Some very interesting discussion is going on over on the Certified Professional Writers Association on LinkedIn. What options can we choose to help improve our profession and stabilize earning power among the ranks? I highly suggest you join the discussion (and the group – group leader Leon Sterling is a staunch supporter of protecting freelancers’…
Author: lwidmer
Client Boo-boos That Become Yours
I was listening to a friend lament about a client who is a blamer. Apparently this client, a woman, doesn’t make mistakes, nor does she forget anything. My writer friend knows this because the mistakes and forgetfulness of this client are passed right down the food chain into said writer’s lap. I sympathize. I’ve been…
Using Scammers as Bait
My guest blog is over at Devon Ellington’s Ink in My Coffee today. Go on over and check it out. Here’s a new one – I received a message on my phone last week, a bit convoluted, but basically the caller was asking about an organization I was part of (?) and mentioned he wanted…
The Value-added You
Maybe it’s because work has arrived again. I went cruising a favorite job listings site yesterday, but I couldn’t bring myself to apply to anything. In one job listing in particular where price wasn’t mentioned, I knew by the wording that it would be a huge waste of my time to A) craft a solid…
The New Etiquette
Maybe it’s just rotten luck, that there are too many email filters, or that people move around more than their email accounts can keep up. There’s a reason why my emails to editors with story ideas go unanswered. For every ten emailed ideas I send out that aren’t used, I get zero responses. And it’s…
How Low Can You Go?
Irreverent Freelancer Kathy Kehrli has found yet another Get-a-Clue Freelance Request, which offers a whopping $5 for a 500-word article. I don’t know what’s more disturbing: the offer or that Kathy’s repository of lousy offers appears bottomless. She’s been exposing these requests for years and each time I think I’ve seen it all, she brings…
Street Cred
I won! I won! Yay! Thank you to Maria Schneider, her blog community, and you guys for naming this blog one of the Top 25! Head over to the Editor Unleashed blog and see the other cool choices. Many are new to me. One in particular is a favorite – The Urban Muse. Congratulations to…
Here Comes the Sun
It seems the work reappeared right when the school buses did. I’m inches from swimming in it again. Fantastic! Given the fact that I didn’t get much marketing in, this is great. I now have three regular gigs and a number of others coming that are going to make it a nice fall/winter. I was…
Falling Short
Faceboook wisdom – sometimes no matter how hard you try, some people still suck and you can’t please them. It reflects one or two less recent situations in which the client (a third-party client in these cases, so no worries of embarrassment) didn’t care to instruct or amend or even help us understand. Instead, she…
Marketing or Content Dumping?
Good friend Kirk Petersen sent over a link to a blog post touting using one’s blog to market. Great! That’s what we do here every day, right? The difference? The blog post was paired with a photo of a woman who, if she’s not careful, could end up with a major chest cold. Her attributes…