ok

?>
RSS

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Be a Freelance Writer - Avoid These Five Traps

A lot of folks say they want to become a writer and actually earn income doing it. It's possible, but only when you make the effort and work at it. Becoming a writer is like becoming a musician. Keep in mind the old joke about the way to get to Carnegie Hall. Practice! And don't let anything get in your way. Just like music practice or exercise or anything that is worth doing but hard, it's easy to create excuses not to complete it. Here are 5 massive pitfalls to steer clear of: 1) Saying that you're too tired. Everybody is tired. You have a job and a family and all of the other pressures of daily life to contend with? Who doesn't? Individuals who are keen about what they do are ennervated by what they love. They aren't "too tired" to do it. Too tired is an excuse for individuals who actually don't care about it all that much. 2) Waiting for inspiration. When you wait for inspiration, you may well be waiting a a really long time. What do professonal writers do when they aren't inspired? They write anyway. Just choose a subject and start writing. Even if you can only think of the most monotonous things to write. Prime the pump, ideas will come. Action turns into ideas. 3) Putting the blame on agents, editors, critics, readers, and so forth for you shortage of success. It may well seem like life is not fair and frequently it isn't. Your greatest story or article could possibly be rejected, perhaps more than once. Submit it once again and if it still doesn't sell, create another one. Just keep in mind, there's loads of junk being published all the time and your writing is almost certainly much better than much of it. Thicken your skin and continue writing. 4) Saying you are going to do it tomorrow. No! No! No! Tomorrow is for losers. Writers write each and every day! Make it a practice to fill at the very least one page or article per day. One page a day won't take too long and soon the habit of producing will become ingrained. You'll do it just simply because it is a habit and at one page a day you could very well have a 365 page novel ready in a year. Don't forget, write every day! 5) Thinking you are too old or way too young to start. This excuse is just foolish. If you have an idea along with the ability to put words on paper or into a laptop, you are able to write. Your reader does not care how old you are, he only wants to be informed or entertained or whatever your particular writing is intended to accomplish. Do not even think about trying to get away with the too old or too young excuse. If you would like to become a writer, a fiction author, a blogger, an article writer, a copy writer, or whatever, then write. That's what writers do. Never make excuses. Write, practice, get much better and fulfill your passion.a