine I’ve subscribed to for nearly a year—and it promoted the worst advice for freelance writers I have read in a long, long time. Here’s a recap of the top three offending statements, why I disagree, and what I would do differently: Read the rest of this entry