Holiday Gifts for Writers and Bloggers: External Hard Drives and Flash Drives

by Deborah Ng

When it comes to gifts, I like to be made to feel special. Ask Mr. Ng, a paper shredder under the Christmas tree doesn’t exactly fill me with warmth and holiday spirit.  I do understand the need for practicality, however. Which is why I recommend buying the writer or blogger in your life some flash drives or an external hard drive as a stocking stuffer. I wouldn’t give these as “the big gift”, if you know what I mean, but it’s a good wingman.

I know it’s not so glamorous, but believe you me memory space fills up fast. Nothing slows down a laptop more than lots of downloaded….stuff. Images, silly programs you never use and ebooks all take up space. A year later you’re working on a slow machine and wondering why you have to replace your computers so often. The writer or blogger in your life will appreciate your thoughtfulness. No really. And you’re more likely to get a flash drive than, say, an iPhone which I’ve been hinting for forever even though Mr. N keeps saying, “You already have a cellphone. Never mind that it’s 10 years old and you can’t do anything else with it but dial. It works.” Yes. This is what I’m up against.

But anyway…

Flash Drives

Flash drives, as pictured above, make fantastic and inexpensive stocking stuffers. You can get decent ones for $20 to $50 and they hold a lot more stuff than you think. What I especially like about flash drives are their portability. They fit in purses and pockets so if you’re traveling they travel with you. They also store easily in desks or file cabinets. Memory size varies, they can hold from 1 to 16 GBs of stuff and they’re so inexpensive you can buy as needed. Flash drives plug easily into your USB port and don’t get in the way. Read more

Wednesday Creativity Break: Caption This

by Deborah Ng

Freelance Writing Jobs: We’re More than Just Leads

by Deborah Ng

Since launching this new Freelance Writing Jobs network the other day, I received a flurry of emails. Most of them are from people who can’t find the leads, or feel the leads need to be at the top of the home page in huge, flashing letters making them easy to find. It appears an explanation is in order.

Where to Find the Jobs Leads

Back in the day (last week) one could visit FWJ and find leads and blog posts on the main home page. Now upon coming to our home page, our readers come to a paragraph of explanation:

Welcome to the Freelance Writing Jobs network of blogs. Your favorite bloggers are still here, we all have our own blogs now instead of playing in the same crowded sandbox. Below you’ll find a list of all of our blogs, along with the three most recent posts. Please adjust your bookmarks and feeds to reflect all of the blogs in the FWJ Network.

Still, I’m receiving email after email asking where to find the leads. After explaining that everything is on the main page many responded back that they didn’t even read the main page, they just looked for their lists of leads and panicked.

This is slightly upsetting because it tells me many of our visitors don’t really care to read our blog posts beyond the job leads. By building this network I was hoping to better showcase the different bloggers and their topics. I do hope those who just come for the leads will look around and bookmark or subscribe to the other blogs. Read more

How to Make Twitter Work for You

by Deborah Ng

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past year or so, you probably already know I’m a self-professed Twitter addict. I love Twitter. I Tweet as soon as I wake in the morning, throughout the day, and just before I go to bed. In fact, I check Twitter almost as much as I check my email and stats. Am I obsessed? Not really, it’s my job to use Twitter. Besides, Twitter has done amazing things for my blogs.

Twitter Feed

I’ve been using Twitter Feed for my blogs. What I like about it is how posts are automatically tweeted out everyday, even if I didn’t do it manually, and even if I didn’t write the post myself. Anything on my RSS Feed is sent out over my Twitter Feed.

I hesitated for some time before using Twitter feed because I was worried about the spam factor, so far no one complained. Moreover, traffic from twitter to FWJ is way up.

Network

My favorite reason to use Twitter is to network. I started out with one follower and now have about 1200. I met new people, did some business, swapped ideas and stories, and received breaking news. Because Twitter is 140 characters or less, I’m not committed to some deep conversation. Read more

Craigslist Ad of the Day: The No ByLine, No Pay… No Dice Ad

by Deborah Ng

I’m not sure where to begin here. The mind boggles.

Big Magazine Looking for Male Weekly Writers (Midtown)

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Reply to:
Date: 2008-11-05, 8:58AM EST

An ongoing magazine project seeks writers of all ages to keep short seven-day diaries of their relationship lives. We love women, so please feel free to respond, but we’re particularly looking for men in their 30s, 40s and 50s to tell us what they’re really thinking about their love lives. It’s a great chance to get a clip. Normal-to-boring lives are great, as are active ones. Your name will not appear. We’ll happily send you the information after you respond with your age, orientation, employment and neighborhood. Thanks! Read more

Anne Wayman Puts Down Her Golden Pencil

by Deborah Ng

If you’re a member of the freelance writing community, you’re sure to know of Anne Wayman. I’ve been following her for years, since she was About.com’s Guide to Freelance Writing. After Anne left About.com I became an avid reader of her b5Media blog, The Golden Pencil. Anne also listed job leads at her website, About Freelance Writing, and we both of us checked out each other’s leads on a regular basis.

Anne has put down the Golden Pencil and will now be blogging at About Freelance Writing.  I do hope you’ll stop by and offer her your support.

Yesterday, Anne asked me if I ever considered us competition and I never did. We have always been supportive of each other’s endeavors and encouraged traffic between our blogs. To me there are no competitors in blogging, only colleagues. We share ideas and discuss topics of interest to our community.

Fortunately, she has a loyal community at About Freelance Writing and won’t be starting from scratch. I look forward to seeing where this new direction takes her!

Freelance Writing Jobs: Evolution of a Blog

by Deborah Ng

Welcome to the new Freelance Writing Jobs network of blogs. This is a major step and a major gamble, but I believe it’s a natural progression for this blog. With so many bloggers, and jobs and tips, it was getting a little confusing and convoluted.

And in case you haven’t been with us since the beginning, we’ve come a long way, baby!

Check it out!

June 2005

Originally Freelance Writing Jobs was part of Writer’s Row, an awesome group of content writers who found ourselves out of work and banded together to form a content site. I started FWJ as a way to share jobs with other Moms. This was in 2005 and I can’t find a screenshot of the original web page, but here’s a look at the first blog design – when FWJ was a blogspot blog.

January 2006

Several months later, a fellow work at home Mom named Wendy took pity on my design and created a new look for FWJ. I was still with Writer’s Row and this was still a .blogspot blog:

Read more

7 Important Lessons Freelance Writers Can Learn from Working in Fast Food

by Deborah Ng

We joke a lot about careers in the fast food industry, but the truth is many freelance writers worked in fast food at some point in their lives. While it may not be the most glamorous job in the world, many important lessions can be learned while flipping burgers or rocking a cash register.

Don’t believe me? Check it out:

1. If you have time to lean you have time to clean

I can’t tell you how many times I heard this, yeah I’m a leaner. Here’s the thing, if you find yourself with some down time, there’s still something to do. Just because you’re in between jobs doesn’t mean you have to sit around waiting for the phone to ring. Look for work, research rates, go over your accounts, do some cold calling, read up on news pertaining to your niche…if there’s nothing at all to do during regular business hours, you’re doing it wrong.

2. Would you like fries with that?

Suggestive selling is annoying but there’s no denying it works. When a client hires you for a job, think about what might be missing. For instance, if he’s launching a new business and needs a brochure and letter of introduction, he might also need copy for his website or a press release.

3. The customer is always right

Every time I say this here certain members of this community give me a dressing down. Agree or disagree, you’re still nothing without your clients. If you don’t think a certain idea will work, feel free to respectfully suggest an alternative. Storming off in a huff because your client isn’t going with your suggestions won’t help your bank account any. Moreover, by burning bridges with your clients you won’t land recommendations or referrals. Read more

Craigslist Ad of the Day: “The So What if I Don’t Pay, At Least I’m Honest” Ad

Honesty is the best policy, right?

awkward blogger needed.

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Reply to:
Date: 2008-10-23, 9:03AM PDT

Okay. We can’t pay you. Not even a dollar. However, we can ensure you will get some good laughs and possibly get a break from the 9 to 5 grind every once in a while. Hey, you may even have the opportunity to live vicariously through one of us and feel better about where you are at this point in your life. Either way, we need someone with the following:- awkward / inappropriate sense of humor
- basic knowledge of Photoshop
- ichat

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, please check out what we have so far and send an email if you’re still serious:

• it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Compensation: no pay

He’s funny right? And he tells it like it is. He can’t pay us one cent. But that’s ok, because he’s telling it like it is. Besides, how many times do we get to truly be inappropriate. Now, I know from the many deleted comments here there are indeed many people who don’t mind being inappropriate with their writing. I’m willing to bet however, that when the veil of anonymity is lifted, they wish to receive payment for their work. Read more

You’re Hired! Don’t Blow It…

by Deborah Ng

As freelancers we know there’s no better feeling than knowing we were chosen to do a job out of dozens, if not hundreds of applicants. Something about our writing styles set us apart from the rest, and that has us walking upon air.

With some writers that pleasure is short-lived. Even though landing the gig is the hard part, they find it tough to keep interested in their assignment. So if you want to turn your clients into repeat clients, and you want the gig to be something steady, it’s best to be on your best behavior, even if the job isn’t as exciting as you anticipated.

First, a story

Once upon a time, there was an up and coming freelance writer and blogger. She worked hard to land gigs and get herself noticed. When she was hired to work for a notable website she was elated. After a few months she was bored to tears and didn’t put her all into the gig. And it showed. Several months later she left said job, as prestigious as it was. When she was on the short list for another great opportunity she asked her former editor for a recommendation. The editor said, “I’m sorry but I can’t do that. I know you have made a name for yourself and people look up to you, but you didn’t put your all into this job. You were late with assignments, missed deadlines and made promises you didn’t keep. Now, you’ll probably get the job having this on your resume, but if I’m asked to recommend you, I can’t do that.”

Whoa. Did that hit home! The freelancer was devastated. Even though she got the job, her former editor’s words stung. She knew there was a note of truth to them. She prided herself on her reputation as a reliable freelancer and mentor of others, but she didn’t put enough of an effort into the boring gig,and it showed. She got lazy and someone called her on it. After that, she made it a point to do the best job possible, even if the work was boring.

The moral of the story? If someone hires you to do a job they’re trusting you to meet deadlines and do the work to the best of your ability, even if it bores you to tears. You’re only as good as your reputation, blow that and no one will hire you.

Here are a few ways to ensure clients turn into repeat business Read more