lwidmer | Words on the Page

How I Boosted my Freelance Career (and how you can, too)

Posted on November 7, 2023March 10, 2026 by lwidmer

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the freelancer I was and the freelancer I am now. They are two different people, my friends. The old me was a hit-and-miss freelancer. I lost my job suddenly and had two kids to support. So my freelance career back then was pasted together. I’d take whatever gig…

How to Fail at Freelance Writing

Posted on October 19, 2023November 6, 2023 by lwidmer

If you’ve been freelancing for a while, you’ve seen a lot. I’d bet you’ve seen something like what Randy Hecht shares with us today. Randy is the moderator of the popular LinkedIn forum LinkEds & Writers, which has a large population of working freelance editors and writers — the site’s target audience. As you might…

How to Lose $$ with Bad Freelance Marketing (and how to fix it)

Posted on October 3, 2023October 2, 2023 by lwidmer

Freelancers, are you killing your chances of gaining a client or a network connection? Do you know if you are? Hint: you are if you do anything like this: Writer Jane submitted a thread to a writers’ forum. The moderator, another writer, turned it down because it was promotional, which is against the forum rules….

The No-nonsense Freelance Negotiation Tactic

Posted on September 21, 2023September 20, 2023 by lwidmer

If you wait long enough (five minute usually), the universe will hand you a blog topic. In this case, it was a fellow writer who sent along her own scenario that serves as a reminder to all writers that you can — and should — stand up for your freelance writing business. Here’s the scenario…

When is a Freelancer Not a Freelancer?

Posted on September 1, 2023September 1, 2023 by lwidmer

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Looking for writers with a background in digital news reporting to write for us on a freelance basis. We would need 40 hours per week and the hours would be 9-to-5. See anything wrong with that? You should. And your obvious follow-up question to the job poster…

Freelance ‘Anti-Niche’ Niche Boost

Posted on August 21, 2023August 18, 2023 by lwidmer

I’m going to say something that’s a little controversial — We’re all niche writers. We’re also all generalists. No matter what you start out writing, you eventually end up with two things happening: You start to write a lot of the same topic or writing form (blog posts, ghosted articles, case studies, etc.) You write…

AI and Freelancing: The Good & Bad

Posted on August 2, 2023August 2, 2023 by lwidmer

I was on YouTube the other day and I saw a series of videos about the glories of AI and how this “new” technology is going to revolutionize work and the way we live. And of course, the comments were doomsday-style warnings about how it’s going to kill freelancing. Here’s my thought about AI: AI…

Freelance Rates & Raises

Posted on July 19, 2023December 21, 2023 by lwidmer

Sometimes you go online and for some reason, you simply don’t expect to see the stupid shit people will say in public let alone the tangle that is their thought processes. I was on a writing forum yesterday when I saw what has to be some of the most absurd thinking I’ve seen in a…

Writers Worth: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on June 27, 2023June 26, 2023 by lwidmer

You know, someday I hope that the world will sort itself out and that freelancers will shun the crap that is posted on job boards. Alas, that is not happening today. Thanks to Paula Hendrickson, who shared this particularly ridiculous job listing that came to her via a friend. And while this one pays better…

Freelance, Not Employee: A Quick Guide

Posted on June 23, 2023June 22, 2023 by lwidmer

If you missed yesterday’s #FreelanceChat, you missed a good discussion on client boundaries. (Head over to Twitter and check it out.) It brought up a serious issue we freelancers have to deal with — how to know when a client is treating you like an employee. It’s certainly happened to me. One of those occasions…

Paula Hendrickson

June 23, 2023

Those are sure some doozies, Lori.

I’ve shared this one before, because it went beyond overstepping right into creepy cyberstalking.

A few years back, I landed a new-to-me client. The first red flag was they called short posts sourced only with celebrity tweets “articles.” Um. No. Just no. Those are regurgitated social media comments posing as a two- or three-paragraph blurb. I had a REAL article (you know, with original interviews, lots of research, transcribing, revisions, and a heck of a lot more writing than ten of their “articles” combined) due, so I put off a call to discuss their overly-complicated system. (Basically, they expected the writers to be web editors and art departments, too, for no additional compensation.)

I was already wondering if those hassles were worth the not-great per-word rates they paid for what amounted to quick blurbs. But I was willing to give it a shot, since it could have been a few hundred extra dollars per week, and it never hurts to learn new skills.

Anyway, I told the would-be client I speak until the next business day because I had a big deadline. Like most human beings do, I took a brief lunch break. Not a full hour. Just enough time to make a bite to eat while perusing social media and take my dog out. I didn’t post anything, but I liked or retweeted something. When I got back to my desk there was an angry email from her saying, essentially, “You don’t have time for a call, but you have time to tweet?” She then added, “I don’t see why it takes you so long to write an article. Most of our writers can write five or 10 articles per day.”

That’s when I schooled her on the difference between ARTICLES and “articles,” and told her — not that it’s any business of hers — that I’d been on my lunch break. And we parted ways. I let her think it was a mutual decision due to what she called our different working styles. But it was because she was a cyberstalking micromanager who I didn’t want to do business with.

1. lwidmer
  
  June 26, 2023
  
  Oh, I remember that client, Paula! You were wise to turn your back on her, too. No one gets to micromanage like that. We are NOT employees. I wonder how she, such a busy person, had time to stalk you? If a client doesn’t show trust and respect, it’s a non-starter.
  
  Tweets are “articles”? Really? Jeez.