WritingThoughts

© Laura Spencer

Have you ever spent a vacation day caring for a sick family member?  Do you have an unfulfilled bucket list a mile long that never seems to get shorter?

If you answered “yes” to either question, chances are that you have a traditional job instead of a freelance writing job.

Even flexible traditional work positions don’t give you the same control over your schedule that a freelance writer has.  In fact, the desire for a better work/life balance is one of the reasons that many people become freelancers.

But even freelance writers sometimes struggle with work/life balance. Without proper planning, you may find yourself with a more demanding schedule as freelance writer than you ever had as an employee.

In this post, I’ll list over ten freelancing practices that can help you to achieve a better work/life balance.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/alexskopje

“Anyone can write.” “The barrier to becoming a freelance writer is low.” “Writing is easy.”

These are comments that I often see made online. While there’s a grain of truth in them, they are not completely true.

It’s important to correct these misperceptions because they drive down income for those of us who earn a living as a writer. These beliefs also lead to unhappy clients with writing projects that need to be rewritten.

In this post, I’ll discuss the question of whether anyone can be a writer. I’ll list six basic skills that writers need.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/Thinglass

Studies show that crisp, concise writing that gets the point across quickly is the most effective.

For online writing, efficient copy is even more important. Most readers scan online posts and articles before they decide to read them.

Yet, many writers make careless mistakes. You can’t count on your spell checker to catch everything. Do you make these five careless blunders?

If you liked this post, you may also like Tighten Your Web Writing in 6 Easy Steps.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/alexskopje

How many posts have you published? 100? 200? More?

If you’ve been blogging for as long as I have, you’ve probably published hundreds of posts.

(For example, this blog has over 500 published posts.)

You may be wondering what to do (if anything) with your old posts. In this post I answer that question. I’ll go over five ways you can recycle your old content.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/Hreni

What you share on social media is important. The quality of your shares can add to or detract from your personal brand.

I didn’t realize this until I started to receive compliments on the quality of the posts and articles that I share.

More than one social contact has complimented me on sharing relevant and helpful information. Some have asked how I do it.

Most writers understand that they should share more than just their own content to engage their audience. But where exactly do you find the right information to share?

If you struggle to build your freelance writing brand through social media, use this post to improve your brand with social sharing. I’ll go over three easy steps for effective social sharing and list three tools to help you find good information. You can find even more information in my post on Content Creation vs Content Curation.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/ahmetemre

Whether you’re a writer, an author, or a small business–you may have wondered if spending time on social media is worthwhile.

My answer to that is a qualified yes.

Social media is worth your time, but only if you use it wisely. Unwise use of social media adds just another time-consuming task to your already busy day. As I’ve discussed before, many businesses make mistakes with their social media use.

In this post, I’ll share 12 important reasons why I think social media is worth spending time on. I’ll also add a few tips on how to use it effectively for business.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/Devonyu

Grammar mistakes can make you look bad. A misspelled word here, a dangling participle there. That’s all it takes for your would-be client to decide that you’re sloppy and move on.

That’s why it’s so important to proofread anything you publish.

Of course, it’s hard to catch your own mistakes. There’s nothing more annoying than rereading an old post or article and discovering a mistake you didn’t see the first time around.

But sometimes, you don’t realize you’ve made a mistake because your grammar skills are rusty or weak. In those instances, you won’t find the mistake no matter how many times you reread your material.

Fortunately, there are plenty of resources available online for writers to improve their skills. Many of those resources are free. In this post, I list 14 of my favorite grammar resources.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/Pixsooz

We writers love to hate our editor.

Saying “the editor goofed it up” is one way to escape the blame for a poorly written piece.

In some ways, editing is the least favorite of the writing-related professions for many writers.

Some writers hate editing even if they are asked to do it themselves. I’ve met writers who won’t accept editing projects.

Not me. I happen to love editing projects and I’m always glad when I’m offered one. Likewise, I appreciate the efforts of a good editor.

Whether you like editing or not, there’s a lot of demand for good editors. My recent editing projects have included a white paper, the copy for an infographic, and a book for children.

In this post, I’ll explain why some writers dislike editing. I’ll also describe the reasons why I happen to love it.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/airdone

With many writing assignments ending up online, traffic is significant factor. But is it the writer’s responsibility to drive visitors to the client’s site?

As a writer, you may have faced this question yourself. If you’ve dealt with this issue, I’d love to hear how you handled it in the comments.

Personally, I often share something I’ve written for a client using my own social media accounts. However, sharing through my social accounts isn’t always the best way for a client to get the most traffic.

In this post, I’ll explore the issue of building web traffic for clients. If you’ve been sharing content through your own social accounts, I’ll explain how to draw more targeted traffic for your clients.

[Read more →]

©iStock.com/Antonio_Diaz

So, you want to be a freelance writer.

That’s great. Freelance writing can be a rewarding career choice. I should know.

I moved from a technical communication department twelve years ago to freelance writing and I’ve never looked back. Freelance writing has been good to me.

Unfortunately, some people become freelance writers for all the wrong reasons.

In this post, I discuss the one question every would-be freelance writer should ask. I also examine the possible answers.

[Read more →]