Freelance Writer

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Quips & Tips for Freelance Writers.

Hope to see you there, fellow scribes…

Let Go of Your Writing

Thanks for stopping! To read this post, please visit me at my new and improved site:

Quips & Tips for Freelance Writers.

Hope to see you there, fellow scribes…

Setting Up a Blog For Writers

Thanks for stopping! To read this post, please visit me at my new and improved site:

Quips & Tips for Freelance Writers.

Hope to see you there, fellow scribes…

Inspiration for freelance writers

I tell you, I’m actually getting used to sending out 147,258 queries for every article I sell. It’s just part of the job – but what keeps me going is tracking my long-term success. This week, I’ve got articles due for Woman’s Day and Reader’s Digest. In a couple weeks, I have a deadline for Flare.

So even though I get rejected all the time, I am hitting it every now and then. And, boy, is it sweet! That's what keeps me going.

Writing quotation: “Is freelancing hard work? Sure – damned hard. But it’s not harder than any other profession. Like every job, it requires a combination of skill, thoroughness and dependability,” says I.J. Schecter in the 2008 version of Writer’s Market. “The difference is you don’t have anyone defining the parameters of the job for you or providing incentives to succeed.”

Writing tip: You have to define your own parameters when you’re freelancing. That means setting your goals, staying disciplined, and taking risks. Above all, it means NOT waiting until you feel creative before you get to work. Freelance writing means NOT waiting for inspiration to strike.

Instead, you have to hunt inspiration like the beast it is.

how to use writing quotations to succeed

Writing quotation: “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit,” said Richard Bach.

Another quotation about not giving up: “You must want to enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price in disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any other artist you must learn your craft – then you can add all the genius you like.” – Phyllis Whitney.

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I don't know about genius, but I do know about disappointment, discouragement – and success! Today, Flare magazine accepted a piece from me, and that almost makes up for my fear that Woman's Day might change their minds about the article they accepted last week (they sent me an American W-9 to fill out but I'm Canadian and they're still "looking into it." Surely they must have employed Canadian writers before, no?!).

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But I digress.

Writing tip: These inspirational quotations about writing are more important than you know. The more your thoughts focus on persevering despite rejections or writing blocks and the more you focus on your dreams, the more likely you’ll achieve your writing goals.

Here's how to use writing quotations to succeed: Find 3 or 4 writing quotes that motivate you to achieve and to produce. Post them near your computer, in the front of your notebook, or on your fridge -- anywhere you'll see them regularly. When you get used to seeing them or have memorized them or have moved beyond what they offer, switch them out for new writing quotations.

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Another great way to stay motivated is to visit writing sites or blogs regularly, but don't get sucked into surfing or reading posts for longer than a few minutes! Internet distractions can be the death of any dream.

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Write on, fellow writers. Write on.

writing advice from Ernest Hemingway via Natalie Goldberg

For how long do you pursue your writing goals? For instance, my goal is to earn a living as a freelance writer (at least $30,000 per year). Do I send out article queries and book proposals for a whole year? Two? Ten? Fifty? I’ve already been trying for almost two years, and have barely earned 10K.

When do I give up for my own good?

Writing quotation: “Hemingway writes in Green Hills of Africa about young American men who went to Paris for two years to try out being artists. If they weren’t successful, they planned to go home and work in their fathers’ businesses,” writes Natalie Goldberg in Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life. “Hemingway said that that is the wrong attitude, that you have to be willing to give as long as it takes.”

Writing tip: On “giving up for your own good”, Ernest Hemingway says (via Natalie Goldberg): NEVER. You don’t give it a year or two, or ten. You give it as long as it takes.

Luckily, “as long as it takes” is up to us as individual writers. For me, as long as it takes could mean I keep pursuing my writing goals until my husband insists I get a paying job and stop neglecting him (at least 10 years). For Hemingway, it could be until…I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s profound.

What is “as long as it takes” for you? Tapping into that clarity and determination will make you a better writer, and perhaps spur you to stick with your writing goals.

the top 10 fiction books of 2007

Writing tip: These top 10 fiction books of 2007 (as deemed by Time) were once just the glimmer of an idea in the writer’s mind. I don’t know how the writers came up with the ideas for these books, or how long the books took to write, or how many rejection letters the writers received and burned or filed.

But I do know that these books represent hard work and dedication. Even if a book doesn’t make it to the bestseller list or someone’s top 10, it still required mountains of discipline, hope, and faith. A dash of self-confidence and courage probably didn’t hurt, either.

If Diaz, Ferris, Hosseini, Petterson and the other six writers on this list can do it – then so can you. And so can I.

The top 10 fiction books of 2007:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz


2. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris


3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini


4. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson


5. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson


6. The House of Meetings by Martin Amis


7. No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July


8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Dallows by J.K. Rowling


9. Like You’d Understand, Anyway by Jim Shepard


10. The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
    

These books represent writing hope, writing dreams, and writing goals. These writers followed their hearts and listened to their editors, and wrote through their insecurities and fears.

writing quotations about rejection

I discovered this fantastic book at the Vancouver Public Library: The Writer’s Book of Hope: Getting From Frustration to Publication by Ralph Keyes. It’s exactly what I need as a writer.

Every week, I send a dozen query letters for my non-fiction articles. Once a week I’ll get a “no thanks, it’s not in our editorial line up.” Mostly I get no response. Once a month I’ll get an assignment. In December, I actually received 4 assignments, and last September I sold 5 articles.

But mostly I hear nothing, so I keep sending article queries out. It’s really really difficult to keep meeting my writing goals when I see minimal growth – but I remind myself there has been growth. That counts for a lot.

Sometimes, writing rejections motivate me to write better. Other times I just want to give up and go kayaking. Luckily, I found The Writer’s Book of Hope!

Writing quotation: “To working writers, rejection is like stings to a beekeeper: a painful but necessary part of their vocation. They understand that the return of their work isn’t meant as a personal rebuff (or seldom is, anyway). It just feels that way,” says Keyes.

Keyes described Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield’s rejections from twenty major publishers (the Chicken Soup for the Soul series). Their agent, Jeff Herman, says, “[Hansen and Canfield] instinctively understood that all those rejections were simply an uncomfortable part of a process that would eventually get them were they wanted to be.”

Writing tip: See rejection an unavoidable part of being a writer. It’s uncomfortable, and it can distract you from your writing dreams and goals, but it’s simply part of the process.

Another writing quotation about rejection: “No rejection is fatal until the writer walks away from the battle leaving dreams and goals behind,” says Jeff Herman (Hansen and Canfield’s literary agent).

Still another writing quotation about rejection: “Writers often feel…that repeated rejections accompanied by reasoned letters mean that in the end there’s no hope. This is simply not true,” says John Gardner.

Don't walk away from the battle, friends.

writing quotation about self-acceptance

Natalie Goldberg offers writing inspiration to gazillions of both emerging and established writers. The following writing quotation is from Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life. Goldberg also wrote Writing Down the Bones and Thunder and Lightning. She has a new book, out in February 2008, called The Great Failure. She’s an amazing role model. She and Anne Tyler and Annie Dillard rock, man. So does Martha Beck and Robert Bly. And Stephen King has some pretty good writing tips too.

Anyway, on to Goldberg's writing advice.

Writing quotation: “We have to accept ourselves in order to write. Now none of us does that fully: few of us do it even halfway. Don’t wait for one hundred percent acceptance of yourself before you write, or even eight percent acceptance. Just write. The process of writing is an activity that teaches us about acceptance,” says Natalie in Wild Mind.

Writing tip: We can’t wait for life (or ourselves) to be perfect before we pursue our writing dreams. For me, this means I can’t hold off until I have the ideal office before I set my writing goals. I can’t wait until I accept myself or even love myself before I send out those article queries and book proposals. All I can do is take my writing ideas and inspirations, and put them on paper (or the screen), and send them out there. That may increase my self-acceptance. Or maybe it won’t. It doesn't really matter.
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What's holding you back from setting and achieving your writing goals? The sooner you figure it out and practice self-acceptance, the sooner you'll be writing the way you want.

writing quotations from Atwood & Michelangelo

When I was in Rome, I toured the Sistine Chapel with an audioguide. While I stared up at Michelangelo’s detailed, colourful ceiling of God, Scripture, and life on earth, the narrator said that Michelangelo was plagued with doubt and uncertainty. Michelangelo didn’t know how his creation would be viewed, but he forced himself to keep painting.

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Writing fears work the same way.

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Writing quotation: “The fact is that blank pages inspire me with terror,” says Margaret Atwood. “What will I put on them? Will it be good enough? Will I have to throw it out?” Even the great Atwood struggled with writing fears.

Writing tip: Listen to the Sistine Chapel's narrator who tells you that Michelangelo struggled with doubt and uncertainty. Listen to Margaret Atwood, who struggled with her own writing fears. Don’t listen to your own narrator who’s up to no good, who tells you your writing is flawed, weak, or stupid. Heed Margaret Atwood’s great writing quotation about feeling doubt...and write anyway. After you write, work towards your writing goals by revealing your writing to editors, publishers, or friends for feedback.

This writing quotation came from Shoptalk: Learning to Write With Writers by Donald Murray.

writing quotations about why you write

It's time to figure out why you want to write and why you're not writing. Then, you can clarify your writing dreams. Here's why the great writers Anne Tyler, Maurice Sendak and E.B. White write.
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Writing quotation: “For me, writing something down was the only road out…I hated childhood, and spent it sitting behind a book waiting for adulthood to arrive,” says Anne Tyler. “When I ran out of books I made up my own. At night, when I couldn’t sleep, I made up stories in the dark.”

Maurice Sendak said, “You write or paint because you have to. THERE IS NO CHOICE.”

“I haven’t told why I wrote the book [Charlotte’s Web], but I haven’t told why I sneeze either. A book is a sneeze,” says E.B. White.

Writing tip: Maybe you write to escape, or because you have no choice, or because it’s a natural part of who you are. But even a natural inclination to write can be smothered by the inanities of everyday life (chores, tv, self-grooming, paid employment). Read Annie Dillard’s writing quotation about not letting stuff distract you from your writing goals.

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Figuring out why you write will increase your writing motivation. Me, I write because I...now that I think about it, I don't really know why I write. It just feels right, and I can't stop. Why do you write? Even more important, why AREN'T you writing?
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These writing quotations came from Shoptalk: Learning to Write With Writers by Donald Murray.

take action with this writing tip

Writing quotation: “Action is absolutely essential for people who don’t know what they want. Action will help you think better and more clearly than if you sat still and weighed all the theoretical factors. Even action in the wrong direction is informative,” says Barbara Sher in I Could Do Anything…If Only I Knew What It Was!

Are you undecided whether you should write a book, article, memoir or inspirational essay? Take action, whether it's researching a topic or starting a journal. Are you paralyzed at the thought of writing a book proposal or contacting publishers? Take action. This writing tip will get you started - even if you're not quite sure what your writing passion is yet.

Writing tip: Start building strong writing habits, noticing writing ideas, thinking about your writing goals and collecting writing inspirations (and noting those great writing quotations). The sooner and more often you take writing action, the better you’ll feel.

Whitman's writing quotation about style

Writing quotation: “The secret of it all, is to write in the gush, the throb, the flood, of the moment – to put things down without deliberation – without worrying about their style – without waiting for a fit time or place. I always worked that way. I took the first scrap of paper, the first doorstep, the first desk, and wrote – wrote, wrote…By writing at the instant the very heartbeat of life is caught,” says Walt Whitman.

His great writing quotation is in itself great writing. Note the pace of the sentences, the use of dashes and commas to create a faster and slower tempo. This writing quotation also contains a passive sentence (normally a no-no in most writing advice books). I think it works here.

Writing tip: Don't wait. Just write. Another take-away of this writing inspiration is: forget your writing style. Write it all down; you can edit it later. For now, make it your writing goal to just write. Of course that's easier said than done, especially when you want to tap into or develop your writing style. But you'll achieve your writing goals faster if you forget your writing style and just write for now.

This writing tip is based on Walt Whitman’s writing quotation, found in Quotationary by Leonard Roy Frank.

a writing tip about writing habits

Since A. A. Milne is one of the masters of great writing, I have to include a writing tip from his fictional writing.

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Writing quotation:

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"When you first get up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.

Writing tip: The way to get and stay excited about your writing habits is to prepare yourself for a day full of surprises – because you never know what the day holds or when writing inspiration will hit. Maybe you’ll reach your writing goals, or exceed them. Maybe a publisher will accept a pitch, and you’ll be hired to write that assignment. Maybe an editor will call with a stack of edits for you to make on your article (groan) – and you learn more about your writing, the subject, and the magazine.

Live in anticipation that your writing passion will take you farther than you dreamed.

This great writing quotation is from A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, of course.