Harddrives that drive you crazy July 27, 2006
Posted by Christine in the writer's life.add a comment
Alright, we’ve all lost something at one point in our lives. Most of us have probably had the frustrating experience of reaching the end of a long and painful workday just as our computer crashes and we loose everything.
Backing up once every couple of months or so is really not good enough. That’s what I used to do, and I found out the hard way it just doesn’t pay off. A month ago my computer hard-drive crashed, in fact it didn’t crash but it burned instead. No recovery possible. Everything was gone. Now thankfully most of my work portfolio is sprawled out over approximately ten different disks somewhere in my apartment. OK, let me be a bit more fair: I actually organize my backup CDs. The point is, I did loose important data and days of productivity transferring Gigabytes of information back onto my computer so here is some advice I have yet to follow myself: get an external hard-drive. Back up your work every single day.
Thanks to this completely sudden crash, which came without warning, I lost the start of a new manuscript I was working on. It was actually the first time in my writing history that I was satisfied with what I produced on my screen. It’s too bad, but since books need rewriting anyways I can see this as my first preliminary rewrite. Unfortunately from scratch because I only remember the first page or so, the rest is fuzzy…
Sometimes we give advice we do not follow ourselves, this is one of those times myself. However, since I lost my manuscript the external drive is on my to-get list…
Bored Writer Busy Writer July 25, 2006
Posted by Christine in the writer's life.1 comment so far
Writing freelance belongs within a job categories where you will experience periods of boredom (and an empty wallet), as well as periods of prosperity. Sometimes it feels like my clients independently communicate with each other; they all decide, at the same time, they need me. As a result there are weeks where I am flooded with work, while other times there are no projects to speak of. It is important to keep your cool during both periods. When business is slow, try not to panic and when business is good, make to-do lists so you do not forget about anyone!
My productivity went through the ceiling (and stress disappeared) once I started making effective lists. I highly recommend using a Palm to keep track, instead of scraps of paper (I kept loosing them between project notes).
I strongly recommend this one, you can show your to-do lists by topic, category (personal vs. business) or due date. Very handy! Of course it has many other functions as well, you can use it as an mp3 player, word processor, address book, planner, etc.
Also try to save up, get a buffer for periods when business is slow. You never know where your next job is coming from, and when you are not handling projects it does not mean you can take a vacation! These days, or weeks, are perfect for marketing yourself! If anything you keep up with your writing, perhaps work on some personal projects (that book you’ve been wanting to write?) and you may be able to reach an entirely new set of clients! Before you know it you will be fully booked up and really need that palm to keep track of your projects and appointments!
Accept ups and downs are part of a normal business cycle. Working for yourself does place the risks on your shoulders, but you also reap the rewards. You have to be resilient and resistant, not give up easily and realize that “this too shall pass”.
Recently I experienced a bit of a dry spell; I had been out of the country for five weeks with just intermittent Internet access. As a result it was hard to keep up with clients and go after new projects. Once I was back home, it took me a month to get back on track. Then suddenly my clients seemed to have a psychic connection and I received a number of new projects within the same day! Go figure…
SEO-Nightmares July 23, 2006
Posted by Christine in the writer's life, writing for the web.add a comment
If you are a writer just starting out, you will likely be eager to accept almost any writing job that pays. Here is one type of job you should probably avoid if you want to stay sane! SEO writing has been a bit of a buzz word, or at least tremendously popular on the Internet. The problem with SEO is that you are not writing with a person in mind (a reader, a friend or a client), you are writing for 1000 computers that is supposed to analyze your work using complex mathematical formulas, and then spit the site you wrote to the top of the search engines. You client’s objective is to achieve just this, and as a result sell their product to the traffic they generate.
The problem is that SEO optimized sites are generally very unpleasant to read, generic and do not show any personality. If you are repeating the words “loose weight” three-hundred times in a two page article, there is not much you can do to make it read nicely. Guess what; your site will generate traffic and zero sales. Who would stick around to read a heap of fluff? The Internet is riddled with it, and nobody I know likes it much.
Aside from these obvious insults to our skills as writers, SEO clients can also be very difficult. Plus, they want to hire a content generating machine that dutifully spits out keyword dense texts. They claim they want quality, but generally you cannot marry high keyword density with quality; the latter simply gets compromised. There is nothing you can do about it as a writer. If your hands are tied down to type “dating” at least ten times in each paragraph, you would be a super human if you can actually make something easy to read out of that task.
SEO clients want good writing, high keyword density and lots and lots of content, for generally very little money. It is not uncommon for writers to receive requests to write for a maximum of $5 per page. I’m a fast typer, but that would still result in working for far less than minimum wage.
SEO will probably steal your sanity, add nothing to your portfolio (trust me, I don’t want to include any of my “early work” in this field, it cannot represent my writing skills, it represents my ability to string together “American visa” 200 times per page) and you can count on endless revisions. God help you if you forget a few keywords, or don’t add them in enough times.
All I can say is stay away. If more writers would be less desperate to get work and actually charge what they are worth, your work would be more appreciated.
Yes, I write… July 21, 2006
Posted by Christine in the writer's life.add a comment
It took me years to admit to people I am a writer. It took me even longer to admit it to myself. It wasn’t so much that I did not notice all I did was write, but it took me a while to acknowledge I qualified for the title.
Saying you are a writer has so much to do with how you say it. I used to elicit strange looks from people when I just started out, and generally did not offer the information. Then, as some of those people showed they were impressed, I got more confident and there was no turning back.
I don’t claim I am “done” learning, writing is a skill one always has to keep improving on. I also know for a fact my style does not appeal to everyone, but that’s ok!
I’m just trying to say: write,..and be proud! But never forget there are as many styles as there are writers, and as many tastes as there are readers. If you manage to write for just one person, you may very well impress the world!
p.s. you can actually buy the shirt in the picture (and other cool pride gear for writers) at this address
