Notes from Minnesota

Hey Freelancer!

Snow Day!!!

We're expecting a foot, the precip is coming down in SHEETS. I plan on heading outside with the dogs before the wind whips up.

If you live in the track of this glorious storm, enjoy the moment, have fun, and remain safe.

I'm out the door!

Beth

P.S. Be sure to check out our best sellers. Here's the link

Mindset Moment

Many writers focus on the “how-to” of writing.

How to write strong sales letters. How to write novels. How to write articles. How to... fill in the blank here.

It's a very rare writer who digs a little deeper and asks “why-to?”

Why do you write your novel? Why will you write that article? Why are you promoting that particular product?

There's plenty of “how to” information floating around the Internet. Unfortunately, few writers focus on “why” they write what they write.

This week, ponder the “whys” of everything you write. It can be a very enlightening exercise.

http://filbertpublishing.com/creative.html

Beth's Hot Pick of the Week 

Think it'll take forever to earn a nice wage as a writer? Classic information. Classic book and CD. Jumpstart Your Writing Career

Freelance Myths Debunked    

Beth Ann Erickson 

I began my illustrious freelance career with stars in my eyes and a dream in my heart.

I had this vision of myself, hunched over the keyboard furiously typing as brilliant phrases exited my fingertips onto the computer screen. I even practiced the photo for my first dust jacket… the dignified author, thumb on chin, looking thoughtful. These images filled my mind, but don’t remotely resemble realities of this profession.

If you work as a full time freelancer (one who actually earns a living wage writing from a home office), you’ll probably identify with what you’re about to read. If you’re just starting your writing career, please allow me to lift the blinds that separate four freelance myths and compare them to the reality of freelancing….

Let’s begin with the notion that writing is a quiet and solitary profession.

If only.

When your freelance career is humming nicely, you’ll find yourself inundated with e-mails, phone calls, and faxes. You’ll squeeze writing assignments in between school events (if you have children) and veterinary emergencies (assuming you have pets).

Days becoming a long game of “catch up” usually outnumber the lazy afternoons spent lounging in your office chair crafting the next Great American Novel.

Forget writing in an ideal environment. If you freelance from your home, you’ll find your office invaded by kids, dogs, and spouses. You’ll create your best work with various video games screaming in the background. You’ll referee a few arguments in between client calls. Every so often, you’ll have to dash from your office to find out why the house suddenly fell silent.

Yes. The Freelance Lifestyle is far from solitary and quiet. But life is messy. If our writing is to accurately reflect life, shouldn’t we live a full life?

On to freelance myth number two:

“I must write when my muse is agreeable.”

Yeah right.

If you wait for your muse to give you the green light to start writing… you’re not going to make a living as a freelancer.

The mythical muse is fickle. From what I’ve read on the subject, it flits in and out of your creative conscious and may (or may not) “bless” your imagination with everything it needs to write.

Funny thing. My muse is ignited by the need to feed my family. The more I write, the more ideas stream into my consciousness. The more I research, the more my creativity is ignited.

In other words… the more I work… the more I research… the more sweat I put into my profession… the more my “muse” blesses me with ideas.

My husband, a sheet metal worker, says the same thing about his job.

To wait for a mythical creature to grace me with its presence would be the same as asking the sheet metal muse to flitter to my husband’s shoulder before he began designing a heating system for a client.

Myth number three:

True writers don’t care about payment and live a frugal life/ Successful writers earn big bucks and live an extravagant lifestyle.

Ah, the double edged sword.

I’ve read articles about successful authors. I’ve also seen what some freelance magazine writers earn. It’s true, writing superstars earn a lot of dough while many novelists survive on a few thousand a year.

It’s been my experience that I can live somewhere between those two extremes and earn a nice wage as a writer living in the middle of Minnesota.

So (in my opinion), if you think your freelance career will allow you to travel to exotic locations, live in a castle, and hob-knob with the rich and famous… and if you think you’ll be so poor that you’ll have to eat grass to survive… neither of these scenarios are likely to come true.

What you can expect is, if you work hard, expand your skills, and keep on top of your profession, you can earn a nice wage. You may not get rich. But you won’t starve either.

Myth number 4:

Writing is a dignified /prestigious job. (Picture my dignified photo here… remember the one… with my thumb on my chin?)

Yeah.

When you’re plodding through ankle deep cow manure chasing after a rancher you’re hoping to profile for a local newspaper, when you’re in your grubbiest clothes hammering the keyboard creating the perfect scene for your newest novel, and when you’re chasing down dentists to write an article about their newest procedure, just keep reminding yourself, “This is a dignified job… this is a dignified job.”

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it), many of your most lucrative assignments aren’t very classy. But they pay well. Plus you get new clips for your portfolio.

Despite what you’ve just read, I absolutely love the freelancing lifestyle. It just pains me whenever I meet a freelancer who thinks it’s a quick way to earn money… or worse yet a writer who doesn’t believe you can make a nice wage.

Freelancing is a business… just like a friendly neighborhood grocery store. You need creativity, a sense of humor, business acumen, and perseverance to succeed. Oh, and a little luck doesn’t hurt either.

After all, for someone who loves to write, a freelancing career truly is a dream come true.

~~~

Beth Ann Erickson is the “Queen Bee” of Filbert Publishing. She’s also the author of numerous titles including “101 No Cost and Low Cost Secrets To Turbo Charge Your Freelance Income.” Pick up your copy today at http://filbertpublishing.com/101.html She’s also a busy copywriter, speaker, and publisher of Writing Etc., the free e-mag for writers. 

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I Recommend:

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