Writing website content for a company you are working with for the first time is a tricky business. Because a website is a very personal representation for many businesses (especially smaller businesses, which are the ones doing the bulk of the hiring for freelancers), you really have to focus on capturing the essence of who [...]

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As writers, we’ve all heard the old saying, “write what you know.” This helpful bit of advice can be used for both fiction and nonfiction writers. In the former situation, it gives realism to your work and cuts back on research time. In the latter, it’s called a niche.
Lorna and I find ourselves complying with [...]

It’s easy to get situated in a freelancing rut. You know, a place where the jobs might not be the most interesting things you’ve ever worked on, but they’re steady and they pay well. The work comes to you through the same old clients and their referrals. The work is easy enough that you do [...]

It’s always so interesting to explain to people just what it is that I do. They all have the same question: “What do people pay you to write?” And I never quite know how to answer it. I usually start out with, “Well, we write a lot of web content.” [...]

Like all properly trained English Literature majors, I learned how to proofread in college. I took an entire class devoted to learning the language of proofreading and how to properly mark up a paper. It was considered training for someday becoming an English professor myself, which is pretty much the only career field Literature professors [...]

There are a number of articles and blogs out there warning freelancing professionals of the world about the pitfalls of procrastination. They tell you that your work suffers, clients get irritated, and things fall apart. Get things done early, they claim, and your entire working life will improve!
While this is important for many people, it’s [...]

Most of the time, I’m intrigued by my work. Being a freelancer means taking on projects of all shapes and sizes – some of them I’m familiar with and some that are just plain odd. That’s the beauty of the work: one day I’m researching African rivers, and another I’m editing a book on early [...]

I’m not so caught up in my own talents that I don’t realize there are times when changes need to be made to my prose. I know how the world of writing works – most employers and editors get the final say in what is printed or published, no matter how enamored of my words [...]

It’s happened to the best of us. You see a project you really want to work on, you make an appropriate bid, and you’re accepted for the job.
Now you’re a few days (or a couple of weeks) in, and the project is getting out of control. Perhaps the research is taking longer than expected. Maybe [...]