Allena's Freelance Writing Blog

When three different writers tell you to read a certain book, I'd say that's a pretty good sign. Today I got an email from a friend, reader and fellow writer who highly recommends On Writing by Stephen King:

Hi Allena,

I wanted to let you know of an incredible resource for those people that may ask you for information pertaining to 'novel writing'.

The book is called 'On Writing' by Stephen King.

In my opinion, the best purchase option for this book is the unabridged audio book version (read by the author). Download it via itunes and keep it in your ipod. You can also burn this onto CDs if you decide to listen to it in your car. It takes a few CDs but it is worth the work.

Stephen King does a fantastic job going over all the basic elements that are essential to any writer. But he also takes some extra time and touches on the more specific concerns for those writers that are aspiring fiction novelists.

The best way to digest this information is to pretend you are in a classroom and Stephen King is the professor. There are several areas where it pays to give the book your full attention.

Again, I highly recommend this book - in the top 3 of all the books I have purchased and studied on this subject.

- Thanks for all your help,

Edward Shepherd

I don't know about you, but this convincing recommendation got me! In chatting with him, he noted that there's a lot of useful information for any writer, not just novelists. I also found that About.com's Fiction Writing page reviewed King's On Writing. I'll let you know how it goes.

I was honored to be interviewed by Thursday Bram, as I am a fan of hers (and not just because of that ultra-cool name!) Her last question was about the very best piece of advice I could give new and intermediate freelance writers, which, for me, was a hard one. I ended up going with frequency- the most frequent question I am asked is "How do I get started?" Sometimes it's manifested in "What's the first step to _____?" or "I know I need to ______ but I don't know how!"

As I said in the interview at Thursday's blog, if I had to tell you one thing, it would be to start writing. Write a piece. Writer a personal essay. Write a magazine article on something about which you are passionate. My reasoning behind this is that this piece serves three purposes:

• It loosens the writing muscle.
• It shows you that you CAN.
• It gives you a polished peice that you can then start selling (in the case of a magazine article), or that you can use to sell yourself (in the case of biz-tech writers.)

So, what's keeping you from pursuing your dream?

I found the greatest interview on my Google Reader this morning. Fellow freelance writer Sharon Hurley Hall does a meta-interview about the writing life. The candid answers and peek into a writer's life are worth a read.

I recently had the privilege of editing a beautiful piece for a local magazine, but I was charged with cutting down the word count. I gathered my experiences and some further research into these five ways to cut your word count. Being able to cut down word count without sacrificing the message is a good talent to cultivate. Please feel free to add your hints in the comments!

Nothing like gulping down some of your own advice, right?

How many times have readers written me with troubled tales of this writing life- stories of personal hurdles, 3 a.m. writing marathons, cranky clients, cranky spouses and missed deadlines? (answer: a lot). You know what I tell them? Usually some variation of "keep on keeping on."

Well, it's time to take my own advice.

Let me tell you about my day. My family is currently in travel status. We are actually in travel status much of the summer, due to my spouse's job. I continue to work, generally without hiccups. Today, though...oh, today...

Today I was late interviewing a subject for a magazine article. Yeah, you really shouldn't do that, anyway, but high-powered execs seem to hate lateness even more. Busy people and all...

In the middle of said interview, I come to find out that my recording device does not seem to be working. That's ok, I can improvise, right? Well, problem is that this woman spoke really fast, and had a lot of great things to say. I know I didn't get it all.

Oh, and did I mention that I have another interview stored on that device? Well, I didn't pack the USB cable, so I simply won't know until Monday if I've lost both interviews.

So I keep rolling, open my email, and find one of my favorite and best contracts is not exactly happy with me. While writing them back, I get an email from another client who insisted their deadline was Thursday, whereas my calendar says next Thursday.

In the middle of all of this, I am having mommy guilt over all the fun things my family is doing without me right now.

So, yes, please excuse me while I go to the corner and cry.

But, trust me, I'll be back. Meanwhile, you can read about how important it is for a writer to have tenacity.

I know I'm not the only one who has "those days," but if you'd like to make me feel better, you can tell me your woe-is-me tale in the comments.

Have you signed up for the 2008 MUSE IT UP Conference? It's free! Yup, that's right- a completely free, online writing conference. This conference takes place October 13-19 via an online (but password protected) platform. In order to have access to helpful speakers, stimulating discussions and informative handouts, you MUST sign up before September 1, 2008.

Here's just a sampling of what the conference has in store:

• Writing for the Trades (How to Make Money Writing Non-fiction)
• Organize Your Writing Life (yeah, I'll be at this one!)
• What Aspiring Writers Need To Know
• How To Sell Yourself
• Creating An Impressive Writing Website

On a personal note, readers, I'm really looking forward to this conference. I was able to attend a bit last year, and was quite happy with it. I still use many of my handouts for reference. I liked it so much that I will be arranging my schedule this year so that I can better attend all the interesting functions. So, if you see me in chat or discussion, be sure to say Hi! I really think this conference will be worth your time investment as a new or intermediate freelancer.

It's two too much. Within the past week, I've stumbled upon two reports of glass ceilings within the freelance writing world.

Fellow About.com Guide Jennifer Merin, who runs the Documentaries channel, clued me into this recently published study on freelance film reviewers and film critics. Apparently there's quite a disheartening disparity between reviews written and published by men versus women.

In other news, freelance bloggers eagerly followed this story at the New York Times about a potential glass ceiling in the field.

Thoughts? Women, have you ever felt relegated as a freelancer?

So, what do you do for a living?

Do you hate to get this question? Do you despise putting a name on the myriad tasks that you do to make money and get your name in print? If you say one thing, further explanation is needed, yet, if you say another, you're likely to be asked when your next JK Rowling- type novel is going to debut. So what do you say? Do you have your spiel down?

Guest columnist JR Hafer likes to be called a commercial writer. Be sure to check out his explanation of what, exactly, a copywriter is.

Meanwhile, tell me your cocktail spiel to that all-important question. Here's mine:

I'm a freelance writer and editor. I write and edit for magazines, but the majority of my income comes from writing copy such as press kits and newsletters for companies and websites.

Thanks for your patience while I was out in the great green yonder this past week. Here's a query sample for you to sink your teeth into. It's a little bit of a twist since it's a short story pitch to a recreation magazine that accepts such accounts. Got any thoughts? Critique? Please leave a comment.

Hi Mike,

I hope you can use this story. I've attached a couple pictures to give you a flavor of the environment. Enjoy!

Now, I know there is a wide difference in the sound of this pitch from what many freelancers are accustomed to due to the genre, but put yourself in the editor's seat when reading this query:

• The imagery is perfect for the targeted magazine. The writer knows his market.
• The tone is very friendly. In fact, it seems to me that this writer might already have an established relationship with this recreational publication.
• The writer included photography in the pitch, which (if it's high quality) is usually a great blessing to the editor!

As for improvements, I think there are a few comma corrections and perhaps some wording changes to be made here, but overall, a decent account with a good target.

What are your thoughts?

I've been chatting via email with a mother who was out of the writing game for a couple years due to child-raising. Given that she comes from a newswriting background, I think she'll be just fine. One question that I could not help her with was in the tech arena. What exactly (bare bones) does she need to know to be a successful freelance writer? Obviously she could email, and I assume surf the net. I asked her if she composed via Word, and told her that she'll need some way to organize her endeavors and schedule her calendar. What am I missing here? What are the basic computer skills/programs a writer absolutely needs, and what are the skills that are just nice to have?