Many writers don’t have websites. Although I think every writer needs one, I get it. It takes time and some skills that you might not possess to create one. While you’re working up the nerve (and/or cash) to create an online presence with your own website, blogs are a great way to showcase your talent AND attract client work.

Here is a quick three-step plan to use a blog to win writing assignments:  Read the rest of this entry

My writing life has been a series of transitions and I’m guessing yours has been, too. Most of us are an eclectic bunch. We work with clients on various types of projects, from technical papers to promotional copy, to full-blown marketing and branding campaigns, to ghostwriting or editing book-length projects that span a wide range of topics from practical how-to nonfiction through highly creative works.

These days I spend the majority of my time as a ghostwriter for other book authors. It has opened me to subject areas I might never have explored on my own and it’s broadened my experience and my knowledge. It has been highly rewarding, both personally and professionally. And, yes, it’s quite profitable, too.

But here is something else I learned: unless you are a “preferred” ghostwriter hired by a publisher or agent who continually feeds you assignments for their signed authors, the majority of your clients are going to ask for your help getting published. And that little factoid opened another profit-filled opportunity for me to develop an ancillary service of writing agent-attracting book proposal packages.  Whether it’s for client book projects or your own, here’s how you can, too: Read the rest of this entry

What’s your New Year’s resolution? Lose weight? Stop smoking? Be more benevolent to others or understanding of your family’s annoying quirks?

It’s easy to make a resolution. What’s difficult is keeping it.

The only way to see a difference between this day and this day next year is to not only make a resolution but to answer the question, “how will I keep it?” How are you going to transform your resolution from a wish to a reality?

I’ll leave you to figure out if you will achieve your personal goals. But I want to encourage you to seriously make a writing resolution and put a plan in place to achieve it. Do you want to make more money? How about finding new clients? Perhaps you want to work for a company instead of on your own. Would you like to become a published author? Maybe you want to add a complementary service to offer clients you already have. Whatever your writing resolution is, here’s a quick five-step process to improve on the results: Read the rest of this entry

The holidays are in full swing and as much as I enjoy a rousing chorus of fa-la-la-la-la, I’m usually twice as stressed now as any other time of the year. I have a feeling I’m not alone. So when quiet time is hard to come by and a holiday break lightens everyone else’s load but yours, how can you clear your writing mind to cope with it all and meet your deadlines—those from clients and those that are self-imposed?

Here are five tips to de-stress in a hurry:

Leave the room. Put space between yourself and your computer, or office, or writing tablet… wherever you set up your writing space, get away from it. If all you can spare is five or ten minutes, take them. Walk to the corner and back. Make yourself a cup of tea. Do 10 pushups.

Find a distraction. Force your mind to go elsewhere by watching a short YouTube video of animals doing wacky things, or reading the first chapter of that novel you’ve been meaning to start.

Breathe. A friend of mine swears by meditation to get rid of stress. Me? Not so much. But I do think that taking a few minutes to slowly breathe in and out 10 or 20 times (yes, with your eyes closed and the television off), does wonders for jumpstarting your brain.

Power nap. Set a timer for 20 minutes, put your feet up and dream away. Nap for no more than 20 minutes and you’ll find you’ve got new energy to burn.

Defer.  If you are that stressed out, it’s likely you are not producing your best work. Reconsider projects that can be deferred until after the holidays. Oftentimes, the writer sets the deadline, not the client. If things are piling up and you have a deadline that can be deferred, do it.

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