When you’re just starting out as a freelancer, it’s easy to fall into the habit of taking every assignment that comes your way. But if you stay in the business long enough, you realize that to be really happy in your work you’ve got to take control over what you do. Different writers will pursue […]
How freelancers can organize their writing time
It’s back to school time. In that spirit of higher education, over the next month or so, I’ll be running a series of posts on freelancing basics. Today’s lesson – organizing your writing time. It’s one thing to get assignments. It’s another to schedule your time to maximize your earnings potential. Here’s one way to […]
Tech cliches we never want to hear or write again
The computer industry loves jargon. Think about it. Engineers and programmers get into designing computers and writing code because they’re good at math and conceptual thinking, not necessarily with words. Consequently, stories about computer and Internet are cluttered with words and phrases nobody ever uses in real life. I’m tired of hearing them, and work […]
Poynter Online remodels, adds features
My favorite place for keeping tabs on what’s happening in the news industry just got a makeover. Poynter Online, the Web home of the Poynter Institute, the non-profit journalism education and policy institute, is previewing a new look that makes it easier to navigate through the wealth of material available there. The new front page […]
Should writers blog about juicy subjects or save them for story pitches?
Any writer with a blog has faced this dilemma: when a juicy tidbit or great story comes your way, do you blog about it or save it for a query? Freelance writer and blogger Michelle Goodman tackles this question in a recent entry to her blog, The Anti 9-to-5 Guide. Goodman wisely suggests saving your […]
Use Wordle to create a word picture of your blog
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. So today, for your viewing enjoyment, here’s a picture of this blog. The image comes courtesy of Wordle, a Website that creates word clouds from text that you give it, or in this instance, of all of the words I’ve ever written in this blog. You can […]