Fuel your Fire - Three Cliches You SHOULD Follow...
I've always wanted to be a writer, ever since I was a little girl. My brother and I used to have our own "fake newspaper" that we composed on pages of notebook paper, still assembled like a book but missing the cover. At about age 12 I began writing short stories and poems.
I followed my passion through high school and college, writing for the school newspapers, writing notes to friends, letters to penpals and writing stories as often as possible. In college I took a chance with some freelance writing and loved it. Even then, though, I did not realize my full potential as a freelance writer.
If writing is your passion, you must realize a few things before setting off to make it your livelihood.
Firstly, you must believe in yourself. I'm not talking about that standard, cliche - "You can do anything you put your mind to." No. What I mean is much more important and more critical to your success as a freelance writer. You must believe that no matter what, you will achieve great things.
Let's say you know how to write news articles and special features, but you have no experience in corporate and commercial copy - newsletters, marketing brochures and the like. What you must do in this instance is give yourself a chance to play around with the possibilities. A software program as simple as MS Word can assist you in creating eye-catching brochures and newsletters - you just need to know how best to use it. If you've got access to other software programs with better design capabilities, you'll be a couple steps ahead of the game, but whatever the case - never say never. If you aren't familiar writing in a certain genre, do a couple projects and add it to your accomplishments!
Secondly, "practice makes perfect." Chances are, if you've found my blog, you've been around the Internet a good deal, whether blogging or just reading people's posts. Chances are you've done a good deal of posting yourself. So my question is this - if you can blog it, why not write it for a targeted market? Maybe you won't want to be so personal and conversational when you switch from your personal blog to an article in your local paper, but honestly, breaking the ice is the toughest part. Once you see your name in print for the first time, (and the second, and the third, and the...) you've already begun to fuel the fire that will carry you to each successive assignment!
Finally, "there's no time like the present." I live the glamorous life of a procrastinator. I wait until the last possible second to do a number of things I should really do ahead of time. Life always catches up with me too quickly to avoid it, so I let the deadlines propel me to the finishline. However, there's no time like the present when it comes to getting your writing career off the ground. Stop saying you'll do it tomorrow, over the weekend or next month. Stop waiting for that free time that never gets here, the day off from work that never arrives and the good, swift kick in the butt you need to get yourself moving.
"SWISSHHHT" There you go; consider your butt kicked. Now what are you waiting for? GET WRITING! :)
I followed my passion through high school and college, writing for the school newspapers, writing notes to friends, letters to penpals and writing stories as often as possible. In college I took a chance with some freelance writing and loved it. Even then, though, I did not realize my full potential as a freelance writer.
If writing is your passion, you must realize a few things before setting off to make it your livelihood.
Firstly, you must believe in yourself. I'm not talking about that standard, cliche - "You can do anything you put your mind to." No. What I mean is much more important and more critical to your success as a freelance writer. You must believe that no matter what, you will achieve great things.
Let's say you know how to write news articles and special features, but you have no experience in corporate and commercial copy - newsletters, marketing brochures and the like. What you must do in this instance is give yourself a chance to play around with the possibilities. A software program as simple as MS Word can assist you in creating eye-catching brochures and newsletters - you just need to know how best to use it. If you've got access to other software programs with better design capabilities, you'll be a couple steps ahead of the game, but whatever the case - never say never. If you aren't familiar writing in a certain genre, do a couple projects and add it to your accomplishments!
Secondly, "practice makes perfect." Chances are, if you've found my blog, you've been around the Internet a good deal, whether blogging or just reading people's posts. Chances are you've done a good deal of posting yourself. So my question is this - if you can blog it, why not write it for a targeted market? Maybe you won't want to be so personal and conversational when you switch from your personal blog to an article in your local paper, but honestly, breaking the ice is the toughest part. Once you see your name in print for the first time, (and the second, and the third, and the...) you've already begun to fuel the fire that will carry you to each successive assignment!
Finally, "there's no time like the present." I live the glamorous life of a procrastinator. I wait until the last possible second to do a number of things I should really do ahead of time. Life always catches up with me too quickly to avoid it, so I let the deadlines propel me to the finishline. However, there's no time like the present when it comes to getting your writing career off the ground. Stop saying you'll do it tomorrow, over the weekend or next month. Stop waiting for that free time that never gets here, the day off from work that never arrives and the good, swift kick in the butt you need to get yourself moving.
"SWISSHHHT" There you go; consider your butt kicked. Now what are you waiting for? GET WRITING! :)
posted by kate10 at 8:17 PM
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