Jumping into a freelance writing career is very exciting. Bursting with ideas, writers sit down in front of their computers anxious to discover what this wide, wonderful world has in store for them. Unfortunately, they often find tons of advice full of industry lingo that can be a bit confusing. Here is the first in the latest Article Quickie series designed to help you hit the ground running: AP Stylebook or AP Style Called the journalist’s bible, the AP Stylebook is a listing of how things like grammar, religions, titles, times etc. should be written within the text of an [Read more…]
2011 Writing Prep: Work on Your Ledes
Simple writing exercise to boost your work
November 30, 2010. Leave a Comment
A good lede (lead) draws readers into the piece. It’s purpose is to pique interest, tell readers what the piece is about and transition them into the body of the article. It also needs to develop rather quickly. That is a lot of weight to place on a paragraph or two, which is why it’s the area writers agonize over the most. As with most things, writing improves through practice, critique and analyzing others. This exercise incorporates all three. Rewrite the ledes you come across throughout the day. Newspaper or magazine articles, blog posts – it doesn’t matter, simply read [Read more…]
10 Tips for Telling if an Article Contains Reliable Information
November 6, 2009. 3 Comments
Bad content floods the web. It’s so bad that schools are giving out guidelines for sites to avoid when collecting information for reports. Many writers also use the web to research information, but how can we know if it’s someone else’s unreliable content rewritten ten times, or if it’s a realistic investigation or expose? Perhaps these tips can help: 1. The article contains verifiable and checkable facts Speculation isn’t fact, it’s speculation. Magazines and reputable websites have fact checkers on hand to check sources and content. Every important bit of information needs back up. If there is no basis for [Read more…]
How Long Does it REALLY Take You to Write an Article?
October 30, 2009. 39 Comments
Credit where it’s due: Just got done reading Laura Spencer’s “Writing Thoughts vs. The Five Minute Article Writer.” It has me thinking a lot about article writing and what goes into writing a good article. Can you write an article in five minutes? Me either. How about 30 minutes? Yes, sometimes. You see, I used to be a wedding writer. I worked for a wedding publication and wrote over 500 articles (over the course of a few years) for a wedding website. Though I know a little about weddings, I’m not an expert. There have been times when I wrote [Read more…]
Posts You May Have Missed
April 28, 2009. Leave a Comment
Freelance Writing Jobs is a network of seven blogs, including this job leads blog. Since most folks come for the leads only, I like to turn them on to what else is going on in our network since our other bloggers all have great tips and advice. Here are some posts you may have missed. From the home page at Freelance Writing Jobs by Deborah Ng: 10 Reasons You’re Not Receiving a Good Response to Your Freelance Writing Job Ad 15 People and Places to Follow on Twitter to Find Freelance Writing Jobs 5 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs [Read more…]
