photo credit: Nina Matthews Photography

Change always makes me stop

Does it know something I don’t know?

The questions remain basically the same, though, even as the answers change.

• What is my passion?
• What is my dream?
• What am I really good at?
• What should I be doing?
• What is my calling? My purpose? My vision? My life’s work?

If only I knew. For sure. No doubting.

Except it’s not that simple.

Joe, for example,

Score one for dreams.

Motherhood.

Score two for dreams.

photo credit: ChR!s H@rR!0t

How do you live in the space between?

It feels like a space with nothing to hold on to.

Isn’t security why we start asking those questions in the first place?

Let’s be honest.

How much of what we plan ever turns out as we anticipate?

Isn’t reality much richer, and deeper, and stranger, and more unfathomable, and unnerving, and rewarding, than any of our dreams?

Thank God we are not limited by our own dreams.

Persistence, however, is a trick worth nurturing. If you can keep at something, if you can find and rekindle that little spark of faith that you’ll figure it out, then you can rebuild again and again. Persistence is the art of building continuity. It’s the deliberate action of doing something, doing it again, doing it again, until you get it right, and maybe doing it over and over after that, too. - Chris Brogan

1: figure out what the next thing is before you need to do it.

The best way is to have some sort of plan; that could be a calendar hung on the door, a planner on your desk, a scratched-out list on a paper scrap. If you don’t know what the important items in your day are, you can’t move from one to the other. Instead, you’ll just float here, slog there, wallow a while, and even what you accomplish won’t feel like an accomplishment because it was done by-the-way, not deliberately.

2: give yourself some time buffers.

Moms know about set-backs and repetition, and how much longer it can take a child to do a 2-minute task. Spending time pointlessly in transitions doesn’t help anybody, but understand that there are the simple tasks of cleaning up or clearing out or refreshing the brain or, you know, going to the bathroom or refilling your coffee cup. The important step is to know where you are headed even when you’re in the in-between. If you don’t know what the next thing is, you’ll just stay in the in-between. You’ll get caught up on a detail, on the phone, on Facebook. If it’s not time for those things, don’t let them interrupt. Do the necessary stuff and keep moving toward the next important point of your day.

3: set up and start quickly.

The most difficult part is getting started, so give yourself a time limit on getting down to business. Set a timer for five minutes and set up and actually start doing within that time limit.

4: talk it up.

Let other people hold you accountable, whether they know they are or not, by talking about what you’re going to do next. This will also help your kids/spouse/friends/dogs/etc to know to get outta the way, or at least minimize the interruption, when you’ve got something important on the brain. Rule of thumb: the younger your kids, the more you’ll have to talk it up and you’ll still have to deal with interruptions. Check that. Age has nothing to do with interruptions. Just keep coming back to talking about what you’re doing. Eventually they’ll get the message. If they hang around, make them help.

Image: spring siesta by Muffet

I write about things as if I know what I’m talking about.

It’s part of the package with writing for money. Or maybe just with writing, period. You feel like, as a writer, you should be able to present some authoritative view or revelatory moment to your readers. Having readers is a big responsibility, people. You may not know what a burden you are to us writers, but really, you are. Obviously we’d all want to kill ourselves if you weren’t around, but writing for you people is serious work.

You want to know all sorts of stuff.

You want fact-checking and witty commentary, all in one.
You demand a lot from us writers.

And we strive to give it to you, really we do, because the biggest fear we have is that you’ll leave us.

You’ll decide we’re not witty enough.
Or that we’re too witty, self-consciously painfully witty like a ponytail pulled too tight.

Or we’ll give you too few facts, or the wrong facts, or not enough facts. You readers, these days, you’re so inundated with information, you have so many options, you can get multimedia anything; the chance that you’ll simply sit and read some words we wrote? Slim, slim, slim. So those of you that do stay with us (and we bless you fervently as we drift to writerly dreams at night) may not be surprised to find us kind of clingy. A little desperate. And so very, very aware of the responsibility of keeping you here with us.

And that’s why we kind of resent you people sometimes.

It’s not your fault.

It’s just the weird little dichotomy we live, writing these posts and articles and books as if we know what we’re talking about, when the one thing running through our head is just desperate, clingy, 5th-grader’s refrain: please like me please like me please like me please like me.

Please?
Because as distantly higher-than-thou as we act like we are sometimes, we really really like you. Really.

Image: My notebook loves writing group by juliejordanscott

You Threw Off My Groove

It’s been a dead couple of weeks, inspirationally speaking. Do you know what I mean? I’m used to the day or so like that every now and then, but I can usually get excited about blogging by stopping to plan, getting some titles and outlines and series ideas together. Once I have a page or two of notes, I’m ready to write again.

Usually.

Squawking as an Art Form

I have about 10 pages of notes, both handwritten and on my computer, and I’m still just staring at the screen with that one feeling I hate the most… the parrot feeling. I’m just squawking out ideas and tips and lists and pointers that have already been said, in much better ways, by people much more qualified than I am.

That’s how I feel as I force my fingers to keep moving, and it sucks the little bit of inspiration that’s left right out. There’s a little pile of it on the floor beside me now. It’s not very useful there, but once it leaves it’s hard to gather up again.

Sometimes when I feel uninspired, I take the time to browse other sites, the really big, chock-full of amazing and helpful information sites. They tend to perk me up to topics I hadn’t thought about covering, or perspectives I want to discuss. This time all they did was reinforce the parrot sensation. Squawk.

If they are already saying everything that can be said, why do I keep writing?

Why Do I Keep Writing? No, Really… Why?

I keep writing because I’ve made a commitment, more to myself than to anyone else. I considered and I made a decision: Yes, I will do this/blog about this/write this/commit to this until I am successful. Not until I quit enjoying it or until something distracts me or until I have a better idea or until I run out of ideas. Success is the benchmark.

I have a definition of success as a freelance writer and a plan for reaching it, and a plan for what to do as I get there. I love blogging, but I don’t want to have to blog forever. My goal as a freelance writer is to reach self-sufficiency, by which I mean… well, here’s the long version:

Working toward self-sufficiency as a freelance writer means reaching success in the following ways: creating steady sources of income, including passive income; setting and maintaining practical work standards; creating and marketing your brand; eliminating client codependency; understanding and choosing the right publishing options; being prolific and producing consistent quality of work; refusing to participate in scams, get-rich-quick ideas, and other ways of avoiding hard work; working hard and loving it; maintaining balance; setting and reaching goals; operating as a small business; planning for the future.

At this moment, I don’t feel anywhere close to success in any of those areas, but I know that the more I write the closer I get. Sometimes progress is so subtle that you can’t track it while it is happening. Sometimes we do feel that we are just walking in place, and it takes time before we gain the perspective to see how far we have traveled.

Let Me Sum Up

Let me summarize in a more simpler format. If you’re stuck, if you’re uninspired, if you’re wondering why, if you’re ready to go back to the day job, if success feels unreachable, if you’re squawking like a parrot, remember this:

1) You made a commitment. You can’t break it. It will hurt who you are.
2) You are moving toward success. You can’t feel it, but it is happening.
3) The more you write [or whatever it is you need to do], the closer you get to success.
4) Once you reach success, you can quit writing forever if you want to!
(Sometimes #4 helps more than anything else…)

Image courtesy of TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

1. Produce longer content. Numbered lists under 5 items, short posts with big photos, a little linking and one-sentence reviews with the embedded YouTube videos = short content. Balance the little stuff, the shallow stuff, with some big, deep, heavy, valuable, longer content. Actual articles, with good quotations and relevant research cited, or with a logical outline and argument, development of an idea longer than one paragraph. You know. Stuff like that. Like those essays you had to write in college. Opening paragraph with thesis, main idea, supporting ideas, evidence, refutation of opposing ideas, summary, conclusion… Yikes. Seems like a lot, and sometimes it is. But if you think about it and give yourself time to do a bit of brainstorming and researching, and you’re used to popping out regular (shorter) posts, you can do longer posts as well. Just think of them as a series presented in a single post… might help.
2. Link within context. Don’t make a big deal out of your links and don’t link to irrelevant junk that you haven’t really looked over yourself. Link through the appropriate (couple of) words within the related sentence and move on. If people like what you’re writing about, are interested, and want to read more, they’ll follow. If not, being flashy and obvious isn’t going to convince them. And if visitors try a link or two and find them to be boring or broken, well, you’ll have a lot of work to convince them to try again.
3. Use professional pictures. Or at least professional-looking pictures. There are thousands available with Creative Commons Licenses, many of them taken by actual professional photographers. Some are taken by talented people who just like to take photos and let other people use them. With that great a wealth of photos around, there’s no excuse for using sloppy looking photos or graphics with your posts. And as far as using your own, that’s great if you know how to make them look decent as well. Crop the unnecessary edges, lighten or darken if needed, fix the red-eye. Don’t get too crazy happy with the effects, with one caveat: turning a not-so-great photo into black and white will not make it a better photo, but it will make lots of people think it is a better photo. Just so you know.
4. Give proper credit. For photos, for research, for data, for statistics, for opinions, for graphics, for videos, for music, for articles, for ideas. Sure, not all of that stuff is copyrighted and you could probably get away with using and not crediting more obscure items, but it would still be 1) unprofessional, 2) stupid, and 3) just wrong. So don’t do it. Give credit where credit is due.
5. Take one idea further. Instead of trying to promote fifteen ideas in one post or article, grab one idea – the one that is most exciting to you as you are writing – and just expand it. Write about it. Look at it from every angle. Give examples. Give illustrations. Draw a graph. Do some research. Brainstorm. Get deeper with one idea. By the way, since I just preached about giving proper credit, I want to come clean that this idea of taking one idea further came from a post I read several months ago. I just spent ten minutes searching for it and can’t find it… it was a guest post on a productivity blog, but that’s all I can remember except for the (well-developed, single) idea of the article. So, to the writer of that article, my apologies for lack of specific credit. If I find it, I’ll come add it.
6. Use recurring themes. You don’t have to use memes or join groups, though that’s a good way to get a recurring theme going. Come up with your own, something in keeping with the focus of your blog (you do know what that is, don’t you?). People like what’s familiar and they like knowing what to expect. If you have a great post every Monday about, um, meringue pies, then you will get a following who come to your blog simply because they know and love the Monday Meringue Pie Post.
7. Pick a side. Don’t be wishy-washy. Say what you mean, say it clearly enough that people know what you mean, and then back yourself up. Accept that there are enough people with enough diversity accessing the internet that you are guaranteed to displease someone, somewhere, on something you say. That’s okay. You don’t need to be mean, rude, disparaging, or get personal: you do need to be honest and have integrity. I’m drawn to writers who are honest even when I disagree with what they say. I just like the honesty and the willingness to put a view out there even though they know they’ll end up with lots of negative comments or questions simply because they stated their opinion strongly. I don’t like pandering. Nobody does.
8. Be professional. As mentioned above, don’t be “mean, rude, disparaging, or get personal”; it is unprofessional, impolite, and juvenile. If you’re old enough to drive, you’re old enough to learn how to express yourself without using profanity, personal attacks, and/or inappropriate expressions. Sure, everybody is going to differ a bit on what’s appropriate and what isn’t, and obviously the focus, content, and audience will differ from blog to blog. But you know when you’re crossing a line, and so do your readers. When your writing is emotionally fueled, free from all logic, and backed up by evidence that is personal and subjective, you’re probably deep into unprofessional territory.
9. Use a consistent format. Set your standards for your paragraph headings, image sizes, links, quotations and block quotations, and other little niceties of blog posting. Once you’ve decided on what you like, stick with it. It’s annoying when the format of posts across a single blog keeps changing, annoying enough to make me quit reading.
10. Throw in some extras. Give people good resources that you’ve found. Offer tips. Offer ideas. Offer the research sites for further investigation into the subject you’ve just posted about. Offer the sites you’ve found that present completely opposing views. Go a bit above and beyond in what you write about, how you write, and how you respond to your readers. “Extras” can be as particular and personal as you want them to be. They don’t necessarily have to be products, or freebies, though of course people like those, too. Just take what you’re doing, and then take it a little further. Do that consistently. People will come to quality.

1. Update your photo and bio.

   If your bio ends with your current status ten or five years or even six months ago, bring it up to the present. While you are updating, get a photo that looks professional: a closer, well-focused head shot with a neutral, non-busy background will look more professional than that half of your face from the 1999 family Christmas picture. You can use a photo you already have and do a little editing. Blur out the background; maybe convert the picture to black and white. You might also check into prices on getting a professional head shot.

2. Add screen shots of the sites for which you write on your own website.

   . This saves visitors the trouble of having to click to all your links, and it also saves you the risk of getting them so interested in a different site that they forget to come back to yours. If you’re not sure what a screen shot even is, go read this explanation from Wikipedia. Basically, you are taking a picture of what is on the screen, saving it as an image file, and then putting it on your website as a picture. You could put it into a writing sample of what you’ve done on that particular website, so visitors can read your work and see where it’s published all without leaving your site.

3. Provide a downloadable .pdf of your portfolio, resume, and/or writing samples.

   You have a potential client who is browsing your website while waiting for a flight. It’s just time to board when they start reading your writing samples. They notice that little “Download as PDF” button, click it, and now they have a copy they can read in flight. Providing options makes it easier for your clients to remember you and hire you.
   Most office programs provide a way to convert a document to a .pdf file, or there are several online options you can look into. Make sure the option is easy to see for your website visitors.

4. Document your areas of expertise with specific samples or clips.

   First, of course, you’ll have to list your areas of expertise. As you build up samples and clips in each area, provide links right next to the listed topic on which you are (becoming) an expert. This makes it easy for clients who want writing on a particular subject to go straight to your relevant writing samples, rather than browsing through your entire portfolio.

5. Have a professional header and logo made.

   If you got some graphic designing skill, make it yourself. Think simple and streamlined. Do a little internet searching if, like me, your graphic design skills are at a negative level. I have found several very affordable options and have been very pleased with the results. Having a uniform header and logo for your website makes you look professional, and it also makes it easy for others to link to your site in an aesthetically pleasing way.

6. Make your design/theme simple with muted or neutral colors.

   I give this advice with a big caveat: some very professional themes and designs incorporate brighter colors and more complex color schemes. But if you’re not sure what you are doing, of if your aesthetic sense is somewhat, uh, underdeveloped, err on the side of caution. A classic black and white theme promotes your writing skill, whereas a complicated, multi-color scheme might just prove distracting to potential clients. Obviously personal taste is involved, and the kind of clients you are pursuing matter, so take this advice with a big grain of salt. Sea salt. White sea salt.

7. Provide a table or spreadsheet with your rates.

   Make this downloadable as well, so clients can have it as a reference. It doesn’t have to be a complicated table, just a simple spread of the services you offered lined up with what you charge. If you have pricing options (by project, by hour, by page), then lay those out clearly as well.

8. Use your sidebar for shameless self-promotion, but in a classy way.

   If you have a sidebar, that is… Gather a collection of quotes from your satisfied clients, positive reviews, and a few of the best lines you have written. Convert part of your CV and areas of expertise into little factoids, then load up all those goodies into a rotating quote collection or other display format. It’s like a little snack bar of how talented you are.

9. Record an audio or video introduction of yourself and what you do.

   A caveat with this one as well: only do this if you can do it well. If you are a work at home freelancer and can’t find a quiet time or place to record, skip it. If, however, you have a friend who is handy with YouTube videos or podcasts and you can come up with a brief, smart script and a good place to record, do it. This could be the first thing visitors see when they come to your website, and a little click on the play button will let them “meet” you. It might be the extra effort that makes you stand out from the other freelance writers out there.

10. Offer a contact form, not just a mailto: command.

    This is a pet peeve of mine. I’m not always on the same computer, and when I want to contact someone who offers only a mailto: option, I have to copy the email address from the command line, open up my own mail server, and send the email. Offer a contact form option so that visitors only have to take one step to get in touch with you. If they are using a public computer or don’t have a default mail server set up on their own, clicking a mailto: command is far more annoying than it is useful.

I originally wrote this post for Writers Unbound, several months ago. Editing it to post on this website has added a few significant items to my list of updates for my portfolio website. Time to get to tweaking…

• The first, and most obvious option, is simply to report as self-employed. You don’t have to set up a business structure; it’s the simplest option. Another way to say it is that you work as an Independent Contractor. This means that “the person for whom you perform services has only the right to control or direct the result of your work, not what will be done or how it will be done,” according to the IRS. You need your social security number, good records of the income you have received, and a little time to fill out some additional forms at tax time. The federal self-employment tax rate is 15.3%, and you will have to make estimated tax payments since your taxes are not automatically withheld.
• A Limited Liability Corporation is the next simplest option. It’s not that complicated to set one up; About.com’s guide predicts 1 – 4 hours. Basically, you have three items on your list: the Articles of Organization, the business name, and the Operating Agreement. The simpler your company is, the simpler these documents will be. If you’re one person, the sole owner of the LLC, you’re looking at a fairly quick set-up. Unless you have more than one member, the federal tax rate is basically the same as it is for self-employed income. The IRS treats a sole-owner LLC as a “non-entity” and taxes it according to sole proprietorship (self-employed) tax laws. So what’s the benefit of forming an LLC if the tax rate is the same? Purportedly, an LLC offers what its name indicates: you can’t be held personally liable if the business fails. So if your business took on debt to support itself, couldn’t pay, and went bankrupt, you wouldn’t lose your personal assets (house, car, savings) to pay that debt.
  I’ve heard from different sources that 1) it’s a good idea to have an LLC because you need the liability protection and 2) the LLC is really just a false front that doesn’t offer any real protection. I suggest doing some independent research there, like talking to someone who actually runs an LLC or chatting with an IRS representative, your accountant, or your lawyer. However, all that said, I don’t really see the point of an LLC structure for a freelance writing business. There is basically no overhead to work from your home as a freelance writer. If you get into setting up an office outside of your home or buying a new laptop every month, you can acquire some debt, sure. But generally, freelance writers are able to keep their expenses very, very low. So setting up a structure to provide liability protection for a company that doesn’t really have liability seems rather redundant. The only other scenario would be the possibility of a lawsuit that could result in large bills. So don’t write anything rude about people…
• Finally we come to the corporate structures, the S Corp and the C Corp. The C Corp is how the big businesses are set up. The S Corp is an option for businesses that don’t want to offer public stock options, and it allows pass-through taxation, which basically means that the corporation doesn’t pay taxes, only the “employees” do on their actual income.
  Neither one is very hard to set up, but you want to pay attention to tax documents, annual reports, and other required forms and filings. As with an LLC, however, a corporation seems rather over the top for a sole proprieter(freelance writer) except that it offers liability protection and, in some scenarios, a savings on taxes.

Now the disclaimer, and I mean it: I am NOT a lawyer or an accountant, and what I’ve said should in no way be treated as legal or professional tax advice. I am a freelance writer, like you. The research I’ve done has been for the purpose of understanding tax options and making decisions for my own income. I have simplified and shared what I know, which isn’t much. The point is to get you started thinking about the best route, so you don’t just wake up in April and realize you have no idea what to do. Whatever you do, be sure you keep accurate records, report honestly, and set your business up legally.