Words on the Page

Monthly Assessment: April and May 2015

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: God Help the Child by Toni Morrison What’s on the iPod: Everything by Michael Bublé What a great Writers Worth month! Thank you to every single one of you who contributed your stories and ideas. I’m always amazed by the incredible talent and insight of my colleagues at all career levels. Everyone…

Writers Worth: Writing Success Your Way

Posted on by lwidmer

There are few people in the freelance writing world I’ve known longer than Anne Wayman. Anne is a veteran writer who was the driving force behind About.com’s Freelance Writing website. There, Anne built a strong, cohesive community — one that is still pretty darned cohesive a decade and some years later. She’s taught a lot…

Writers Worth: Everything’s Relative

Posted on by lwidmer

Cathy Miller is one of my closest friends. I’ve never met her, but it’s hard not to like a successful, hard-working freelance writer who’s going about her business quietly while totally owning her space. In this her third post for this Writers Worth Month (it’s a record — thank you, Cathy!), Cathy reiterates the idea…

Writers Worth: Changing the Writing Conversation

Posted on by lwidmer

I remember the first time I connected with Sharon Hurley Hall. It was on social media, and it was one of those moments I’d waited for. I’d noticed Sharon before, found her blog, and loved the work she put out. I wanted to know her. Thanks to social media, it happened. I’m happy to consider…

Writers Worth: A Defining Moment in A Freelance Career

Posted on by lwidmer

Friendship is a wonderful thing, especially when it’s given freely and appreciated fully. Such is the friendship between Cathy Miller and me. Cathy notices things. When she saw I was writing a good bit more this Writers Worth Month than usual, she sent me a note asking if I needed more content. Now any time…

Writers Worth: Realign Your Values

Posted on by lwidmer

Once upon a time, I had a client who worked hard. She juggled multiple projects within her department. One of those projects was a document I was tapped to help with. Every year, we worked together to get this document ready. Time wasn’t a factor — this was a paper version of an online document….

Writers Worth: Freelance Writing Career Do’s and Don’ts

Posted on by lwidmer

When I asked my writer friends for guest posts, Ashley Festa was not only the first one to volunteer, but also the first one to offer two posts. That’s why I love her — she’s eager to give back to the profession and help beginning writers get a good start. What follows is a fantastic…

Writers Worth: The $100K Myth

Posted on by lwidmer

I was cruising a LinkedIn forum the other day when I happened upon a link to an article that made me so upset I wanted to scream at the author. The subject? How she made $100K in her fledgling years of writing without breaking a sweat. Bully for her, right? Only as I read through…

Writers Worth: Showing Confidence to Clients

Posted on by lwidmer

When I started seeing this one particular writer around the Internet, it was because she was saying some pretty smart things. In fact, it was one of those smart things — you’re worth more than a few pennies — compelled me to write to her. Alicia Rades is making some great progress in her career,…

Writers Worth: Building Trust

Posted on by lwidmer

I’ve been watching a number of conversations on LinkedIn forums and elsewhere, and it’s interesting how many people have unwarranted trust issues. Not that they don’t trust their clients — for the most part, they do (and they don’t when the client hasn’t earned it). I’m talking about writers trusting themselves. Too many freelance writers…

Sharon Hurley Hall

Love the idea of a kudos file, Lori; great way to get positive reinforcement when you need it.

KeriLynn Engel

Seconded, Sharon – I love the kudos file idea! I was lucky to get a couple of very positive client comments this week already, but I know they'll be tough to remember when my confidence is low. I'm off to start my kudos file now!

Anne Wayman

Yes, I too love the kudos file idea. Totally agree trusting ourselves is a must.

Paula

I don't need to say anything, Sharon, Kerilyn and Anne just said it for me.

Like Keri, I plan to stat a kudos file now, starting with the three compliments I received a week or so ago.

I just finished a "why not?" project, but it was for myself, not a client. A local arts group was holing its second annual New Play Festival. A friend tried to get me to enter last year, but I'm not great with play writing (I don't know upstage from downstage) so I didn't enter. Out of the 100 or so entries, my friend's play was one of six or seven that "won" a reading. The turnout was really astounding – the room was so full people were literally spilling into the hall – and it was really entertaining and inspiring to see and hear actors the 10-minute plays and see writers' faces when the audience laughed or cried at their works.

I was hemming and hawing about entering this year. I had the germ of an idea, but didn't have much time. A couple weeks ago when my friend told me they had over 200 entries from across the country, but only one or two from our local area (and none from the host city, my city), I decided to enter just so someone was representing our town. With hundred of entries I know the odds are against my play being selected for a live reading – that sort of freed me up to write it the way I wanted to write it – ambiguous ending an all.

Lori Widmer

It's a folder I created in Outlook, Sharon. When some of the nasty people who get by the vetting process hit me with their ugliness, I refer to the file. 🙂

Keri, great idea. The more you can put in there, the better. It's a godsend when someone has just insulted you or treated you badly.

Anne, trust is essential. We can't do right by ourselves if we don't trust ourselves.

What a fun project, Paula! That had to feel good. 🙂

Ashley

I have a kudos file, and thanks for the reminder to add a few recent emails to it! I need to browse in there right now anyway. And I need to practice some of the tips you wrote about here.

Lori Widmer

Commit them to memory, Ashley. The toughest time you'll have with nasty people is at the beginning of the career and going out about three years. Once you've had enough BS thrown your way, you'll toughen up enough to put your foot down.

Until then, the kudos file works wonders. 🙂

Damaria Senne

This is such a timely post for me, Lori. Thank you.

I've been aggressively marketing my business the past couple of months and sometimes, when I don't hear from people after sending an LOI or I email an old contact and don't hear back, I'd question myself.

Not my credentials, because those clips are a fact. But i questioned whether I do have the chops to do the work/whether the contacts have confidence in my skills.

This week, I looked through my portfolio and one particular feature article boosted my confidence hugely. When I wrote that piece, I didn't know much about the industry and had to interview a completely new-to-me pool of subjects. Yet, I managed to find them, pin them down for an interview and wrote such a damn good piece one of the companies I interviewed has kept it on their website's press section for years.

For years I forgot about that gig. But seeing that clip reminded me what I'm capable of doing.. what I have already done. And I think, sometimes we need to take the time to remind ourselves where we come from and if we don't have that shiny clip yet, keep heart that the clips will happen in time.