Quips and Tips for Successful Writers

Do you have a job, and can I feature you in a short article about it? I’m starting my sixth Quips and Tips blog, called Quips and Tips From the Working World.  And, I need to interview people who work for a living (which means you — unless you’re extremely lucky!).

This new Quips and Tips blog focuses on jobs and careers. Instead of job descriptions, however, it’ll offer short interviews with specific people in specific occupations. Sort of like Studs Terkel’s book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do — but shorter, snappier, more current. It’s a blog, after all!

If you’re interested in talking about what you do, I’d love to feature you! The interview consists of 5 short questions via email. The article will end with your 1 or 2 line bio — including links to your company, blog, website, book, or whatever you’d like.  I’ll send you the link when it’s published.

If you’re interested, please say “aye” below. I’ll email you the specific questions. If you have more than one job, you’re welcome to give me different sets of answers for each occupation.

Feel free to forward this request to anyone you think would be interested!

All good things,
Laurie

If you’re not a niche market writer, you may be cheating yourself out of writing jobs! These reasons to specialize in freelance writing are from professional writer Frances Bula, who recently spoke at the Magazine Writers’ Craft Fair in Vancouver, BC.

Before the tips, a quip:

“The media is a place where you can create yourself,” says Bula, who has written for several national magazines and newspapers. “It’s a great industry to work in, because your brand or niche is up to you.”

What kind of freelance writer do you want to be? What do you love writing about; what are you naturally interested in? Maybe that could be your niche market. And, the good news is that establishing yourself as a niche writer is surprisingly easy. If you’re looking for niche markets, you might want to invest in 2011 Writer’s Market Deluxe Edition (Writer’s Market Online).

And, here are several freelancing tips from Bula…

When you get a freelance writing assignment, do a happy dance! Then get to work. These ten steps for writers will help you write an excellent feature article and ensure the editor gives you more assignments.

Before the tips, a quip:

“Successful magazine writers have the skills fo a news reporter and the gifts of a storyteller,” write Sumner and Miller in Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes. “They know how to craft a gotcha lead, sprinkle anecdotes throughout their text, add action to rev up the pace, and humor to tone down the drama.”

Sounds like a lot of balls to juggle, doesn’t it? It is — but trust yourself as a writer. You won the writing assignment, which means you’re halfway there. To learn more about freelance writing, read Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes – it’s teeming with facts freelancers and journalists need to know (and trust me, you can never know too much!). I used this book when I taught high school journalism.

And, here are ten steps for writers who need to stop doing the “happy dance” and start working on their assignments…

How do you edit another writer’s writing? Not by following the Golden Rule! (“Do unto other writers…”) These editing tips will help you edit someone else’s writing and help you ask other writers to edit your own work — and the first tip explains why writers should avoid the Golden Rule.

Before the tips, a quip:

“An editor should tell the author his writing is better than it is. Not a lot better, a little better.” ~ T.S. Eliot.

Finding the balance between honesty and kindness is tough when you’re editing someone else’s work. You want to help improve her writing skills, and yet don’t want to destroy her confidence or crush her writing dreams!

Some of the following editing tips are from Get to the Point! Painless Advice for Writing Memos, Letters and E-mails Your Colleagues and Clients Will Understand. It’s one of those helpful writing resources you should keep handy – it’s perfect for when you’re waiting for your coffee to percolate or your husband to finish shopping for his suspenders.

Onwards, fellow scribes….

Blogging is the best freelance writing job for writers, but it’s not easy as pie! These “blogging for dollars” tips will help writers who are struggling with freelancing or writing novels, and need a change. Here’s why and how I leapt from full-time freelance writing for magazines to full-time blogging and how much money I make — plus a few tips for writers who want to blog for dollars.

Before the tips, a quip:

“The typical blogger, like most people who go on diets and budgets, quits after a few months, weeks, or in many cases, days.” ~ Stephen J. Dubner.

Like with any successful career – especially in the writing industry – you need to stay the course. You can’t start writing a novel and idly hope it gets published; you have to hone your writing skills, write every day, approach literary agents or publishers, and refuse to give up on your writing dream. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.

It’s the same with blogging. I think blogging is the best way for writers to make money – I get such a rush from creating my own site, writing articles, engaging readers, helping readers, and making more dollars every day. I answer to nobody, and enjoy complete freedom to run my blog and write the way I want (except of course for the old search engine optimization beast…every rose has its thorns). Could a writer’s life get any better?

To learn more about blogging for dollars, take Quips and Tips for Successful Bloggers for a spin. And, here’s why I think blogs are the best jobs for writers…