Posts Tagged ‘writer’
Practically Perfect Proofreading And Other Editing Myths
One of the difficulties a writer faces is reviewing their work in an attempt to locate all errors. There are generally two forces that work against a writer who attempts to ensure their work is error-free.
1. Being too close to the work you have difficulty concentrating on the writing.
2. You know what you want to say so it is possible you read over mistakes simply because your mind only sees your impression of the article.
In order to be effective in proofreading your own material you have to work hard at reading every word…
Refuse to speed through simply because you know what the writing says.
Consider each word, then each phrase and then the context of the thought.
Does the article flow or are there phrases that bog it down?
Check punctuation and grammar.
Look at the headline and make sure it is correct.
Do the above all over again.
Most often the best personal proofing requires multiple readings and ongoing edits. The key to the entire process is discipline &ndash personal and professional discipline.
Check and recheck the facts in your story and when possible allow another set of eyes to proofread your writing. They will likely see things that you missed.
There is another myth that is closely linked to proofreading and that is the myth of the perfect story. Anything we write will either have a shelf life because styles and accepted practices change or we have missed something in the arena of consistency, grammar, spelling or word use.
If we keep a piece of writing under lock and key until such time as we think it’s perfect we will likely find that the article will never see publication. You can go over your article with a fine tooth comb and you are likely to see some error when it is finally published.
Writing should be taken seriously, yet not so seriously that the stress of word crafting removes the joy that caused you to become a writer in the first place.
The best advice may be to simply write your story first and worry about fixing any problems afterward. If you stop writing in the midst of your story in order to correct trouble spots you are likely to lose the spontaneity of the storyline. This can ultimately have a detrimental effect on the overall reading satisfaction of the consumer.
If you have to be a perfectionist wait until the story is complete and then get out your red pen and make a few alterations.
Pay Yourself First – Making Money Without Getting Paid
You might not be used to depositing checks earned by the sweat of your pen (yet). That doesn’t mean you can’t start becoming financially savvy with your writing. One of the top tips for becoming financially empowered is to pay yourself first. How can you do that without incoming cash? Set your intention, and take a little action. Here are eight fun steps to make money a part of your writing, even before you get paid from others.
1) Begin by setting your intention to marry money with writing. Do this by opening a bank account for your writing life. Get a savings account and label it ‘writing’ or another inspiring name that will remind you of your intention.
2) Fund your account by paying yourself when you submit a query, finish a chapter, or achieve some other writing success. Don’t wait for others to acknowledge your progress. It doesn’t have to be a lot; even ten dollars for each success reminds you that you value your efforts.
3) Use your writing funds to pay for contest entry fees, subscriptions, and all that postage you’ll need to mail your monster-sized manuscript. Or, earmark your account for a big reward for your writing such as a writing retreat or conference.
4) How we spend our money reveals what we value. Keep track of your writing-related expenditures. Make writing a priority and investigate how you can shift your financial priorities to support your writing. Keep a log of your writing money and see where you are spending more money than time on your writing.
5) Calculate the return of ‘psychic payment’ on the writing you do. These include the side effects, or benefits, that you get from doing something. Psychic payments from writing could be: feeling of satisfaction with yourself, surge of power from expressing yourself, excitement over completing and submitting something. How do these non-monetary rewards ‘pay’ you?
6) Take a tip from Jim Carrey, a supremely successful creative person. Carrey wrote himself a check for 20 million dollars and carried it in his wallet during his struggling actor days. Try this for yourself. Write a whopping check and in the memo line, put Book Advance. Carry it around or post it in your writing zone.
7) Make your money goals clear. Write down when you’d like to put your work into the world for pay, what you’d like to get paid, and what you’re willing to work for. Set a standard for yourself and stick to it. For instance, your intention might look like this &ndash After January, 2006, I publish only for payment in money (not clips or copies).
Get dreamy. What will you do with the money you earn from writing? You might take a trip, pay off your computer or fund a writer’s conference. Write down your big vision of how you will spend your hard-earned cash. I suggest funneling the money back into your writing.
You will be surprised at the results of connecting money to your creativity. By bringing awareness and financial focus to your writing, you prepare yourself for the day when others pay you for your words. Keep track of emotions, ideas, and external events that stem from your efforts. Take steps toward putting your work out there for pay. And have fun with it!
Overcoming Writer
Writing information products (eBooks) is one of the most popular ways of starting an online business.
Why? Because the subject range is unlimited as is the angle or perspective you can bring to the subject. Plus, it costs nothing except your time to create it.
But it is not always trouble-free. How do you get started and how do you manage if you have never written a book before?
First, and most important – write about something you know. This allows you to keep the book flowing, give credibility and shows your readers you have some insight on the subject – and hence something to offer they may not have heard before.
Next, the hardest part of writing is – the first sentence. When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task. You have to break it down into manageable tasks.
I like to use analogies; so think of climbing a mountain. You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?
There is only one way to climb a mountain – Step by Step.
Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You must create it step by step, and one day, you will take that last step and find yourself standing on the summit with your head in the clouds. And that day will come much sooner if you keep momentum and enthusiasm.
The first thing you have to do, as if you actually were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead of climbing gear, however, you must organize your thoughts. There are some steps you should take before you begin. Once you’ve gone through the following list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your ebook.
First, figure out your eBook’s working title. It’s not clear from your post if you have done this or not but it is vital. It gives you a focal point.
Jot down a few different titles, and eventually, you’ll find that one that will grow on you. Would it make YOU read it?
As I said, titles help you to focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in anticipating and answering your reader’s queries. Many non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell books.
For example, Remedies for Insomnia: Twenty Different Ways to Count Sheep. Or: Get off that Couch: Fifteen Exercise Plans to Whip You into Shape.
Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are addressing and how your book will solve that problem. All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement. Once you’ve got your thesis statement fine-tuned, you’ve built your foundation. From that foundation, your book will grow, chapter by chapter.
Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis statement. If they don’t, they don’t belong in your book. For example, your thesis statement could read: We’ve all experienced insomnia at times in our lives, but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to give you back a good night’s sleep.
But if this is what you say, you must give twenty proven techniques else you lose credibility with your readers.
Once you have your thesis, before you start to write, make sure there is a good reason to write your book. Ask yourself some questions:
* Does your book present useful information and is that information currently relevant?
* Will your book positively affect the lives of your readers?
* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader’s attention?
* Does you book answer questions that are meaningful and significant?
If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel confident about the potential of your ebook.
Now, write out chapter headings. You might not end up using chapters but it will help break the task down into manageable stages that you can tackle one-by-one. Breaking the job into smaller tasks, or chapters, will make it easier.
Remember – like that mountain do it one step at a time.
Another important step is to figure out who your target audience is. It is this group of people you will be writing to, and this group will dictate many elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction, and even length. Figure out the age range of your readers, their general gender, what they are most interested in, and even the socio-economic group they primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in longhand or spend hours every day online. The more you can pin down your target audience, the easier it will be to write your book for them.
Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you want to enhance your reputation?
Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do you want to sell it as a product on your website, or do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook to attract affiliates around the world? The more you know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.
Now, you seem to be specifically stuck at getting started. Here you need to think about you and your audience. What made YOU write the book and what do you want THEM to get out of it. You need to hook them early on and the best way to do this is to make them feel that you can answer their problems. After all, why did they buy the book? Make them feel they made the right decision and that you know what you are talking about.
Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction, keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to your chapter topic, and then divide it into four subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.
Taking all the above into consideration, you could have your eBook finished in no time at all and ready to promote via your website. You could be well on the way to an internet best-seller.
Pay Yourself First – Making Money Without Getting Paid
You might not be used to depositing checks earned by the sweat of your pen (yet). That doesn’t mean you can’t start becoming financially savvy with your writing. One of the top tips for becoming financially empowered is to pay yourself first. How can you do that without incoming cash? Set your intention, and take a little action. Here are eight fun steps to make money a part of your writing, even before you get paid from others.
1) Begin by setting your intention to marry money with writing. Do this by opening a bank account for your writing life. Get a savings account and label it ‘writing’ or another inspiring name that will remind you of your intention.
2) Fund your account by paying yourself when you submit a query, finish a chapter, or achieve some other writing success. Don’t wait for others to acknowledge your progress. It doesn’t have to be a lot; even ten dollars for each success reminds you that you value your efforts.
3) Use your writing funds to pay for contest entry fees, subscriptions, and all that postage you’ll need to mail your monster-sized manuscript. Or, earmark your account for a big reward for your writing such as a writing retreat or conference.
4) How we spend our money reveals what we value. Keep track of your writing-related expenditures. Make writing a priority and investigate how you can shift your financial priorities to support your writing. Keep a log of your writing money and see where you are spending more money than time on your writing.
5) Calculate the return of ‘psychic payment’ on the writing you do. These include the side effects, or benefits, that you get from doing something. Psychic payments from writing could be: feeling of satisfaction with yourself, surge of power from expressing yourself, excitement over completing and submitting something. How do these non-monetary rewards ‘pay’ you?
6) Take a tip from Jim Carrey, a supremely successful creative person. Carrey wrote himself a check for 20 million dollars and carried it in his wallet during his struggling actor days. Try this for yourself. Write a whopping check and in the memo line, put Book Advance. Carry it around or post it in your writing zone.
7) Make your money goals clear. Write down when you’d like to put your work into the world for pay, what you’d like to get paid, and what you’re willing to work for. Set a standard for yourself and stick to it. For instance, your intention might look like this &ndash After January, 2006, I publish only for payment in money (not clips or copies).
Get dreamy. What will you do with the money you earn from writing? You might take a trip, pay off your computer or fund a writer’s conference. Write down your big vision of how you will spend your hard-earned cash. I suggest funneling the money back into your writing.
You will be surprised at the results of connecting money to your creativity. By bringing awareness and financial focus to your writing, you prepare yourself for the day when others pay you for your words. Keep track of emotions, ideas, and external events that stem from your efforts. Take steps toward putting your work out there for pay. And have fun with it!
Overcoming Writer
Writing information products (eBooks) is one of the most popular ways of starting an online business.
Why? Because the subject range is unlimited as is the angle or perspective you can bring to the subject. Plus, it costs nothing except your time to create it.
But it is not always trouble-free. How do you get started and how do you manage if you have never written a book before?
First, and most important – write about something you know. This allows you to keep the book flowing, give credibility and shows your readers you have some insight on the subject – and hence something to offer they may not have heard before.
Next, the hardest part of writing is – the first sentence. When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task. You have to break it down into manageable tasks.
I like to use analogies; so think of climbing a mountain. You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?
There is only one way to climb a mountain – Step by Step.
Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You must create it step by step, and one day, you will take that last step and find yourself standing on the summit with your head in the clouds. And that day will come much sooner if you keep momentum and enthusiasm.
The first thing you have to do, as if you actually were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead of climbing gear, however, you must organize your thoughts. There are some steps you should take before you begin. Once you’ve gone through the following list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your ebook.
First, figure out your eBook’s working title. It’s not clear from your post if you have done this or not but it is vital. It gives you a focal point.
Jot down a few different titles, and eventually, you’ll find that one that will grow on you. Would it make YOU read it?
As I said, titles help you to focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in anticipating and answering your reader’s queries. Many non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell books.
For example, Remedies for Insomnia: Twenty Different Ways to Count Sheep. Or: Get off that Couch: Fifteen Exercise Plans to Whip You into Shape.
Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are addressing and how your book will solve that problem. All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement. Once you’ve got your thesis statement fine-tuned, you’ve built your foundation. From that foundation, your book will grow, chapter by chapter.
Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis statement. If they don’t, they don’t belong in your book. For example, your thesis statement could read: We’ve all experienced insomnia at times in our lives, but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to give you back a good night’s sleep.
But if this is what you say, you must give twenty proven techniques else you lose credibility with your readers.
Once you have your thesis, before you start to write, make sure there is a good reason to write your book. Ask yourself some questions:
* Does your book present useful information and is that information currently relevant?
* Will your book positively affect the lives of your readers?
* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader’s attention?
* Does you book answer questions that are meaningful and significant?
If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel confident about the potential of your ebook.
Now, write out chapter headings. You might not end up using chapters but it will help break the task down into manageable stages that you can tackle one-by-one. Breaking the job into smaller tasks, or chapters, will make it easier.
Remember – like that mountain do it one step at a time.
Another important step is to figure out who your target audience is. It is this group of people you will be writing to, and this group will dictate many elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction, and even length. Figure out the age range of your readers, their general gender, what they are most interested in, and even the socio-economic group they primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in longhand or spend hours every day online. The more you can pin down your target audience, the easier it will be to write your book for them.
Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you want to enhance your reputation?
Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do you want to sell it as a product on your website, or do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook to attract affiliates around the world? The more you know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.
Now, you seem to be specifically stuck at getting started. Here you need to think about you and your audience. What made YOU write the book and what do you want THEM to get out of it. You need to hook them early on and the best way to do this is to make them feel that you can answer their problems. After all, why did they buy the book? Make them feel they made the right decision and that you know what you are talking about.
Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction, keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to your chapter topic, and then divide it into four subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.
Taking all the above into consideration, you could have your eBook finished in no time at all and ready to promote via your website. You could be well on the way to an internet best-seller.
I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!
I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!
I just quit my last paying writing gig. Why? Because I make more money giving my writing away. Yes, that’s right. I make more money giving my writing away than I did selling my articles and columns. In fact I’m making more money writing part-time for free than I did in any of my full-time paid writing jobs and that includes advances and royalties from the publication of three novels. I have been writing professionally for two decades and I never thought I’d make more by writing for free but I am.
But that’s not even the best part — and I know you experienced writers will understand why this is better than money — I can write whatever I want. I pick my topic and my slant. If I want to be funny or irreverent then I can be funny or irreverent. If I want to melancholy or maudlin then I can be melancholy or maudlin. It just doesn’t matter because I’m writing to suit myself! I am my own boss and my own editor — and I’m making money off my writing.
How? I write for the internet. I have been doing so since 1999 and earning money during the entire time. I have written freelance and under contract for a number of internet publications and ventures as well as publishing my own work.
At first I considered my personal internet writing just something to satisfy my creative urge as I transitioned from full-time writing to full-time teaching, but then I noticed something curious — I was making money.
Today, after a lot of work and study I have discovered the right mix that works well for me — and I decided it just doesn’t pay to keep the writing contract any more. The time I used to satisfy the contract can be far more enjoyably and profitably spent writing on the internet.
What internet venues am I using?
~ Ezines and Newsletters
~ Blogs and RSS feeds
~ Web Sites
~ Articles
How do I make money with these efforts?
~ Selling advertising space in my ezines
~ Selling text links on my web sites and blogs
~ Posting pay-per-click ads on my web sites and blogs
~ Promoting affiliate programs on my web sites and blogs as well as in my ezines and newsletters
It really is not a difficult or complicated business model and one any competent writer, or anyone with the ability to string a decent sentence together, could replicate or modify to suit their purpose. I am a writer not a business person, but I know this is working for me and that it could work for you, too.
Now go out there and give your writing away!
I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!
I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!
I just quit my last paying writing gig. Why? Because I make more money giving my writing away. Yes, that’s right. I make more money giving my writing away than I did selling my articles and columns. In fact I’m making more money writing part-time for free than I did in any of my full-time paid writing jobs and that includes advances and royalties from the publication of three novels. I have been writing professionally for two decades and I never thought I’d make more by writing for free but I am.
But that’s not even the best part — and I know you experienced writers will understand why this is better than money — I can write whatever I want. I pick my topic and my slant. If I want to be funny or irreverent then I can be funny or irreverent. If I want to melancholy or maudlin then I can be melancholy or maudlin. It just doesn’t matter because I’m writing to suit myself! I am my own boss and my own editor — and I’m making money off my writing.
How? I write for the internet. I have been doing so since 1999 and earning money during the entire time. I have written freelance and under contract for a number of internet publications and ventures as well as publishing my own work.
At first I considered my personal internet writing just something to satisfy my creative urge as I transitioned from full-time writing to full-time teaching, but then I noticed something curious — I was making money.
Today, after a lot of work and study I have discovered the right mix that works well for me — and I decided it just doesn’t pay to keep the writing contract any more. The time I used to satisfy the contract can be far more enjoyably and profitably spent writing on the internet.
What internet venues am I using?
~ Ezines and Newsletters
~ Blogs and RSS feeds
~ Web Sites
~ Articles
How do I make money with these efforts?
~ Selling advertising space in my ezines
~ Selling text links on my web sites and blogs
~ Posting pay-per-click ads on my web sites and blogs
~ Promoting affiliate programs on my web sites and blogs as well as in my ezines and newsletters
It really is not a difficult or complicated business model and one any competent writer, or anyone with the ability to string a decent sentence together, could replicate or modify to suit their purpose. I am a writer not a business person, but I know this is working for me and that it could work for you, too.
Now go out there and give your writing away!