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Writing career tips from a veteran.

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A former editor recently received recognition from his state’s press club. It was sort of a “lifetime achievement” award, although that’s not what it was called.

The guy’s writing career stretched for half a century and across multiple media. His words have appeared on radio and television, in newspapers and magazines, and more recently books and online articles.

A young reporter at the banquet asked for career tips. The editor offered some, and gave me permission to reproduce any that I wanted. The trio I chose may not all apply to your genre, but all three are food for thought.

 

Never turn down any assignment.

 

This is particularly true for freelancers, who may experience long dry spells until they develop their abilities at pitching stories and getting themselves known.

 

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Slang: It’s not the bee’s knees.

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In a recent Washington Post article about John McPhee’s new book*, writer Michael Dirda recounts a talk that McPhee gave to his granddaughter’s senior-high English class.

McPhee read a list of things mentioned in one of his articles and asked the teens to raise their hands whenever they recognized something.

The entire class knew “Woody Allen.” Only five students knew who Norman Rockwell and Truman Capote were. None of them knew recognized Sophia Loren, Bob Woodward or Samuel Johnson.

The idea was not to embarrass the youths, but rather “to emphasize the brief shelf life of cultural references,” Dirda writes.

 

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Writing: You can ALWAYS improve.

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Think you’re already at the pinnacle of your profession? You’re fooling yourself. Even if you’ve been writing for years and years (and years), improvement is always possible.

Recently someone who’d heard about the Write A Blog People Will Read course contacted me about a coupon special* that I was running. The woman, whom I’ll call “Mary” because it’s nowhere close to her real name), told me she’s been writing for a long time. (Hint: She has a kid in college.)

Mostly her work has been in public relations. Lately she’s maintained a blog and is doing guest posts for others.

Mary has taken some other courses, so she wasn’t sure that she needed WABPWR. Given the depth of her experience, I wasn’t sure either.

And then I read her blog.

 

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Proof. Proof! And proof some more.

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My second book is now out. “Your Playbook For Tough Times: Needs And Wants Edition,” like its predecessor, was published by me (on Amazon, Kindle and as a PDF through my personal website).

As a publisher, I’m a pretty good writer. Getting this brainchild born took much whirling and howling in the forms of back-and-forths with designers and formatters, and re-teaching myself how to use the different platforms, and much proofreading.

But apparently not enough proofreading. Shortly after it came out a reader wrote to me:

“I love the book and it is my second frugal bible. … I was upset that the spine has your name spelled incorrectly.”

Hey, thanks! … Wait. Wut?

 

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Vanilla freelancing.

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A post by Suzan St Maur had me laughing out loud recently. In “Vanilla sex: Here, have another helping,” the writer, coach and humorist applied the idea of “vanilla” (boring) to concepts other than sex.

Such as:

“Vanilla Politics: Politicians, usually at local government level, who … hate cutting ribbons and are useless at kissing babies – and expect to justify their existence merely by represent the interests of their electorate.”

“Vanilla Friends: Friends who offer you absolutely nothing in the way of valuable social contacts, wild nights out on the town, parties straight out of Hollywood and air-kissing companionship … and simply exist on the basis of always being around when you need them.”

But it was her “vanilla blogging” example that got my attention. 

 

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Make sure you get paid to write.

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My subconscious is very active while I’m sleeping. Often I wake up with thinking of stuff like the need to send a birthday card, or the perfect lede for an upcoming article.

Recently I sat up straight in the morning and said, out loud, “Did I ever get paid for that (publication redacted) gig?”

In early March I delivered an assignment to a freelance client who pays via direct deposit. Checked my account and nope, the payment never showed.

When I brought this up (politely, via e-mail), the very-busy editor was a very-embarrassed person. The result: an apology, and a slightly higher payment than usual.

There’s a lesson here for me, and for you.

 

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Try editing on paper.

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Three different sets of eyes went over the manuscript for “Your Playbook For Tough Times: Living Large On Small Change, For The Short Term Or The Long Haul.” My daughter, who’s also a writer, read it. I edited it as I wrote it, and read the rough draft from beginning to end more than once.

Finally, a former newspaper colleague gave it a careful going-over, to the point of testing each URL to make sure it worked. (Fun fact: Some of them didn’t, no matter how careful I thought I’d been.)

So guess what I found when I read the finished book?

 

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No. 1 on top-jobs list? Writing.

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Each year the Freelancer.com website puts together a list of the 10 most in-demand services. Derived from the 10 million job opportunities posted on the freelancing/crowdsourcing website, the list is designed to give entrepreneurs a heads-up on what’s needed the most.

The top job opp? Writing and content.

Let me say that I really don’t like the word “content.” In fact, one entire chapter of the Write A Blog People Will Read course is titled, “Stop calling it ‘content’!” Fact is, that’s what lots of people call it – and if you’re a writer then this list should encourage you.

 

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Freelancers: Prepare to get sick.

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Two days ago I had cataract surgery on my left eye. Although the outpatient process is fairly simple, it has affected my ability to work.

This reminded me, once again, that freelancers should always be ready to deal with illness or injury.

Independent contractors don’t get sick days. If we don’t work, we don’t get paid. That’s just one more thing to think about if you’re planning to go freelance.

As someone who hasn’t had a square job since 2002, I have a year-round readiness plan in place. If you, too, are your own boss then you need a plan of your own.

 

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Don’t let Facebook run your life.

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The November election certainly stirred things up. Even if your preferred candidates won you’ve likely felt some upheaval thanks to relentless Internet uproar, which in some cases led to un-friending – and even un-familying – over political differences.

And if your candidates didn’t prevail? The temptation might be to dig a hole, crawl in and pull it in after you – after you get done un-friending your Facebook buds and cutting yourself off from relatives.

Don’t do that. Instead, take some advice from online course expert David Siteman Garland.

“Your social media is your social media. If you want to talk politics on there all day, that’s your right,” he said in an e-newsletter.

“However…there are better ways to spend your time.”

 

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