Ok! I KNOW! I talk too much about my kids going back to school, and a new start in September, and etc. I admit it.
It's just that I really don't do much work/writing over the summer and I miss it. I live in Michigan, where school is out June 4-September 8, so, suffice it to say, it's been a long summer.
I have managed to do a few little things here and there to make sure my freelance writing career gets a fresh start: entering old receipts, polishing resumes, etc. When September 8 finally arrives, I'll be ready. Follow this link for 5 Ways To Refresh Your Writing Career, and then leave me a comment with your advice.
Alena,
I liked your ideas. Here are a few more that I use to polish up my image, fine-tune my communication skills, and rekindle my love affair with writing,
1)Have a Web makeover. Revisit your own Website as if you were a potential client. Note areas that you need to revise, delete, or add to. Always keep in mind your unique value proposition – those skills and talents you have, the services you provide, and your background that makes you uniquely YOU.
2)Write a letter to the editor. Get passionate about something and write a letter to the editor about it. There’s nothing like seeing your words in print, calling others to action, to get your writing juices stirred up.
3)Send a letter to your Senator or Representative. Hey, if the letter to the editor doesn’t do it for you, send a letter to someone who has the power to make a change. These are the letters that teach you how to make your point quickly and effectively persuade your reader to take a specific action – quite a handy skill.
4)Help others. We often take our writing skills for granted and forget that others cannot write as easily as we can. There are so many people out there who desperately help with a writing task – like composing a professional letter, writing a resume, or creating a flyer. If you have the time, give them a hand. What you do in a few hours, would probably take them days, and wouldn’t be half as good!
I find these activities make me feel better about myself and feel better about my chosen profession. And the interesting thing is, when I’m feeling good about my writing and good about helping others, I often make connections. And sometimes, these connections transform into clients!
Martha
Technical, Marketing, and Educational Writer
Alena and Martha,
I loved all the ideas that both of you had – thank you! Here are the ones I would add to the list:
1) Find a buddy – especially if you work virtually. Myself and the Guide to Cooking Equipment exchange emails every Monday with our goals for the week for each client that we have – at the end of the week, we check in with one another to see how we’ve done.
2) Make a work schedule. It sounds elementary, but I take out my planner and block out specific times to work on specific things – I even schedule in an hour to deal with email (never first thing in the morning!) and an hour for social networking. If I don’t schedule these in, I find it too easy to get distracted. When the time is up, I move on to the next project, regardless of where I’m at.
3) “Spring Clean!” your office space. I’m a clutter bug at best, so really, REALLY cleaning my office (dusting, sweeping, organizing books and magazines) really helps. Sometimes I’ll even invest in a new piece of art for the wall.
4) I picked up a link to Write Everyday which is a great little timer thing that you can use to just write freely every single day. You can set it for as few as 5 minutes if you want, but there is a sense of freedom in just sitting down and typing. It doesn’t have to make sense, it doesn’t have to be good, but it’s writing.
I think that’s all I’ve got for now!
Cheers ~ Stacie
Excellent ideas, I’m going to copy them down. I just have one more to add: review your motives and reasons for writing, soak in your mission. For an old college friend of mine, it means watching Paper Chase again (tho he’s not a journalist). For me it means pulling up a file that has inspiring quotes, most about the power and glories of writing, some more general (making a difference in the world, that sort of thing).
I find this simple exercise hugely helpful. Reviewing, and occasionally updating, my core motives for being a writer rekindles the hope and fire that got me started in the first place. It also helps to clarify priorities.
Perhaps others have moved far beyond this, but I still need it… More often than annually, to be honest. But if Benjamin Franklin’s words don’t fire me up (”Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing”) then Pancho Villa’s will either scare me or make me laugh (”Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something”).
I have lots more. Maybe I should post the list to my blog… Anyone interested? A quick browse of BrainyQuotes.com will yield a good crop of inspiration & humor, too.
Anyone else collect quotes like I do?
Wow, thanks so much to all of you. Pare– I NEED quotes, probably much like you do. I completely understand where you are coming from. Let me know if you do put together a blog post of your faves, and I’ll send the readers over there– ’cause that’s a great idea.
I like Natalie Goldman’s “Just write, just write.” I also like … man, I don’t know who this one is from, but: “Writing is your job, just like your postman has a job… ” It goes on for awhile after that, but that should be worth a Google. It’s a good one.