Content Magician, Freelance web content writers

Archive for October, 2008

I don’t rule my kids with the rod. I prefer the clothes hanger, works just the same and it’s everywhere! But that’s not the point of this post…the point is this.

My friend wrote this in an email a couple of weeks back…well, sort of.

“I find working from home so hard because I tend to listen to voices of doubt and the internal need to watch a little television, lay on the bed or read a couple of pages from my favorite book. I don’t think it’s possible for me to write from home because I just don’t have the discipline to do it”

Trust me, you’re talking to someone who is literally dried-up on the discipline front and let’s her impulsive nature rule her head. And if this person can practice discipline when it comes to her writing career, I don’t see why anyone else can’t.

I used to dance on table tops. There, beat that for impulsiveness.

If you can….here’s another one…I used to sleep under cars.

OK, I’m not going further than that.

Anyway, the point of this whole blog post is this…if you’re determined enough to be a freelance writer and have been looking for ways to earn money without leaving your home, you’ve GOT TO learn how to be more disciplined about your working hours. There are no two ways about it and there are definitely no shortcuts that I know of.

Being a freelance writer means that you have to be your own boss…a very tough but gentle and understanding boss, that is. Be nice to yourself and try to be the kind of freelance writer who knows his or her own boundaries in terms of work and personal life.

I know it’s hard but it’s very, very possible.

This is what happens when I feel like switching on the TV.

Self-talk: “OK, this is the deal. You finish this article off and then you write another page of that book and you’re free to go. But by 10.45am, I want your ass back in here, finishing up another page of that book before going off to fetch Son 2 back from school. Understand? Otherwise, there’ll be no TV for you for 2 whole days!”

I am mentally squirming and twisting my hands together, nodding at the same time.

This, my friends, is how to rule yourself with a rod when it comes to your freelance writing business.

The more natural you are at making friends without asking for something back in return, the better your business will be. I’ve figured this out all on my own…imagine that! HA HA HA HA HA!

Anyway, this advice is for all those aspiring web content writers out there who have been sending me emails and asking me for advice on how to become a web content writer on the internet and free themselves from the need to look for employment so that they can lead a more fulfilling life, etc.

Well, let me clear something up here. Even when you’re a freelance web content writer, there’s no GUARANTEE that you’ll live a more fulfilling life.

But the chances are higher compared to when you’re employed, of course.

Today’s advice about being a freelance web content writer is this…make friends freely, often and be genuine. Everywhere you go, online and offline, be nice. When you’re nice to people, they like you and when they do, they ask what you do (cue: tell them that you’re a freelance web content writer), and they’ll remember.

Out of the one-hundred people you tell about your freelance web content writer business, ten will probably remember you. Two of them might have immediate business for you, three are thinking about it. There you have five people thinking about hiring you as their freelance web content writer.

The other five have your name written at the back of their minds…they probably remember you more for your nice behavior and friendliness than your catchy phrases about being a writer…but it’s there.

Somewhere down the road, two of the remaining five might have something for you, and BING! Your name crops up.

This is one of the best ways to break it into the freelance web content writing business.

Ben, this is for you since you’re the last to ask this question.

Cheers!

Love,

Marsha M

The widardrette of words @ freelance writer by choice

Don’t think for one minute that now that you’re a writer with eons of experience behind you, you don’t have to continue recharging yourself by reading what other people have to write. I almost made the same mistake. But there’s one thing about writing is that once you get started, you get so absorbed into it that it almost feels like you’re living in a whole different world and nothing should get in between you and your writing jobs. It becomes the very core of you as the creative energy flows!

But just like a dancer needs to watch videos and get ideas from others and just like how a puppeteer will observe other people with their own crafts, writers need to continue feeding his or her mind with ideas that other people may have. Even if it’s something completely unrelated and obscure. At the very least, you know what NOT to do.

Only recently I started picking up books and reading again. I abandoned this love for reading of mind a long time ago. Somewhere between getting my first job and becoming a mother. It’s like there are things more important to me than reading….and then came the writing and I got sucked deeper into the vortex of words of my own. It was only recently that someone asked me this, “When was the last time you read a book, a magazine…and something that’s not a newspaper?” and I stared at him bug-eyed! Ack! When was it, anyway?

Surfing the internet for blogging ideas is a good thing too so long as you retain the information without plagiarizing other people’s website content. If you’re going to copy the whole content, one, get their written permission to do; two, link back to them or provide the source; three, don’t do it!

It’s crucial to get the creative juice flowing as a writer. So, if you’ve run out of ideas, just go sit down in a corner and start reading a book you have tucked away (collecting cobwebs) on one of those shelves.