I’d planned to write about something else today, but it can wait. The 2008 Pulitzer Prizes came out yesterday, the newspaper industry’s highest honors. The Washington Post won six, a record for the paper, including the esteemed Public Service award for its reports on sub-par treatment of war veterans at Walter Reed Hospital. The paper […]
Spring Training for Freelancers
Baseball players aren’t the only ones who use springtime to warm up for the regular season. With winter behind us, the writing conference season is in full swing. Conferences can be a good way to inject new life into your freelance business – and pardon the pun – put some spring back in your writing. […]
Taking Time Off
Sometimes even the most hard-core freelancer has to step away from the keyboard and recharge the old writing batteries. I did last over the past week on a trip to central Oregon. Not far from Bend, I hiked the Deschutes River Trail, which passes waterfalls like this one, Dillon Falls. I also skied at Mt. […]
10 Basic Web Tools for Freelancers
My workday would not be the same without the Web-based tools I use for research and writing. The good part is they’re simple. I may be a tech writer, but as my husband will attest, I an not an early adopter. Whether it’s a computer, software program or cell phone, I stick with the tried […]
Social Networks Shrink, But It's Not What You Think
Any student of online social networks can see that right now, less is more. It’s not what you think. Social networks aren’t shrinking. The audience they’re trying to reach is. Think LinkedIn or Facebook, but way smaller. Exhibit A. Today, a new Website for women over 40 called Women on the Web, or Wowowow.com, said […]
What Freelance Writers Should Know about SEO
You don’t have to look hard to see the publishing business is changing. Newspapers are cutting jobs left and right as advertising dries up and the economy spins closer to recession. At the same time, publishers are finally sinking more effort into their digital properties, though they still haven’t figured out how to make money. […]