What’s on the iPod: Different Drum by The Stone Poneys w/ Linda Ronstadt For the first time in a while, I’m glad to see a weekend behind me. Last week, my dad ended up hospitalized (he’s home now). He has serious lung issues — asbestos and emphysema — and he was having trouble breathing. He’s…
Category: Working smarter
Writing Schedules and No Damn Time
What’s on the iPod: Hell and Back by The Airborne Toxic Event It’s Thursday already? If I could shove two more days into this week, I would I’ve been working at full throttle since Monday morning, and I’m finally making a dent in the workload. If only the need-it-now stuff would just stop coming in…
7 Ways to Vet a Writing Course
Today is going to be busy. I have plenty of interviews to go over for a white paper, and some research to finish up. Plus, writers group is here tonight. Not only do I need to clean — I need to write something to present. Behind the scenes here at the blog, I’m busy putting…
Free Advice Friday: Streamlining Article Writing
What’s on the iPod: Timeless by The Airborne Toxic Event I’m still on vacation, though I’m now south of the Canadian border. Because of my unusually heavy summer workload, I needed to step away for a full week. It’s a combination of detox and much-needed cleaning. We talked a few weeks back about how to…
6 Signs Your Freelance Writing Business May Fail
What’s on the iPod: Fade Into You by Mazzy Star Another wildly busy weekend. My son was visiting, so we were happily busy for much of the weekend. Because we’re still painting the upstairs, he had to stay at his sister’s house, which worked out well. Since we seem to be a revolving door when…
5 Trade-ups to Boost Your Writing Career
What I’m reading: The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson What’s on the iPod: Hell and Back by The Airborne Toxic Event There’s nothing like working outdoors to center you. We spent the weekend accomplishing various things, one being leveling the ground near the house. Six hours of digging and hauling sod and dirt made me…
Writers Worth: My A-ha Moment
What’s on the iPod: Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan TGIF in a big way. I’ve spent a somewhat frustrating week trying to clear up a rather large outstanding invoice. The project is on hold, the money is nowhere to be seen, my emails haven’t been answered, and this writer is getting pissed. I get…
Learning from Freelance Writing Mistakes
What I’m reading: God Help the Child by Toni Morrison What’s on the iPod: Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough by Michael Jackson After a fantastic Writers Worth Month, I’m settling into a busy June. Typically, June is when things slow down. July and August are usually quiet as graveyards. This year, however, I’m working…
Doing Your Homework
“You have touched on some fastidious factors…” Don’t you just love spam comments? I was weeding through 1,900 or so of them the other day and I realized the correlation between spam comments and writers missing the mark with their queries — neither the spammer nor the writer did their homework. Sure, we don’t expect…