As a freelance writer you must generate high-quality ideas if you want to be successful. Idea generation and development has been a key focus of mine for the last dozen years, and today I share with you what I’ve learned and what works best for me. 1. Be Alone in Nature Get outside and do […]
How to Make the Best Use of Your Travel Time
Most freelance writers spend a lot of time driving in cars or using public transportation. Whatever way you travel, you need to make the best use of this time. Let’s take an example. Say you spend an average of 5 hours a week traveling. That’s 260 hours a year, the equivalent of six and half […]
Hey Writer, Do You Make the Best Use of Your Brain?
As a freelance writer, you need to use your right brain for creativity and your left brain for productivity and task completion. But since I’m a science guy, we have to address the fact that… The Right Brain/Left Brain Dichotomy Is Not Exact The popular conception of the right brain/left brain split depicted in the […]
Your Ideal Freelance Writer Home Office
We freelance writers spend a lot of time writing in our home offices, or whatever corner of our home we’ve dedicated for our business. Wherever you write in your home needs to be conducive to getting your writing done. Let’s look at the basics of making that space both comfy and inspiring. Furniture in Your […]
Renegotiating a Freelance Writing Deadline
If you stay in the freelance writing business long enough, you’ll eventually have to renegotiate a deadline. Whether you are a freelance writer or a book author or you work for someone else, missing a work deadline is bad. I pride myself on meeting or beating deadlines, and I use that as a prime selling […]
How Being Late Hurts Your Freelance Writing Career and Your Life
Why is punctuality such an important time management skill for freelance writers? Simple — punctuality is a sign of someone who is organized and trustworthy. If you want editors to give you freelance writing projects, or get people you care about to spend time with you, you must be on time. If you cannot keep […]
Profitable Freelance Writing for Nonprofits
Many freelance writers don’t give much thought to writing for nonprofit organizations, but some nonprofits pay writers quite well. Here’s my story… Freelance Writing for a Higher Education Nonprofit I’m primarily a higher education writer. I create various materials for college-level textbooks and courses, typically test questions, instructor’s manuals, lecture outlines, student study guides, and […]
Freelance Writers Need Vacations…
And I’m on a two-week hiking and camping vacation in southern Utah right now. I’ve written about how I often go camping when I need to get a lot of freelance writing done, and I’ve also written about the importance of time alone for boosting creativity. I’m not doing much writing on this trip; it’s […]
Top 10 Ways to Be a More Productive Freelance Writer
Making you a more productive and better-paid freelance writer is the prime goal of ProductiveWriters.com. Today I’m sharing with you the 10 most important productivity posts from the blog. I suggest you read the 2-3 posts that are most important for you right now and then come back to the others later. And please leave […]
What Music Do You Listen to When You Write?
I’ve written about the freelance writer’s home office, how a writer should sit at a computer, and soon I’ll publish a post about how to decorate your home office. Now it’s time to discuss… The Freelance Writer’s Music Choices Of course this is based on individual preference, but it’s important to listen to music that […]
Hey Freelance Writer, How Do You Respond When An Editor Asks for Changes?
As freelance writers we’re often asked by editors or clients to make changes in our writing. The Big Question: How Well Do You Respond? First see how the guy in this 44-second vid deals with the question (F-bomb alert): (Big shout out to Tom Chandler, copywriter extraordinaire and the brains and brawn at The Writer […]
Are Your Sleep Habits Hurting Your Writing Career?
For you to be a truly productive writer, your body must feel good and your brain must be in top form. An important component for both is getting enough sleep at night. How do you know if you are not getting enough sleep? Simple: how do you feel during the course of the day? If […]
My Criteria for Keeping a Print Book
I still love print books and I have a substantial number of them. But I recently got rid of most of my print books, and here’s why… It takes time, space, and energy to keep a lot of books. You need room to store them. And just seeing all the spines can be a distraction. […]
Freelancers, Would You Use This E-Mail Auto-Response?
When and how should a freelance writer use an e-mail auto-response to potential clients? What are the possible payoffs and potential pitfalls? Freelance E-Mail Auto-Response: A Real-Life Example A few months ago I exchanged a couple of e-mails with another freelance writer. Immediately after I sent her the initial e-mail, I got an auto-response back […]
Don’t Let Writer’s Block and Procrastination Stop You!
If you want to be a successful freelance writer, you must overcome writer’s block and procrastination. How much have these two maladies cost you in your freelance career? Fortunately, I have a solution for you: 50 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block and Procrastination, which will be available as a Kindle ebook in early 2014. 50 Ways? […]
When Is the Best Time for You to Write?
We all have a certain times of the day or night in which we get the most writing done with the best quality. This varies from person to person, and it can change over the course of your life. I go to bed early and get up early, and I do much of my writing […]
How to Get More Freelance Writing Assignments
As productive freelance writers, we want to get many high paying jobs and get them done as efficiently as possible. Winning multiple assignments is a great way to do this. Two Main Ways to Get More Freelance Writing Assignments First, you get multiple assignments for the same topic. In the second, you get multiple assignments […]
How to Be a Healthy Freelance Writer
It’s simple: The healthier you are, the better you feel and the more you accomplish in all areas of your life, including your freelance writing. If you’re sick, you obviously don’t feel well and you won’t get much done, writing or otherwise. Avoiding Communicable Diseases For starters, minimize your risk of catching communicable illnesses. These […]
The Freelance Writing Project Hiding in Your Spam Folder
Why should freelance writers check their spam folders? There’s one obvious answer: sometimes a legitimate e-mail gets dumped there. The Great Freelance Writing Project Sitting in My Spam Folder So I’m scanning my spam folder a couple of months ago and –bam! – I see “possible project with *specific company name*.” Well, it turns out […]
How the Web Changes Your Brain and Hurts Your Life
As a freelance writer and a human being, productivity and happiness are top priorities for me, and I was already aware of the negative effects of the Internet on my own cognitive processes and ability to feel fully alive when I read The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains in the summer […]
My New Freelance Writer Business Card
Every Freelance Writer Needs a Business Card It doesn’t matter what you write about, or what you specialize in, there will be times when you talk to someone interested in your freelance writing services, or who knows someone who could be interested in your freelance writing services, and you need to hand them a business […]
The Four Key Benefits of Writing Well
If you want to be a successful freelance writer, you must write well. You don’t have to be a perfectionist, but you do need to write clearly and with very few punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors. You can learn to do this through studying the English language and proper writing techniques. And learning to write […]
Simplicity and the Successful Freelancer
Freelance writers’ lives are usually quite busy. But busy with what? Often we are busy doing things that don’t matter, or actually detract from our lives. And that’s why we should practice simplicity. To me, simplicity means simplifying life as much as practical so I have more time for my truly important goals, from business […]
The Freelance Writers Den is Open for One Week
All beginning and intermediate freelance writers will benefit immensely from joining the Freelance Writers Den. Just in case you haven’t heard about the Den, it’s a top-notch membership site with over 400 members. It’s run by Den mothers Carol Tice and Linda Formichelli and it includes dozens of resources for members: Free access to workshop […]
What You Must Know to Find What You Need With Google
We all use Google, but are you making the best use of it? Finding what you need on the Internet as efficiently as possible is crucial to your productivity, so here’s a great graphic that will help you, courtesy of HackCollege.com… Also see my post about Internet research techniques for freelance writers. Your Take What […]
