Singer/Songwriter Tom Waits was once asked why he used different instruments when he composed music.  Early in his career his music was mainly written with piano and guitar, but as his music progressed it became an eclectic blend of may different, and sometimes obscure, instruments (singing into a bullhorn, playing a saw).  He said that he stopped using the guitar and piano as much as he had in the past because he felt his hands were like old dogs - they wanted to keep hunting at the same old places.

It can be the same as a writer.

This violates one of the rules of being a writer - find a location that is your “writing spot.”   While that is great advice for building consistency in your writing, sometimes you need to find a new hunting ground.  The problem with too much consistency is that we are in a business that asks for creativity.  Even as an SEO writer there is a certain amount of creativity needed to craft an article.  I find that when I go to the same spot every time, and I look at the same surroundings every time, it tends to trigger the same thoughts and ideas.

Occasionally it is helpful to find a new spot to write from.  Pack up your laptop or your notebooks and head for the local coffee shop.  Go to the public library.  Find a nice picnic table in the park.  You’re not looking for a new home here; you will still return to your writing spot, but sometimes it’s good to chnge your surroundings even for a little while.  It’s amazing how a little change in locations can bring a big change to your creativity.

I decided today to include links to the sites I use to find freelance writing work.  These are in no particular order, but they are the sites I check on a regular basis.

• ProBlogger Jobs Board
• Freelance Writing Jobs
• The Core Creative Group
• Accentuate Writers Forum
• Local Craigs List

I also check on sites like Guru and GetAFreelancer, but these sites tend to attract a lot of the $3.00 articles that I try to avoid.

So, what about you?  Where do you find your freelance writing jobs?

I got another one of those emails the other day. You know the ones. The emails that start with “You won’t believe what is happening!” or “You have got to check this out!” Well, I do check them out, and the vast majority of the time they turn out to be false, or at the least, very inaccurate. I can usually learn the truth behind these “important” messages in only a few minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

A short while back I wrote an article about using Squidoo, and I thought I would take a little time to revisit the subject. For those that don’t know, Squidoo is a free service that allows you to set up a one-page site on almost any subject you want (certain restrictions apply). They call this site a “lens,” because it focuses on a particular subject. Rather than having your site be all over the place with the subject, you narrow your focus down to one particular aspect of the subject.

As an example, I was recently playing around at Squidoo, and I set up a lens that focuses on how to set up a lens for earning money. Read the rest of this entry »

A classic scene in the movie “A Few Good Men” involves a scene with Tom Cruise’s character interrogating Jack Nicholson’s character in the court room. Cruise yells “I want the truth!” Nicholson’s memorable response is, “You can’t handle the truth!”

It still amazes me the number of people that look for the road to easy riches on the internet. They buy up books like “Six-Figure Blogging” or “Six-Figure Freelancing” thinking that the secret is hidden in there. What they choose to ignore is all of the statements these authors make letting their readers know that it takes time to build a profitable business, and it is a lot of hard work. Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, this past month has really been intense. I have been taking part in Ed Dale’s Thirty Day Challenge, and it has eaten up all of my free time. No freelance work, but I have been writing my butt off. I have started three new blogs that I have been using for the 30DC, plus I have really increased the amount that I have been writing on my restaurant blog. I haven’t made any money yet, so I haven’t won the challenge, but I have learned some very important lessons about what it takes to get your site ranked. I’ll be writing more about that in some upcoming posts. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the topics that consistently come up in blogging is how to come up with topics to write about. I’m not going to bore you with the same old list of places to go for inspiration, because you probably already have your favorite places. One problem with that is, many times you find an idea, but when you start to write, it feels like you’re just rehashing what someone else has written. Your inspiration ends up not being very inspiring. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll admit it. I tend to let deadlines dictate my schedule. Even though I know better, I still allow circumstances to determine what I work on, and when I work on it. While some of this is natural, most of the things that affect my schedule are well within my control. I try to be better at it, but my efforts seem to come in fits and spurts. Something comes up and I put off what I had scheduled, always planning on getting to it sooner rather than later, but ending up putting off until the deadline is looming.

It shouldn’t be that way! Read the rest of this entry »

Do you remember the old Klondike Bar commercial. It involved asking someone to do something they wouldn’t normally do, in order to get their hands on this frozen treat. As freelancers, you may find yourself in a position where you are asked to compromise in order to earn a paycheck. You may have to ask yourself, “how far am I willing to go?”

Last week I wrote about getting awarded a job that was going to bring in a tidy sum this month. Read the rest of this entry »

The more I read about writing, the more I see that I’ve been doing it all wrong. Not that I’m thinking of changing. I’ve learned to embrace my wrong-ness.

Apparently, the way I’m supposed to write is to stat with an outline, compose a first draft, edit the draft, re-write, rinse and repeat as often as necessary. It seems I’ve managed to skip several steps in my attempt to charge toward a finished paper. My process is to jot down a few rough ideas, think about what I want to say related to my notes, then write my paper. I make a few corrections, run spell check, then out the door it goes. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes life seems to get in the way. Most bloggers aren’t fortunate enough to be able to do this for a living. For most of us, it is something we do after spending a full day making a living. The difficulty is, sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day to fit it all in.

A lot of jobs have seasons that are more busy than others. For instance, anyone working in the accounting industry is rapidly charging full speed ahead into tax preparation season. Read the rest of this entry »

I watched The Apprentice last week, and it was a good reminder about keeping good communication with the client.

For those of you not familiar with the show, it involves Donald Trump
taking a crew of business mogul wannabes and putting them through
weekly business competitions. The loosing team has to select members
from their team to go into the board room with The Donald, where one of
them will be fired, and have to leave the show. Read the rest of this entry »

The other day I was reading an article from Jennifer over at CatalystBlogger, and it got me rethinking about an issue that comes up from time to time. That is the difference between writing for print media versus writing for online. That wasn’t the focus of her post (her post was about setting your freelance prices), but it was something that came up in the comments.

Although some writers would argue that writing for print should be the same as writing for the web, the reality is, it is different. Read the rest of this entry »

The other day I wrote about the importance of writing often in order to develop your voice, and to be able to write more naturally. However, there’s more to writing well that just writing a lot. There’s a saying that practice makes perfect, but practicing the wrong thing can make you perfectly wrong. Part of developing your writing skills is studying writing.

I’m always amazed when I read the job boards, how poorly some people to claim to be freelance writers actually write. Read the rest of this entry »

When I first got started as a freelance writer I read a lot of advice that said that to be successful you had to be a specialist. There’s a lot of merit to that strategy. By being a specialist you can market yourself to a niche with the expectation that you will be able to deliver a higher quality of writing because it is your area of expertise. Because you know more, you can deliver more. Because you are an expert on that topic you can demand a higher rate.

On the other hand… Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, Deborah at Freelance Writing Jobs greeted quite a stir when she posted her article about the $3 writing jobs. As much as I understand the desire, or need, to accept low paying jobs, I also understand that as long as people accept those wages, the prices will stay low. Welcome to the free market.

Writers incomes are determined by what we are willing to accept. Read the rest of this entry »

What is your preference?

As a freelance writer I am always on the prowl for paying gigs. I did my time with the low paying jobs, and I need to concentrate more on jobs that will be worth my time and effort. I regularly check the free services, but I have heard that a lot of jobs get posted on the membership sites. I guess they figure if you are willing to pay for the membership you are amore serious writer. I’ve also heard that there aren’t as many scam postings on these sites. It’s no Craig’sList.

I have read positives about both services over the past several months, but lately there has been a little negative buzz regarding Elance. Read the rest of this entry »