You have decided you want to update your resume to give it a more modern look but you are all thumbs with the idea of working with an infographic resume template, and the idea of paying someone to create your resume for you is not in your budget. You are not out of options yet – infographic resume builders can help you get a polished and professional looking resume by doing much of the heavy lifting for you.
[Read more…]
20 Quick Creative Writing Prompts
Creative writing isn’t always easy. Even the most creative writer sometimes finds himself/herself stuck on a chapter, a scene, or a paragraph.
When that happens, you can always force yourself to go on, or you can take a break. You can also turn to other things that may help bring more out of you – creative writing prompts.
Here are 20 quick creative writing prompts that are fun and “easy”. When you need a break from whatever it is that’s giving you problems, check these out. [Read more…]
Downloadable Infographic Resume Templates for Writers
If you have decided that an infographic resume is the right style for you, then you’ll need to decide on a style that can present your skills and experience in a way that will make you an attractive candidate to potential clients. Unlike a standard resume, you only have a single page in which to tell your story, so space is definitely at a premium here. How do you find the right template for your resume?
[Read more…]
Do You Want Proofreading to Be an Easier Task? Read This.
Proofreading is an inherent part of me. Whenever I write something, I have to proofread it. It’s a habit, and since I am a creature of habit, proofreading is a given.
That doesn’t mean that I find it an easy task, though, and it may be the same for some of you.
For one, it is a well-known fact that going over your own work with the intent of finding mistakes does not always yield good results. You’re biased. Your eyes tend to gloss over mistakes. Typos – misspellings, misplaced punctuation marks, etc. – can easily be overlooked.
On Bad Writing, Bad Proofreading and Responsibility
Your eyes’ condition may be another factor. What can you expect if you’ve been looking at the computer screen for hours working on that article? Of course your eyes are tired! Of course, you can make mistakes while proofreading.
How can we make proofreading an easier task?
Here are two simple things to do.
1. Take a break before proofreading.
Sure, there’s no stopping that first immediate proofreading if you are compelled to do that, but why not leave your work untouched for 15 or so minutes while you take a break? If it’s late, and you’re not under pressure, you can even leave it overnight and proofread in the morning. A fresh set of eyes – your own – will work better.
2. Change your font.
We all have our preferred fonts. Some of our clients may have their required fonts. But that’s not what this is about. It’s about changing your font solely for the purpose of proofreading. Some fonts are more readable than others, and if you use a highly readable font when proofreading, your task becomes easier. Additionally, any change in font will actually make it easier for you to spot mistakes as what you see on the screen is different from what you saw the whole time you wrote.
We all know that Comic Sans, as hated as it is by many (I’m a lover, so read this), is one of the most readable fonts. Other fonts which are good for online reading Georgia, Verdana, and Arial.
One last thing: go up one or two font sizes for proofreading.
What are your tricks to make proofreading easier?
Infographic Resumes for Freelance Writers: Use Words and Images to Attract Clients
In the right circumstances, infographic resumes – using words and images to convey to a potential client who a freelancer is and what he or she can do for them – can be a wonderful way to get a potential client to sit up and take notice. If you are going to go this route, you’ll want to make sure that you are using this tool in a manner that presents your skills and abilities in the best possible way.
Enter a Writing Contest: a Way to Share your Work and Make Some Money
One way to share your work and get it noticed is to enter a writing contest. You may think that the odds of winning are about the same as winning the lottery, but keep in mind that many people may read and ad for a contest and decide the same thing. That fact will eliminate a certain amount of the potential competition.
How to Become a Better Writer
Editor’s note: This post was written by Gary Dek, the blogger behind StartABlog123.com and Gajizmo.com. He offers small businesses and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword density research to recovering from Panda/Penguin updates to promoting their blogs and growing traffic.
Are you inspired and motivated to become a great writer? Do you read writing blogs and get the urge to start one, too? Maybe you’re looking for a second income to pay off your debts faster or just had a baby and want to make money from home as a freelance writer.
But you’re worried that you don’t have what it takes to become a professional writer. You don’t think you’re an expert on anything worth writing about, and even if you were, why should anyone hire you specifically? Do you have the habits of a successful writer, or are you doomed to be nothing but a writing wannabe?
Here are a few tips on becoming a better writer and how to differentiate yourself.
What Is Good Writing?
Some individuals in the writing community are book snobs. They think that classic literature is more valid than ‘chick lit’ or that magazines are literary garbage. There are others who think that bloggers are wannabe journalists or that if you self-publish a book, then it must be bad because no publisher would touch it.
What is good and worthy is subjective and relative. The only way to tell if you’re a good writer is to measure the impact you have on your readers. Did you offer a solution to an everyday problem? Did you persuade them to change or improve? Did you captivate or engage them? Did you connect with them on a personal or emotional level?
These are the types of questions you should ask yourself because, at the end of the day, they’re the ones that matter. Using complex sentence structures, alluding to a Shakespearean sonnet, or incorporating SAT vocabulary that only an Oxford Scholar would understand doesn’t make you a great writer. As a freelance writer or blogger, it can make you seem cold, distant, and disconnected.
Ways you might be able to measure whether your writing affects people include:
- User comments and discussions on your blog.
- Direct emails from readers expressing appreciation or asking for additional information.
- Good reviews of your latest Kindle novel, eBook, podcast, etc.
- Social shares that demonstrate strong connections with your work.
Any kind of attention or feedback means your writing is compelling in some way. Otherwise, you’re either writing about something no one wants to read or your style is too dry and boring. Neither of those qualities is desired by publishers.
Steps To Better Writing
Before you can become a better and popular writer, you must hone your skills. While what is considered good may be relative, the habits you must acquire are universal. The following are solid, proven methods to improve your skills.
Learn The Craft
If you want to be a chef, you must first learn how to cook; and if you want to be a writer, you have to learn the principles of writing, including but not limited to: grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary and punctuation. You may have great ideas for your writing style, but for it to be any good, you must first learn the rules. Then you can go ahead and break them as you see fit.
You must also learn story-writing essentials such as purpose, tone, plot, character development, and structure. Learn how to write realistic dialogue so your characters don’t come off as wooden and one dimensional.
The best way to achieve this is to read. Ever notice how the best writers are voracious readers? This is because exposure to quality work sets a standard in your mind and what we learn as readers, we’ll implement as writers.
Write, Write, and Write
This may seem a bit obvious, but writers have to actually write. Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. The more you practice writing, the easier you can put your thoughts into words. You must create a daily writing habit and commit to it.
If you are a new freelancer and don’t have any writing gigs yet, start a personal blog and make it a habit to write every day, even when you don’t feel like it. If you are serious about becoming a successful freelance writer, it has to feel like a job – pick a time, start working and stay until you’ve finished.
If you aren’t tech-savvy, use the step-by-step tutorial provided by StartABlog123.com to learn how to set up a blog in under 20 minutes. Once you start getting freelancing jobs, your blog will serve as your resume and portfolio.
Seek Out Criticism
The feedback you receive from peers, writers, professors, and mentors is invaluable. They may not represent your target audience, but the constructive criticism you’ll get from them will help you determine your shortcoming and where you need focus.
It may bruise the ego to hear that something you’ve written is falling flat, especially if it’s something you took a particular liking to, but this is how you learn to sharpen your instincts.
The Intangibles That Can’t Be Taught
While the above tips will strengthen your technical and fundamental writing skills, there is a bit more to “good writing” than having proper grammar and sentence structure. The easiest way to describe it is that each literary piece you produce must have personality.
Here are a few qualities that will allow you to genuinely connect with readers and evoke positive emotions with your work.
- Compassion gives you the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes, which in turn helps you create realistic and relatable characters. Empathy helps a writer tap into the audience’s emotional pulse.
- Ingenuity is what helps a fiction writer create an imaginative and intriguing setting for a story. A writer with imagination or unique problem-solving skills is able to attack an old dilemma with a different point of view. The latter is especially crucial for freelance writers trying to stand out in a crowded niche.
- Dedication is what separates a serious writer from a wishful thinker. Good writers tend to live and breathe their writing. They can’t go a day without it; they are always thinking about their next post, short story, editorial, satire, novel, etc. A great writer is passionate about language, communication and using both to tell stories that capture hearts and minds. That passion will be what keeps you committed despite the occasional failure.
These character traits may or may not be learned; it really depends on you as an individual. Sometimes experiences and environments can change people, as can purposeful behavioral modification. If you believe your writing lacks these qualities, how can you acquire them?
Get Some Life Experience and Share It
One of the oldest rules for writers is to write what you know, but in order to have anything insightful to share, you’re going to have to live a little. Step outside of your comfort zone and be adventurous, experiencing moments that challenge you mentally, physically, and/or emotionally. Make new friends and listen to different perspectives to further develop empathy.
Develop A Taste For Diversity
Open your mind to the possibility that you are wrong about everything you believe in. Exposing yourself to a wide range of topics, personalities, and philosophies rather than sticking with what you know and love, will help you build your imagination. If you tend to only watch comedy films, branch out to documentaries and science fiction. Only interested in classic literature? Try reading something from a recent bestseller list. Never been out of the country? Travel to Peru and visit Machu Picchu, the Peruvian Amazon Basin, and Lake Titicaca. Unique experiences will engage readers and spark new ideas, helping you stand out.
One of my favorite quotes to support this is from Steve Jobs:
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Be More Open and Less Repressed
Beware of dismissing what you love out of fear of appearing uncool or weird. Indifference is a creative energy killer. Indulge your passions, share them with others, and find others who have similar interests. Learn to accept what makes you unique, and embrace being you.
Anyone Can Become A Better Writer
It takes work to be a better writer, but you can do it. You have to be willing to learn your craft, make time to write and accept productive criticism when necessary. Working with mentors, professors and other talented and dedicated writers can also increase your odds. But if you want to succeed, you can’t just mechanically follow these steps. Ultimately, you must transform yourself into someone with a unique voice worth reading. If you can educate and uplift your audience, you’ll always be in demand.
3 Cheap Options to Create a Freelance Writing Website
Editor’s note: This post was written by Jennifer Parris, career writer at FlexJobs, the award-winning site for telecommuting and flexible job listings. FlexJobs lists thousands of pre-screened, legitimate, and professional-level work-from-home jobs and other types of flexibility like part-time positions, freelancing, and flexible schedules. Brie provides career and job search advice through the FlexJobs Blog and social media. Learn more at www.FlexJobs.com.
Back in the day, writers would dutifully cut out their clips from magazines or newspapers, paste them into a book, and shop their portfolio from one interview with an editor to another. In today’s writing world, where many writers are getting their pieces published online, it’s important to find a way to display your published work so that any editor, anywhere, can read your articles. As a writer, though, you might find that you’re on a limited budget. Here are three cheap options to creating a freelance writing website.
Clippings.me
For those who want a fast site without a lot of HTML fuss, Clippings.me is a great option. The site was created specifically for writers, bloggers, and journalists in mind. You can add your own bio, easily add PDFs and online pieces, and completely customize the look of your site. Clippings.me provides stats to show which of your stories is a hit with viewers, and you can even create your own URL so that your site has a customized domain name.
Price: Free for a basic plan.
Why You Need an Online Portfolio
WordPress
By far, a WordPress blog is one of the most popular platforms for writers who need a place to display their articles. WordPress is free and fairly simple to use. There are numerous designs and themes to choose from, so you can create a polished-looking website in no time. And with so many online tutorials, navigating through WordPress should be a breeze.
Price: WordPress software is free to use, but you will have to pay for hosting (some plans are as little as $5 monthly).
About.me
If you want to keep it straight-forward, writers can always write their way to the next writing job by using About.me. It’s one-stop shopping for users, consisting of a single customizable page, and can be ideal for writers with clips that are far-flung throughout the web. If you have articles on various websites, you can provide a list of links to your work, so that potential employers can read your clips on their original sites. Another bonus: you can not only link to your work, but you can stay social by linking your LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook profiles, too.
Price: Free
Since many writers are making their bread and butter online, it makes sense that their portfolios should be online, too. By having an online presence in the form of a freelance writing website, writers may find it easier to land writing work that will help them write their way to a great future in no time.
Why You Need an Online Portfolio; Yes, You!
What is an online portfolio anyway? In an article Jodee wrote some time ago, she clearly explained the difference between an online portfolio and a resume.
To sum it up, an online portfolio is a web site or blog which showcases your work. It can contain a variety of formats, including:
- Blog posts
- Excerpt from a book, either in print or an e-book
- Link to an electronic newsletter
- Link to your own articles published online
- SEO articles
Now that we’re clear about what an online portfolio is, it should also be easy to deduce why a freelance writer needs one – especially these days, when clients have so many writers to choose from. For argument’s sake, though, let’s dig in a little deeper.
Do I really need one?
Yes, you really need an online portfolio, and here are some compelling reasons.
One-stop shop for prospective clients
Let’s say a prospective client stumbles upon an article of yours online. She or he might be interested in hiring you, but might want to know more before getting in touch. That’s where your online portfolio comes into the picture. If you include the link to your web site in your author bio, all a prospective client has to do click on it, and he’ll find what he needs to see.
One-stop shop for you to find samples when needed
Looking at it from your perspective, having your best work located in one place makes it convenient. When applying for a writing gig, clients usually want samples. Whether they want URLs or Word documents, you can easily visit your web site and cherry pick the samples you can send.
It makes you come across as a professional
Having your own web site which tells people about you, your background, and your work adds to your professional image. It says a lot that you were willing to invest time, money, and effort in creating an online portfolio.
Something to peruse when you feel down
This may not seem to be directly related to getting clients, but there are times when a writer feels down; and when this happens to you, reading some of your best work will certainly give you a boost. That, in turn, can lead to higher productivity and better work.
How do you go about it?
I hope you’re convinced by now that you need an online portfolio. If you haven’t got one yet, then there’s no better time to start building one than now.
How?
The simplest way is to to use a free website maker, of which there are lots to choose from. The good thing about these platforms is that you don’t have to pay initially. If you do want to upgrade for more features, then that’s when you can shell out money. Additionally, these builders – even the free versions – are chockfull of tools that are meant to assist even those who may not be design/code savvy. You just have to choose styles and themes, and then drag and drop elements. Their user interfaces are usually designed to be very intuitive.
You can also use WordPress, which has a free version and is very easy to use as well. While WordPress is often associated with blogs, the platform has so many features that you can customize your web site to your heart’s desire. Even better, there are support forums where you can find assistance whenever you need it.
Once you’ve decided on what platform to use, you just need to choose your best work and highlight them. Of course, you also want to make your online portfolio look clean and professional, so here are some tips to create a stunning online portfolio.
Who has an online portfolio? Want to share them with us in the comments?
Easy Tricks for Spotting Freelance Job Scams
Protect your identity and integrity by avoiding fraudulent freelance job offers.
Because freelance job listings characteristically involve short-term telecommute work, they’re easier to fake than full-time, salaried job postings. If you’re a freelancer looking for a new project, get familiar with these easy tricks for spotting freelance job scams:
Take a Step Back from Start-ups
Start-up businesses should not be universally painted with the job-scam brush; however, it’s important to understand that con artists exploit the entrepreneurial spirit of start-up businesses to weave their web of deceit.
Beware of freelance job listings from newly established businesses that promise income from future earnings or a percentage of profits after “X” amount of labor. If an employer cannot afford to pay you now, then you cannot afford to say yes to the job offer.
Never Pay to Work
Although this sounds like career advice from Captain Obvious, job scammers resort to inventive methods to coax freelancers out of money. Never agree to pay for a contract, design or training materials, or distribution costs.
Protect Your Samples
It’s difficult to envision a freelancer in 2014 who does not have an online portfolio of work generated from educational assignments, internships, or previous employment. When a potential employer presses you for additional work samples or detailed outlines pertaining to a specific project proposal, recognize that you may be on the fast track to getting swindled.
Working for free on the promise of a job offer is bad business. Make sure you are always under the protection of a contract. If you readily provide free samples, don’t be surprised if you find your uncompensated work online, credited to someone else.
Avoid Calls for Inexperienced Workers
When have you ever contracted with a legitimate employer who is not interested in the professional and educational backgrounds of their freelancers? Even entry level positions require some measure of basic demonstrable skills or competency.
Freelance job ads that boast “IMMEDIATE START – NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED!” should be treated with as much caution as Jason Voorhees at a summer camp.
Respect Your Instincts
Similar to how you would refuse email lottery winnings from a “Nigerian prince,” go with your gut when conducting online searches for freelance employment offers. Remember to not take unnecessary RISKS:
• Research employers with accredited agencies, like the Better Business Bureau (BBB)
• Investigate employers on social media sites and with other freelancers
• Skip the spec work
• Keep your guard up when asked to provide sensitive personal information
• Stick to this promise: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
If you are solicited by a freelance job scam artist, do your part to stop the cycle of employment fraud and report the incident to the BBB’s Scam Stopper or file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
Have you been fooled by freelance employment fraud or are you aware of current scams circling the Web? Share your stories and tips in a comment.
Kimberly is the Social Media and Content Manager at Virtual Vocations, your one-stop shop for freelancers looking for legitimate telecommute jobs. Connect with Kimberly on Facebook and Google+.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- …
- 23
- Next Page »