Posted by Maya Smart on Wed, Jun 02, 2010 @ 02:07 PM
"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." —Reggie Leach
by Maya Payne Smart
For years, that quotation was taped to the screen of the computer I used to hammer out articles that explained everything from the aluminum-market outlook to the best ways to organize your home. The legendary hockey player's words were a constant reminder that self-motivation is key to victory in the competitive field of freelance writing. Unlike staff reporters, who even on slow news days get paid just for showing up, freelancers must constantly hunt for new assignments and their next paychecks.
And boy can it be tiring!
Writing and reporting alone, often at the risk of rejection, can take a lot out of you. Throw sales, marketing, invoicing, collecting and business planning into the mix and burnout starts brewing. Setting yourself on fire occasionally is one thing; kindling your efforts daily is another. There are many days when my to-do list outweighs my motivation level — and the term "self-starter" feels more like a punishment than a redeeming quality. Like Sisyphus pushing a boulder uphill only to have it roll back down, freelancing can feel laborious, tedious, even futile.
Given the inevitable ups and downs, how can writers keep their fire for storytelling alive? I heard some good answers to this question during "Can I Get a Witness? Writing for Social Change," a panel discussion that I moderated last week. Hosted by James River Writers, a Virginia nonprofit on whose board I serve, the two-hour event brought together Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams, historical novelist Linda Beatrice Brown and AOL News contributor Emily Troutman to discuss how they use journalism, fiction and commentary to give a voice to the voiceless.
The event wasn't focused on freelancing per se, but I couldn't help but make connections between their work and ours. Together the panelists gave a master class in tapping emotion, seeking truth, connecting with readers (and other writers) and finding balance. Here are their tips for refueling.
Write passionately.
It may sound counterintuitive, but sometimes you can get more pleasure out of your writing business by investing more of yourself into it, even when you're tired. Rather than conserving energy by doing the minimum required to interview a source or write an article, give it your all. Regardless of the subject, write as if the story matters, as if only you can tell it, as if every word counts.
For Williams, the writing process starts with emotion. "It starts when I'm cussing at the TV set or balling up my newspaper and tossing it across the room," he said. "It all stems from the outrage that you feel. It's almost childlike — this isn't fair; this isn't right. When you feel that, it writes itself. By the time you sit down at your computer, it's just a matter of polishing it up."
The notion of letting something powerful and personal guide your work doesn't just apply to columnists. "At heart, if you're a good journalist and you're doing your job, we need to be advocating for something," Williams said. "Otherwise, we're just stenographers. I don't know too many journalists that go into this with the idea of just taking notes in rote fashion and putting them down in some kind of newspaper. It's got to be about more than that; it's got to be about some kind of greater good."
Indeed, reconnecting with your initial passion for writing is a surefire strategy for staying excited about the work over time. Your stories must be about more than a word count or paycheck.
Show humanity.
As a freelance writer, Troutman has traveled to locations as far flung as Istanbul, Turkey, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to offer "humanist perspectives on complex issues." She emphasizes the individual dignity of the people involved in the stories she covers as well as the worth and capacity for growth of her readers.
"I've found that most of my experience in changing people's perspectives about a place or a problem is about them knowing me," she explained. "That's why there's power in writing fiction where you get to know a person or character, or in a columnist with a voice that people identify with. In my work, I try to tell the stories of real people who I meet so I interject that personhood into it."
She also connects on a human level with sources and readers through social media. "It adjusts the way I talk about problems," she explained. "I know I'm going to post [stories] on Facebook or Twitter and the people on there aren't necessarily subscribers to the New York Times home edition; they are my friends from high school, my grandmother, my aunts and uncles. Social media has made me more aware of the potential audience-the real general public."
The conversation among readers who've been introduced to a new issue and sources who want to stay in touch minimizes energy-sapping feelings of isolation and plants writers within a community of learning, encouragement and support.
Be authentic.
It's certainly much easier to be passionate about your work and celebrate humanity when you are writing about subjects that you genuinely care about. Be selective about the work you pursue and the assignments you accept.
Find a way to write what you love as opposed to psyching yourself into loving what you happen to be writing — or what you think has the best commercial prospects. Brown described a crossroads she reached in the '70s, when it became clear that the kind of books she wanted to write weren't likely to appeal to a wide audience.
"It was at that point that I decided that I was either going to be authentic or I was not going to write, because you can be a sleazy, non-truth-telling fiction writer very easily and make lots of money," she explained. "I thought, ‘You're either going to be who you are or there's no point in doing this. It's too hard.'"
Three novels and several poems, plays, short stories and essays later, Brown continues to tell her own truth. "For me, it is a spiritual thing. I was put here on earth to use the gift of the word, and if I don't do that, I don't feel good. The energy is there because you love what you're doing."
Posted by Maya Smart on Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 12:00 PM
Freelance writers can shape their careers to the extent that their talents and motivation allow. Why choose to be depersonalized, devalued and disrespected?
by Maya Payne Smart
In his new book "Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?" entrepreneur Seth Godin describes a multigenerational American conspiracy in which schools, governments and social contracts led us to tr
ading genius and artistry for presumed corporate safety nets. Work hard, keep your head down and collect your pension were the rules of the game — until they weren't. The layoffs, furloughs and other cuts prompted by recession show a system breaking under its own weight. Yet many of us keep toiling as if old bargains still hold when a new approach to work is needed.
Rather than remaining cogs in a broken industrial machine, Godin argues that we should shrug off the thinking that's brought us here and use our strength and creativity to instead become linchpins, the indispensable individuals who hold organizations together and propel them forward. Although his message is largely intended for employees who cling to outmoded expectations of their employers and themselves, his insights are valuable for freelance writers, too. In a sense, freelancers are even more vulnerable than full-time staffers because we work with few guarantees and are all too often underpaid and under-insured.
Moreover, in the media industry, content farms and even some legacy media companies are applying the old industrial model to further commoditize journalism. Like the pin-making factory in Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," they've broken down the content creation process into tiny tasks undertaken by low-paid workers to produce much more copy than a skilled artisan working alone ever could. But as freelance writers who work without corporate paychecks, benefits and backing, we have even less reason to take the bait than the manual laborers of yesteryear.
The way forward as freelance writers is not to push ourselves to become more efficient and productive parts of some insatiable content machine. We'll never be fairly compensated in a system in which our primary value is being compliant and interchangeable with the next writer. So let's not play that game. Instead, we must embolden ourselves to stand out, speak up and chart our own courses amid unpredictable circumstances. Our expertise, our ethics, and even our quirks (ahem, style) will fuel greater success in this new economy that's reeling from changes wrought by globalization and technological change. The way forward is indeed to become linchpins, people who bring insight, experience, flexibility and concern to our work - and are indispensable as a result.
"Indispensable freelancer" sounds like an oxymoron. We're contract workers after all. Our work is short-term and unattached by definition. We labor outside of the newsroom on our own time and without close supervision. Why should we harbor any illusions that what we do is crucial, that who we are matters? Because all writers are not created equal — each of us brings something unique to the table, and we should strive to further differentiate ourselves from the next guy as much as possible. Otherwise, we'll soon be replaced by other nameless, faceless contributors. As a freelancer, you have the freedom to shape and mold your career to the extent that your talents and motivation allow. Why would you choose to be depersonalized, devalued and disrespected?
Increasingly, being remarkable is the only way to profit. You have to believe in the work you're doing — you have to connect with it, your clients and your colleagues. You have to be an artist and produce work that inspires people. You have to push past fear and lean into challenges. You have to seek out clients who appreciate and compensate your hard work and talents. And you have to say no to jobs that steal time and enthusiasm from your dreams. "In a world that relentlessly races to the bottom, you lose if you also race to the bottom," Godin reminds us. "The only way to win is to race to the top."
Ready. Set. Go!
Posted by Admin Team on Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 08:58 AM
Specialization Pays--In Any Economy
by Loren Pritchett
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a journalism degree to launch a successful freelance career. Just ask Kelly James-Enger of BecomeBodyWise.com. After working for five years as an attorney in a private practice, James-Enger left the legal field to pursue a full-time writing career. She had no formal media training, but she didn’t need any. Instead, she used her research abilities, financial-planning skills, and life experiences to get her Chicago-based business off the ground.
“I had never taken any journalism classes. I have a rhetoric background,” she said. “So I read Writer’s Market and a lot of magazines, and I analyzed a lot of articles. I looked for the kind of ledes writers used, how many people were quoted, experts, and tones.”
She also persevered. After sending several dozen unsuccessful query letters to publications, James-Enger tried a new approach and sent an entire article to the editor she found listed in the masthead of Cosmopolitan. The unconventional pitch worked and James-Enger sold her first article, “Surviving the Last Two Weeks on Your Job,” to the magazine. “I used my personal experience of leaving my own job for the story,” she explained.
Encouraged by the sale of articles to Cosmopolitan and Bride’s, James-Enger saved enough money to support herself for six months, quit her job and began writing full time in January 1997. Even with a plan and the financial stability to live as a self-employed writer, she found herself facing the same challenges that most beginners face. “I had problems with time management and getting my foot in the door with editors,” she recalled.
She overcame obstacles by setting daily goals for gaining exposure and building relationships with editors at various publications. She sent out one query letter a day and resubmitted new ideas to editors who rejected her initial pitches. “Within 24 hours, I was resending queries out to editors,” she said. “It helped me stay on track.”
Assuming that she’d have a disadvantage competing for assignments against writers with more media experience, James-Enger applied what she knew as an attorney to her writing business. She was able to transfer her writing, research and interviewing skills and fine-tune her time management skills. “As an attorney, I had dozens of open cases at any time, so I learned to manage my time,” she said. “As a writer, I had to prioritize tasks and not spend more time than necessary on them.”
She also capitalized on her working habits and suggests adjusting daily schedules accordingly. “You need to know when your best writing time is,” she said. “If you are a morning person you should be writing--not doing interviews or research--during that prime writing time.”
James-Enger stays on top of assignments by planning her day each morning and keeping a date book and to-do lists. “Know what your priorities are,” she said. “It’s all about knowing yourself and being organized.”
Initially, James-Enger covered a wide range of topics but decided, after a year, to focus on stories related to health, nutrition and fitness. She supplemented her knowledge of the areas by reading studies, breakthroughs and press releases. “Ninety-five percent of my work falls under this topic,” she said. “Every magazine cover has something about health and nutrition and that provided me with a lot of opportunities.” Her work has appeared in Complete Woman, Fit, Family Circle and Shape.
Eighteen months after the start up, James-Enger’s writing business took off. She began pitching more successfully, editors started to offer her more assignments, and she brought in more money. By 2003, she was earning a six-figure salary.
She credits her success to the decision to specialize: She could handle more assignments while doing less legwork. “I just found it saved me a lot of time. You can reinvent the wheel over and over again with stories like how to lose weight. Since I have the knowledge and background, it makes things easier.”
James-Enger also advises aspiring writers to pull from their own experiences. “Pitch ideas that you have a personal connection to, ones which you are uniquely qualified to write,” she said. “Look at your own background and what unique knowledge you have, and look for markets that you can maintain a long-term relationship with.”
She wrote about the legal side to planning a wedding while she dealt with her own nuptials. She successfully pitched a story about unexplained causes of fatigue when her sister was diagnosed with sleep apnea and drew from her marriage for a piece offering ten reasons to date a shy guy.
She said that after a writer gets one assignment from an editor, it becomes ten times easier to work for that publication again—as long as you remain professional. “Do what you say you’re going to do. Be reliable. I’ve never missed a deadline,” she said. “All my clients come back to me. I pitch them over and over and have worked with them for more than five years.”
Bonnie L. Krueger, editor-in-chief for Complete Woman, appreciates James-Enger’s work ethic. “[She] has broadened her scope over the years,” Krueger said. “She delivers a well-researched feature on any subject I assign her. She is professional and thorough.”
Over the past few years, James-Enger has tapped new markets to keep up with the shifting media landscape. “I’ve changed my business quite a bit,” she said. “I am doing fewer magazines and more books now. It is more time efficient for me to pick markets I’m interested in and really work on those.”
For James-Enger this includes writer’s guides and fitness and nutrition books, such as Ready, Aim, Specialize!, Six-Figure Freelancing, and Small Changes, Big Results. She currently resides in a western suburb of Chicago where she is a public speaker on heath and nutrition, a licensed personal trainer, and has a 4-year-old son.
James-Enger sets daily profit goals for herself to boost productivity and foster consistent revenue streams. With half of her income coming from books, James-Enger earns 30 percent of her income from magazines articles, 10 percent from public speaking and 10 percent from selling reprints. She enjoys a comfortable salary but the flexibility of freelancing is her favorite job benefit.
“I like being my own boss, in charge of my own success and failure. The freedom I have in freelancing means I can sit and work today, tomorrow and have every weekend off if I want. I can focus on being a mom, which is my first and most important job, and I can work in my pajamas. You can’t do that as an attorney!”
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