National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is nearly upon us! As I write this, I’m at my region’s kick-off party with about 30 other people. Quite impressive, especially considering there are many more in the area who couldn’t make it! What the heck is NaNoWriMo, you ask? Great question! During the month of November every year, [...]
At long last, I have gotten around to telling you how to write a query letter! Thank you for your patience. As I mentioned in my last post, the point of the query letter is basically to get the editor to give you a chance and read your piece. It is not hard to write [...]
All right, today we get into the good stuff: magazine work. This is where the real money is for most freelance writers. Most magazines pay anywhere from $.10 to $1 per word, which adds up pretty quick, especially on 1000+ word features. Many do not pay by the word but pay a set fee for [...]
Today’s subject: online bidding sites Although online content sites are a good way to cut your teeth and get yourself in the writing mode, they pay very little. If you want to make a real career out of writing, you can do much better through other means of making money. Bidding sites are a great [...]
OK, you’ve learned how to write and you’ve practiced and feel comfortable doing it. The next step is to start selling what you write! There are different ways to go about this, so I’m going to break it up over a few posts. Today I’m going to focus on online content sites. Online content sites [...]
Now that you’ve decided you know how to write, the next step is pretty simple: start writing! Any successful writer will tell you that writers write, and if you want to be a writer, you need to write a lot. Writing a lot gives you practice so you get better, both at the mechanics of [...]
Although I have only been freelancing for a short time, I like to think I’m doing pretty well, and I’m very humbled to say that I have had several people tell me I’ve inspired them! It’s really an amazing feeling to have people look up to me and ask me for advice for something this [...]
So, I recently started writing for www.thehorse.com (see today’s piece at http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=12890 with more likely to follow). I think I mentioned this in a previous post–I sent a letter of introduction to them to offer my services, and they gave me a shot. This is a departure for me, because thehorse.com is a news site, [...]
How often do you brainstorm story ideas? I only do it when someone tells me to, which is silly. However, it is a fantastic exercise! I do best when someone says “give me titles/ideas for such-and such topics.” This has happened twice now, and I came up with so many ideas! However, not all of [...]
Today I got a special package in the mail. The Ultimate Horse Lover, the very first book to contain my name! Looks like a great read. I’m on page 161. They changed the title to “We’re Just Here to Look,” but I forgive them. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that cool feeling [...]