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!

It looks like I’ll have to burn the midnight oil this week to get both the assignments in but this is one of those occasions when it is warranted.  Both projects need to be complete by the end of the week and both pay in excess of $1,500 so this week I’m going to be making over £2,000 in total. 

That is what I call a result and only goes to demonstrate what is available out there.

Both of these projects required “experience” with the subject matter.  One is for an IT services provider supplying VOIP solutions (internet telephony) and one of my old jobs was in IT sales so though I don’t understand the technical detail I know some of the jargon.  That was enough to clinch the job.  Never forget to leverage what you have done in your past life to get writing assignments and it does not matter how old your experience is either - all that matters is how you present yourself and delivering the job.

I have to get the projects completed this week aside from the client imposed deadlines as I have another big project that will take a month kicking off next week anyway. 

As I have worked the weekend, I am taking tonight off and fully intend to look like a shamrock in the morning.

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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.

The ad states that temperatures will be in the range of -30 degrees C - in other words if you took a pee outside it would be frozen before it hit the ground.  Still being of an adventurous bent I considered sending in my resume and writing to see what transpired.  I’m fit and active, ex Para with Arctic experience and a Russian speaker so why not?

Last night I had a dream and a sudden realisation of a time 25 years ago while sleeping rough on an exercise in Norway - I woke up with an icicle formed on the end of my nose from dripping snot, and it was so cold we had to double up in the sleeping bags to share bodily warmth.  My erstwhile sleeping partner decided to perform his ablutions in the middle of this, only to return with a dirty bum that left an indelible mark …. on me!

Halcyon days have long gone I suspect and in the refreshingly warm light of day, I have decided that if I am going to spend six months away on an assignment it is going to involve tropical seas, warm climate, hot and cold running water and girls, with an endlessly stocked mini bar and room service.

For the young turks amongst you who are interested in six months in Siberia you can find the job information here - it will be a once in a lifetime experience I can assure you

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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!

The paperless office!!

I’m smirking as I think about this as as a “writer”, I’ve aspired to getting myself onto paper rather than a computer screen.  Am I alone in feeling that I’m not a “real” writer until published on paper? 

Writing kudos revolves around being published; is being published a mark of popularity, commercial viability or simply tenacity?

Probably a mixture of all three.

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The three “R’s” of environmental conservation are “Reduce, Re-use and Recycle” but the application of this trio can just as easily be applied to getting your commercial portfolio built up without having to have a commission from a FTSE 100 bluechip to make you look good.

Reduce the number of writing samples you have in your portfolio that deal with your contributions to the local church magazine or poetry competition.  Commercial companies are not going to hire you on the basis of how many words you wrote nor any editorial credit you obtained for this type of publication.  When you are looking for paid work, concentrate on targetting the market that your existing portfolio reflects and reduce wasted marketing effort on completely strange and disassociated sectors.

Re-use existing work that you have.  I have been working and studying for over twenty years and have a wealth of stored documents that I have authored or had a hand in, and this includes compiling annual reports for publication with company financial accounts, tax guides summarising the Budget, a guide to contract law written by my law lecturer, numerous technical reports on personal and corporate financial matters not to mention my own meanderings.  It does not matter how old these samples are, they can be re-used and you can always polish your samples up by having them printed out on a glossy sheet of paper and some graphical work using a pop art program off the PC.  It’s all yours, use it and work related, commercially orientated writing will hold more sway with a hard bitten capitalist looking to commission some copy than a summary of the marrow competition at the village fete.

Recycle your contacts and existing clients.  I actively canvass my clients for permission to use them as referees and to use the work produced in my own marketing efforts.  Look at this as developing a closer relationship with your existing clients and you will be surprised at how many will actively look to help you get promoted.  This is in essence, good business for all concerned and the three golden rules of selling are simply - see the people, see the people and see the people.  Most of my work comes from existing clients so keep in touch with them.  I also keep every piece of work I produce as it saves on research.  I took a quickie assignment on today regarding cosmetic dentists in London and using a US commission as the basis, I made $18 for 10 minutes to produce 500 words.  Never throw anything away on your computer as you can always resell it with some slight tweaking.

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Recently someone stuck a comment on the blog about being a smart ass - referring to me I guess.  A comment is one source of reader feedback and in this case, I think it was positive as I am a smart ass and whatever my standard of writing, I got under someone’s skin enough to motivate them to comment. 

No comment is bad comment just as with publicity.

More constructively, using feedback from your readers will help you understand what you are getting right and what you are doing wrong.  This applies whether you are engaged in writing for profit or pleasure as though you may be a leader in the community of the written word, the point of putting something onto paper is to get people to read it, hopefully to think about it and be entertained or sold enough to come back for more.

Ocassionally I throw a piece of work to my ex wife and knowing her to be the no-holds barred critic of me in all aspects of my life that she is, I can be assured of an incisive opinion.  This is not some sort of self-flagellating exercise or because I like being told my work is rubbish and lacking in something.  The best results I have produced in my work have been achieved after someone has pulled my draft to pieces and given me reasons why. 

I never liked pulling literature to pieces when I was a schoolboy in those interminably dull English lessons.  I hated it in fact, not because I was not interested in the book but because it destroyed something of the tale for me; I never forgave my English teacher Mr Taylor for putting me through The Chrysalids by John Wyndham as before I had loved his book and afterwards could not bring myself to read it again, even to this day.

This sounds like a contradiction in terms between how I want my work read and how I read other peoples.  This is the difference between ERH as a reader and ERH as a writer.  I am unable to pull my own work to pieces because I write it - I’m too close to the subject matter to be objective enough.   Getting your readers to tell you why they read your work, followed your message and acted upon it, or not, is something that is invaluable if you are looking to improve your work product. 

Critics are always available, and there are a lot of doomsayers and negative heads that are only too eager to take a pop at you or your work. 

Great! 

Let these people lose on your product because if you keep a cool head, you can learn a lot from what is being said whether it is constructive or not.  I actually prefer the negative feedback and the reason is because if they have a point, and you keep an open mind, you can learn far more from someone being cruel than from someone paying you a compliment.

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