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

I subscribe to an ezine named Daily Writing Tips. It’s a great way to relearn grammar, punctuation and sentence structure in small easily digestible chunks. This week, the ezine contained a great list of links to short tests and quizzes from previous blog posts that I want to pass along to you.

I think we all owe it to our clients, editors and publishers to keep honing our writing skills. So take a few minutes and have a little word fun this week by taking some of these quickies. Click on the links below.

Multiple Choice Tests

• § Vocabulary Test 1
• § Spelling Test 1
• § Grammar Test 1
• § Vocabulary Test 2

Quizzes

• § Quiz About Emphasis
• § Quiz About the Comma
• § Quiz About Parallel Construction
• § “Not only… but also” Quiz

How do you prospect for potential clients? Or perhaps the more targeted question is, “Do you prospect for potential clients?” It is my experience that far too many freelance writers wait for referrals or “word of mouth” connections to get projects and assignments. If you’re happy with your results, don’t read today’s post because my intention today is to talk to those of you who struggle to find great projects that you choose and love doing. If that’s you, read on… 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