Back into the swing of things

Sorry to be a bit of a blogger slacker this week! I've been busily working through some freelance writing jobs that finally started to roll back in after the holiday break! It's like they say, when it rains it pours, right? If I was getting antsy not having enough work to keep me busy before, I've got that problem solved..hehe. It's good in that I was feeling guilty as to not making much money the past few days so getting back into the groove is good, if not a bit tough at first.

While I've been productive in terms of writing jobs for other clients I have been still doing a lot of thinking in what I ultimately want for myself. In the down time I was able to do a lot more art and it really made me happy and I think I would like to incorporate that more into my job and daily going-ons. I have some children's books that I've written and one with all the illustrations done, and other ideas that I'd really like to pursue. I put it on the shelf a while back when I was getting more freelance writing jobs and needed to pursue things that would give me a profit right away instead of having to wait months and months to hear back from agents or publishers. That's where I get stuck; I need to continue to send out queries for my writing projects and to do that I've got to take time out between writing jobs. It seems there just aren't enough hours in the day!

My Query...

Hey there fellow freelance writers! Well, at least I hope a few of you are out there reading today. :) I'm actually excited because I've officially started sending out my query letter to literary agents about my book! I know it is going to be a long road and will be waiting weeks to hear back (hopefully!) but am happy that I got the first wave of them out. My goal is to just send a few out each day until I start hearing back and use that as motivation to really see this novel through. I really do love freelance writing jobs and writing articles, but creative writing is such an outlet for me and I've always aspired to be a published author. So in keeping with that, I've actually got my query letter below and would love any advice, tips, feedback, etc. So feel free to be brutal, be critical, or say what you like! :)

Kendra has always been mesmerized by the whimsy of lithe dancers on stage that tell their stories through movement. Even at the tender age of five, as she sat in the audience, entranced by the ballerinas of the New York City Ballet, she could feel them calling. While many would have assumed that dancing was simply in her blood, and expected the precocious child to follow in her mother's footsteps, that is not what attracted Kendra. She found that time stood still as she performed onstage; the troubles of her life seemed to slip away, and for those few precious moments she
was free of all burdens--weightless.

Abandoned by her mother in order to pursue her own career, Kendra is raised by her loving grandmother whose own health begins to fail. While the old woman is silently reluctant to let her granddaughter enter the very world that was the demise of her own daughter, she continues to be a pillar of support to Kendra. Amid the struggles of passing from adolescence into adulthood, Kendra must further cope with the cruelties of the dance subculture. With the ultimate dream of becoming the next great prima ballerina, Kendra is pegged as the girl to hate by her contemporaries. She is considered the bane of her jealous and retired mother's existence; a woman who finds it impossible to watch the illuminating career of her daughter ignite while only having dim memories left of her own. Kendra is now left to naively navigate the best she can.

As her career looks promising, she is taken under the wing of her coach and mentor, but inner demons of guilt, insecurity, and doubt continue to eat away at her. The doors of opportunity that begin to open up, may be shut inadvertently by her own hand.

DANCING IN THE DARK is a 57,000 word YA manuscript depicting a young dancer's journey to becoming a prima ballerina in her own right. She must step out from the shadows set by her mother's illustrious career, and find the confidence to stand on her own. Wrought with inner turmoil, fueled by passive-aggressive competitors, and pressed with the rigors of training, Kendra could fulfill the dream she is chasing or be left just outside the spotlight.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Writing articles of magazines vs. writing online

So right now I'm thinking about the different opportunities in freelance writing jobs. It seems there are two parallel worlds: online and print. I really do all my writing online and submit for websites, blogs, and marking all over the internet. But the thing that I'm wondering is if it is better to seek out more magazine and paper article submission. Since freelance writing is my career, I have to think obviously about the amount of money that I can make from my articles. From what it sounds like you can make much more per submission to a magazine or newspaper than you can for any online content, websites, or blogs.

I can see that because for blogs the tone and nature is often more casual and shorter in length. But that's not always the case with all online freelance writing jobs because I've written some longer articles and done significant amounts of research for others. But in my experience it seems that per word and assignment you can make a lot more from your freelance writing when you query to magazines, trade papers, and newspapers. But it seems that finding writing jobs online is both easier and you get a speedier return. If you submit a query to a magazine the wait time can be months and if you are stuck waiting to hear back you're sort of, well stuck.

Since being a freelance writer is at time inconsistent in regards to the amount of work; you can be super busy one week then have little to do the next, I'm just trying to find a way to maximize the return for whatever I do. Well, duh, that's everyone's goal right! But again with breaking into the magazine realm it seems like it's a struggle, and right now I've finally gotten to the point where I have a good amount of freelance writing jobs online yet they don't pay as much as I see some magazines offering. So I'm just weighting in my head what to do, and if anyone is reading and has advice or input, do feel free to share!

Saying good bye on friendly terms

When you are doing freelance writing as a career, you will no doubt (well hopefully that is!) come to a point when it is time to say good bye to some clients and move on to greener pastures, or freelance writing jobs! Whether it be that you have simply tired of the writing work or project, or that you have been able to find better paying freelance writing jobs and can then focus your times on them, saying good bye can be a few things. It can mean that you are getting better at your freelance writing job, which is awesome, and you are able to get better gigs and higher paying clients, that you are shifting gears or topics and you would rather focus your energies elsewhere, or it can simply be that you for whatever reason you just don't want to work with a certain client anymore.

Whatever the reason for leaving a freelance writing job, it is worth noting that unless there are extenuating circumstances it should be done in a way so as no one is left hurt, upset, or angry. In the freelance writing business it's always best to avoid burning bridges whenever we can because you never know when you may want to work with a certain client again or you may need them for a reference. So as tempting as it may be to give them the email equivalent of flipping the bird and shouting, "Sianara, Sucker!" it's usually best not to. And anyways, let's be grown ups about this...hehe.

Personally, I've been thinking about this because one of my clients is just not fitting into what I want out of my freelance writing career. The work is not only usually writing on topics that are so obscure that I don't think that the amount of research time to the payout is worth it, but they are nit picky and often demand lengthy rewrites. And then when they get them they still reject them, and I'm left with an article about toilet seats that I spent time on and end up without getting paid! I'm thankful in that I have been getting more clients that DO pay better for freelance writing jobs and that are more pleasurable to write. Yet I don't want to completely blow off the former freelance writing work as I may never know when I may want to approach them in the future. (Freelance writing as a career can be fickle, and if jobs are slow, we need some way to pay the bills!) While this business has been a headache, I need to avoid telling them where they can shove it, and be a professional myself.

In saying good bye as a freelance writer, we should strive to be cordial and at least civil. Down the road our paths may cross and if you are in need of someone to 'scratch your back', if you were rude to them in the past you can't probably count on trying to itch yourself! Even when I lose out on a prospective freelance writing job I try to reply with a thank you and to keep me in mind email, because in this business contacts mean a lot and you want to have a good reputation if you can! So in closing, I would recommend parting ways on as best of terms as possible; even though I'd rather run a tirade! :)

Maddening rewrites from nit picky clients

I am still learning the ropes of freelance writing as a career myself, and while I have at least made it to the point where I do have a few reliable clients or freelance writing gigs, I still consider myself a newbie and a work in progress! I am still seeking out better paying freelance writing jobs an better opportunities while still working with what I've got. And so today I come to the point where I must do a bit of venting and see what others have to say who may have been in my same position or are still in my same boat!

When it comes to what a certain freelance writer employer demands of us writers, how much do you think they can expect when they aren't willing to pay us a substantial amount. For instance, I am doing quite a bit of writing for a certain company who will supply a list of articles they need, each 500 words minimum and they will then pay you $7 for each accepted article. Now I know this isn't a great amount, but it's not nothing, so I do submit an decent amount. Yet I am growing ever more frustrated in the fact that they not only frequently demand rewrites with nit picky reasons but that they also reject a lot too.

Case in point, I was told that I was writing with too many 'fancy' words, and one of which they cited was the word ORATE for an article about speech transcription. Throughout the freelance written article I had sentences like, "when the speaker...", "when the talker...", and then "when you are orating..." and I guess orate is now a two dollar word! I'm sorry but you do want some variety in the word choice, no? And now they are having a lot of system troubles in which they claim to not even being receiving my freelance writing articles and then don't pay out. Yet I forward them the previous email that I have showing up in my outbox! ARG!! So frustrating. I just think that if a certain freelance writing job or gig is going to demand a certain amount from their writers, then rewrites, and lengthy invoice procedures they should either pay as such or at least treat us a bit better.

As I'm still learning the ropes and working on getting more freelance writing business I guess it's all par for the course. But it is still annoying and maddening all the same! I'd love to hear anyone else's input, rants, raves, or experiences. At least we can all offer each other some shared commisery! HEHE!!

Keep writing!

Finally finishing what I set out to do...writing that first novel

I've always loved to write. Creating stories, fictional characters, spinning story lines and plots, and writing poems. Creative writing was an outlet for me that I always enjoyed and while I often had lapses in which I was focused on other things, I would usually come back to it in. Through many of my passing phases, my writing, artwork, and running were three things that held my interest. I had dreams of writing an award winning novel, would often start out on a creative writing venture, work away but get stuck somewhere along the way and either start a new writing project or push what I had already written aside as a project to be picked up again at some unknown later date should I ever choose to go back. There I would be left with lots of little unfinished written works, and I had almost resigned to the fact that a full book was outside of my capabilities. That I simply hadn't the patience or concentration to get down THAT many pages, and should stick to short fiction or poetry.

There's nothing wrong with that, in fact I love writing short stories, and poetry if I'm in the right mood, but there was the little part of me that still was remiss that I hadn't actually finished a creative writing piece that was long enough to constitute a novel length story. I do a lot of writing and blogging about fitness and exercise and I'm constantly saying how the mind is the biggest obstacle in our way to achieving our goals. The mind will tell your body you're too tired long before you are ever in danger of actually physically getting to a point where you have to quit. That's the case with long distance running, many people can't fathom the idea of running a certain amount of miles, but with proper training and perseverance you'd be surprised how far you can actually go.

So I thought I should apply this same logic to my writing. I had to stop gulping at the prospect of thousands or words, and instead just take it a day at a time; one sentence at a time. I set a daily goal for myself to write a certain amount of words each day, and found myself actually being able to exceed that amount more often than not. (My obsessive compulsive tendencies definitely started to come out, just as they do with my running!) Eventually I was becoming excited by the prospect that I would actually finish this written novel. As I continued to get the plot and story down onto the page I was growing more excited as I could see the end in sight.

I would get anxious and impatient, simply wanting to get it DONE, but I knew that I wouldn't be happy with the end result if I just rushed it. I did finally finish the project I set out to do. I have the rough draft of my first officially finished novel, and while it is still on the shorter side as far as books go, I do feel proud I finished it. I proved to myself that I could do it; although I still have the mundane task of editing and reworking to do and I by no means and DONE done. And although I may be a freelance writer and have article writing under my belt, I don't' have an agent and getting one's first book published is not an easy task by any stretch!

However, I finished something I had always wanted to do; had set out upon and never fully achieved. I keep that in mind whenever I get frustrated with my own freelance writing, blogging, and articles in that I may not be where I want to be or earning as much as I would hope from my freelance writing career. I am still new to the whole world of freelance writing, but am learning and doing my best to improve upon my skills as best I can. Learning from other and reading tips and advice, I still keep plugging away at my goals because I know that writing makes me happy and that freelance writing as a career is something I want and worth working for!