Freelance Writing Blog

Pushy Client Tricks

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Ants Marching by The Dave Matthews BandWhat I’m reading upstairs: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather Another uber-special moment yesterday brought to me by the IRS. I have to give them credit – they’re exceptionally nice on the phone, and their letters have lost the judgmental attitude I once…

Just Call Me “Hooka”

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: American Slang by The Gaslight Anthem My favorite Screw You! writer Kathy Kehrli alerted me to a new comment on her January post regarding her Demand Studios experience. I had to laugh out loud – the poster likened professional writing behavior with “prostitution” going as far as calling Kathy’s clientele that…

Short Weekends, Long Lists

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty I wait for the weekends, extend them by a day when I can, and still they fly by. We had a meditation monk here for two days, which was great. But it meant we had to arrange a meditation group, which can be a lot like…

Little Irksome Things

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Murray by Pete Yorn Remember when you were taught to use a 50-cent word in place of a five-dollar one? In plenty of projects I handle and Internet postings I read, I see a multitude of sins against this piece of advice. So for the record, let’s just get it all…

Life Goes On

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Sweetness by Jimmy Eat WorldWhat I’m reading: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather Dear friend Anne Wayman has a post up about saying no. It’s a small word, easy to spell, but damn tough to utter sometimes. Anne has learned how, but how many of us have? Here’s the…

Pricing and the New Freelancer

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Viva la Vida by Coldplay Yesterday’s return to work was pretty fruitful. I managed an article revision, an ongoing project section, and interview requests for an upcoming article. Also, I sent out an idea to my editor chum. All this while going to the dentist and helping someone in the house…

Re-entry

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: War is Kind by Jakob DylanWhat I’m reading: Traveller’s History of Ireland Has it been just a week since I last worked? More like a week and a half, which makes sense given the disconnection from work, stress, and all things responsible I’m immersed in. We drove north to Ontario two…

Links and Things

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Poke by Frightened Rabbit I love bloggers who make me laugh. As I was avoiding packing for my trip last week, I went around the Internet and found some hilarious posts on everything from Craig’s List to … Craig’s List: The Grand Experiment byClint Osterholz – Clint, you crack me up…

Grammar and Your Client

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Into the Mystic by Van Morrison After having more than two client interactions get heated over grammar and sentence structure, I was itching to hire some mensa-level kid-geek to plant a virus in every Word Grammar Check function in the country. I loathe that program and all it’s done to ruin…

The Creative Break From, Well, Your Creativity

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Where You are by Rascal Flatts Before you think the heat’s gotten to me, let me explain the title of this post. As I was sitting crafting poetry the other day – me, the person least likely to have time to write poetry – I couldn’t help but wonder where the…

Devon Ellington

That's great, but it doesn't mean you can't sell it someday. You're simply not under the same deadline pressure so to do.

"I"m writing the books because I want to make money on them" — I hope that's not the only reason, because a book is far too big a commitment to just do it for the cash.

Fiction, short stories, plays, poetry — yes, they pay differently than the business writing, and over a longer period of time. But, even when you do them as a break from the business writing, still keep an eye on the business aspect. Don't sell yourself short on them, and remember that, without the passion behind it, it won't sell.

While business writing can be full of technical perfection and bells and whistles, fiction, short stories, and poetry need the passion in order to succeed on any level.

Write whatever you want as your break, and then, later, go back with the businesswoman's eye and decide where to place it.

Cathy

For those of you that follow Anne Wayman, you probably have noticed her Friday Fun always has a reference to Creative Copy Challenge. That does it for me.

Twice a week, Shane Arthur, the creator of Creative Copy Challenge, takes 10 random words or phrases and you have to use all 10 in some creative copy-sky's the limit. I started being the unofficial welcomer (is that a word?) and used all 10 in my welcome. I also started a Death & the Detective series that I use the 10 once a week.

I only get there on the weekend, due to work, but it is such fun to do something totally non-business & the community is the best!

I did an email interview with Shane a while back if you are interested http://simplystatedbusiness.com/2010/05/24/how-to-create-a-community-with-creativity/

But, come join us-there's some great creativity going on-everyone is welcome & it's fabulous for stirring up the creativity.

Valerie

Great topic. I know I can be so consumed with making something marketable that it can take me away from that pure creative flow. So I try to set aside some time to just write purely indulgent stuff – the kind of thing I know will never be shown to my agent or a client. Sometimes that's the trick to unlocking a whole treasure trove of ideas.

Paula

Every now and then I'll have the urge to write a screenplay. Last year I had a blast knocking out 15 pages for the Mustard Museum's annual writing contest (it was their first contest for screenplays). I only learned about the contest about three days before the deadline, so I had no choice but to rush. All stories needed to involve mustard, so I did a comedic film noir mystery, "Condiment Confidential," in which a ruthless businessman is found dead in a vat of gourmet mustard.

But more often than not, my creative outlets involve non-writing activities. Cooking, baking, knitting, crocheting, quilting. It sounds like I'm a little old granny, but I think I've always gravitated to those things since no one else in my family did any homespun things. As a kid, a lot of my friends had moms who baked cookies, but I knew since I didn't have a mom, if I wanted home made anything, I had to learn to make it myself.

I've also had a life-long fascination of making something from nothing. So this year I'm getting into gardening a little – I have a mini kitchen garden than appears to be thriving, and just planted s small hosta garden in an ugly, unused area along the driveway.

I really do pity people who have no creative outlets. There's such satisfaction in knowing you made something.

Devon Ellington

Oh, to actually answer the question, my pottery class fulfills the step back from professional creativity. Right now, I have the technique of about a four-year-old (hey, I only had one four-hour session so far), so there's no way I can consider it in terms of business. It's something that's just for me, and it's removed from anything work-related.

Which is hard, because, as a writer, EVERYTHING is material!

Mridu Khullar

Painting, believe it or not. Though I hear many writers are closet painters, probably because of all the factors you've mentioned here.

Lori

Devon, let me explain. I pushed through the most recent book in order to meet the Nano deadline, and I loved every minute of it. But now I feel pressured to go back and edit. Real pressure. I know it has holes and gaps aplenty and I know what it needs. But I have to reread it all and make sure the edits go where they should and the new sections interplay well with the existing ones. That's why I equate writing books to make money – I've managed to find a way to suck the fun right out of it. I could kick myself.

Still on vaca, but wanted to throw that out there. 🙂

becky

Huh – I coulda sworn I already said this…

I love to art journal. I discovered it less than a year ago and I absolutely LOVE this medium for creativity. So much fun.

Michael LaRocca

Website design. In particular, my own site. Creative but without the investment of my writing (novels) or my editing.

Back when I lived in China, I found relief through cooking. But now I live in a part of Thailand where it is always too hot to spend time in the kitchen. Always.