Sources/Inspiration — Freelance Writing Jobs | A Freelance Writing Community and Freelance Writing Jobs Resource

Write and Be Merry- How to Make a Vocal Splash without Even Trying

By Angus Shaw on February 28, 2012. 1 Comment

BOO! OK so that’s all I got. That’s my splash. Spectacular wasn’t it? Kidding. Seriously though, all this labor and angst over finding your “voice” as a writer… does it really have to be so damn hard all the time? (Hint: OF COURSE IT DOESN’T.) Sorry, was I shouting? Forgive me, it’s all the pent up passion y’know. Wreaks havoc with my social filters. Anyhoo, you probably already know the usual tips to finding your writing voice and groove, like: Write a lot. Write a lot more. Then write even more.

2011 Writing Prep: Editorial Calendar

By ali on November 29, 2010. 4 Comments

We are barely past the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and here I am crashing through all the fun of the season by bringing up January. There’s no point sticking your head in the sand. The new year is coming and with it comes new responsibilities. To put a positive spin on it, it brings new opportunities to get organized and to create the cushy work environment of which you’ve always dreamed. In my dreamland, all of my calendars – editorial, home, kid activity and husband, are perfectly synced and color coordinated. In reality, my editorial calendar clashes with the other calendars [Read more…]

Categories: Article Writing, Freelance Writing, Sources/Inspiration, Tools for Freelancer Writers Tags: article writing, editorial calendar, management, organization

Shocking Tales of Unexpected Success

By Carson Brackney on October 27, 2010. 9 Comments

Tell your story.

Oh, and just to encourage participation, I’ll tack on a prize. The best story wins a free copy of The Concert for Bangladesh on DVD. You get Harrison, Clapton, Preston, Dylan and even Ringo in their full bearded 1971 glory!

A Complex World: Language Families

By ali on September 28, 2010. 13 Comments

Many writers are interested in learning more than one language and not just stick to good ol’ English. Often it can be easier to learn a new language because many languages belong to the same family and use similar base rules. The evolution of language is also undeniably linked to economic shifts in global integration, as seen in the emergence of Credit Loans. I’m sure everyone knows many examples of Anglicisms used in other languages such as offshore or Germanisms used in English, such as Schadenfreude. Another very popular example, especially among freelance writers, is the Gallicism Resumé or for [Read more…]

Categories: Best of FWJ, Sources/Inspiration, What is...? Tags: Infographics, language

Do’s and Don’ts of Hot Topic Writing

By ali on September 7, 2010. 1 Comment

I love a good hot topic article. It’s hip, current and tells me all I need to know on whatever everyone is talking, blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking and Googling about at that particular time. Unfortunately, there are often more bad hot topic articles than good. To tell the truth, some writers/publications wake up, check Google or Twitter trends and start writing on whatever subject that’s moving up the interest boards. In an hour or two, they’ve got their piece up there alongside everyone else’s and it stinks. They hit every “Don’t” of hot topic writing: Don’t Simply Rehash What Everyone Already [Read more…]

Categories: Article Writing, Sources/Inspiration Tags: article pitches, article writing, blog writing, freelance writing tips Writing Jobs | Blogger Jobs | Online Content Jobs

When Good Article Writing Goes Bad

By ali on August 26, 2010. 14 Comments

On the outside, writer ‘A’ appears to be successful. Their byline appears in multiple publications, they make a decent living as a freelance writer and they can roll out most articles with minimum effort. That’s a good thing right? Maybe not. Writer ‘A’ has got what I call “By Rote Disease.” It’s a common affliction for many freelance writers. Symptoms include: Writing articles by a formula Nodding off during an assignment Creating work that is competent but typical “By Rote Disease” is not serious for most writers and can be cured by re-igniting the writing spark that lives inside of [Read more…]

Categories: Article Writing, Freelance Writing, Sources/Inspiration Tags: blog writing, freelance magazine writing, Freelance Writing, freelance writing success

Don’t Forget the Old School: Say hello to the library

By ali on August 11, 2010. 4 Comments

There’s this place with books and periodicals, a staff that has an acute expertise for researching just about every subject and best of all it’s free! It’s the public library. This installment of “Don’t Forget the Old School” will take on why visiting the library is important to writing. Ambiance It’s the library’s mystique – the rows of books, the smell of the pages, the weird looks from that one guy who appears to be talking to his toes… Technically, writing and researching in a library won’t increase your I.Q. immediately, but it will be a more productive place to [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article writing, becoming a great writer, career advice, freelance writing tips, magazine writing Writing Jobs | Blogger Jobs | Online Content Jobs

Clips 'n Things

By ali on July 17, 2010. 1 Comment

This week my family is moving some things around and one of the places I dreaded attacking was my clip file. Wait, I should call it my clip bin, like one of those storage bins people store knick-knacks or winter clothes, etc… I have a bin full of clips. I’m not saying this to brag, because there are multiple copies of each piece. Largely because my husband hordes my work. He picks up at least five copies and only because I begged him to stop picking up 10. To be honest I don’t go through them often enough. So in [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article sources, becoming a better writer, career advice, clips, freelance writing tips

Persistent and Consistent – Keys to successful article writing

By ali on July 8, 2010. 2 Comments

I talked to a friend and mentor the other day and she stressed the importance of being persistent and consistent in whatever you do. Initially, I was inspired to apply those key terms to another area of my life when I realized she said, “in everything you do.” It applies to article writing as well. Are you persistent – writing despite things going on in your life or business? This is important especially if you’re a blogger, but applies to magazine and web writers as well. Blogging on a regular basis despite sickness and strife helps build and keep your [Read more…]

Categories: Best of FWJ, Sources/Inspiration Tags: becoming a better writer, blog posts, career advice, finding work, Freelance Writing, inspiration, learning from other writers, magazine writing Writing Jobs | Blogger Jobs | Online Content Jobs

10 Popular Article Writing Questions – Answered!

By ali on May 20, 2010. 1 Comment

The FWJ mailbag is always pretty full and there are a few questions that pop up regularly. Deb reposted her super popular Frequently Asked Questions and made me think about the most popular questions I receive over here at the Article Writing blog. So here they are in no particular order: 10. How do you write an article? It’s true, I get this one pretty often and it’s kind of like asking someone how to cook – there’s a lot to it. So in pretty general terms: start with a topic, research the topic and based on your research find [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article writing, becoming a better writer, blog posts, career advice, editing, editorial calendar, freelance writing tips

Why are you writing that article?

By ali on April 24, 2010. 3 Comments

Is it because the rent’s due? You like to see your name in print? It’s a part of a bigger plan of total world domination? You’d anything not to go back to a corporate job? Think about it, we write article after article here at FWJ discussing the best way to write an article, interview techniques, source cultivating, how to make money at the craft, the pros and cons of freelance writing, etc. Today I ask, “What is your motivation?” Some of us are adrift. We write the articles, we send the invoices, we look for more work. A lot [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: career advice, freelance writer, freelance writing tips, inspiration, sparking creativity

Writer? Journalist? Is there a difference?

By ali on April 13, 2010. 6 Comments

On my web site and in bios everywhere I tend write “freelance writer/journalist.” Sometimes I alternate – freelance writer for one publication, freelance journalist for another. I feel compelled to highlight the difference, but I have to wonder does it matter, if so to whom? I also wonder if there is really a difference. A person writing for a magazine or newspaper has to follow journalistic guidelines, except in first person narratives, so does that make them a journalist? When a journalist blogs like I do for a non-news blog are they a writer only? I tend to attach journalist [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article writing, career advice, learning from other writers, magazine writing

The Ohio State University Kirwin Institute Writing Opportunity

By ali on March 31, 2010. Leave a Comment

Hey FWJ community! I was sent this by a friend and thought it would be a great opportunity for those interested. I am pretty sure it’s unpaid, however the perks are many – a published Kirwin Institute author (article) – sounds pretty good to me! If you go for it and get published let me know and we’ll feature your work here at Freelance Writing Jobs! Remember, we’re the number one web site for freelance writers! *end commercial* Visions 2042 Project A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS (1000-2000 words due Monday, May 17, [email protected]) Visions 2042: Notes toward a Racial Order Transformed [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article ideas, article sources, article writing, becoming a better writer, Brainstorming, career advice, Freelance Writing

Follow Article Writing on Facebook

By ali on January 24, 2010. 2 Comments

Heads up FWJ crew, Article Writing at Freelance Writing Jobs has a Facebook fan page! Come on over for great post links from FWJ and other great sites, stimulating conversation and an opportunity to ask all your deep, dark article writing questions.

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article ideas, article sources, article writing, becoming a better writer, becoming a great writer, blog, editorial calendar, Freelance Writing, freelance writing tips, Interviews, leads, learning from other writers, magazine writing, Queries

Day 3, 5 Ways to Enhance Your Writing Skills

By ali on January 16, 2010. 2 Comments

Day three’s tip is easy – have fun. Even when writers are actively living their dream, they can get bogged down in the everyday activities of being a writer. It is important to remember that while you’re billing clients, scheduling meetings, researching, organizing and working to improve your writing skills you can still have fun and you should, this is a fun job! Too often when writers really start working as writers – getting paid on a regular basis, they have multiple clients, etc., they lose sight of the awesome-ness of being a freelance writer and only focus on the [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article writing, becoming a better writer, Brainstorming, career advice, learning from other writers, sparking creativity

5 Reasons Why Evergreen Articles Rock

By ali on December 23, 2009. 2 Comments

It’s not just the Christmas spirit and winter snow that has me excited about evergreens. Granted, I love wrapping a big tree in tinsel, but I really love wrapping my keyboard around an evergreen topic. The term evergreen topic refers to subject matter people are always interested in reading. They are popular search engine requests and usually revolve around the basics of any particular subject, for example, “home office deduction,” “freelance writing,” or “writing a query letter.” Most writers will find themselves assigned one of these pieces and that’s a great thing for several reasons: 5. Popular topic, popular article [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article ideas, editorial calendar, magazine writing, query, writing clips

Bringing Community Back: FWJ's Giving Away $150!

By ali on October 1, 2009. 4 Comments

Once upon a time there was a blog. This blog had several thousand visitors each day. They shared. They chatted. They commiserated. It was all good. Soon some mean people came by and began scaring away the happy chatters. The vibe changed from warm and fuzzy to not so much fun anymore. The owner did her best to build up community, but she was so busy with her projects and her job it wasn’t happening. She put a comment policy into place but the damage was already done. She had a reputation for having a community that liked to bicker. [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration

Stumped for Article Ideas? Query Your Friends!

By ali on July 23, 2009. 1 Comment

Sometimes normal sources of information just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes you gotta have friends.

Categories: Queries, Sources/Inspiration Tags: article writing, becoming a better writer, Queries, sparking creativity, Writing Tips

Writing When You Know Nothing About the Subject Part 1

By ali on July 8, 2009. 11 Comments

I hear a lot of writers talk about how they won’t apply for certain jobs or worry about accepting assignments because they know nothing about what they’d be required to write about and I hope to set you free today by letting you know you don’t have be an expert on a subject to write about it. *Sigh* Felt good didn’t it? Letting out that breath of fear and hesitation is the first step to taking your writing career to the next level. Now, back to business. How do you write about something of which you have no knowledge? Research, [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration, Writing Tips Tags: article writing, becoming a great writer, freelance writing tips

Top 10 Reasons Why Your Writing is Suffering

By ali on May 12, 2009. 7 Comments

Why aren’t I getting gigs? Why am I caught in this niche I have grown to hate? Where’s my career going? There are a lot of reasons why a writer’s work suffers and some are so common most writers have or will experience them at some point. Do any of them ring a bell? You’re bored. There are times a writer needs to switch course or look for new ways to stay passionate about an familiar topic. You’ve gotten lazy. Let’s be honest, sometimes freelancers slack off and don’t feel like doing what they are supposed to do. I’ve been [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration, Writing Tips Tags: becoming a better writer, career advice, inspiration, learning from other writers, sparking creativity

There's No Whining in Freelance Writing

By ali on March 19, 2009. 19 Comments

This week I am pretty disturbed at the amount of angst Deb received when she took a break from writing leads. There was a distinctive tone I heard in many of the comments that was very familiar…it was like so many of the writers I’ve had the opportunity to work with throughout the years. I heard a level of entitlement. I’m sure you’ll find it in every line of work, a host of people who like to stay in their comfort zone, particularly when that comfort zone has a bit of hand holding. As an editor, I love to work [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration, Writing Tips Tags: becoming a better writer, career advice, Freelance Writing, Writing Tips

If You're Bored Writing It…

By ali on March 3, 2009. 10 Comments

By Terreece M. Clarke …Then I’m likely bored reading it. It’s true. Writing articles or blogs can become so by-the-formula that you can mentally check out and still deliver, on the surface, a quality article. A “surface quality article” has all of the makings of a great article – structure, sources, insight, clean copy, but lacks oomph or the passion of the writer behind it. There is a difference between mom’s brownies made with love – whether from box or scratch – and the mass produced, machine-handled bricks that pop out the vending machine. You can serve them both up [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration, Writing Tips

Pull your next article ideas from today's inauguration

By ali on January 20, 2009. 2 Comments

By Terreece M. Clarke The world’s eyes are on the United States today as we swear in our first African-American President. As I watched history and prayed morning sickness wouldn’t strike in the middle of it, I found myself thinking several things. One of which was: “That would make a good article.” What can I say, I’m a writer and I find inspiration where I can! Let’s look at some of the themes and occurrences of today and shape them into article ideas using popular categories that you can further break down to fit your niche: Responsibility This was a [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: Add new tag, article sources, article writing, Freelance Writing

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

By ali on December 25, 2008. Leave a Comment

Merry Christmas Freelance Writing Jobs Community! Take this opportunity friends, to enjoy this moment to relax and reflect on all that you’ve accomplished this year, but not in the freelance writing arena. Today is a day to be with the people that have supported you on your freelance writing journey. The friends, family and religious mentors, if you have them, that have listened to your triumphs, frustrations and aspirations. Most of us get into freelancing so we can make our own hours, rearranging them to spend more time with our family. Have you accomplished your goal? What fun times did [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: holiday greetings, inspiration

Thoughtful Thursday: How's that Working For You?

By ali on December 4, 2008. 3 Comments

By Terreece M. Clarke Tuesday in “Date Your Publication” we talked about getting to know the publications you want to query and got some great feedback, specifically from Mary who commented on how frustrating her first year writing was because she hadn’t tailored her queries to specific publications. Once she started however, her success rate climbed. Mary is an excellent example of a great writer stopping to take stock in their career to see where things could be improved. This time of year is a great time to take stock in your career and goals as Deb wrote in her [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration, Writing Tips Tags: article writing, career advice, freelance writing tips, Writing Tips

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