This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “something you want so bad you can taste it.” The idea is to share “something from deep inside that you have a huge will to accomplish – and what you’re doing to prepare for it!”

So here goes: I want to write a book and get it published.

Wow – that’s a really scary thing to say out loud. Am I the only one who finds it scary to tell other people about personal goals and dreams?

Bookstores and libraries have always been my favorite places. As a kid, I used to beg my mom to drop me off at the library and just leave me there for a few hours. I would wander through the shelves, picking up anything that interested me and reading it for as long as I stayed interested. It was fairly common for me to end up sitting on the floor in the middle of two giant stacks of books, wondering how I was going to pick 8 or 10 books to check out when there were so many to pick from.

I’m still like that. The only difference is that back then, I just assumed that I’d have a few books of my own on the shelves by this point in my life. And now I wander through the bookstore wondering how much longer it will be until that happens.

What am I doing to make sure I achieve this goal?

Well, I’ve spent a lot of time coming up with book ideas, learning how to write a nonfiction book proposal, and researching literary agents. I’ve ghostwritten books for other people, so I know I am capable of writing a book, and I continue to learn about the process of getting published.

But I think the time has come to take the next step. It’s time to get this party started.

So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to:

• select one book idea from my list;
• write a book proposal based on that idea;
• create a list of literary agents to contact;
• write a query letter; and
• send the query letter to the agents on my list.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress – and if you happen to notice a lot of time passing with no status updates, feel free to remind me of this post! Hopefully a little accountability will help me bridge the gap between “wanting” and “doing.”

How about you? What do you want “so bad you can taste it?” Share in the comments so we can help one another achieve our goals (and so I’m not the only one with her hopes and dreams hanging out there for all to see!)

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

There are so many things to worry about (especially if you’re a worrier to begin with). What if you don’t make enough money this month? What if your client hates your work? What if your quote is too high? What if this whole freelancing thing is a giant mistake? You get the idea.

But it’s impossible to move forward when you’re mired in fear and doubt. So what can you do to get past your fears and build a successful freelance business? Here are a few ideas.

1.  Focus on sales first. As a freelancer, selling your services has to be at the top of your list. You could be the best writer/ designer/ whatever in the world, but if you have no clients, you’re out of business. So the next time you find yourself fretting about where your next paycheck is coming from, focus on marketing and sales.

That probably means getting a little bit out of your comfort zone – selling is uncomfortable for most of us. But you have no choice if you’re going to make it as a freelancer, so you might as well start now. Make some phone calls, set up a few meetings, put together a special package and market it online, just do something to get the ball rolling. This is my favorite strategy and always makes me feel better.

2.  If you’re unsure about something, learn more. Never forget that you’re not stuck with your current level of knowledge or skills. You can and should keep learning, especially if there are things you’re unsure about. Worried that your rates are too high (or too low)? Do some research! Find out what the going rates are for freelancers in your field. Not sure how to attract more clients? Learn how. There’s an endless amount of information about marketing & sales out there, and you can get a lot of it for free at your local library.

3.  Consider the alternatives. If you’re truly overwhelmed with fear and worry, consider your other options. One of two things will happen: (1) you’ll figure out that freelancing isn’t really for you, and try something a little less stressful; or (2) you’ll realize that as scary as freelancing can be, it’s worth it – so you might as well put your fears to the side and get down to business.

4.  Talk to some other freelancers. It can be helpful to share your concerns and get support from others in the same position as you. Reading this blog and sharing in the comments is a great start, but you should also try to meet some local freelancers that you can talk to in person. It can be very lonely working from home, so don’t forget to get out of the house and socialize every once in a while. You may find that just getting your fears off your chest makes a big difference.

Exactly 3 months ago, on April 1, 2009, I started my freelance writing, editing, and consulting business. It’s hard to believe how much has happened in that very short period of time. I started a blog (The Breadwinner Mom), launched my business website (http://tracifeitlove.com), became a Sparkplugging intern, and began offering a free e-course (”How to Get More High-Paying Clients“).

At the same time, my monthly revenue from freelancing has grown substantially. I’m now earning more from my freelance business than I earned in my first full-time job after college, and next month is looking even better. It’s truly amazing. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and I’ve always wanted to start my own business, so getting to this point is a dream come true.

What I’ve learned through my internship at Sparkplugging is how much I enjoy connecting with, learning from, and helping other freelancers and solopreneurs – which is why I’m so excited to become a part of the Freelance Parent blog.

As a parent, I know how meaningful it is to be able to spend time with your kids while helping to support your family.

The best part of my day is after lunch, when my husband (a stay-at-home dad) brings my daughter upstairs for her nap. She reaches out for me, and I take her into her bedroom to rock her to sleep. There’s absolutely nothing like it, and I treasure those moments.

So I understand how scary it can be when things aren’t going well – when you’re afraid you might have to go back to a 9-5 job and spend most of your waking time away from your family. I know what it’s like to have others question your ability to work from home and still earn a decent income, because they just can’t imagine that it’s possible.

I want to help you get through those scary times and make your business work for you. I want to remind you that it is possible to support your family while working from home, and to provide you with useful resources and information you’ll need along the way. And when your business is booming, I’d love for you to share what you’ve learned in the comments so others can benefit from your experience!

I look forward to getting to know you better, and would love to find out what kinds of posts would be most helpful to you. What are the biggest challenges you’re facing? What do you need to know? What do you want to achieve with your business? What questions do you have?

Please share in the comments!

Photo by altemark

As freelance writers, we all know that there are advantages and disadvantages to being self employed. Some of the best things are obvious:

• Setting your own schedule
• No boss breathing down your neck
• Working on projects you like
• Working when and how you are most productive

Of course, there are disadvantages, too:

• Setting your own schedule
• No boss breathing down your neck
• Taking on projects you don’t like but feel you need
• Staying productive

One of the biggest pitfalls that many of us experience is getting distracted by all of the fun stuff we’d rather do when we should be working. I’m about to make that worse. While working on a recent project, I found a bunch of writing blogs that have threatened to suck away my productivity.

Being the swell gal that I am, I wanted to share them with you.

• Grammar Girl – I still use her mnemonic device to keep “affect” and “effect” straight.
• WWdN – I’ve loved Wil Wheaton ever since he was Gordie in Stand by Me, and this is one of the few blogs that I read just because I want to. (It doesn’t hurt that he writes about writing, either.)
• Apostrophe Abuse – I admit to being snobby about apostrophe use, but these folks take the cake.
• Indexed – One of my favorite blogs of all time. Not technically a “writing” blog, but you have to admit that Jessica understands words!
• The Rejecter – If nothing else, I just like the name of the blog. It’s written by a literary agent’s assistant and has good advice for those wishing to publish books.

While there are so many others, I wouldn’t want to jeopardize your productivity for the entire week. I hope you enjoy these blogs. If you happen to have a favorite way to waste time when you should be working, I’d like to hear about it. Maybe you could put a little linky-link in the comments section, yes?

Photo by leah.jones

I just really like the idea of writers doing a Wordless Wednesday post. This picture makes me think about how important words really are to a writer’s soul.

Oops, better stop typing since it’s supposed to be wordless.

Constant Content is a site that basically works as an article broker for freelance writers. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now and while my earnings there aren’t spectacular (around $2,000 total), I also spend very little time there, so consider it a good investment of my effort. It’s a good option for freelance writers that are going through a slower period.

How It Works

The way the site works is you, the writer, turn out an article on any topic that pleases you (unless responding to a request, more on that later) and submit it. You set the price and decide if you only want to sell usage rights or full rights. There is a strict approval process that ensures only top quality articles get into Constant Content’s article database, but once you’re in, potential buyers can view and purchase your article. Constant Content takes a percentage off the top (35%) and the rest goes into your account, which is paid out at the beginning of each month if you have $5 or more pending.

Article Requests

While you can write on literally any topic, people do put in special requests for articles. The majority of these are going to be “public requests” which any freelance writer can respond to. For example, you’ll be notified that someone is looking for ten articles on kitchen sinks. You write a couple of articles using their keywords and submit them. Once these articles are approved, you can send them to the buyer who will purchase only the articles he or she is interested in. To tell you the truth, I haven’t had a lot of luck with this method unless the buyer is looking for a large number (10+) of articles. With just one article, the fastest article writers will get the job . . . but the article that you wrote for the project still goes into the directory and is available for sale should someone want it at a later date, which they usually do if the topic is a popular one.

There are also private requests where someone will contact you through your Constant Content inbox and request specific articles. These are pretty much guaranteed pay and I’ve made a good chunk of cash off this type of request. If you do a good job, these buyers will usually come back to you time and time again. Building up a reputation is very valuable.

How Much Can You Earn?

Once you have an article approved, it’s on the site and in the public eye even if you never write another article for Constant Content. I usually go through bursts where I’ll upload 10-20 articles at a time and then not touch the site again for months at a time. Despite ignoring them completely, my articles continue to sell and I receive a monthly payment from the site, even if I haven’t logged on in weeks.

Since you set your own price, you can ask for just about anything. There are some freelance writers who underprice themselves and offer their work for $5, but most of the buyers who come to Constant Content are willing to pay good money for quality work. Most of my articles are priced between $25 (for usage rights) to $50 (full rights), but I’ve sold several for $100, as well. Remember that Constant Content does take 35% off your price, so if you sell an article for $50, you receive $32.50. Since these are articles that I wouldn’t have sold otherwise and that I can usually turn out in 10-15 min. it’s worth it for this price.  Remember that you can write what you want, so there doesn’t have to be a lot of research involved.

I wrote a post on my blog in February about how to sell articles on Constant Content which you can read here: http://athomemomblog.com/how-to-sell-articles-on-constant-content/

However, as freelance writers, client retention exists in a slightly different landscape; it’s more like an artistic impression of marketing than the realities faced by big corporations. For example, a company that sells coffee wants to retain customers because coffee is something consumed on a daily basis, and there are quite a few competitors out there. This isn’t true in the freelancing world. A freelance writer can go ahead and log 100 man hours trying to retain clients, but someone who hired you to write web copy isn’t likely to come back every few weeks for some fresh content. Sometimes, no matter how good you are at what you do, clients are simply a one-time deal.

While I will always advocate that keeping the client happy is the best way to go (after all, even if they don’t come back for more work right away, they will remember you months later, and they will refer you to friends), there are disadvantages to long-time clients:

• Just as freelancers tend to get “comfortable” in a relationship and push back deadlines as time goes on, so to do clients. Most clients pay right away in the beginning. However, they may start to send off payments a little bit later for each invoice, until you’re waiting weeks longer than you did in the beginning. This can be tricky to just address directly, since there is a fine balance between being assertive and being pushy – especially if you want to keep working together.

• Long-time clients might also have unrealistic expectations of turnaround times. This is often inadvertently the fault of freelancers, since you might have had an open schedule at some point during your relationship together, and sent off a requested document within one or two days. If you’re not careful, your client might begin to expect that kind of treatment regularly, even if it was the exception rather than the norm.

• Of course, there’s also the possibility that a long-term relationship might mean that some of the “sparkle” will wear off your work. After all, although you might be the best writer in the world, punching out 10 SEO articles every month on the topic of whitewall tires will eventually reach the end of its allure. Either you will run out of things to say, or your articles will start to use much of the same language. The client (and you) might not be as happy as in the beginning of the relationship, and that’s never good news.

• It can be difficult to raise your rates with an existing client. This is particularly troublesome if you’re just starting out and offer lower prices as a way to build up references and a portfolio. One of our clients has been with us since about the sixth month of our company’s existence. While we love working with him, he definitely falls on the lower end of our price spectrum these days. We offer him a “grandfathered clause” rate simply because we feel it wouldn’t be fair to him to say, “Oh, sorry. We’re more expensive now. Pay more or we’ll drop you.”

That being said, I do love most of my existing clients. (This is coming from a woman who was just sent a gorgeous box of Pittman & Davis grapefruits from one such client, so perhaps it’s a little unfair.)

Having long-term clients means:

• You usually don’t have to create a new contract for each new project. By inserting a clause for “all future work” to fall under the same basic guidelines, you can save a bit of time and energy.

• You know what to expect. For example, I have a client who never comes back with fewer than four revision requests. It has little to do with the style or quality of writing; it’s just what he does. The first time, I vowed never to work for that client again, but now that I know to expect these requests, I can plan accordingly and don’t find it the least bit troubling.

• You have a good relationship. I genuinely like most of my long-term clients. We get along (even if it is all online), and there is a good rapport. These are the best people to hit up for testimonials or references.

• You get “perks.” I was invited to appear on one client’s radio show to promote our business (I’ll give you specifics when I know them), gifts around Christmastime are not all that rare, and referrals remain one of our biggest streams of incoming clients. These rarely come from first-time clients.

In the end, I’d have to say that I like a mix of old and new clients. I like the rush that comes with a new, exciting project, but I like the comfort of knowing that some of my old clients will be there every month with steady work.

If you’re just getting started freelancing, then you will quickly discover that your potential clients are going to want to see some samples. It makes good sense, after all, to ensure that they’re hiring someone who is up to the task. On the other hand, those who are just getting started may have no idea how to go about getting those samples or the best way to use them.

The most obvious place to get your samples would be from projects you’ve already completed for other clients. If you’re a freelance web designer, for example, then you would certainly want to direct prospective customers to sites you’ve designed for other clients. From those samples, he or she can get a feel for both your style and your abilities.

Samples are also really important for freelance writers. Clients will often want to see that you have experience writing about their topic, in addition to the fact that you can string together a coherent sentence! Of course, you’re not always going to have samples written on the exact topic, so you might have to get creative when it comes to sending along appropriate samples.

If you are so new that you don’t have any previous projects to use as samples, it is fine to make some up. After all, you’re just trying to give the client a sense of what you can do. He or she won’t usually be too concerned about whether the piece was published/posted/etc. There is an exception for print media, however, as these “markets” will very often only want to see writing or photos that were published in other print publications.

A Few DOs and DON’Ts

Do:

• Try to send samples that are related to the topic or style the client requests.
• Have an online profile that clients can view.
• Send samples as attachments if the client requests it.

Don’t:

• Send samples that don’t represent your best work. If you’re a freelance writer, that means triple-checking the grammar.
• Expect an employer to be interested in everything you’ve ever written. Consider sending two or three samples with a note that more are available.
• Forget that you can use your blog or pieces you’ve submitted to article distribution sites as samples.

Finally, some potential clients may ask you to work “on spec.” This means that they’ll give you a topic and expect you to write a sample to their specifications. If they like the work, they’ll pay you for it, and if they don’t, then you’re up the proverbial creek. We rarely recommend that freelancers work on spec.

I know that this is a huge topic, so if you think of something that I forgot to cover here, please leave a comment letting us know!

Anyway, for those of us who are a little insecure, it doesn’t take much to throw us for a loop. Back when we first started this blog, we took a little flak for admitting that we’ve been known to cry over a dissatisfied client. The funny thing is that between then and now, there have been very few dissatisfied clients, yet we still remember it like it was last week. We’re definitely growing a thicker skin, but (I’ll speak for myself here, and Tamara can add her own two cents’ worth if she wants) I’m actually a little needy when it comes to my words. I think it’s because writing is the main thing I’ve always been recognized for doing exceptionally well; and when it’s called into question, it’s like saying that there’s something wrong with me.

Yikes. That got a little deep for a moment. Moving right along…

I found that my insecurities were dredged up a bit this weekend, and I thought, “Hey, why not tell the whole world (ok, the 600-and-something people who read this blog), what a big dork you are?” Actually, I figured that a lot of you would probably see yourselves in my situation and it might be comforting to you to know that you’re not alone.

So, how’s that for a really, really long introduction?

The point is this: Things have been going great for Tamara and me lately. We’ve been getting new clients left and right. We’ve moved into our very own office in a lovely historic building. We have been receiving excellent feedback from our clients on their projects. We were, in fact, on top of the world.

And then, someone left a silly little comment on an old post here, and my self-doubt went all out of control. The post was geared toward newbie freelancers and was intended to give them an idea of what constituted reasonable expectations for wages. We actually hedged our bets a bit when we said that SEO articles might pay anywhere from $5 to $50. I can tell you that we don’t make $5 an article, but we also don’t make $50. What we do make, however, we think is pretty fair for the amount of work that goes into the piece.

This person left a comment saying that she makes $100 for 500-word SEO articles. Honestly, I felt like she was a little haughty about it, but that’s neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that if she’s getting $100 for SEO articles, then GOOD FOR HER! Also, I would love to know where she finds those clients, because we’re definitely not at that level.

And there, of course, is where my insecurities kicked in. I went from thinking, “Wow, we are really doing a great job,” to “Maybe we’re kidding ourselves.” It sucked. Thank goodness for Tamara, who immediately recognized why I was feeling this way and helped pull me out of it. Sure, I would love to earn $100 for an SEO article, but that seems a little far-fetched to me at the moment. (Not to say this other person isn’t doing it, just that I obviously haven’t hit that level.) In my experience, I don’t generally make $0.50 per word on my web writing.

The question is, can I still feel successful, even if I’m not earning what this person thinks is fair? The answer is “yes.” It took me a little time this weekend to answer that question for myself, but the truth is this that I work hard, and I make a reasonable amount of money. As long as I continue to work hard, I will continue to make a reasonable amount of money. In the meantime, I will be happy for those who are doing “better” than I am, I will try to help those who are not doing “better” than I am, and I will continue to work hard and grow my business in a way that makes sense for me.

So, if you’re not at the level you want to be yet, that’s OK. I’m pretty happy where I am, but I’m still striving to go further. Tamara and I have built our business this way since the beginning, and it’s working for us. I just have to keep those damn insecurities from popping their nasty little heads out and making me question myself.

At first, this might not seem like a bad idea. After all, maybe you don’t have a lot on your plate right now. What could it hurt right? The truth is that it can hurt. It can hurt you, your bottom line, and your peers.

There are a lot of freelancers out there who get extremely passionate about why spec work is the ultimate evil, but I’m not going to go that far. While I totally get their point of view and agree that spec work is not something that should be done very often (if at all), I draw the line at believing that all the potential employers asking for spec work are simply the spawn of Satan.

Because I once asked a friend to do work on spec. I thought it was an awesome idea. He could take some pictures for me, and if the project went well, he could share in the rewards. I shudder now when I think about how he probably agonized over a nice way to tell me “no.”

I did what a lot of others do. I assumed that he would be excited to be involved in the project. I also figured that he would be happy to share in any proceeds. Thank goodness he was a friend, or I would have looked like a real jerk.

Now that I’ve admitted to being naive, I will tell you that there are also people out there who really do want to take advantage of you by requesting spec work. There are a few ways they do it:

• They tell you that your work will be seen by others, and that’s such a great deal for you. In most cases, that is really not a good deal at all.
• They say that they’ll pay you if they like what they see. So, if they don’t like it, you just wasted how much of your time? Seriously, that’s like paying them to tell you “no.”
• They promise more work in the future. Again, there’s no guarantee you’ll get it; and if you don’t, you’ve just paid for the privilege of being passed over.
• They’ll ask for “students” or “beginners” and tell them this is a chance to build their portfolio. Honestly, I sort of “get” this one, but I still have to say that it’s pretty low to assume that a student or beginner doesn’t have any value.
• They play on the fact that they don’t have much money because they’re a small company, or a start-up, or whatever. Oh, Lord. I think that will have to be another post. All I can say is, “if you can’t afford to start a business, you can’t afford to start a business. Duh.” Besides, how should their lack of money in any way affect your lack of money?

There are even nastier folks out there, too. Some of them will take a big project and break it up. If they have ten or tweleve freelancers doing parts of it “on spec,” then they can actually get the entire project done for free. Others take your work and then have someone really, really cheap change it just enough so that they’re not technically using your work and don’t have to pay you.

Now that I think about it, neither of those is probably good small talk fodder, but you get the idea.

In most cases our clients don’t expect us to be experts. In fact, a whole lot of them are billing themselves as experts while relying on the material that we write for them. I suppose that if you want to think of us as “experts” in anything, it would be in researching a topic well enough to present it intelligently in writing.

So, imagine my dismay when I recently researched a topic for a client and realized that I was just in no way qualified to present it in the format he wanted. In my own defense, when I initially agreed to the project, it was definitely of a scope that I could handle. The client himself came back with massive changes, and I didn’t realize just how much that affected my ability to perform until I really waded hip-deep into the first of several topics he had assigned.

I’m pretty sure that more than one expletive was muttered as I began to imagine trying to teach his clients how to do things that I myself didn’t understand. With unlimited time and resources, sure, I could learn the topic well enough to fake it, but I don’t have unlimited time and resources. At the moment, in fact, my time and resources are both at a premium.

This means I had to do something that I absolutely detest. I had to let him down. I had to disappoint a client. Ugh. It makes me cringe just to type those words. Thank goodness for Tamara, because I might still be flailing about if she hadn’t given me “permission” to bow out of the project. I sent him a very honest email explaining that because I recognize the importance of his project’s success, I also recognize that I am not the one to do it justice.

It stings. It’s embarrassing. It sucks to lose the money. I realize that I’ve probably also lost respect from the client and will probably not be asked to work with him again. But, when all is said and done, it was the best decision.

I’m hoping that you all will make me feel a little better. Have you ever gotten in over your head? How did you handle it?

And then we blogged about it.

The end result is that now, a year and a half later, we’ve got a really solid business, a loyal readership base (we love you guys!), and a very, very strong sense of accomplishment. Things were looking pretty good.

Until, of course, I decided to do the whole thing all over again by trying to make the leap into writing fiction. If you followed my NaNoWriMo experience, then you know I wrote an entire 104,000-word historical romance manuscript recently. I followed it up with exhausting revisions and rewrites, and am now looking at what it might take to get it published.

The path to publication is daunting – and it’s a process I know virtually nothing about. So anything I need to know, I’m researching and studying. I’m gaining experience at my own pace, learning from my mistakes (BIG time), and striving to keep a sense of humor.

Oh, and I’m blogging about it.

Romance This is to Freelance Parent as Frasier is to Cheers. It’s still got one of the stars of the show (namely: me) and the same general approach, but in an entirely different setting. From query letters and self-addressed stamped envelopes to literary agents and self-publication, I’m looking at it all. Heck – I started the thing less than a week ago, and already, I’ve tackled revisions, rejections, and yes, intense public humiliation.

I encourage everyone who’s interested in someday getting published or simply in the mood to watch as I flail around in the pool of the unwanted to head on over and take a look. Feel free to leave me comments, offer advice, or simply point and laugh. It promises to be an interesting ride.

It is important, however, to determine what really is most productive to you. Just because I have to work at night doesn’t necessarily mean that’s when I do my best writing, for example. That’s why I now have a mother’s helper who allows me to get work done during the day when I’m fresher and more energized. Now those late-night sessions are reserved for last-minute work or cleaning up the house instead of being the only time available to me.

I liked this little video clip of Eric Idle reflecting on the different styles of the Monty Python guys. It’s amazing they ever got anything accomplished!

So, what’s you’re style? Are you an early bird? A night owl? Do you outline everything first and then go back to fill in the gaps? As long as you’re making the deadlines and not killing yourself in the process, why not embrace your style?

However, on about Thursday of last week, I realized that I hit around 20,000 words and had yet to even introduce one of the pivotal characters in my plot. In NaNoWriMo terms, I was almost half done, but in actual book terms, I was just getting started.

This left me with several options. I could:

a) Slow myself down to be on target to hit the 50,000 word mark by November 30. (Definitely better for business.)

b) Realize I’m being far too wordy and not enough plot-ty, and therefore need to move things along in the plot now and add the filler later. (Definitely not as much fun.)

c) Stop being obsessive about my word count and just get the words out. (Definitely a good idea.)

d) Double my own goal so that I have to work like a maniac to hit 100,000 words instead of 50,000. (Definitely the one I chose.)

So here I am, now tied to a goal of 100,000 words – a goal I am working toward obsessively.

NaNoWriMo itself tells us that 50,000 words isn’t really a whole novel, and that you can go back in and add words later. But the idea of having an entirely finished first draft in my hands come December 1 just seems too good to let go.

100,000 words it is!

First of all, I have to point out that—as is so often the case with debates—I think we all ended up practically “arguing” the same point, just in different words. I agree with the way James phrased it:

“We’ve determined (all four of us) that it’s possible (but not preferable) to start a freelancing business on less than $500.”

Yep. We agree on that. You can totally do it with less than $500, but you’d better have a backup plan.

So, here’s where I get a little rant-y. I hope you’ll bear with me, as I think I actually have two mini-rants brewing at the moment.

Point #1:

Tamara and I absolutely know that we are privileged. The mere fact that we live in North America means that we are privileged. Also, the reason that I mentioned our working spouses was to be clear to everyone that we knew we were in a fortunate situation. Of course, that’s not to say that we are (as Tamara so eloquently put it) “a couple of rich bitches who decided to take up freelancing because we got bored of sitting around and having our nails done.”

We started freelancing because we needed money and wanted to earn it on our own terms. When we decided to start our business, Tamara’s husband had taken on a second job, and I was trying to figure out which maternity outfit was going to work best for my upcoming job interviews. She even took a part-time job at the beginning to help her family meet expenses. So, while we are absolutely a couple of fortunate people, we want to be clear that this wasn’t just a lark or a hobby.

This leads nicely into my second rant…

1. It’s my first time doing it, and I’m really excited. My family and friends only want to hear about it for so long, so this offers me an outlet for my enthusiasm.
2. I’m hoping that by making my intention public, I’ll be held more accountable for getting it done successfully.
3. Most of us are writers here, so it’s pretty relevant. While the bulk of my days are spent writing website content and SEO articles, there is a very strong link between writing fiction and writing nonfiction. Yes, the two require entirely different sets of skills and focus, but writing is a habit that, once gained, is hard to break.

This last reason is the one I’d like to talk about in this blog post. As many of us already know, the purpose behind National Novel Writing Month is that it forces people to really sit down and get the words out. Almost everyone claims to have a great novel inside them just waiting to get out, and NaNoWriMo says, “All right already. Do it. Commit to one month of intense writing, and you’re well on your way to getting that novel done.”

Even if your novel sucks and never gets published (or if it’s fantastic and still never gets published), you have proven to yourself that yes, indeed, you can do anything you put your mind to, including writing 50,000 words in 30 days. And perhaps more importantly, you’ve developed a habit of writing that can lead into your next novel, or the one after, or the one after. It is this habit that lends itself to success.

I once read an interview with Mary Doria Russell, one of my favorite contemporary authors. In it, she stated that she gets up each morning, sits down at her computer, writes ten pages, and then goes about the rest of her day – whether that means intensive research, going to lunch with friends, or (I assume) occasionally vegging out in front of the television. Ten pages, on a generous scale of 500 words per page, is 5,000 words. Ten pages, on a stingy scale of 250 words per page, is 2,500. Either way, that would place her well above the average necessary to meet the NaNoWriMo goals every single month of the year.

How is she able to accomplish so much? Well, first of all, she’s a professional author, which means that unlike the rest of us juggling our creative writing with freelance writing jobs or office jobs or raising the kids, she gets paid for those words she writes every day. But more importantly, she is a writer. It probably took her years to develop the kind of habit that allows her to sit down every day and make that kind of commitment.

I’m happy to report that as of right now, three days into NaNoWriMo, I am finding things easier than I expected. I am well past my 1,667 word per day average, and really excited about continuing in this vein. Perhaps I may change my tune a few weeks from now, but I kind of doubt it. Why? Because over this past year and a half, I have developed the habit of writing. On an average day, I probably plug at least 4,000 words of SEO content, website writing, nonprofit articles, and the like. Heck, as of right now, this post itself is 565 words.

This means that not only are my fingers accustomed to moving pretty quickly over the keyboard, but I also have the self-discipline to sit down and just write. (Note: Not everything I write at first glance is roses, but I already know about the fine art of the first draft.) If you had asked me three years ago if I could write 50,000 words in a month, I would have laughed at you. Today, it seems par for the course.

As I mentioned before, this is my first time doing NaNoWriMo, so I may end up eating these very words. However, as a professional writer who uses words to make a living, I can’t help but feel that as long as the writing habit is a part of your daily life, you should be able to make the same kind of commitment that hundreds of thousands of people around the world made a few short days ago.

However, while the laughs are (in my opinion) a vital component of the work we do, it’s only fair to note that the topics we address are not always entertaining. For every ebook I write on one of my personal interests, diving in and learning about the subject from all angles, I write one that requires a bit of daily self-motivation that consists primarily of, “Tamara, suck it up and do this. It’s not as boring as it seems. Don’t put it off. Just get it done.”

And it’s not just the big projects like ebooks; it’s SEO articles, website content, and blogs. Let’s face it: there are some pretty dull and less-than-endearing topics out there, and in order to meet financial goals, these topics sometimes wind up on our plates.

While I’ll admit that my writing and project commitment are at their peak when I am in love with the topic (or am at least interested in it), I like to think that the boring topics get equal consideration and care. In fact, I sometimes think they get more, since I work extra hard to give the appearance that I don’t think the topic is a bunch of junk. It’s like a quote from Emma (the movie version – not the novel, I’m afraid), where Emma decides she must throw a party for her nemesis, because “otherwise everyone will feel at once how much I dislike her.”

That brings me to the point of this post: do you have to believe in a topic to write about it?

I say no. As a writer for hire, it is my job to make a topic appealing to the audience, despite their initial reservations or lack of interest (or my own initial reservations or lack of interest). This can be done by:

• Presenting the facts with minimal embellishment. If I am writing about payday loans, I do it in a way that garners interest without lying or luring people into something they cannot afford. This is not always the easiest thing to do – especially if sales are the expected outcome – but I try very hard not to let my work conflict with my morals.

• Finding the interesting angle. Yes, even subjects like paper shredders can be at least a little bit interesting. There are always little factoids to be discovered about things like the annual output of a paper shredder and how that compares to the weight of a queen-sized mattress. If you can find even small things that make you smile, your article and/or web content will be much richer.

• Using your imagination. So what if you will never have a need for cloth diapers in the Phoenix region. Imagine you are a parent whose child is allergic to paper diapers but who still has to live in the stifling heat of Arizona. Imagine you really are curious about the ecological benefits of going cloth. What information would you most want in that situation?

• Breaking the project down into manageable chunks. Sometimes, no amount of dedication in the world will make you be able to sit down with wedding invitation product descriptions for hours at a time. So don’t do it for hours at a time. Schedule five of them in for the top of every hour. Do it for one hour and then move on to something else. Your dislike of a subject is less likely to show if you aren’t working on it for the fifth god-forsaken hour in a row.

Some of the topics I know far more about than the average person:

Bloodhounds
Home Security Systems
Pest Control
Vibrational Medicine
Parks in U.S. cities
Tattoos
Separation Anxiety

I Twittered (Tweeted?) about my thoughts, and found out that I’m not the only one with a wealth of random trivial knowledge. 

@DebNg challenged me to ask her anything about pallet racks. (OK, Deb. I’ve got one for you…what on earth is a pallet rack?)

@DanaPrince shared that she knows pretty much all there is to know about rubber stable mats.

@athomemom says that she now knows so much about beekeeping that she could set up a beeyard and teach classes.

So, what about you? What totally random topics could you go on and on about at a cocktail party as a result of your freelancing career? Tell us in the comments section. You get extra points for weird, funny, fascinating, or downright insane.

Let the competition commence!

By the way, if you want to follow us on Twitter, we’re @berrybrewer.

(For Tamara’s opinion on just what makes freelancers so brilliant, check out her post on Why Freelancers Are the Smartest People in the World.)

Of course, being able to run your writing business—marketing your services and networking within the industry—is incredibly important, as well. Tamara recently mentioned the idea of “keeping Shakespeare in the basement.” If your writing isn’t selling because of your lacking business skills, you’re effectively keeping the Bard in the cellar.

This month, several of the biggest names in copywriting are teaming up to offer a unique learning opportunity by presenting the 2008 Copywriting Success Summit. This event consists of 12 virtual presentations throughout the month of October, and they promise to be extremely valuable. Here are some of the presenters and their credentials:

• Bob Bly – Bestselling author of Secrets of a Freelance Writer (Ha, weren’t we just ripping on Bob Bly a little bit the other day?)
• Peter Bowerman – Bestselling author of the Well-Fed Writer series
• Brian Clark – Founder of the award-winning Copyblogger blog
• Casey Hibbard – Principal at Compelling Case Studies, Inc. and author of the blog Stories the Sell.
• Jon McCulloch – Irreverent marketer in the business of “kicking the ass of bad marketing.”
• Michael Stelzner – best-selling author of Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged
• Steve Slaunwhite – bestselling author of Start and Run a Copywriting Business

According to Michael Stelzner, here’s what you can expect:

“Attendees will learn the secrets of the top experts in the field, how to attract the right kinds of clients, how to turn prospects into clients, how to sidestep your competitors, pricing strategies to boost income, discovering the right niche, and a lot more. Plus, they’ll get to ask questions live and get answers on the spot.”

So, if you’re interested in rubbing some elbows and really taking your copywriting to the next level, the 2008 Copywriting Success Summit might be just the event for you.

That fluke has bolstered us for an entire year. We were so proud of the award that it even got mentioned in our anniversary video. It became a staunch goal of ours to make the 2008-2009 edition of that list.

We are absolutely thrilled and beaming with pride over the fact that we again placed in the top ten.  Here is the entire list, for your consideration.

1. Copyblogger: As the undefeated champ, this blog has held the number-one spot for three straight years!  The baby of Brian Clark, this blog keeps winning because of its excellent and educational articles.
2. Men With Pens: James Chartrand and Harry McLeod are the dynamic duo who continue to deliver rich content and community discussion.
3. Freelance Writing Jobs: Founded by Deb Ng, this site is the first stop for freelance writers seeking new work and great articles (and it remains a top winner since this contest began).
4. Write to Done: This blog delivers a steady stream of excellent articles for all writers and is the product of top blogger Leo Babauta.
5. Confident Writing: Looking for encouragement? Joanna Young will help you take your writing to the next level.
6. The Renegade Writer: Linda Formichelli and Diana Burell, authors of a book by the same name, help freelance journalists find inspiration.
7. Remarkable Communication: One part writing, one part marketing and one part selling, this excellent blog by Sonia Simone will help any writer succeed.
8. Writing Journey: Looking for a great stop on your writing journey? Bob Younce’s blog will refresh and energize you.
9. Freelance Parent: Two moms, Lorna Doone Brewer and Tamara Berry, provide excellent perspective on writing while balancing time with little ones.
10. Urban Muse: Susan Johnston covers a wide range of excellent topics that all writers will enjoy.

Congratulations to all of the others, as well as to the other 27 finalists.  We are so grateful to our readers, not just for nominating us, but for inspiring us to continually strive to make Freelance Parent the kind of blog that can make this list.