“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Deevra Norling

FITS Series Welcome ImageFITS Series Welcome Image

Here is another entry in the F.I.T.S. (Freelancer In The Spotlight) Series on Wording Well.

The “Freelancer In The Spotlight” today is Deevra Norling.

Deevra started off with a national diploma in public relations and what followed was a varied career path that included a short stint at Reader’s Digest as editor of the staff newsletter, followed by many years working as an executive assistant in the non-profit sector, before moving back into the corporate world as a marketing brand manager.

NOTE: Due to my recent announcement, I’m going to be blogging my True Tales Tuesdays posts on Lorraine Reguly: Laying It Out There, so if you’re a reader who loves those type of posts, then please subscribe to my author newsletter. You’ll get a free gift when you do!

Now please welcome Deevra Norling to center stage.

Take it away, Deevra!

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Why I Took the Leap into Freelancing

Misery. Well, that’s what drove me to quit my job and find another way to live. I hated working for a boss, the 9-5, the office politics, performance appraisals, driving to the same place and sitting at the same desk every day. I am a free spirit and that means I like doing my own thing. Freedom is important to me. Read More

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Corinne Kerston

FITS Series Welcome Image

 

Today’s “Freelancer In The Spotlight” is Corinne Kerston. You’re going to learn a lot from her, so get ready to dive in!

Did you pick up your other free gift yet? Get it when you subscribe to my author newsletter.

Corinne Kerston head shot

Take it away, Corinne!

How I Stumbled Into the Freelancing Field

For someone who grew up writing poems and reading all the time, I actually stumbled into freelance writing by chance.

I graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in English, and immediately began applying anywhere and everywhere. I landed a job as an accountant for a local Property Management company. Because that makes sense, right? I won’t be all dramatic and say I was miserable, because I wasn’t. I was earning a steady paycheck and I was satisfied.

And then I had kids and my outlook completely changed.

After I had my first child in 2007, I continued to work full-time. But I felt like I was missing everything. I missed her first steps, her first words. So when I became pregnant with my 2nd child, I decided I would stay home.

I still had no idea that I could write for a living. I know … I don’t have a clue how I didn’t figure this out yet. I began looking at work-at-home jobs. I knew a medical transcriptionist who worked from home, and I thought that was a viable option.

Then I met a freelance writer on a cloth-diapering forum of all places. I was intrigued! I had my “duh Corinne!” moment, wondered why I hadn’t thought of writing before and messaged her about her career. I wanted to know more! She had a webinar on breaking into ghostwriting and she offered it to me for free.

See, I told you I totally stumbled into this career by chance. And I’m so grateful I did.

Beginning My Freelancing and Writing Career

I started writing for a few clients in late 2010 shortly before my son was born. By the time he was born, I had a couple blogging clients and I was writing for some content mills. The money wasn’t great, but hey, I was earning money and staying home with my kids. I was ecstatic.

Since then, I’ve grown as an online writer, as a blogger, as a marketer and a business person. I have ditched the content mills for good. I even self-published a few eBooks, including Start Your Freelance Writing Career: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started Working From Home.

Corinne's ebook cover

Here are some of the gems I have learned along the way.

Top 5 Freelancing Tips from Corinne

1: Pick a Niche.

In the freelancing world, there are generalists and there are specialists. I find generalizing may open you up to a whole bunch of different types of clients, but specializing allows you to command higher rates. To pick a niche, look at what you are good at, things you enjoy and areas you have experience in.

2: Have a website.

I can’t stress this enough. Have a website! It’s essential. How else are you going to show potential clients how great your writing it? While you are at it, how about adding a blog? A blog can act as your samples, but also as helps with traffic and getting readers to your site.

3: Get samples up right away.

Even if you’re just starting out, you can find samples. Use old papers you wrote, write free reports, self-publish articles on article submission sites, or do pro bono work. Yes, you won’t be getting paid for your writing at this point, but you will build a great portfolio so that you will land those money-paying jobs.

4: Don’t be afraid to ask what you’re worth.

‘Cause you are worth it.

Don’t get in the mindset of comparing yourself to other writers or other bloggers, because you’re not them. If you know your writing is worth it, set your asking price fairly high. Of course, use some business common sense. If you’re just breaking into an industry and have no experience whatsoever, you can’t very well ask $200 a blog post. But, once you have established yourself as a writer, earned some street cred, you can most certainly raise your prices.

5: Get it in writing.

Contracts are gold when you freelance. I have learned this hard way. Contracts don’t only protect you, but they also protect your client. You can easily write up a simple contract yourself, just make sure that you include things like your agreed-upon price and payment terms, what you will be writing, how many words, when you are expected to turn it in, if any edits are included and any other expectations. Make it impossible for the client to spring extra work on your without renegotiating your contract. Include privacy and rights to content clauses to protect your clients and a contract is a win-win for everyone.

 

Now it’s your turn:

How did you break into freelance writing?

Did you always dream of writing as a career or did you just stumble into it, too?

Corinne’s freelancing “must haves” are samples, a website, and a contract. What are yours?

Share your thoughts, story, and/or answers in the comments, and please thank Corinne publicly for sharing her awesomeness with us!

Check out the other freelancers in this series:

Some Life Updates and Info about Freelancing from #freelancewriter Lorraine Reguly

An Interview With “F.I.T.S.” Series #freelancewriter Elna Cain

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Candace Simonson

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter DD, an Addicted-to-Heroin #Freelancer

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Alicia Rades

F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Ali Luke

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Joe Warnimont

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Brian Morris

F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Janine Ripper

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Harleena Singh

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Crystal Nay

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Christy Birmingham

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Tom Bentley

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter William Ballard

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Deevra Norling

Freelancing Tips From Kirsty Stuart #freelancingtips for #freelancers

7 Reasons for the FITS Series on Wording Well (with results!)

If you want to raise your freelancing rates, read How to Ask for a Raise (and Get One!) from your #Freelancing Client.

If you want to know why you should be gathering testimonials you can use on your website, read about The Power of Client Testimonials.

Corinne Kerston is a professional writer and blogger. She is also a mom, wife, chef, chauffeur, nurse and whatever else her family needs her to be at the moment. Check out her Kindle book about breaking into freelance writing, Start Your Freelance Writing Career: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started Working From Home. Connect with her on her website or Twitter.

Some FUN Writing Tools to Get You In the #writing Mood

block letters that spell the word "fun"

Admit it. Writing can be both boring and difficult. Sometimes it is a good idea to take a break and play some games, but if you are trying to stay focused, here are a few tools to motivate you, help improve your writing, conquer writer’s block, and make it fun again.

Some unique and  fun writing tools include:

A Cliché Finder – a must-have for any writer

BlaBlaMeter – it lets you know how much bullshit hides in your text…

Written? Kitten! – counts your words as you type them and shows you a picture of a dog or a cat every 100 words (or 200, 500, or 1000)

I Write Like – a free, statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers.

Vocabulary.com – provides a multiple choice quiz to help you learn new words (or to reinforce the meaning of words you might already know

One Look Dictionary Search – a unique search tool that helps you find what you need

I have to give a shout-out to Michele Clements James for the last four tools. 🙂

750 Words –  This site tracks your word count, gives you a nice big screen to write on, automatically scrolls as you write (like a typewriter), and automatically saves your writing as you go.  It also lets you know when you’ve passed the 750-word mark. 250 words per page is considered to be the standard accepted number of words per page. So, three standard pages are about 750 words. (Yes, I know I already mentioned this tool already.)

6 writing tools

YOUR TURN to share:

Share your favorite tool in the comment section. (If you cannot include a link due to the anti-spam plugin I use on this site, simply spell out the URL, and I’ll make sure to include the correct in my response to you.)

 

Did You Know You Could Become a Freelance Editor?

Being a freelance editor, in my opinion, is even better than being a freelance writer. First of all, it pays more. Secondly, it is the best job I could ever ask for. I love editing, I love words, and I love helping others. Finally, I love reaping the many rewards (check out the many benefits of being a freelance editor).

If you are not currently working at your dream job and want to be a freelance editor, then sign up to get on the “interest list” for my upcoming course!

I am in the process of designing a course that will teach you EVERYTHING about being a work-from-home editor and entrepreneur.

This includes:

– how to get paid up-front… ALWAYS! (before you do any work)

– how to get testimonials

– how to market yourself

– where to find work

– how to leverage social media for your business (because, YES, you will be actually running a business if you are successful!)

– how to keep accurate records

– how to easily calculate your costs

– how to communicate with potential clients so they turn into ACTUAL clients

– how to organize your time (so you can complete all of the tasks involved in running your biz)

– how to deal with difficult clients

– which projects to accept

– when to raise your rates

– AND MORE! (INCLUDING BONUSES!)

Plus, I want to get to know you so that I can give you EXACTLY what you need to succeed!

So, DO you want to know more about how to become a freelance editor?

If so, SIGN UP HERE.

 

Some Neat Word Games for You!

This picture is one of block letters that spell out "play time" using childrens' building blocks.

I like word games such as Scrabble, Hangman, and crossword puzzles. I like them because they are fun to do and play!

It’s great, too, that word games help to increase your brain activity, which, in turn, leads to longevity and also staves off diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

My mother begins her day with coffee and a puzzle book, and she’s still sharp even though she’s in her late sixties!

Word games provide a win-win situation for everyone! YAY! 🙂

Of course, writing tools can be fun to use, too. 😉

The Many Things Dot Org Site

I found this site recently, which is geared toward ESL (English as a second language) students, that has a bunch of neat word games on it. Don’t let the fact that is for ESL students deter you; some of the games are really fun!!!

It’s called Many Things DOT Org and you can do a lot of different things on this site! The possibilities are endless!

It has games that make learning fun. The only drawback is that the site takes a long time to load (almost one minute) but it is worth the wait. I would suggest spending 20 minutes each day exploring and learning. It will help you learn English faster than a teacher can! 🙂

I’ve actually told a few people about this site and have seen an improvement in their language skills already. 🙂 YAY!

Fun for Everyone – Share Your Favorite Game

What sites do you like to use to play word games?

Leave a link to your favorite fun site in the comment section, or simply tell us what site you like the best!

Make a donation

Remember, I don’t just link to anything without checking them out myself. I’m committed to providing you with useful and great stuff here on Wording Well.

I don’t expect anything in return, but I have to mention that I will accept donations if you ever feel the need to thank me.

Of course, you could also thank me with a social share. Everything you do is appreciated! 🙂

Have a great day, and have some fun!

One more thing… Learn about Lorraine

Some of you are new readers, and so I’d like to invite you to read Who I Am + How I Became a Self-Published Author (and a question for you). This is a post I published on my other blog, Laying It Out There.

I hope you enjoy it, and respond to the question I have for you at the end! (Hint: it involves YOU.) 😉

 

Opening/featured image courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“F.I.T.S.” SERIES: Featuring #freelancewriter Ali Luke

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Ali Luke is the “Freelancer In The Spotlight” today, as part of the F.I.T.S. (Freelancer In The Spotlight) Series on Wording Well.

She’s been freelancing for years, has created many wonderful things for writers and bloggers (including a membership site and some e-books), and is my special guest this week.

We’re lucky to have her here, and I would love it if you’d take a moment right now to show her some appreciation for being here by Tweeting the following message.

Now please welcome Ali Luke to center stage.

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Take it away, Ali!

How Ali Got Involved in Freelance Writing

I started freelancing by accident. Six years in, I’m still going strong.

Back at the start of 2008, I’d launched a blog that – rather naïvely – I hoped would quickly gather hordes of readers and bring in loads of money.

Of course, the reality was a little different:  it took me eleven months to get my first Google AdSense cheque from that blog.

But early on, I tried guest posting to get more traffic. The very first blog I wrote for happened to be looking for paid writers. I still remember how I felt when I got an email from the editor asking if I’d like to write a couple of posts a week for them, at $20 a post. I hadn’t even realized freelance blogging existed and – even though I charge a lot more these days – I was delighted by the money I could earn.

Of course, I was lucky. Freelancing jobs don’t normally appear in your inbox just like that (as I found over the next few months and years), but gradually, I built up my freelancing work, and was able to quit my day job about six months after getting that first paying gig.

Since then, I’ve added extra income streams, too – ones that don’t just get me paid per hour. I sell a series of Blogger’s Guide e-books and run a teaching/community site for writers, Writers’ Huddle. In the past, I’ve also worked one-on-one with writers as a coach, and run stand-alone e-courses. Read More