A number of years back, I decided to set a reading goal on Goodreads. I was going to read thirty books in a year. I figured I’d reinvent my reading habit and get to some of these thousands of books I have (not exaggerating). I did it. I read 30 books. And you know what?…
Author: lwidmer
How Frank Honesty Can Win Freelance Clients
I love the beginning of a new year, but not for the new-beginnings-and-resolutions-aplenty stuff. I love it for another reason — Potential clients reach out. The Christmas presents are barely opened before I start getting notes. It makes sense; people want to line up their projects and contractors now so that at the stroke of…
Finding Balance in an Unbalanced Freelance World
Hey, you. Writer — what are you doing here? Same thing I’m doing, I bet. When the client work comes in and you have some free time, you get a head start. I plan to give an hour of my time off to a favorite client this morning, then off to enjoy the rest of…
A Freelance Writer’s Year of Gratitude
Today is my second favorite day on the calendar — the shortest day of the year. It’s all uphill from here! My very favorite is the longest day — in the summer, no less, which is my favorite season. For this day, I am grateful. In fact, today’s post isn’t the usual end-of-the-year hurry-up-and-make-resolutions-now post….
Losing Your Freelance Sh*t While Remaining a Pro
You know the feeling: You’re running to beat deadlines, you have a holiday flying up on you faster than expected, you have yet to book that flight, someone’s playing Christmas music over and over and…. Did I just hear your last nerve snap? Wait, no. That was mine. Go on. Admit it. You’re losing your…
The One Freelance Writing Number You Need to Know
It started with an email from a local contact. They needed a writer onsite. Yea, that’s not happening. I declined, saying if the client needed someone on a virtual basis, I might be interested. The response: yes, they’re quite open to virtual arrangements. Except…. The time commitment and the pay; neither were going to work for…
4 Must-have Elements of Trade Magazine Writing
I love it when people say “Trade writing is boring.” Actually, I don’t love it. The “boring” part is not true. What’s boring about finding an interesting angle to a technically challenging topic? What’s boring about making it reader-friendly? What’s boring about making people remember that article because you, the writer, went out of your…
The Most Profitable Freelance Writing Niche
I saw something on Twitter yesterday that made me click. It was a blog post promising the most profitable freelance writing niches right now. I read through the list. Uh huh. Some of them I agreed with. But all of them sounded limiting. I won’t fault the blogger for pointing out what in essence is…
Your Freelance Writing Continuous Improvement Plan
Today is more of an interactive post. Consider it homework that will actually make a difference to your freelance writing business. “Become addicted to constant and never-ending improvement.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo I saw a bastardized version of this quote on Twitter and did some researching to make sure it was attributed correctly. It wasn’t,…
The Freelance Writing Readjustment
Here’s the thing about a freelance writing career — You go along building a client base, you get comfortable with how things are going, and you ride it out. Or you slap it together every day and cross your fingers. Which one are you? In many ways, both of those methods are shortchanging your potential….