Writing When Distracted

Today is the first day of school half term. There are two young people to be entertained as well as the usual house tidying, meal cooking and washing, washing, washing! The only bright side is the lack of a school run which usually severely cuts into my writing time.

There's no real answer to this - every family is different. I'm between jobs right now, but that doesn't mean I have plenty to do. I set up a strict blogging schedule on my own sites at the beginning of the new year and it's beginning to pay dividends in terms of increased traffic. I also write for Suite101 and Hubpages and would like to increase my articles at both places.

My answer is to leave the computer set up and write in short bursts. If I have a chance at night, then I might plan out the articles I want to do, leaving the actual writing until morning. Otherwise thinking time takes away from writing time.

One thing I do want to do is enjoy the children. We will still get outside every day (even when it's cold and wet) and do some interesting activities. I got into this writing life so that I could take time off and things will slow this week for this very reason. On the other hand, it's what keeps life interesting!

How do you organise your writing life?

Do You Want to be a Writer in 2011?

I still do!

I've had a mixed year with some work through most of the year which had trailed out by the end. 2011 has started well and I hope to apply some of the lessons I've learned over the last year. I've earned a little money through Suite101 and Hubpages but I'm not going away to the Caribbean yet! I've had a great time, however and feel that my job is something that I am good at.

So, what about you? Do you want to be a writer in 2011? Have you got a burning desire to write a novel? Do you want to see your tagline in a publication or do you just want to share your online ramblings in a blog?

Here are my top five tips for writing more in 2011:

1. You ARE a writer! If you love to get your ideas and thoughts down on paper then you are a writer and don't let anyone disagree! If you start to see yourself as a writer, then you have more chance of becoming a writer. Of course you have to take some steps too.

2. Join a writing class. Colleges all over this UK are offering creative writing classes which give you the chance to meet with other writers, share your work and get some constructive feedback. The courses are usually general content with all kinds of writing covered. It's a great way to try out different types of writing.

3. Find time to write. When is your creative period? Is it early in the morning before the family get up or is it after the children have gone to bed. It can be embarrassing to admit to your spouse or partner that you want to do some writing, but offer them some of their own TV time and they won't care what you're doing with it.

4. Realise that it doesn't matter how you write or what you write. Some writers love big notebooks and smooth pens, others prefer a laptop or computer for speed. Actually I think there is a time and place for both. I love my notebooks for planning out or just scribbling down ideas, but computers allow fast writing and easy editing.

5. Keep going. There is a point in Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month), at about day 10, when you are struggling. The first flush of enthusiasm has gone, the inspiration is a distant memory and the ideas refuse to flow. You feel as though what you have written is rubbish and should be consigned to the nearest fire. Then you get an email which explains that you are not alone, that actually many other people who started writing the same time as you are feeling the same way and that it is not unusual.

The only way to overcome this feeling is to keep writing, word by word, sentence by sentence until you have reached the end. It may be rubbish, but today you are not editing, you are writing and you will find your inspiration again. You just need to keep going.

In 2011, there is no excuse for writing on your own, locked in your room. Explore the web, search for creative writing and connect with other writers. Share work, share ideas and improve your ability to write.

If you want to be a writer then make 2011 the year that you started to write for yourself and, who knows? One day you might make your dreams come true.

Photo Credit: Essays in Idleness by tonyhall on Flickr

My First Guest Post

I have guest posted on the #customerlove website and it went live on 21 November. This is my first experience of guest posting and I enjoyed it. The site is a Wordpress site like my professional blog and so it was really easy to upload my work in drafts for LaVonne to check before it went out. Unfortunately I was on a two post day, so my post didn't really get the full 24 hours' exposure, but I was pleased that I managed to do it.

I had such writers' block when preparing the post! I don't normally struggle with writing, but somehow the right tone just would not come on this! I must have started the post three times before finding the right voice! What broke it for me? This brilliant post by James Chartrand of Men with Pens explaining how he writes a post. It was great to read how one of the great post writers of the Internet was able to write so succinctly. I took his advice and worked out my three points and from there it got easier.

So, if you're interested, here's the post for #customerlove: Customer Focus is King.

Enjoy and I hope it's the first of many.

Finding Jobs

I've come close to getting two jobs this week but no!

Close isn't good enough - and yes I did apply for them properly this time! This freelance writing life isn't all roses that's for sure.

So, what am I going to do about it?

Well, I'm not going to do much today - there's house things to be done. But I'll be back next week and marketing harder than ever. Never give up!

Have You Any Hubs?

I had a bit of a Hubpages moment last week. I am now fully recovered, although I could have another attack any minute!

Hubpages is an article site which offers revenue sharing, mainly through Amazon and Ebay although there is Kontera too. Although I have been on Hubpages for about 10 months, I have not done a lot with it and have consequently not earned a lot either. Usually I ignore the weekly emails, but this week for some reason I chose to read it and found myself taking part in the Hubmob activity.

Hubmob chooses a subject about which Hubbers can choose to write about. The resulting Hubs are brought together on rss feed which hopefully raises your exposure a little and brings people to your hubs.

I wrote four on the Hubmob topic which was on the subject of top ten gift lists and added an extra one for good measure which was all linked in nicely. I also did some work on my existing Hubs, finding that some of the ads had not been working on them properly! No wonder I made no money from them! So I've decided to keep an eye out for the Hubmob activity this week and see if I fancy taking part in them again.

The Hubpages writing tools are relatively easy to use and you can add pictures, rss feed, comments and the ads as you wish. They send you regular emails on your stats and there are some very interesting people writing on there. There are people who use Hubpages regularly as a source of passive income. I am not one of them, but I may be writing a little more for them over the next few weeks if work continues to be slow.

My Job Is...

I love getting the email newsletter from IttyBiz. If you haven't subscribed yet, then I highly recommend it.

The most recent post was a challenge and it has got a huge response. In her post, What Do YOU Do - The Reductive Meme Redux, Naomi suggested that small business owners need to make it clear on their websites what they actually do.

Here are my responses below:

What’s your game? What do you do?

I am a copywriter, editor and proof reader. I have written short stories, two unpublished novels, blog posts for four websites, articles for local magazines, web content articles and product descriptions.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

I love to write! I enjoy researching a new product, I love to plan out what I’m going to write and I enjoy the actual process of writing. I have no problem writing to a certain length and I even enjoy proof-reading afterwards and paring down the language so that it makes sense and does the job that you want it to.

Oh - and my deep dark secret is that I have a creepy knack with spelling and grammar - I can tell if a word looks right or not!

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

My customers are people who appreciate well-written articles, which are interesting to the reader. I prefer to write content that draws readers in; articles that they want to read. My work adds value to a website, not just filler. My customers also appreciate my professional approach, the fact that I keep contact with them during a project and that I turn my work in on time or even before the deadline.

What’s your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

I take pride in my work. I enjoy each new challenge when it is presented to me. Buy from me because you appreciate the power of good writing and what it can do for your business.

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?

I would love to move into ghostwriting because listening to people’s stories intrigues me. I don’t need a byline to get satisfaction from my work. I want this business to expand and grow and I want to be in a position to help other people fulfil their dreams too.

How Not to Apply for a Job

This blog has been up for three days and I'm already enjoying it. It's good to be separated from my business blog because I can discuss things that perhaps my clients might not want to read!

That's not as bad as it sounds - I promise not to badmouth anyone, but I will be a little more forthright.

Business is a little slow at the moment. One of my clients has gone offline and has given my big project a break, the other has recently offered just a short piece and no more. So what is a girl to do? All dressed up and no work to do!

I've been checking out some job boards and found a couple of jobs to apply for. Both were UK-based, but for the one, I had no experience and the other was WAY below my usual rates. It's a Friday afternoon, I fancied chucking my CV into the mix, but with very little hope of getting the job.

What would you do?

What did I do? I applied!

The first job I had no experience for. I tried to explain why I thought I could do the job as best as I could, but upon reflection, I doubt that I will be considered. My lack of experience disqualified me for the job.

Point number 1 Never apply for a job that you don't have some experience for. It's a waste of your time, the client's time and is unlikely to bear fruit. I really wanted to go for it: it's an area that I'd love to move into and I think I could do a good job or I wouldn't have applied for it. Unfortunately I doubt the client will agree. By the way I probably won't know for another week.

The second job was even worse! Not only did I apply for this job, quoting a rate above the client's stated rate, but I also stated that I would like to see them qualify the comment that they had made about the rates going up as time went on. I suggested that they put in a time frame for the rates to go up if they wanted to hire me.

Even I know that there are plenty of low cost writers out there. By applying for this post I dropped my usual rate just because I was looking for some regular work. Now, I regret it and await with interest to see if I will get a response. I don't think I will or if I do, it probably won't be polite!

So there you go: two ways not to apply for a job. I am going to continue to talk to past clients and email new prospects to try and bring more work in. I am also working on an Ebook to release on my business site some time soon.

What would you do? What have you done? Is work plentiful right now, or like me did you leave a gap in your marketing causing a fall-off in work?

Leave your (helpful) advice in the comments below.

Photo Credit: Found on Flickr and taken by _StaR DusT_