Comments on: At What Stage Should a Writer Start a Freelance Writing Blog?

By: sunehra

sunehra — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:41:44 +0000

I have a ‘writing blog’ but I don’t really give advice. I share what I’m learning along the way.

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:01:21 +0000

Early on for me in my writing career I started a writing blog to share my journey. I wasn’t trying to say I knew it all but was learning some interesting tidbits along the way that I wanted to share. I’m still writing in that blog and it’s a lot of fun to go back and read what I experienced two and three years ago. I’ve read a lot of really valuable writer blogs and some not-so-hot ones as well. I think information and knowledge are power but I also caution people to really do some research before believing everything you read online too!

Cheers

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:45:35 +0000

Experience and an understanding of your freelance intentions.

You can’t talk about what you don’t know. And you also need to know what you are trying to accomplish and what you are capable of providing, on a freelance basis. If you don’t understand those aspects of your career then no one else will either.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:33:07 +0000

There are three things that qualify a writer to give advice. One is success, and two is experience, and three is knowledge.

If you have success, then you can give others advice on what they can do to follow in your footsteps. Frankly, some advice on how not to follow your footsteps to your failures would be welcome as well.

Experience is closely related to success only it comes more from memory. Something along the lines of, “I’ve seen this before, and this is where it always ends.”

Knowledge is having a skill and sharing it. If you are a terrible freelance writer who has never made a penny, but you know how to use an em dash, or a comma, then feel free to give advice to those who don’t.

I’ve started writing Adventures in AP Style just to hopefully get some writers (and clients) to understand exactly what is actually in the Stylebook because I get stuff all the time that obviously comes from someone who has never seen the cover, let alone read it.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:47:35 +0000

The key to new writers offering tips is bringing fresh insight. For instance, a tip about writing the “killer lede” might not be as intriguing as “what travel writers miss” coming from a travel agent turned freelance writer. In other words, bring something new to the table rather than rehashing time-worn topics.

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:07:03 +0000

Don’t forget… at one point, all successful writers had only two weeks experience.

By: carol

carol — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:03:19 +0000

Freelance writers at any stage of their career can offer tips. I’ve been freelancing for more than 15 years, have over 1,000 published credits and sometimes learn tips from relatively new writers that barely have any clips. Since their experiences may be different than my own, they may be able to offer a new way of doing something or something of substance that can useful to me down the road. It never hurts to listen to fresh ideas…

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By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:20:25 +0000

How about this one: I have more than two decades of writing experience and work full time as a freelancer. I’m often approached by women who want to be successful freelance writers and want me to give them advice. Sometimes they also want me to get them “in” with one of my clients. I’m always happy to help – to tell them what they have to do to get serious clips and build a portfolio so they can get better and better jobs. But do they want to do that? Of course not – that’s too much like work!! They want me to ask my editors to hire a completely inexperienced (and no, Associated Content doesn’t count, nor does blogging, nor does any site where you are an unpaid columnist) writer. As if my editors would appreciate me wasting their time! I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t bother with advice – I just recommend a book or magazine. And I sure as heck wouldn’t listen to any advice from anyone who hasn’t had at least some significant publishing credits.

By: Yani

Yani — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:36:43 +0000

Blogs that offer advice do little if the advice is general in nature. I’d rather read blogs with a direct purpose. I work on Elance so I read this blog: http://freelancemoney.wordpress.com

I can get direct advice on how to get writing jobs. Works for me.

Yani