Whether you’re already a freelance writer or are interested in becoming one, you likely already know 
about the feast or famine aspect of this career. Rarely does work come in at a steady pace. Instead, you might be writing for ten hours per day and still barely meeting deadlines for several weeks, followed by a month of listening to crickets chirping away in your home office. Though this disappointing economy certainly doesn’t mean less writing is needed, it does often seem like employers are beginning to spend less on writing than before. This often means you have to search for more work just to pay the bills.
If you have some downtime lately, don’t spend your days freaking out and feverishly calculating your bill to income ratio. Instead, spend your time doing something about your situation. Even if you don’t see results right away, you might find you’ll stress less and feel more productive when you take the fate of your writing business into your own hands.
The first step toward giving your career some new life is updating your resume. Most people don’t tend to do this every month, yet they might lose and gain clients that often. If you have a few older, less impressive, or short-lived gigs, eliminate them from your resume. You should only do this if you can replace them with jobs that are sure to catch the eye of your potential clients. You will need to have at least a few jobs on there to show that you have experience, yet your resume should not be more than a page or two long unless your career has lasted decades.
The next step is sending this resume to as many companies as possible. Check out online job lists everyday, or at least a few predetermined days per week. It is not unheard of for freelancers to spend an hour or more per day scoping out possible jobs. You may choose to spend your first waking hours doing so, as long as you have had enough caffeine to address the right employers in each job you apply for.
Though sticking to a few tried-and-true job lists is great, you might need to step it up. You probably read several websites everyday, whether through your research for articles or your search for the latest celebrity gossip. If you’re like me, it might take you a while to realize that the owners of the website don’t usually write the content; they typically hire freelancers like you. There are a few sites that I used to visit often for research that I now write for, simply because one day, a light bulb went off in my slow, caffeine-deprived brain that made me realize that I was missing out on a major client. Even if you have never seen a help wanted ad for the sites you visit, it doesn’t hurt to contact them with your resume.
Along similar lines, you can always post ads advertising your services rather than waiting to apply to jobs to which thousands of other writers have also applied. In fact, I’ve received some of my highest-paying, most loyal clients through ads I randomly placed throughout the Internet. Whether you make a website, post your resume on a job board, or simply place links to your work in your email or forum screen name signature line, you never know who will read your writing. The point is to get out there and market yourself in creative ways if you want your business to stay alive and well.
While in the middle of writing a blog, I got distracted by the Internet, and somehow found a story about a day in the life of a freelance writer. I read it, along with a few similar articles by different authors, and was amazed to have much in common with each story. Now one would think that since I am a freelance writer, of course I could relate to tales written by others of my kind. But that got me to thinking…I guess at times I still don’t think of myself as a freelance writer.
freelances means finishing work at 4 AM is a perfectly normal night…er, morning. However, client communication is best done during waking hours for the non-vampires of the world, so it is frustrating when I have a question late at night that no one can answer until the next day. I try to refrain from sending emails past regular business hours lest some proper client should raise an eyebrow in disapproval at such unprofessional conduct. But I’m beginning to realize that most are probably used to dealing with emails at such hours if they’ve ever worked with a freelancer before.
My last post touched on the fact that companies need to look at content as crucial to the success of their website. However, it occurred to me that not everyone knows why that is. This topic fit in with the theme of 
I found an article that reminds readers of the importance of quality 
If you’re ever unsure of where to place those darned hyphens, I recently came across a helpful guide regarding 
you probably grew up loving to read. Now that you know how to write well, don’t drop your reading habit! It is easy to proclaim that life has made you too busy to read, especially when you’re in school and forced to read textbooks. But you might soon find yourself losing your writing ability, or at least stagnating, when you don’t make time for books. Even when I let a few months pass without reading anything new, my writing seems a little stale. Books are not only a great way to relax, but an easy way to make sure you keep growing in this business, whether you learn new words or sentence structures. My favorite authors who routinely plant new words in my brain are John Grisham, James Patterson, Charlaine Harris, and Patricia Cornwell.
full eight-hour days. On my busy days, my breaks consist of getting up for more coffee, responding to emails and job ads, filling in my calendar, and Internet marketing for my business. On my more relaxed days (like today), during my breaks I write for fun, read, or chase my pug around the house for ten minutes (these are her favorite days). No matter what you decide to do, a five to ten-minute break every hour or so will help you feel much more at ease during your workday.
After all the hype surrounding social networking sites, you might have finally signed up. Now what? How do you go about promoting your content writing services business with, say, 
This is one of the web writing rules I sometimes struggle with, but it makes sense. People go online to get things done; they are typically looking something up and want to find the answer ASAP. When a Google search takes them to your page, you’d better have their answer staring them in the face or they will hit the “back” button within a few seconds. If you can say it in a short, sweet sentence, do it.
I never used to believe it, but pictures do help when writing for the web. They break up your page into sections, which makes it easier to scan. That means it is more Internet reader-friendly. Even if you can’t find a picture that refers to your content directly, throw in a few icons, or perhaps a pretty image of your logo.
Adding subheadings also breaks up your content into scannable sections. Whether you’re writing your own blog or providing content writing services for another website, remember to use subheadings that clearly summarize in a few words what that section is about.
the last few years was “synergy.” According to many tales, the very hint of this word now causes most employees to spin into an Office Space-inspired rage involving an on-the-fritz copier. Other severely disliked terms now include “win-win,” “solutions,” “paradigm,” and “value-added.” Feel free to add your own terms, but you get the idea. If your content writing services ever lead you to write for a professional website, please be sure to banish those words from your vocabulary.
Use facts as often as possible, and when you do, make it obvious. For example, rather than write out a number under 10 like we were all taught to do, use the numeral. Linked sources are also good, as readers love both facts and the proof to back them up.
organized than simply making a Notepad document full of notes. However, it’s just how I work. I decided to compromise and clean up my desk a little with a giant desk calendar. Not only can I write deadlines and things to do on each day, but I can also take notes about writing assignments. In fact, before I write any business guide for a particular company, I jot down the three main points to write about on some area on my desk calendar. By the end of the month there is so much chicken scratch on the calendar it’s ridiculous, but it definitely beats the piles of Post-it Notes covering my desk.
Christmas, my vision seemed to improve enormously. I can now put two web pages side-by-side on my monitor and still read them easily, which helps when researching while providing content writing services. I could have chugged along for a few more years on my old monitor, but this one just makes my job a little easier. My eyes are thanking me, as well.
store, or even when I’m out with friends. I have also done research for projects while waiting for my car’s oil to get changed. The only issue I’ve found is that it makes it a bit more difficult to separate work from free time. However, when you have your own business, you likely find that sometimes personal issues come up during your normal business hours, as well, so it usually evens out.
2500 or so songs on my PC. I find my favorite artists to listen to while I write are Jack’s Mannequin, Something Corporate, Death Cab for Cutie, Mae, Splender, Lifehouse, Jimmy Eat World, and Keane (to name a few). Of course everyone has different taste, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that some of my favorite authors listen to many of the same bands as I do when they write. Maybe listening to these bands enough will inspire me to write the next great novel. If not, at least I have some good music to listen to while I work.
Last year the drink of choice was Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, but it was recently discontinued. Since then, I have taken up drinking coffee instead, and I am pretty sure I am not alone on this. I can get through the day without it, but a tasty drink that happens to boost energy doesn’t hurt.
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