There are many ways with which we can fuel our interests and writing. For instance, we all have our favorite hobbies and tastes. Let us take them one by one and research them. Whether it is chocolate, dogs, sports cars or butterflies, let us dig deep into our objects of adoration and find everything we can in our exploration. This work will include looking into encyclopedias, documentaries, journals, collecting articles, interesting representative mementos, collecting photographs, recording video and audio snippets….anything and everything.
Generally, we cannot conduct research of this kind during our daily schedule. Divide your time into two parts - the first being the research and the second on the different kinds of write-ups that you will be doing later.
Squidoo & Zimbio
There are so many writing resources online that you can't shake a stick at them all. When it comes to getting yourself noticed there are some online tools that are invaluable but they will take some time and effort for you to acquaint yourself. There are two sites that I'm going to deal with in this post - Zimbio and Squidoo. I use both of these sites frequently to promote articles and clients because they deliver traffic to the sites and blogs my writing is promoting in turn. Better still, both of these sites are completely free, indeed with Squidoo there is the opportunity to actually make passive revenue from the site.
Zimbio provides an article and wiki showcase where you can post up an article, edit the presentation to include headers and footers with hyperlinks to other web pages, such as your client web landing page or blog post. Zimbio provides a platform for submitting articles and blog posts, which are then blended in with "real" journalism and media while allowing for syndication of your work. Here you will find news and media output from recognised writers, TV, newspapers and magazines running alongside bloggers, active writers and non-professional sources, while readers are able to rate content and help good work gain wider exposure.
Are words best written alone?
I'm pretty sure that my title is not an original one. Writing requires concentration and effort especially if like me, writing has been something to do as part of a job rather than something performed for pleasure. The truth is that as a professional writer, and by that I mean I write for a living, my working life is spent alone with no colleagues to bounce ideas around and joke with at the coffee machine. I never get to see my clients as they are dotted around the world as far afield as North America, the Far East and Australasia, so email and Skype are the communication tools.
Does any of this matter with your writing?
Unless you are a hermit by nature, the straight answer is "Yes" it does matter.
Often, potentially brilliant pieces of writing are discarded because they seem amateurish and lack a ‘final polish’. We often end up spending very little time minute details, as silly mistakes can make even an amateur’s work look like one written by an expert, so long as it is edited correctly. Do not let your manuscript be an example of sloppy work, deep down you know that there is always room for improvement, even when you think you have given it your best shot.
Free your work from errors, even if you feel that you should leave your work, you might not notice that blatant mistake on page 54. Typing errors and bad sentence construction can serve as a source of humor to your editor, but it will never make them accept your work. I am sure it is more important to you to be accepted rather than to make people laugh! Hence, make sure your work is free from spelling and grammatical errors. The readability of your work will diminish if your writing is laden with them.
Writing is an art that you will learn to develop with time and effort (if you’re a beginner, then the latter may be a bit of hard work). There are certain tools and techniques, which you can pick up in order to master this art. Constructive criticism, feedback, and valuable tips can help writers to develop their talent and write brilliantly.
Creative Writing
In order to write creatively, it is important that you write about something that has some meaning to you. Write about something which interests you, and not about something because you are compelled to. Write about something which you feel deeply about. If you do this, your words will certainly touch other people’s hearts and (hopefully) not bore them to tears, making them throw your manuscript in the bin. The truth is, we are all born with the same characteristics, and if you write something with true emotion, it can strike a chord with anyone who reads it. So, don’t write just because you have to, write because you want to make a difference!
Blogs are a steady source of income for a new writer
A blog is an online diary crossed with a dynamic web page and the word “blog” is actually a contraction of “web log”. The practical result is a web site that allows a user to post their content and at the same time use web site functionality. A blogger can include links to other web pages, insert pictures, audio and video as well as a host of other features without the need for specialist web programming knowledge. From a commercial perspective, company and marketing blogs are the primary tool for promoting websites which need fresh, updated content on a regular basis.
They offer a great opportunity for novice writers to cut their teeth and earn a regular income at the same time.
My initial writing projects consisted of short articles, usually no more than 500 words long; however, once you have completed a batch of articles that's it, you're back to square one looking for the next paying project. A blog needs updating frequently, usually on a daily basis, so there are plenty of opportunities to post to blogs for a weekly or monthly fee. I quickly latched on to this and now I regularly post to a stream of blogs that form the core of my writing income and provide me with some financial stability. We're now going to take a look at setting up a blog for you, as a showcase for your services and your work which will also get your hands dirty with blogging.
You will see that we are constantly updating the supaproofread.com site with new and interesting content. We've just added the writing tips section, which provides hints and tips for writers, whether you're writing for business, academia, yourself or your employer. These tips range from 10 tips to proofreading you paper to the main differences between American and British English. More writing tips are due to be added in the coming months, so keep track of the lastest news and information by clicking on one of our RSS feeds to the right. Alternatively, if you don't have an rss generator, just click on the link get the Supaproofread RSS Feed to get the RSS feed for your own program.
If you just want to display the feed on a drop down menu, so you can check any new posts on the blog when opening IE or firefox, then simply click on the XML version of the feed and select live bookmarks to provide you with changing and current information.
If you do have any questions on this, then please leave a comment.
Writing for profit is a serious business
I've learned by experience that when I'm in writing mode there are certain things that have to be done.
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Go to my quiet room;
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Turn off the TV and music so there are no distractions;
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Have a cup of Earl Grey;
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Take a cigarette break every hour for a few minutes and rest my eyes; and
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Write for no more than 8 hours a day unless there is an urgent deadline to be met.
With due acknowledgement to Professor DJ Higham
University of Strathclyde
For many years I have used mathematics as a hobby for intellectual stimulation and as something I was not very good at while in school, I find it a challenge. It came as something of a surprise that I found what has become for me the simplest of tip sheets for writing. Professor Higham's list of tips is also proof that mathematicians have a sense of humour and are not square..
The full list of tips is available by clicking on the link above, but some of them are so good they deserve a more detailed consideration.
"1. Every sentence should make sense in isolation. Like that one."
This seems blindingly obvious; however, you will find that writers do not follow this simple rule. I must confess I am one of them, as my thoughts race along faster than my typing speed and the result becomes "run on sentences". These are overly long sentences that do not have a proper structure and do not contribute to making my point. If you're not sure about a sentence that you have written, my basic rule is to split it into two sentences and see how that reads.
"6. A writer needs three qualities: creativity, originality, clarity and a good short term memory"
Know Your Audience
The majority of my work targets an American audience and that means Standard English has to blow this particular pop stand. When I take on a piece of work I always ask for the language to be used is specified. If the piece is for British, European or Australasian consumption then my Mother Tongue is used, however if the work is for a North American audience then you need to be able to Americanize your spellings.
Here are some of the things I've learned for writing for American readers; Supaproofread have put together a short writing tip on the differences between British American English wording and spellings.