how to become a writer Archives - The Creative Writer

Finding a Writing Job Part 1

Find a Writing Job Help — Photo on Flickr by Mobile Edge Laptop Cases

I’m from the UK. I live in a town in the Midlands. I have started to write for a living. I have been researching about freelance writing on the web for a number of months now. Then I decided that it was time I did something about it.

What Did I Find Out?

I found a lot of great websites out there. Many are helpful. Some just want to sell you something. In there, however there are some gems that will help you learn to take on freelance writing as a job.

Where can I find jobs?

There is the traditional way of writing a letter to an Editor of a publication which is known as a ‘query letter’. You are selling yourself through words – something you need to learn to do when you want to make a living that way.

The law of averages says that if you send out enough of them, then you must get a job eventually. You will also get a lot of rejection letters too. It helps you to develop a thick skin but does not necessarily pay the bills.

Content Mills

You can apply to become a member of a content mill. The name says it all: writers churn out a high volume of articles of mixed quality which are then put up on the web usually alongside lucrative targeted advertising which makes the company that owns them money.

Most offer writers some of the advertising proceeds, some will pay writers a nominal sum, still others pay a little more. The process is not perfect and you are not adequately compensated for your time. They could be considered a way to learn your craft.

Jobs Boards

There are websites out there that offer jobs and a way to apply for them on email. They offer free memberships which are restricted as to the number of jobs you can apply for, or paid memberships which offer better access to jobs. Taking a free membership is a great way to see what is out there.

Apply Yourself

If you have a strong sense of what you are good at: if you can write well and are confident in what you can do, then ask around companies by you and see what jobs you might be able to do for them. This is the best way to find a job that will pay the bills, but it can also be the most scary.

Resources

If you want to put a query to a magazine, then find out the person you need to write to. You can do this online. You might also like to check if the magazine has any guidelines that need to be adhered to before submitting.

Bear in mind that magazines usually work at least six months ahead, so seasonal material will need to be submitted well in advance of the actual holiday.

Content Mills are places like Demand Studios, Associated Content, Suite101 among others. You need to check up on them, read through what they require before deciding to submit to them.

Jobs Boards include www.Elance.com and www.guru.com

They will give you an idea of the kinds of jobs out there, but don’t bid for peanuts just to land a job. That is not the way to get a career going.

I will cover these subjects in more detail over time.

What Do You Write About?

What Kind of Writing are You Comfortable With? — Picture by StaR DusT

There are many different kinds of writing. The first division is between fiction and non-fiction. When people think of writers, the automatic job description is of a fiction writer, a story teller, an author. The other ways of writing for a living can also bring you satisfaction.

Where do you use writing in your everyday life? Do you tell stories to your children or grandchildren? Do you write articles for small, local magazines? Do you write letters to your local newspaper or reviews on Amazon? Every piece of writing helps to build your confidence and if it is accepted by others, then that confidence is worth it.

Writing Stories

This is the obvious one, I know! But have you thought about short stories? Women’s magazines accept short stories, there are plenty of short story competitions on the Web or for collections of short stories. There are lots of opportunities to create short stories for and if you search, there are websites that will give you story starters and a reason to write.

Writing Poems

Who hasn’t written an angst-filled teen poem when they were younger? Yeah, ok, yes I did! And it wasn’t much good! Some people can really express themselves through poems, though and find that they can end up with lots of scribbled poems in battered notebooks. Just as there are short story competitions out there, there are also poetry competitions. There are poet websites, and small poetry publications if you look. So Google, Yahoo or Bing or whatever Poetry today and see what you can find.

News Stories

These days everyone’s a journalist! Well, maybe not everyone. I’m sure that professional journalists deserve their money, but again, some websites are actively seeking news stories written by ordinary people. Including photos can help your story to be used.

Letters

The power of the written word can inform newspaper editors, be offered in council meetings and complain of unfair practices. Go, write and make a difference!

Reviews

When you have really liked something, or really disliked something, then you might review it. The review is there to inform other potential customers and can be a really useful tool.

Writing Articles

You might contribute to a small newsletter or local publication. This is good experience for paving the way to being a more established writer.

Take a moment to think through what you write and the reasons you write. From your writing experiences, what do you think you could do as part of your writing career? What would you not wish to do? Note down your strengths and weaknesses and search the Web for your chosen forms of writing. See what others are doing and take inspiration from them.

Photo Link: Writing Words

Assessing Your Writing Goals

Planning for Writing — Photo by Agirregabiria

You’ve written down some goals in a notebook, but then what did you do? Close the book and go do the washing up? Have you taken any steps towards realising those goals? Or have they lain forgotten in the hustle and bustle of daily life?

It is not enough to write your writing goals down. It’s a good start. You’ve given the matter some thought. Now you need to think it through a bit more.

Go back to where you’ve written your goals. Rewrite out the first goal again. Now, underneath it write out two or three actions that you need to take in order to make that goal happen.

For example, you might have a goal to have a piece of your own writing printed in a magazine. In order to achieve this, you might:

Write in to an Editor on a Letters’ Page for a local or national magazine

Decide to write two queries a week to magazines that you read and are interested in

Decide to buy a book on querying magazines and read it through, acting on two pieces of advice.

You will notice that my ideas for acting on your goal are quite specific. Breaking it down into small steps will help you have an incentive to act towards achieving your goal.

The initial goal was vague, just a possibility. The ideas for achieving that goal make it more likely that you will achieve your goal and gives you not just one, but three different ways of making your goal happen.

Give yourself a time frame where you will come back to your goal and assess where you need to take it next. Queries to magazines take time to compose and many are rejected. In order to increase your chances of being accepted, then you will need to keep sending them out.

Now, go. Write!

Writing Goals for 2010

Photo by Hilde Vanstraelen www.biewoef.be

I am a writer. I have known that as long as I can remember. I wrote sketches and songs while at school. I wrote stories in English classes that went on for pages and pages. It’s not work to me because I love writing.

I also love reading. I love to read a wide variety of books, including non-fiction, biographies, romance, adventure and not too gory murder mysteries. Reading opens new worlds to my imagination and I often think, ‘how could I possibly do that?’

Here’s something that may never have occurred to you before: these authors once thought that too! They did not just sit down one day and think, ‘I’m going to write a book and its going to be a best seller!’ They started with the conviction that this post started with: I am a writer.

When that conviction got too big to contain any more, they began to write, and write and write some more. As they wrote, they began to gain confidence in their writing, perhaps allowing a close friend to look at it. They took the suggestions on board and wrote a second draft. Then perhaps a third draft or even more. When they were finally happy with their work then they began to submit the manuscript to agents, or publishers. This process can take a long time. There can be many rejections before acceptance. Finally, however they were accepted and more revisions were undertaken before the finished novel hits the shelves.

How do you start this process? Where do you begin? You start to write. You start to plan and you start to dream.

Setting goals can help you on your way to achieving your dreams. It’s not January any more, but you can still set a goal to be achieved in a year’s time. Where do you want to be in a year? Do you want an article published? Do you want to making money from writing? Do you want to join a creative writing course for the support and help you get there? You decide.

Then think of two or three steps you need to take to get there. You could subscribe to a writing magazine, either online or from the news stands. You might look for a writing course and possibly a friend to go with. You could decide to put some time aside for yourself to investigate the possibilities, reading websites and blogs to find out what you want to do.

Once you have decided what your goal is and how you want to achieve it, then make time to write.

Find a notebook or open a Word document then write. Write regularly. Keep notebooks by your bed to jot down ideas. Look for opportunities to write. Write some more.

Never let go of the thought: I am a writer.