The winners of two full copies of Big Kahuna Reef 2: one for Macs (!) and one for PCs from the Do You Own Your Web Site post as selected by Random.org are…

{eDrum roll}

Travis Vocino for the Mac copy

Paige Eissinger for the Win copy

Congratulations! On with the celebration!

This entry’s prize is one full copy of Spinword PC game from Joyboost. Just leave a 30-word comment on this post by June 16 to get an entry for a drawing

I’ve been reading Anne Wayman’s stuff for a long time beginning with her About.com page for writers. Then, I followed her to The Golden Pencil and About Freelance Writing. I don’t know how she finds energy to manage two sites, do her regular writing work, post at least 40 writing gigs every couple of days, and provide sage advice about writing. Whatever she does, I thank her for helping writers.

How to Become a Freelance Writer

People seem fascinated that I earn my living as a freelance writer. They are surprised I don’t write fiction, and often confused when I tell them most of my income comes from ghostwriting. I suspect the picture most people have of freelance writers is someone huddled in a garret (do we have garrets any more?) struggling all night to get some deep fiction down on paper in hopes of a great (name your country) novel.

It’s a lovely fantasy, and so far from my own reality it’s almost laughable. Maybe my story will give you some hints about how to carve out a freelance writing career for yourself.

The family story is I started talking about writing way back in the 6th grade. I don’t remember that, but I do remember the 7th grade typing (yes, typewriters, manual typewriters) class that allowed me to write for the high school newspaper. It was also in high school that I started sneaking off to buy the magazine, Writer’s Market.

It wasn’t until my early thirties that I dared submit something – two articles, one each to Family Circle and Woman’s Day. Both were rejected, as they should have been, but I learned that I could survive rejection. In fact, I posted those two slips to my bedroom wall with pride.

I’d also discovered that while I’m a darn good worker, I’m a lousy employee. I hate the structure and the interruptions and all the office politics. I want to get my work done and go home. So I kept writing and submitting and trying different jobs. I finally landed a freelance job as a tech writer. I hadn’t done any tech writing, but by this time I did have a computer (an Apple II+ with a CP/M card, WordStar, and two single-sided drives!) and convinced someone I could explain how to hook up and use a computer. I did, and parlayed that into a staff tech writing job.

During the tech writing gig, I gathered together three others and we began to write third party software manuals. I also submitted my first piece to Hazelden, the drug and alcohol recovery publisher, and it was accepted! I can remember sitting at my desk hardly breathing.

I’d love to tell you my freelancing was profitable from then on. It wasn’t. A lot of that had to do with personal issues of self-worth, which is why I’m always telling my readers to consider charging more. But even though my view of myself was shaky at best, I kept writing and I kept telling people I was a writer. I stumbled into my first ghostwriting job — I said “yes,” rather than the truth which might have been something like, “I don’t know how, but let’s try it,” and it worked. I was referred to my second ghostwriting job.

I began to write for what’s now About.com and eventually figured out how much to charge for ghostwriting. (A lot!) I blog because it helps me find clients. I qualify my clients carefully and generally now make a pretty fine living.

There are three secrets to a successful writing career:

1. Write
2. Rewrite
3. Market

It really is that simple – not easy, but simple. Go for it if it’s something you want. I give away a free booklet that goes into a few more details at www.aboutfreelancewriting.com and talk about freelance writing almost every day at www.thegoldenpencil.com.

About the author: Anne Wayman is a freelance writer, grandmother, cat lover and gardener. Her websites and blogs are at: www.thegoldenpencil.com, www.writingwithvision.com, www.aboutfreelancewriting.com, and www.powerfullyrecovered.com.

• Add Spark to Your Writing with These 3 Simple Tweaks: I shy away from sentences where I use repeating words even though a comma separates them. This convinced me otherwise.
• So You Want to Become a Freelance Writer? Four part article with advice from the pros.
• Best Pro-Blogging Sentence in 2008: Wonderful quote from a CEO on why blogging matters in business.
• Disposable Email Addresses: Want something? Not sure if you can trust a source asking for your email?
• The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks: Love this. I’ve got friends who do this in email plus add unnecessary apostrophes. Nice to laugh instead of cringe for a change.
• Idea Seeds for Successful Articles and Posts: Creative approach to finding ideas.
• Searching for Mr. (Pardon, Mrs. and Ms., too) Good Host: A guest post of mine over at my guest blogger‘s site

And for fun… because we’re allowed…

• Speak LOL Cat [Link: Peter Shankman]
• Bored at work, but don’t want to get caught reading fiction or poetry? How about reading this stuff in PowerPoint? This takes work to figure out — but you log in as a user and click the folders. Start Here.

Updated: 16 November 2010 (100+ resources)

I had planned on putting this list up ages ago, but kept adding more. It could take a long time to capture many resources, so this is a living entry that I’ll update as soon as I get new resources.

Blogs

1. About Freelance Writing
2. All Freelance Writing
3. Be the Story
4. The Blood-Red Pencil
5. Bob Bly
6. Book Marketing Bestsellers
7. The Book Sistah
8. C. Hope Clark
9. CatalystBlogger
10. Christina Katz
11. Confident Writing
12. Copyblogger
13. The Copywriter Underground
14. The Copywriting Maven
15. Copywriting That Sells High Tech
16. The Creative Penn
17. Crime Fiction Dossier
18. Daily Writing Tips
19. Diary of a Wordsmith
20. Evil Editor
21. Freelance Parent
22. Freelance Writing
23. Freelance Writing Jobs
24. Get Paid to Write Online
25. Grow Your Writing Business
26. How Not to Write
27. I’d Rather Be Writing
28. Inkwell Editorial
29. Jane in Progress
30. Joel Falconer
31. Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog
32. JohnAugust.com
33. PoeWar
34. Macabre Ink
35. Mad Young Thing
36. Men with Pens
37. Michael Hyatt
38. Mike’s Writing Workshop
39. Newbie’s Guide to Publishing
40. Paul Conley on trade journalism
41. Publishing Careers
42. Problogger
43. Robust Writing
44. Quiet Rebel Writer
45. Quips and Tips for Freelance Writers
46. Rachelle Gardner
47. The Renegade Writer
48. Remarkable Communication
49. Rogue Ink
50. Sites and Soundbytes: Library blog that began as a list of cool places online now features many resources and online references that would prove useful to writers.
51. StoneWriter
52. Storytellers Unplugged
53. The Struggling Writer
54. There Are No Rules
55. Tumblemoose
56. Urban Muse
57. The Wealthy Freelancer
58. The Web-Savvy Writer
59. Web Writing Info
60. The Well-Fed Writer
61. WOW! Women on Writing
62. Words for Hire
63. Words on the Water
64. Word Sell Blog
65. Write from Home
66. Writer Beware
67. Writer Dad
68. Writer’s Digest Writing Blogs
69. A Writer’s Words, an Editor’s Eye
70. Writer’s Helper
71. Writer’s Notes
72. Write to Done
73. Write Well Me
74. The Writing Journey
75. The Writing Life
76. Writing on the Web
77. Writing White Papers Blog
78. Written Road

Resources

1. 100 posts and articles worth link love: Great selection of articles and content related to writing, business, blogging, and freelancing.
2. 150 Writing Resources: Organized by categories.
3. A to Z of Alternative Words [pdf file]: Why “utilize” when a simple “use” will do?
4. AbiWord: Open source Word
5. About Freelance Writing: Job postings, articles, and more.
6. AbsoluteWrite: The first place I recommend to wanna be writers. Of course, it’s great for experienced writers.
7. Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts: Collection of about 14,000 “classic” public domain documents from American and English literature as well as Western philosophy.
8. American vs. British Grammar: Differences go beyond color vs. colour, optimize vs. optimise.
9. Authors of Historical Fiction resource
10. Bartleby: Resource has been around for a long-time that contains reference and verses for writers, researchers, and the “intellectually curious.”
11. A Beginner’s Guide to the Business Side of Freelancing: From creating a business plan to dealing with taxes.
12. CARRIE: Internet’s first full-text online electronic library.
13. Community Mottos and Nicknames. Great info for stories and inspiration for names.
14. Confusing Words: Over 3000 troublesome words.
15. Digital Library of the Commons: An archive of full-text articles, papers, and dissertations; the Comprehensive Bibliography of the Commons; a Keyword Thesaurus, and links to relevant reference sources on the study of the commons.
16. Disability Writes: Site to help people with disabilities overcome barriers in getting support and encouragement to write.
17. e-write: newsletter, courses, articles, tools, resources, challenge.
18. Etymology: Study of word origins.
19. For Copywriters Only: Articles and newsletter.
20. The Free Dictionary: Dictionary, encyclopeida, thesaurus, and more. Huge resource.
21. Freelance Folder: More about the business of freelancing, but writers benefit greatly.
22. Freelance Writing Success: Articles and resources.
23. FundsForWriters: Articles, newsletters, and more.
24. Fun with Words: Wordplay
25. Google Book Search: Access thousands of books based on your keywords. How much you get depends on the book and its copyright.
26. Guide to Grammar and Writing: Guidelines and resources for writing proposals.
27. Little Known Online Research Sites: List of online research sites and apps.
28. Long Story Short: Ezine with book reviews, excerpts, interviews, articles, poetry, writing school.
29. Luciferous Logolepsy: Collection of obscure English words.
30. Manuscript Analyzer can help dump those trouble words and phrases. It looks for frequently-used words and “identify junk phrases, ‘frequent offender’ word patterns, and adverbs.”
31. NewsTrust.net: Discover good journalism based on quality not popularity.
32. OnceWritten.com: Introduces new fiction writers, contains a community, and provides resources for contests and marketing.
33. ParaPublishing: Newsletter and resources.
34. Phrase Finder: “Search beginnings and endings of phrases.”
35. Publication Coach Newsletter: Power Writing newsletter provides quick tips.
36. Publishing Central: Find articles from around the Web on just about every topic related to publishing.
37. The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): Superb resources covering writing, research, grammar, and MLA and APA style.
38. ResearchCopyright.com: Learn about copyright law in simple language.
39. Research Guides from New York Public Library: New York Public Library research guides in alphabetical order by topic.’
40. That White Paper Guy: Articles, FAQ, and other great white paper writing resources from Gordon Graham.
41. Top 25 Books for Writers and Writing-related Topics: As voted by writers.
42. The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resources: Top ten lists for free apps, online apps, bookmarks, communities.
43. Visuwords: Online graphical dictionary.
44. The Well-Fed Writer: Site behind the books of the same name. Sign up for the free newsletter.
45. Writing for Dollars: Articles and newsletter
46. WhitePaperSource: Excellent resource for white paper writers.
47. Worldwide Freelance Writer: Markets, newsletter, and articles.
48. Writer Magazine: Not only a print magazine, but also has lots of online articles.
49. Writing White Papers: Everything white papers including a community, blog, links, and newsletter.
50. WritingSpirit.com: Resources, strategies and support for writers.

Tools

1. About Writing Tools: Best writing tools on the Web.
2. Abbreviations: Search and browse abbreviations.
3. Anagram Genius
4. Cliche Finder: Identify and kill cliches.
5. ClicheSite: Cliches, euphemesms, and figures of speech.
6. Chris Pound’s Name Generation Page: Includes fantasie, parodies, and more links.
7. The Editorium Freebies: Tools and templates for Microsoft Word.
8. The Free Dictionary: Includes English, Medical, Legal, Financial, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, and a Literature Reference Library.
9. Freelance Switch Hourly Rate Calculator: How much should you make an hour? Complete this form to find out.
10. Global Acronyms: Search for acronyms.
11. Good Keywords: Find the right keywords.
12. Google Docs: Online-based word processor
13. Instant Anagrams
14. Instant Rhymes
15. Microsoft Word Shortcuts: Exactly as it sounds.
16. The Naque: Tools for coming up with names.
17. NetLingo: Online text and jargon.
18. The Passivator: Eliminate passive phrases.
19. Phrase Finder: Find phrases and their meanings.
20. Reference.com: Dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, reference material Wikipedia and Lexico’s On This Day.
21. Rhymezone: Tool for finding words that rhyme. Also includes other resources such as Shakespeare, quizzes, quotations, Mother Goose, and famous documents.
22. Scrivener Gold: Helps writers organize projects — for Macs. Apple Matters review gives it a rating of 9 out of 10. Scrivener requires a Mac running OS X 10.4 (Tiger).
23. Seventh Sanctum: Name generators (look on the left).
24. Text Block Writer: A virtual index card program.
25. ThinkFree Office: Free “Office” application.
26. Tools for Creating Ideas: Nice list of ideas of what you can do to brainstorm and come up with new things.
27. U.S. Newspapers: Find Web sites for US newspapers.
28. VocabTest.com: Boost your word power.
29. Wordsmith: Love the site’s anagram server. Also has A Word a Day, Wordsmith Chat, Wordserver and more.
30. World Newspapers, Magazines, and New Sites in English: Nice resource that sorts resources by categories.
31. WordWeb: Thesaurus and dictionary accessed with one click.
32. Zoho Writer and other apps

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

• Eliminate Common Writing Mistakes
• imbee: social network for 8-14 year olds
• 100 Websites You Should Know and Use
• 131 Productivity Boosters for Email, Instant Messaging, Word, Excel, and More
• Rico Clusters: Mind-mapping alternative
• Animoto: An easy way to create videos [Thanks, Steve]
• 10 Great Ways to Show You’re Grateful
• Dealing With Professional Burnout Without Quitting Your Job: Happy or not, we all run into burnout from doing the same thing for so long. Of course, blog burnout is something different… with blogs, if you take a break… you also risk losing a lot of readers as it’s a big blog world out there.

[View larger image]

I asked friends and colleagues a question regarding a book topic. Quite a few people told me to write what I want to write about. But I want to provide something people need, not satisfy a personal desire.

In the October 2007 of Sam Horn‘s “Take Action” Newsletter, best-selling author Scott Turow (Presumed Innocent and Burden of Proof) shared a lesson he learned:

… an attendee asked, “What’s been your biggest lesson as a writer?”

Turow thought about it for a moment and then smiled and said, “I once spent 6 months writing a book that was centered around a legal precedent called the ‘Law of Inhabitability.’

“I turned my finished manuscript into my editor who got back to me a week later with some bad news, ‘Scott, you may think this topic is fascinating – but nobody else does.’”

Argghh. Scott had to scrap the project because he had violated the cardinal rule of writing and speaking, “We may care about a topic, but the more important question is will our audience care about the topic?”

This isn’t suggesting that you shouldn’t write about a topic that fascinates you. Do it. Maybe you’ll find a market. Maybe you won’t. Just be prepared for a long road in finding an interested publisher and don’t expect it to sell many copies.

I’m interested in many things, but would much rather write a book that inspires, informs, or both. Scott Turow and Sam Horn continue:

Over the years, many people have consulted with me to craft a presentation or develop a book. One of the first questions I ask is, “Why are you writing or speaking on this subject?”

Reasons frequently given range from “I want to:

• Leave a legacy
• Make a lot of money
• Establish myself as a nationally-known topic expert
• Catapult my visibility and media coverage
• Drive consulting business and attract clients

These are all decent reasons. But they’re not enough.

The more important question is, “Why will people find your information and approach interesting, useful, and worth their valuable time, attention, and money?”

Will your material:

• Save them time or make them money?
• Motivate them or inspire them to take action on a priority progect or goal?
• Prevent trial-and-terror learning and provide a short cut to success and better results?
• Connect them with people experiencing the same challenge so they know they’re not alone?
• Teach them how to acquire a needed skill?
• Point out how they’re doing something wrong and show them how to prevent it, change it or improve it?
• Expand their horizons and give them experiences they’d never have otherwise?

All of the above are valid reasons for writing and speaking on a topic because they focus on how your audiences and readers will benefit, not just you.

Clarify up front why your information will serve people and keep that in mind as you produce pages or present ideas. Your intent to serve will be self-evident and people will care about what you’re saying and feel connected to you because they’ll sense this is not an exercise in ego.

We must admit that having a book in your portfolio impresses people and can help your business. But the key reason should be to provide value to the reader.

• The Hot Button Theory: Maximizing Media Response to Your News Releases.
• 5 tips for giving feedback on creative work.
• 50 sites for book lovers.
• 8 Easy Ways to Remove Tough Stains [I need all the help I can get!]
• The Art of Writing: 10 Tips from the Masters
• Wanna be book authors: Submit a book proposal and work with a real writer. AND help your favorite nonprofit organization.
• Four types of tasks that should not be on your to do list.
• Media Request — What to do now that you have media nibbling on the line.

Note: The tips in this article can apply to other freelance careers including Web design, art, and photography.

People emailed me asking me for advice on how to get started in the writing biz. When I stop to think about it, maybe I’ve been lucky to accomplish much writing in a short time. I have accidentally discovered a way to self-promote my work. It starts with an interest in Web design and a friend who needs a Web site for her professional organization. I volunteer to do it to get Web design experience.

Do you hear an “Ah-ha!” coming? Before I take you there, let’s talk about catch-22. Most people just entering Web design or freelance get the old “Get experience before we can hire you.” OK, how am I supposed to get experience if no one will hire me?

Back to the “eureka.” What kind of business typically has little or no money to invest in a Web site? Let’s say it together, “non-profit organizations.” That was lesson number one. Build a portfolio by offering your services to charitable organizations. It’s win-win because you get the opportunity to add to your portfolio as well as make a contribution to a good cause. The only drawback is finding the time to do it outside of your “pays the bills” job.

Oh, you’re not a Web designer, programmer, or code-head? No problem! Get out pen and paper or load up your favorite word processor. Start writing about a topic you know well. You’ve come up with another excuse saying you are not an expert in anything? It’s time for my rebuttal and a confession. I’m only doing this for you to boost your confidence and to show you it can be done. The old, “if I can do it, you can, too!”

Here goes: I am a Jane of all trades. I kid you not. It’s not a bad thing and I’ve managed to continuously add to my writing portfolio. Guess what? I am promoting myself with this article. Whenever I publish an article with a popular online Web site, my own Web site, http://www.meryl.net, experiences a traffic boost. I’ll bet you that you’ll go to my Web site when you finish this one. No, I am not high on myself. Whenever I read a story or discussion list, I often click on the author’s link to learn more and see if there is anything else I’d like to check out. If you don’t find this article worthy, then how did you get this far?

There are plenty of places that want your articles (Hint: notice this Web site?). Not everyone pays, but it’s a good way to put you out there. One way I’ve gotten started was submitting an article to an email newsletter’s open publishing initiative. It accepts articles in exchange for software and free publicity for you. You can write your own bio and add links to your Web site. Thanks to the newsletter, my portfolio grows and I gain new and paying clients.

If you want something bigger than a bio and you’re brave enough, then offer yourself up for interviews or presentations. If you’re involved with a new product or service, then you can suggest an article on that topic and be interviewed as a subject matter expert. For instance, in writing an article on Flash, I interview several experts and return the favor by including links to their Web sites. Again, it’s win-win. Remember to promote a topic of interest to readers instead of focusing on your company or its products.

Is there a conference coming to town? They’re always looking for proposals. Also, try checking around for user groups and offer up your services to speak about a relevant topic. I’ve given a presentation to a computer users group and my URL was in the footer of every page of the presentation. More free promotion.

There’s something for everyone. In summary, this is the advice I give to people on how to market their way to a new career:

• Offering your services to nonprofit organizations
• Publishing an article
• Getting interviewed or doing a presentation

Give it a shot. One more note, I’m terrible at sales. These steps have helped me move forward without feeling like giving a sales pitch. Now, finish this off by reading the bio and clicking on the link.

I have added a new word to my vocabulary. Logorrhea. We’ve all been touched by it. What is it? The Word Spy defines it, “excessive verbosity and long-windedness. Also know as verbal diarrhea.”

Basically, you’ll find plenty of examples of logorrhea in online blogs and content. Do you read every online or email content word for word? Most people quickly scan such content. Jakob Nielsen and many other experts confirm this theory.

It’s best to keep it short ‘n sweet. There are online Web sites that require 1000+ word articles. This does not mean running free and writing wordy. Ezine editors require tightly written articles. Here are a few tips to help you ensure your writing is concise.

1. Basically avoid qualifiers

I’m pretty guilty of using qualifiers. While researching this article, I attended a meeting where the manager used, “basically” in every other sentence. That word rang in my head that I said it while talking with her.

Basically, these qualifiers are the “um” of writing. Like “uh” and “um” in conversation, the sentence with the qualifier says the same thing without them. Let’s take a look. Reread the second paragraph of this article without the word, “basically.” Doesn’t it sound better? It gets the same point across.

Forget the following words: “pretty,” “rather,” “totally,” “really,” “quite,” “basically,” “actually,” and “very.” OK, there may actually be situations when you need to use one of these words, but use it with care. After all, we can’t imagine life or Elvis Presley without “thank you very much.”

2. Use uncomplicated words and condensed paragraphs

I worked for a manager with a PhD and he liked giving us articles relating to our work. I hated these articles. They were written by and for people with PhDs. Come on, you know what I mean. Every word in these papers are at least eight letters long and require frequent dictionary referencing. It makes readers feel stupid.

Remember people are scanning online content and they’ll more likely absorb simple phrases. People are not stupid. They’re overloaded with too much information. If it’s complex, they’ll skip it and move on. Besides, no one likes a show-off.

How often have you heard, “large-sized” or “biggie-sized” in advertising? That’s fine for TV or radio advertising. For writing, well, it’s wordy. We can lop off the “sized” and simply write “large” or “big” object. Instead of “mud-covered shoes,” use “muddy shoes.” Dump the “beautifully-dressed” for “beautiful.”

3. Active voice must be used

When I was a wee gal, articles written by me had passive voice. Er, I did it again. That should be, “I wrote articles using passive voice.” The hardest part is to avoid it when you don’t have a subject or don’t know who is the performer.

In passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed by the verb. There are two parts in passive voice: a form of the verb “to be” plus a past participle. Instead, use active voice where the subject performs the action of the verb.

The article was written by Meryl. [passive]
Meryl wrote the article. [active]

I vote for the second sentence. It’s crisp.

4. Don’t be long-winded

In this day and age, long phrases don’t cut it. I read somewhere comparing online reading to a quick shower as opposed to newspaper-reading to be enjoyed like a long, hot bath. It hit home. I start each morning with a cup of coffee and my newspaper. With every sip, I slowly devour each page of the newspaper. After I finish reading the paper, I turn on the computer and quickly surf pages to get updates.

Go back to the first sentence in the previous paragraph. That phrase of five words could be dumped for one word: “today.” Same meaning, isn’t it?

There are many online examples on cutting wordiness and wordy phrases. Search for “eliminating wordiness” and you should find plenty of examples.

Time to edit this article and reduce wordiness. Of course, I’ll leave the examples for your learning pleasure.

• I love Wikipedia, but I know it’s not 100% reliable and sometimes you need more than one resource. Beyond Wikipedia: 20 References You Can’t Do Without points to other resources.

• I started reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but wasn’t impressed. 10 Overrated Business Books (and What to Read Instead) also thinks 7 Habits is overrated.

• In addition to 10 Tips For Marketing Your Book Online, check out Plug Your Book.

• 5 Tips to TRULY becoming your OWN BOSS

• Proofreading Test and Tips — I prescribe to the “put it away for a day” proofing method.

• Contests (writing) and Agencies to Avoid [Thanks, Sage]

• Marketing Lessons from Apple

• “You Ain’t All That!” — A Marketing Copy Autopsy

• Games for the Brain

I referenced Yuwanda Black’s article in a past blog entry in which she shares her experience as a freelance writer, so I was honored when I saw an e-mail from her in my inbox. Sometimes when I link to others, they drop me a note thanking me — so I wasn’t completely surprised.

However, she not only thanked me for the mention, but also asked if she could interview me for her newsletter [pdf file] on how to start a freelance career. Though I’ve been interviewed a few times, it pleasantly surprises me whenever someone asks as I’m used to being the one who contacts people for interviewing — not the other way around.

Anyway, here is the interview. I hope new and future writers can glean something from the interview. If there are unanswered questions in the interview, post a comment here and I’ll do my best to answer them.