Have you ever heard the name H.L. Mencken? He was an American journalist, satirist, essayist… and just about any other “ist” you can think of when it comes to writing. He is considered one of the most influential American writers of the first half of the 20th century. He once said, “There are no dull subjects. There are only dull writers.”

It took me a good number of years of calling myself a writer before I really learned the lesson of those words. I would often declare a subject uninteresting and decide that nothing exciting could be written about it. I might begrudgingly take an assignment and only put minimal effort into it because I thought the subject was dull.

But I was wrong.

As time went on, and the more I learned about writing and my responsibilities as a writer (from books, courses, and some pretty harsh critics …), I changed my attitude and jumped on Mencken’s bandwagon. What makes a topic or subject interesting is the writer. And the tougher the challenges are to find interesting aspects of a seemingly uninteresting topic, the better writer you’ll become.

If you face what might seem like a dull topic, look at it from another perspective. Turn it upside down, inside out or 90 degrees to the left. Step away and look from afar. Step forward and look from within. Drop the attitude and adopt the courage to explore something you know little about. Then take your readers on that discovery mission with you.

When you bring curiosity to the writing table, you will always be presented with interesting and challenging subjects to write about.

Articles are a great way to promote yourself or as a way to get paid to promote others. I spent many years as an article writer “way back when” most publications were still in print, not online. The competition to attract column space was fierce and there were a limited number of publications for specific topics. I also spent a number of years on the opposite side of the desk, as a magazine editor. It didn’t take long to filter out the bad pitches from the good.

Opportunities have expanded, but so has the number of aspiring writers who compete for by-lines in both print and online publications. If you want to increase your chances of rising to the top of the query pile, here are some fundamentals that will put you ahead of the rest: Read the rest of this entry

Ready for a raise? If you’re a freelance writer, getting one can be a challenge.

After all, as freelancers, we’re trading hours for dollars and there are only so many hours in a day that you can spend on projects and assignments. Sure, you can work 15 to 18 hours a day instead of 8 or 10, but that’s not really giving yourself a raise, now, is it? That’s just working overtime. If you’re like me, you’ll quickly discover that all work and no play makes you dull, less creative, and absent from living your life. Work you love suddenly becomes work you hate and you have no one to blame but you. You cheat yourself, your family and/or friends, and your clients from having someone who is fully engaged.

If you want to give yourself a raise that doesn’t include slaving over an already overused keyboard, it’s time to start treating your writing business as a real business. Here are three small steps you can take to scale up your income by scaling up your freelance writing business: Read the rest of this entry

Andy Rooney, best known as the 33-year veteran commentator on the CBS Sunday night “60 Minutes” news program, died this past Friday at the age of 92. Less than a month ago he delivered his final essay on the show and headed into retirement.

If you have never seen or heard Andy deliver his commentary, or read any of his essays, you’ve missed out on experiencing one of the most relatable curmudgeons of all time. He commented on a wide range of topics, from wondering why so much cotton is stuffed into medicine bottles to telling us why he likes things you can put things into, to serious criticism of war and politics. Sometimes the things he said got him into trouble but most of the time viewers watched because he was able to weave the slightest of observations into interesting commentary.

And that’s the writing lesson I want you learn from Andy Rooney—that observation is at the very core of finding writing ideas.

Whether you write for yourself or write for others you are expected to have an unending stream of ideas—creative, provocative and just downright GOOD. Clients expect magical prose to entice clients and customers to their products and services. Magazines want fresh perspectives that will attract and keep their readers coming back for more, and publishers want a hook for your book that seemingly snatches readers from thin air just by hearing its title. And if you have a blog, well, you know how demanding the schedule—and readers—can be.

You can meet and exceed those demands by using your powers of observation.

Here are three ways to “observe your way” to uncovering winning writing ideas: Read the rest of this entry

When I was the chief editor for a trade publication, nothing irked me more than to receive a badly crafted pitch letter from a freelance writer hoping to get an article published in our magazine. Conversely, if I received targeted, audience-specific pitches, I looked forward to awarding assignments to those writers on an ongoing basis. And those assignments paid pretty well for each 1500-word piece.

If you want to be given more magazine assignments – or attract your first – you’ll do well to perfect your pitches by keeping these things in mind: Read the rest of this entry