Article Writing and Your Psychic Friends

Pitching queries for magazines can be a bit like playing fortune teller. You have to be in tune to what the audience will want to read six months from now. In my post “Are you thinking about Christmas yet? You should be…” I talked about the long lead time for magazines, how writers need to use their insider contacts and hunches on trending topics to pitch specifics to mags and how they should look for new angles on evergreen topics.

What if you don’t have a talkative insider? To get a future cast, all you really need to do is talk to an expert. Experts and angles on evergreen topics can be found just about anywhere.

Keep your ears open.

Go where the people are – if you are interested in what college kids will be thinking and talking about next October, go to where they are now and soak up the atmosphere and information. Pull up a chair and your laptop in public places and eavesdrop. It’s not as creepy as it sounds, if you’re a real writer you’re naturally nosey and would be listening in anyway so you might as well use your natural curiosity to generate ideas and income. Use your Twitter and other social media to see what people are talking about.

Keep you eyes open.

Eavesdropping is fun and informative, but I have to argue people watching is more fun. I write a lot about parenting and kids issues and let me tell you there is nothing more inspiring than sitting at the mall in the middle of the day watching people with their kids. I get ideas about ways to keep kids safe, helpful tricks and time saving techniques from inventive parents, social interaction issues like “Should you discipline other people’s kids,” “Settling playdate disputes,” “When parenting styles clash,” and more!

Beyond people watching, watch for events in the field you’re interested in covering. I look for and go to parenting seminars, family festivals, lectures from experts, advertisements for new products and services, etc. Subscribe to free pr distribution sites and set up your filters to screen for topics geared toward your beat/interest or niche.

What’s past is prologue.

If you have your eye on a specific publication, often reading what they covered a year or two ago will give you a good idea on what they will cover in the future. Studying a publication is not only good way to find out what evergreen topics they’ve covered, you can also get a feel for what angle has been covered. Interview experts who proved they had their finger on the pulse of the future last year. When querying you can point to their knack for being ahead of the pack.

Got any tips for predicting publication futures? Tell us below!

Article Writing Must Reads

I’ve been blogging away here at the Freelance Writing Jobs Network for quite some time now and have compiled a pretty helpful lot of posts. However I realize those new to the site or those who may have missed a post don’t have time to go through all of the posts because you’re too busy writing! So here are a few of my favorite (and most helpful) article writing posts so far:

• Press Release Writing Intro
• Research – More Than Just Google
• Kill Fees – Not a Halloween Tale
• Best Query Advice
• You Missed a Deadline – Now What?
• Say What? A Quick Guide to Using Quotes

Hope these are a helpful quick reference on your article writing adventures!

Scheduling Time for Your Articles

How long does it take to write an article? Honestly, a good one takes as long as it needs to take. So how do schedule time for your articles?

It’s not enough to plug a due date into your editorial calendar, you need to carefully map out enough time to complete all the elements required. An article’s schedule is not just the time it takes to write an article, it also includes the time it takes to thoroughly research the material, interview sources, pre-plan your layout and edit the piece.

• Schedule time for research. This first step is key because it will not only give you background information for the article, it will likely point you to great sources for interviews. Don’t forget this research time includes researching the background and work of your sources.
• Schedule time for interviews. Whether in person or over the phone, giving yourself an allotted time to complete interviews not only keeps you on track, it keeps the interview itself on track. Knowing you only have 15 to 20 minutes to get the information you need, you will be less likely to let your interview subject roam the field before they give you the answers you need. Time is a great motivator for steering an interview.
• Schedule time to compile your notes and create your basic framework. Some people transcribe all their own interviews, others send them out to a third party, either way, you are going to need time for the information to be processed. I like to create an outline for most articles I write. After I go through the information I’ve gathered, I can begin to see the flow, what the headings will be and if there is still more information needed. Doing some sort of initial brainstorming or outlining is key because when you sit down to write the article, your words will flow easier if you know where you’re going. Stopping and starting to look for information is a sure way to waste time and get off track.

Tomorrow we will look at scheduling the rest of the elements of an article. Do you have any scheduling tips? Share them below!

Are you finished with that article or just finished?

Deb had a great post this week: Freelance Writing: You’re Only Competing Against Yourself. It got me thinking about how often we can sabotage our success. One area writers can set themselves up for failure is ‘just finishing’ an article.

Just finishing is getting an article in just under deadline, under duress and under your standards. Procrastination is usually the right hand man to just finishing. The root causes of procrastination are as varied as the writer – poor time management, fear of tackling the piece, cockiness that you will get it in on time and it’ll be fab because you’re just that good, etc.

The consequences of just finishing show up in a variety of ways. When you have set the standard that you will likely be the last writer to get their piece in, an editor knows you are the worst person to call with a rush piece. This cuts down not only on your ability to get more of the juicy last minute gigs and the rush fees that may accompany them, it will make your services less valuable to the editor. There’s no competition between a writer that will work hard, get things in before deadline and deliver tight work, versus one that will squeak in under the deadline with an obviously rushed piece and a sheepish emoticon grin.

Another possible scenario – if you have set yourself up as a stellar writer who turns in great work before deadline and you start down the path of last minute, your editor is going to notice. Editors and teachers can tell when something has been written last minute. It, at times, reeks of desperation. The article will likely need more tightening/editing than any of your previous pieces and if seen repeatedly the editor/publication will begin to wonder if you are still passionate about working for them. That’s never a great conversation – trust me.

Now let’s be real, everyone has off days and even months. There are times when things don’t click, won’t click and can’t be persuaded to click. Editors understand, they are people too and are more likely to give their favorite writers the benefit of the doubt.  Don’t take advantage of their humanity and avoid being in that position if you have just started establishing a reputation and a career. Getting comfortable with ‘just finishing’ is like cozying up to mediocre – it will just hold you back.

Writing on a Schedule

By Terreece M. Clarke

Sometimes your creativity needs security. It needs to know that you won’t pounce on it after it has a few off days nagging, pleading and begging it to get with the program and the deadline. Sometimes your creativity likes, dare I say, needs a routine.

Many writers benefit from a writing schedule. An editorial calendar in combination with a regular writing routine is like giving your creativity a work-out schedule. For instance, my creative bug – which looks much like a ladybug wearing Mickey Mouse ears – knew I would be writing on this topic today after my baby went down for her nap, the topic is on the editorial calendar and the preferred time to write is available. My fingers were itching to get to work and as soon as I saw that little head go down to sleep my mind had started to write the blog.

A routine not only keeps the creative muscle primed, it prevents injury. Ever break out in a sprint when you hadn’t run in weeks or months and wind up paying for it later? Ever pull a muscle lifting something heavy? The same thing happens when we apply creativity in a herky-jerky fashion, it may often fail us or become injured in the process – idea formation takes too long, it takes more effort for a  piece to come together, the recovery (editing) process is slower and more painful.

And just like with working out, your creativity will crave activity if you go off it’s schedule. You may always schedule Tuesdays as source interview days, but find yourself with nothing lined up for the day. Your brain is itching for some Q & A, why don’t you call up that expert or source from a previous interview and see what’s new?

Regular creativity work-outs build up a heavy flow of creative juices that spill over into every assignment and opportunity. Schedule it, write it down and behold the wonders.

Do you have a regular writing routine or schedule? Tell us about it.