Getting the First Writing Assignment

The latest update on my journey to write for a living, including my first article assignment, and a plan for getting more writing assignments.

The original plan was to find local businesses I could contact about being a content writer and website-spiffer-upper, but I am still not sure how to go about that. Nevertheless, I have found a couple of opportunities that I am very hopeful about and are better than either CrowdSource/Mechanical Turk or Content Divas, because well, they actually pay more than a pittance (see previous article). 

Both of my new options were posted on that old standby Craigslist. The first job is writing articles for a website that is about to launch. I will share the website when it's up and I have some content on there, but for now I'll just tell you what I know. This website will be focused on featuring people and organizations what are making progress and solving world issues. There are a lot of options and angles to be taken. I actually have an assignment, which is strange to think about. And it will be paid a reasonable amount. So now I've done a bit of research and made first contact via email with a person I would like to interview. My only fear is that my old shyness will get in the way. Journalistic pursuits have always scared me a bit because so much rides on talking to strangers in the middle of a situation, and for whatever reason that was not easy for me to do in High School. I have to realize for myself that I am a very different and much more confident person now. And that is why I am actually making plans to write a couple travel articles in the next month as well. More on that later.

The second opportunity is to write content for real estate websites. It's a decent hourly wage for this job, and is something that would start slow before becoming a part-time or full-time position. Now this is more like a normal J.O.B. than a freelance job, but it is beginning as a remote position and has the ability to stay that way, which has obvious appeals because I could use this for some stable income as I do other, less stable writing.

So my plans for this week are:

1.Find someone to interview and put together my first assigned article.

2. Complete a few small assignments via Mechanical Turk and/or Content Divas

3. Research publications that may be interested in the travel articles I have come up with.

4. Draft a Query letter or two about these articles.

5. Talk to someone on the phone about the real estate content job - basically an interview for a position and my opportunity to learn about it some more.

6. I am also going to work on following the advice in "How to Build a Web Copywriting Portfolio Fast" which will help when it comes to contacting those businesses in the future.

I will also be writing about my experience with the Mechanical Turk platform as well as Content Divas and maybe some tips on where to buy used books in San Francisco. Links for those to come.

~CJ

To Freelance or Not to Freelance

When it comes to freelance writing, the questions really are multitudinous:

1. Is freelance writing worth my time? And the sub-questions of that: Could I ever make as much money per hour freelancing as doing a typical job? and Will I spend too much time trying to find freelance work and not enough time actually working?

2. Is it just yet another distraction from my own writing projects?

3. What am I actually qualified to freelance about? 

4. Where do I actually find these lovely freelance writing jobs?

5. Could this actually help make my dreams come true? Those of being able to live where I want, make my own schedule and maybe do a little traveling while writing, and making enough to sustain my fairly minimal needs, that is.

Are the first four questions, and the time they consume, worth the possibility that the answer to the fifth is yes?

All of this has come up because yesterday, when I went down to Columbus Cafe to escape the apartment and get some focus, I didn't get right down to business on my creative endeavors (i.e. my novel), and instead found my way to Craigslist due to my continuing indecision about whether I should stay in the Bay or move back to L.A. (hey rhyming!) where I discovered what looked like some freelance writing gigs. Hastily, I sent over my resume to a company called Content Divas and completed a quick application on Write.com. The wheels in my head started turning: If I could make a few hundred a month freelancing through these websites, build my portfolio and confidence and begin finding other gigs in a more direct way, maybe, just maybe, I could gather enough streams of income to quit the day job, or at least minimize it to part-time and work on my own terms. Such an exciting prospect! 

After the cafe, I was also reading a short ebook (which you can get for free here ) about finding a good business idea. It actually inspired me further, but only in the sense that I am now thinking about trying to find my own leads for freelance jobs and trying to contact them. What kinds of leads am I talking about here? I'm going to look for a business, or twenty, who don't seem like they have in-house marketing and offer my services via email. I may eventually try to set up a decent website, or at least a blog where I can put some samples, but initially I'll likely send them as part of the email. Could this be a horrible idea? It very well could, but who knows, maybe it will work. Maybe I can get some referrals, too. And I don't have much to lose.

So here is the current plan, which I will be updating as time goes along:

1. Write.com (which is actually just crowdsource rebranded, which appears to be a large amount of tiny jobs, paying just a bit)

2. Content Divas (they seem new and like they'll provide better compensation)

3. Offer my services to local/small businesses

Here are some more resources for freelance writing if you are interested:

Freelancewriting.com

The Renegade Writer blog

About.com Freelance Section or Write for About.com

Week One Progress:
Made: $8.20 (sort of, see info on working in Mechanical Turk)
Time Spent: (Estimated, including communication etc.) 5 hours
Written: 250 word article for a dating website, product description for cat food.

~CJ

Photo shout out goes to The Italian Voice on Flickr.

Make your Writing Goals and Accomplish Them

Set specific goals to increase motivation and achieve success now!

With writing, success takes more than just talent, it also takes a lot of work. The motivation to sit and write, especially a long project, can be hard to come by. However, if you set yourself incremental goals, specify how much you want to accomplish in each period of time you work, and keep at it, you will start seeing real results.

One way to plan your steps to writing success is to use page counts or word counts. If you know approximately how many pages/words your project needs to be, this is even easier because you can simply divide it up. This is the technique used in for NANOWRIMO, the organization that challenges contestants to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of november. Divided equally it's around 1,667 words per day, which is challenging, but doable. Even if you don't know your ultimate wordcount goal, however, it can still be useful to set a minimum balance or average daily or weekly word count goal. When you do this you will be able to measure your success, and you will feel like you've accomplished something each day, which can help you keep your motivation level high. That's a psychological fact, by the way.

Another way to do this is to break it up in terms of scenes. If this is your preference, it can be helpful to have a fairly detailed outline so you know how many scenes you need, and where you are in the story.

Personally, I find it helpful to alternate between these two methods of project break down. I'm more likely to base it on wordcount when I don't have much of an outline, or when I'm doing a shorter piece. I base it on scenes when I do have a good outline. I also may combine the two techniques for my longest projects. Trying to get a specific amount of scenes done at certain points in the process, while at other times I just strive to maintain a certain word count. It's up to you because as long as you do have specific goals covering short periods of time, you will accomplish a lot, little by little.

~C.J.

Fearlessness Gives you the Choice to Succeed

If you want success, you have to stop being afraid and try, because then you will at least have options despite the inevitable challenges.

Perhaps you want to write a novel, perhaps you want to go to Asia, perhaps you want to get published someday, perhaps you want to be a famous travel writer...

Will these goals be hard to attain? Yes. Is it possible you'll never get them? Absolutely. Will you achieve the goal if you don't even try? No way. A lot of people settle for things that are less than what they want in life. Perhaps circumstances just get in the way: you don't have the money, your mother gets sick, you need to work. Circumstances can be valid, they are obstacles to getting our loftiest dreams, and they are hard to overcome. Yet, in most cases where there is a will, there is a way. And in most cases, big dreams are completely achievable despite obstacles.

For the most part, circumstances are just circumstances. They are just excuses. When circumstances get in the way it is because you are making an obstacle into a priority instead of putting your dreams at the top of your list. The thing that is really holding you back is yourself. It's the little voice in the back of your head saying; but what if I fail? What if I make a fool of myself? What if I wind up disappointed? Disappointment is certainly one of the worst feelings, but then again, so is regret. Sometimes you just have to weigh your options. What will you regret more failing or never trying?

If you plan a trip to Greece, for instance, but then your car breaks down and you have to spend all of your money to repair it, you can either decide to start over with saving money again, or you can say, "screw the car, I'll take the bus when I get back". Because you've made the attempt, you have options and you can prioritize. If you never save up, if you never plan to go to Greece in the first place, well then, there are never any options except to never go at all. I leave you with some quotes to inspire you to the path of fearlessness:

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.

--Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little coarse, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again; you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

--Confucius

~C.J.