Being Productive

July 15, 2009 at 3:48 pm (Freelance Writing)

One of the most important things in any freelance business whether it is writing or photography is that you have to be productive. If you’re not productive then you’re probably not making any money. And isn’t making money what we all want to do. Isn’t that the reason we opened up our own freelancing business to make the moola.

I find that if I’m unorganized I can’t be productive, no matter how hard I try or how important a project is. If my office is a wreck (like it is now) I just can’t focus on anything but the mess (and then I blog about it). I have a few projects in the works that I’d really like to work on today, but I think that the office organization should probably be bumped ahead of them just for today so that I can focus on my work and give my clients what they’re paying for.

My desk sits facing a double window with the door to my back. That always makes me uneasy so today the desk will be moved so that it sits facing the door or at least angled toward the door. My shelving unit is a wreck thanks to my boyfriends massive amount of car magazines that he reads once and tosses aside, but still wants to keep just in case there is something he needs to know, (like he’d ever be able to find what he’s looking for). He’d have to go through hundreds of them before he finds what he’s looking for.

Well, I guess it’s time to get to work.

How do you keep productive?

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What Keeps You Motivated?

July 14, 2009 at 4:29 pm (Freelance Writing, Writing)
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Many people ask me what keeps me motivated to keep freelance writing. Well, the first thing I tell them, it isn’t the money. They smile slightly with uncertainty and confusion and I laugh a little. I don’t blame them for being confused. I am most of the time, but I make my confusion work for me. The real reason I write is because I love doing it. Yeah, the money is good (when you get it), but other than that I love getting the thoughts that are trapped inside of me – out. On days where I don’t write for clients, I’m writing in my blogs or working on my novel. Either way I’m writing. I usually take off on Saturdays and Sundays, but even then I have ideas running through my head of future articles or new add-in characters for my novel.

What keeps you motivated to write?

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Making Time

July 13, 2009 at 2:24 pm (Freelance Writing)

Some writers find it hard to make time to write. Most writers try to carve out a small time frame of their day to just write. Even it is a short blog post, or maybe jotting down some ideas for a new article, or just editing a previously written article. Time is very precious to all of us writers out there in the world.

Writers who aren’t writing full time to make a living and those with children tend to have a bit more of a challenge ahead of them than those who only write. But even for us who work full time as a writer sometimes get distracted and fall behind in their work. When this happens we tend to find ourselves trying to salvage any waking hour that we have to play catch up. Trust me, I’ve been there.

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Why I Became a Freelance Writer

June 15, 2009 at 9:54 am (Freelance Writing, Writing)

This is actually a post from my other blog… I thought maybe it would fit here.

 

“This morning I was reading on the Absolutewrite.com forum and came across this question. Why did you become a freelance writer? Good Question and I posted my answer as follows.

 

I became a freelance writer because….

A very good friend (no longer a friend) told me I could never make money by writing on the internet. So of course, me being me – I had to prove him wrong. He had tried to do the same thing – write online content and failed, so in turn he told me it just wasn’t possible. You needed a degree and an agent. HA! Boy did I prove him wrong. I simply winged it. I landed my first keyword assignment (very low paying) but the amount of money wasn’t really the point, it was making money by writing for someone on the internet. After that I decided to do my research and soon started actually making quite a bit of money writing keyword articles and blogs posts.

Once I showed him my articles online and a few magazines I had been published in, he no longer wanted to be friends with me. I guess he really wasn’t a true friend to begin with. I didn’t mean to come across as being a rude *****, but when someone tells me I can’t do something, well my competitiveness kicks in and well, the race is on. And well folks that is why I became a freelance writer.”

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Blogging – Why Blog if You’re Not Getting Paid for it?

May 16, 2009 at 4:31 pm (Blogging, Freelance Writing, Writing)
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One of the most common questions I’m asked as a freelance writer is about blogging. Everyone asks the same question I used to ask when I first began as a freelancer twelve years ago. Why blog is you’re not getting paid for it? This is a good question and I didn’t have an answer for it then, but now I sort of do.

Blogging, no matter what the reason you are doing it for helps you as a writer to practice writing. Plain and simple. When you’re blogging what are you doing the most of? Writing. Some writers have personal blogs where they post their thoughts, personal problems, or their trying to work out ideas for upcoming projects. Some blogs are private and some are posted online for everyone to read. I see it this way. If you are a writer you’re always looking for a way to network with other writers, editors, and clients. A blog is one of the best ways to get into that network of the writing world.

I’ve landed quite a few new clients just from posting my blog links for them and a few of my clients found me by just scrolling through some blogs and happened to land on mine. After reading some they emailed me and asked if I’d like to be a ghost blogger for thier blog. Some of them I agreed to work with and others just weren’t up my alley. But as we all know, the internet is vast and you can find pretty much anything you dream of in that cyber world, so why not network yourself through your blog. No, you’re not getting paid for your blog posts specifically, but if you network enough, the pay may find you by offering up new opportunities for you to work with a great new client.

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Hello world & Welcome!

May 9, 2009 at 8:32 pm (Uncategorized)

This is the newest of the UpSideDowngrl blogs. Now the whole idea of this blog is to blog, blog, and blog some more about the real world. Since already have a personal blog and a photography blog, why not have a real world one as well.

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