I just wanted to let everyone know that Supaproofread have setup a page on Facebook for people to join and become a fan of – Supaproofread’s Facebook page. I’m a big fan of social networks and bringing people closer together, and if you’re on our email list then chance are you have already received an email informing you of this.
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Some of you may have noticed a few little changes around the Supaproofread.com site over the past few weeks. We’ve moved about the Academic centre to bring more focus towards essay and dissertation guides, as well as other resources that are helpful to students. Also, some extra articles and tips on writing have been added to the respective areas of the site, as well as continual update to different pages and services sections on Supaproofread.
Well if you’re Irish or have any hint of green in you today is your day and I’m off to London to join in some Guinness style celebrations.
That does not mean I have spent the day drinking green liquid with a shamrock on the head as I have been hard at work on a new project that has just come in. I have not used GAF for some time so I thought pitch for some of the larger projects on there. It is sod’s law that I pitched for three and won two so now I have made a heavy rod for my back and not to mention my fingers!
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I was flicking through some listings and came across one which immediately caught my eye as I have been following Karl Bushby’s around the world trek in unbroken footsteps - his expedition is called The Goliath Expedition and is 36,000 miles on foot.
The job I saw was for two writers to accompany an expedition to navigate the Kolyama River in Siberia starting in October for six months - in comparison this is a walk in the park. I thought that it would be a bloody cold assignment and keybashing with frostbite an occupational hazard … and I was right.
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I’ve been fielding emails and telephone calls this week from the client that has appointed me onto their writers panel (see my posts on The Big Deal).
If negotiations go to plan in Boston, where my principal currently is pitching the project, I have my first writing assignment which will result in being published offline in the heady world of the “printed word”.
Part of me is thinking, “Bloody hell, it would have to be an insurance directory!”
Part of me is thinking, “Bloody hell, is that what they are going to pay me 
”
Yet another is thinking, “Bloody hell, I’ll be published - a real writer!”
When someone asks me where I’ve been published I won’t have to feel sheepish about giving them a website address to go and see my work but I do expect I’ll have to scan the published work so it can be emailed to them!
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I had a pleasant surprise this morning when I checked my email. I received a payment from Squidoo, a social media website that I have covered previously when looking at these sites.
I had forgotten completely about the financial side of Squidoo which shares advertising revenues with those who publish “lenses” on the site. I use Squidoo primarily as a means to gain search engine popularity or “juice” as some SEO geeks call it, and from my experience it really works. The site is the brainchild of Seth Godin who is a mega wealthy internet guru, and the site has generated a lot of traffic for my online presence and that of my clients.
If like me, you are using the web to gain exposure for your work, this should act as a salutary lesson that producing your written piece is only a part of the equation in being able to make money out of it. Getting readers and marketing your work is probably more important than actually researching and writing if you, like me, rely on writing income to pay the bills.
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When you are producing articles, getting them as widely distributed is a key element to gaining exposure for the piece and for yourself.
Submitting articles to directories, forums, bulletin boards and other media outlets all helps but this can be time consuming and ineffective.
A more effective means of getting your article and work out to a wider potential audience is to use article submission portals and ISnare is one that I use frequently.
By submitting your piece to ISnare, the directory will automatically submit it to around thousands of other sites and though there is always an element of redundancy and irrelevance in using automated methods, this is a very effective means of throwing mud against a wall without risking the spammer label.
Writing academic papers will require a referencing style; Michael has touched on the use of Chicago, MLA and APA in the past but in this post I’m going to explain and outline the APA referencing system.
APA stands for the American Psychological Association and their referencing style is very common. I’ll cover off UK and US referencing styles in future posts so don’t think I’m singling APA out for special attention.
The APA system is broken into two main parts:
In-text citations
A reference list
Lynn is a recent acquaintance of mine and a refugee from the cold, wintery English weather so she has chosen to live in cold, wintery Austria instead.
Lynn and I met after she read some of my personal writings and was kind enough to comment and since then we have been keeping tabs on how each other has been getting on.
Lynn is far more “arty” than I am while multi tasking is second nature as Lynn combines motherhood with heavy metal loving sprogs, performing as a musician and actress together with translation work while playing the organ in unheated Austrian churches on Sundays. Lynn also writes with whatever spare time she can muster.
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It has struck me that having to interview a subject as part of an assignment is something that is not as straight forward as I thought. Interviewing someone for a job is not the same as interviewing a subject that you are then going to use to write up a piece, and in either case, interviewing is something that takes practice to get what you want out of the meeting.
Here are my thoughts on how to approach and conduct an interview with a subject. Note that these are born out of minimal experience interviewing a subject as part of my writing career so pitch in with your criticism and suggestions.
What is the Purpose of the Interview?
Establish what the objective of the interview is to be. Are you interviewing the subject because you are writing about them or will be featuring them in your commission? Are you looking to use the subject’s knowledge and experience to support or counter the position you are taking with your commission?