Fab Freelance Writing Blog

For freelance writers

Writing Quick Start - Three Steps to Success as a Writer

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Want to become a self-confident writer, who writes effortlessly? Writing is both a skill, and a habit, and over time, writing will come completely naturally to you. Here’s how to speed up the process.

When you first start writing, whether as a hobby, or as a prospective career, you’ll experience lots of self-doubt. This is natural. However, don’t let your doubts keep you from writing.

You need to write, every day, so that you get into the habit. Once you’ve developed your writing muscles, writing will be much easier than it is now. You’ll write as effortlessly as you speak.

Follow these three steps.

1. Set clear writing goals

What do you want to write? Start small, and build your confidence. As your confidence grows, you’ll aim for bigger writing goals and you’ll know that you can achieve them.

Blogging is amazingly useful for a beginning writer. A blog forces you to write, and to “publish” your writing. Most new writers are shy about showing their writing - blogging eliminates this shyness, which can hobble you in your writing career.

Be wary of large goals, such as writing a book. Although you can achieve this goal easily, because a book is written word by word, as is everything else you write, the sheer enormity of the goal can lead to procrastination in your first years as a writer.

2. Focus on a writing task completely

Write when you’re writing. Just write whatever words come, trust yourself. Realize that writing is a creative act of discovery. It uses your creative right brain. Editing uses your left brain. Don’t try to edit while you’re writing, just write.

Over time, you’ll develop tricks which enable you to get into a writing mood, like playing certain kinds of music, or doodling. Eventually, just sitting down at your computer will put you into a writing mood.

3. Have fun - lose self-consciousness

Most writers feel self-conscious for the first few years. It’s natural, because writing is a performance art. However, as with actors on a stage getting into their parts, you will eventually become so habituated to writing that it comes naturally.

The easiest way to lose self-consciousness is to have fun while you’re writing. Treat it as a game.

If you follow these three steps, you will become a successful writer.

Recession-proof your freelance writing career

“Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” gives you all the tools you need for a thriving writing career, no matter what the economic climate.

Three weeks after completing the class one student wrote:

“Thanks Angela, for all your help and advice in class. I’m quitting my job next week. I printed out my letter of resignation tonight after landing a contract writing job that will pay me more for three months part-time work than I earned in from my day job in the whole of 2007! You were right – the great gigs are out there, and now I’ve got the skills to land them. Your class opened my eyes. Bless you…”

“Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” shows you how to thrive as a freelance writer. Would you like to write five times more than you’re writing now, and sell to higher-paying markets? Take the class.

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Research Wizard Pro Review – Easy Research, For Easier Writing

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For freelance writers, time really is money. The more you write, the more income you will make.

This is why I was excited when I discovered a new research tool, Research Wizard Pro. I realized that if the tool lived up to its claims, not only would researching online be faster, but it would also be more effective too. I’d be able to find exactly what I needed for any writing project.

Frankly, I was doubtful that Research Wizard Pro would help my writing. I’m an excellent researcher; years ago I wrote a book for Prentice Hall called Fast And Easy Research. I thought I knew all the writing research tricks, online and offline too.

Well, I was wrong. Research Wizard Pro taught me a lot of new tricks, and I’ve only been using it for a couple of days. I can see that this tool will not only save me time, but will enable me to complete more projects, and increase my writing income this year.

There’s more to research than Google

Like most writers, I have my search engine of choice: it’s Google. However, even when you use Google’s advanced search parameters, you’re limited by what Google considers important. Yes, Google will offer you news articles, audio, images, ebooks and tutorials, in addition to standard Web pages, IF you phrase your search terms in the right way.

Immediately I started using Research Wizard Pro I could see that there’s a lot of material I was missing out on – material I didn’t even know was available. The program automates your search queries, and will send them to dozens of specialized search engines not just to Google, so that you get more information, more quickly.

I’m currently researching and writing a new ebook, so yesterday I used Research Wizard Pro to help me research a new chapter. I’d already done my basic research, so I was interested in what else, if anything, Research Wizard Pro would help me to find.

I spent ten minutes with Research Wizard Pro, and I was amazed. I found useful tips and tutorials I hadn’t found before. I finished writing the chapter in less than an hour (including research time), and the information which Research Wizard Pro provided not only made the chapter better than it would have been, it made the writing more fun too.

I’ve got another ebook to write when I complete the current project, so since I had a few minutes to spare, I decided to check what Research Wizard Pro could help me to find for this project.

Essentially, my new ebook is an expansion of an earlier ebook, so I know the search landscape, so to speak. I opened Research Wizard Pro, and started entering a few of the common terms for my project. I collected a stack of Web pages, videos, PDF tutorials and audio files, none of which I’d seen before. Once again, I was amazed at what Research Wizard Pro can do – and how quickly.

So, what’s my verdict on Research Wizard Pro? It’s simply this: Research Wizard Pro is an essential tool for any professional freelance writer; I recommend it highly.

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How to write articles fast, like the experts

In Fab Freelance Writing Ezine this week, our theme this week is articles - specifically how to write them fast. Whether you’re writing for the Web or for print, the speed at which you can write determines your income.

I’ve often said that 99 per cent of the challenges writers face would be solved if they’d write more - writing fast, means that you write more, automatically.

Here’s an excerpt from the Editorial:

Our theme this week is articles.

You can use the techniques we discuss to write articles for the Web, or for print. I hope you’ll do both. A young writer I coached last year is on track to make $65,000 this year, just from his article writing alone. He writes primarily for the Web, and is on retainer for eight different Web sites.

One of the things we focused on in our coaching was experimenting with various techniques, so that he could write articles FAST. I’ll share some of those techiques with you in this week’s article, ” How to Write Articles Fast, Like the Experts”.

This issue of Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is out next Wednesday.

Write more - the key to your writing success

Yes, you can write more - even if you’re a world-class procrastinator.

Did you know that when you write more, your writing improves? Many of my writing students experience this. They find that when they write more, writing is easier for them - they’re not dominated by their inner editor.

My new writing class, “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” is based on lessons I developed for my private coaching students to help them to write more, improve their writing, and make more money writing.

If you’re struggling with your writing, the class will help. The techniques you’ll learn in class with help you write fiction, nonfiction, and copy for business.

Discover how you can write more, improve your writing, and sell more of your writing to higher-paying markets.

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