Uncategorized | Words on the Page

The Writing Career Cross-over

Posted on October 15, 2014 by lwidmer

What I’m reading: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe What’s on the iPod: Only For You by Heartless Bastards My busy Monday became a busy Tuesday became another busy one today. The projects I have aren’t complicated, but the deadlines are short. Plus, there’s some corralling of interviewees, so that takes some time. One project…

Top Tips Series #4: Samar Owais

Posted on October 13, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: God Only Knows by The Beach Boys I couldn’t tell you where I first met Samar (pronounced “Summer”) Owais. I remember her interviewing me for a podcast, and I remember interacting with her quite a bit on a blog or two. Then there were the personal emails, which are always fun….

Free Advice Friday: 10 Commandments of Writing Value

Posted on October 10, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: I Will Follow You by Rivrrs What a week. A sizable client project, almost completed, has occupied seven of the eight or more hours I spend a day at this electronic box. I’m happy because the client is happy, the project is in a good place, and we’re about to wrap…

6 Ways to Increase Writing Income

Posted on October 8, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Sing by Ed Sheeran It’s been a fairly slow week so far. After the last two weeks of 9-hour workdays, I’m glad for the breather. I have a few projects still pending, and I’m working through edits with a current client. I’m marketing (aren’t I always?) and there have been a…

Top Tips Writers Series #3: Paula Hendrickson

Posted on October 6, 2014 by lwidmer

What I’m reading: Vita and Harold by Nigel Nicolson What’s on the iPod: Serpentine by Chris Bathgate Know what I love about Paula Hendrickson? Everything. Here’s a person who’s not only hugely successful in her niche (and entertainment/celebrity is not an easy niche to break into), but someone who extends herself to her fellow freelancers….

Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on October 3, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Would You Fight for My Love? by Jack White What a busy week. I feel like I’ve run marathons standing still. One project is consuming all my time. I had to carve out time yesterday to market. If I hadn’t, there was a good chance there would be a gap in…

Reducing Writing Client Shock

Posted on October 2, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Gee Baby by Joe & Ann I’m making good progress on my big project. Having talked with the client, I’m feeling confident that I know what they want. I had provided them with a rough draft for review, because I wanted to get a sense for where their expectations are in…

Monthly Assessment: September 2014

Posted on October 1, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Hard Way Home by Runaway Dorothy (with scenes from my friend’s living room) October already, huh? I can’t believe how quickly this month came up on me. It’s always a major mind shift in September; first there’s the last holiday of the summer, then the work starts piling in, then it’s the…

Top Tips Writers Series #2: KeriLynn Engel

Posted on September 29, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Prove It To You by Kris Allen I love when this blog introduces me to new people. KeriLynn Engel is one of those people. When Keri signed up for my newsletter, we struck up a conversation. What I learned was this is a woman who is bright, eager to learn, and…

Free Advice Friday: 10 Hard Facts About a Writing Career

Posted on September 26, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Skinny Love by Birdy Quite the busy week. I’m deep into a sizable project and doing well with it. I’m hoping to deliver it to the client by next Friday, when I suspect we’ll go through a round or two of revisions. After that, I may have another project in the…

Eileen

September 26, 2014

Regarding the "never stop learning" point: I would encourage every copywriter to set aside a percentage of income for professional development. Whether that's a webinar on how to write white papers, books, workshops, conferences, coaching, or just a chunk of time each week studying up on formats or markets you're not familiar with – this time invested is crucial to grow your skills and your income. If you were in a corporate job, you'd be doing some of that at the behest of your boss. As a freelancer, you get to decide where to invest your time, money and effort for professional improvement – but if you want to grow your income and get better clients, it's a non-negotiable.

KeriLynn Engel

September 26, 2014

Spot-on, Lori! I should save this list and hand it out whenever family & friends think I have it easy just because I work from home. Being a freelance writer takes more hard work than any job I've ever had. (It's so worth it, though!)

Paula

September 26, 2014

The hardest fact to deal with that I've found is the uncertainty of when payments will arrive.

I've had several months this year where I've had to pull funds out of savings just so I had enough to pay bills while I was waiting for a stack of invoices to be paid. Even regular clients can misplace an invoice or be a couple days behind on payments – and in my experience that is most likely to happen when I have a huge property tax payment or a broken appliance.

Knock on wood, I've finally managed to rebuild savings to a healthier level (yet not quite up where I want it), and I'm expecting a few more payments within the next week.

Ashley

September 26, 2014

Great list, Lori, and so true about coasting and targeted marketing. It's nice to have steady clients who bring the work to you, but I don't let them forget that I'm around when I know it's about the time they have a cyclical project coming up. And I was doing the haphazard marketing for quite a while and not getting much work at all. Once I finally figured out who my ideal client was, I started getting more regular, and better, work. It is definitely the hardest and most rewarding job I've ever had!

Katharine Swan

September 27, 2014

This is a great list, Lori! I'm totally sharing this around, just like KeriLynn.

I think for me the hardest thing was dealing with burnout. I went into freelancing reading everything on the subject I could get my hands on, so I was prepared for most everything on your list. No one ever wrote anything about getting burnt out, though, and so I was totally unprepared for that. And when you freelance, you can't half-ass it and still draw a paycheck.

My solution was to take a part-time job that would enable me to change gears for a little while. Taking a break restored my desire to freelance again, though, and I've been transitioning back into it. I'm happy to be back, marketing and all!

Lori Widmer

September 29, 2014

Eileen, excellent point. Do you have favorite courses/webinars you can recommend?

Keri, sometimes it's family that's hardest to convince of your efforts. They see you sitting at the computer. No big deal, right? Wrong! There's work happening!

Paula, I agree. There are one or two clients I've had payment issues with, but since I've raised my rates, most of those have disappeared. Though right now I'm sitting wondering where a check that's nearly two months late is…

Ashley, isn't it true? Once you know who your client is, you're going to do much better with the marketing and the workflow. I like what you say about the cyclical projects — I had one client whose project comes at the same time every year. Until I became too expensive for them, I would get in front of them three months before.

Katharine, great point! Burnout isn't something we discuss much. It's a real problem, too. I like how you hit the reset button — a good way to gain a bit of perspective!