Write a blog people will read logo

Writing contest: A super-short story.

by Leave a Comment

They say that brevity is the soul of wit. It’s also the soul of a well-written short story, and the Gotham Writers Workshop is posing a really serious writing contest challenge to writers out there.

Specifically: Can you tell a story in 10 words or fewer?

Not kidding. Gotham is inviting writers to tell a complete story in that tiny space – and incidentally, the 10 words includes the story title if you choose to use one.

Like I said: Really serious challenge. It’s based on a perhaps apocryphal story about Ernest Hemingway winning a bet as to whether he could tell a story in 10 words or fewer. Here’s the tale he turned in:

 

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

 

[Read more…]

Online writing jobs up by 500+ percent.

by Leave a Comment

Want to write? Good. Someone wants to pay you to do it, according to Freelancer.com. Between 2017 and 2018, the number of online writing jobs posted on Freelancer rose by 535 percent.

To be clear: Freelancer.com doesn’t necessarily post the best-paying jobs. But it does post jobs. And if you’re trying to get going as a writer you need clips.

The focus of my online course is not just writing your own website. It’s writing a blog people will read. Whether that’s a personal blog or a blog that will pay you to write is up to you.

For some people, getting their own thoughts published is the main goal. But I’m here to tell you that you can also bring in some decent coin – or even make a living – as a freelance writer. I haven’t held a square job since November 2002.

In order to get hired, though, you need to know what you’re doing.

 

[Read more…]

When life hands you blog fodder.

by 3 Comments

th(Happy Throwback Thursday! This article was originally published on April 6, 2015, but its sentiments remain fresh.)

Having a bad day? Reach for a pen, or a keyboard.

According to Edna Ferber, “life can’t ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer’s lover until death – fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant.”

Ferber died decades before the invention of the weblog. Yet I think she would have understood its underpinnings.

Sure, the Internet is crammed with cat videos and twee posts about OMG-so-cuuuute toddler birthday party themes. Yet it’s also a place for primal screams.

Writers deal with illnesses – their own or others’ – and grieve when the Lifetime movie ending doesn’t materialize. Parents of teens (or millennials who’ve moved back home) worry not just about money but about their children’s futures.

Young men and women struggle with money, careers and love, or with the lack of all three. Artists toil in obscurity and wonder whether any of this is worth it. Jilted lovers wail and/or plot revenge fantasies that they’ll never really commit.

The common thread? Sometimes, life really stinks – and sometimes writing helps us deal with it.

[Read more…]

The Skilsaw of Skilful Editing™

by Leave a Comment

Editing is an art form. One of the best editors I ever had really knew how to set limits. When he asked for 25 inches on a given topic, that’s what we were expected to deliver.

Those limits made us focus intensely, winnowing out extraneous details. Instead of meandering, indistinct articles, we turned in pieces that told readers what they needed to know.

This being the features section, we were allowed to do it with a bit of panache. “Voice” was a thing* in our department. Unfortunately, we were sometimes a little too in love with the sounds of our voices.

Invariably, the editor called us out when we turned in 30 inches, or 35. Boy, we hated that.

 

[Read more…]

‘Self-care is part of your work.’

by 2 Comments

Paula Pant, who writes the Afford Anything blog, has been a freelance writer since 2010. Recently she posted some excellent advice on Instagram:

The time that you spend going to the gym, practicing yoga, writing in your journal or connecting with a close friend on the phone is not time that you are spending away from work.

Self-care is part of your work.

Even laptops need to recharge.

Paula is a very wise woman. Freelancers would do well to listen to her advice about self-care – especially at this time of year.

 

[Read more…]

Attend FinCon18 without leaving home.

by Leave a Comment

Every year I attend (and speak at) the Financial Blogger Conference (aka FinCon). It isn’t just for personal finance writers and devotees, though, because it touches on topics important to bloggers, vloggers and freelance writers of all stripes.

Topics such as good writing, effective interviewing (the topic of the panel I chaired), writing and publishing books, creating a niche brand, how to check a source’s credentials, social media, creating top-drawer YouTube videos, affiliate marketing and financial independence.

The conference took place in late September in Orlando, Florida. If you wanted to go but couldn’t, here’s another shot: The FinCon18 Virtual Pass.

You won’t get the in-person networking, the Freelancer Marketplace (which was great – kind of like speed dating for self-employed writers) or the chance to sit in the 16-foot inflatable flamingo. But here’s what you will get:

 

[Read more…]

Give your audience what it needs.

by Leave a Comment

This year’s Financial Blogger Conference was the biggest yet: 2,000 attendees, including vendors. (Speaking of which: The FinCon18 box of swag giveaway is up on my personal website until Oct. 15. Some really fun stuff in there.)

Someone on the FinCon Facebook page asked other members to name their favorite takeaway(s) from the conference. Here’s the one that got my attention:

 

“Stop trying to be clever and serve your audience’s needs.”

 

That is one solid-gold reminder.

[Read more…]

You’ve been given a gift.

by Leave a Comment

th

(Happy Throwback Thursday! This article was originally published on May 3, 2016, but its sentiments remain fresh.)

Ever question why you need to write? Not want, need. According to Gary Garrison, it’s because you have “The Gift.”

That’s the name of a short essay that Garrison sent out to fellow members of the Dramatists Guild of America. A friend sent it to me because she found it inspiring and, well, true.

Although Garrison was referring to playwriting, his words apply to bloggers, short-story writers, novelists and others of that ilk. All of them “have the ability to create whole, intricate, dimensional worlds and to people them with infinitely interesting, complex beings.”

Wait…Bloggers create worlds?

 

[Read more…]

Freelancers: Jury duty can cost you

by 2 Comments

Earlier this week I spent six hours at the courthouse, listening to multiple potential jurors be dismissed and anticipating every moment that the next name called would be my own. Jury duty seemed inevitable.

Fortunately, it wasn’t – and as a freelancer, I was mightily relieved.

To be clear: I know how important jury duty is in a democracy and I do take it seriously. It would never occur to me to try and weasel out, e.g., to make up a story about how I didn’t trust lawyers and could therefore never be impartial. I’ve been called for jury duty several times and actually served once, in a robbery trial.

But the very words “jury duty” make even conventionally employed people flinch. They grouse about the hassle of parking, the boredom of waiting, the bad coffee in the jury pool room. (That is, if there even is coffee.) A much bigger potential problem, though, is the potential loss of income.

If you’re lucky, your employer will keep paying you even if you spend a day or two (or a week or two) serving on a jury. I got called in the late 1980s, when I worked at a newspaper, and my pay was not docked.

Freelancers don’t have that option. Back in 2010, when I got called to a Seattle jury pool, I sent a letter explaining my situation: How could I do interviews and research if I were in a downtown courtroom all day?

They ordered me to report anyway. And when I got there, I found people who were a lot worse off than me.

 

[Read more…]

Hurry! Win a scholarship to FinCon!

by 2 Comments

I’ve written before about FinCon, aka the Financial Blogger Conference, which I’ve been attending (and speaking at) since 2011. It’s full of programs that can help personal finance writers get better at what they do, and take their websites (and the earnings) to the next level.

However, it isn’t strictly limited to PF writers. Scribblers from other genres can also learn from programs that tackle topics of general writing, blogging and social media interest. Networking is huge, as is the opportunity to meet companies looking for freelance writers.

(Not sure you can write PF topics? If you’re a good researcher, you can. Personally, I backed into this kind of writing after 18 years in newspaper journalism – without any particular emphasis on money.)

FinCon takes place from Sept. 26-29 in Orlando, Florida. This year there are two opportunities to attend for free or on the cheap. Here’s how.

 

[Read more…]