If you take a look at the blog throughout this week, you’ll see that it was really quiet around here. However, that doesn’t mean that things have been quiet on this end. In fact, things have been more hectic than ever which is why I haven’t been hanging around the blog posting what’s inspired me lately. Instead, I’ve been working on a new business plan which incorporates new goals for the blog. Those goals will be announced here on Monday and the blog will move forward from there.
In the meantime, there will be no weekend job links but I’ll be back tomorrow with some links to great reading around the web.
It was a busy, busy week. I started a new job that I’m really excited about. I had some extra work from one of my favorite jobs. And I did a bunch of writing for the usual spots. If you’re interested in seeing some of that work, these are the links:
On writing, blogging and the web:
- Mobile blogging and social networking
- Read and Amend all Freelance Writing Contracts
- 18 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Work
- The 5 Basic Levels of Green Writing
On wireless and technology:
- 10 Free Features to Personalize your Phone
- Speak to your Readers with Click-to-Call Widgets
- 25 Ways to Destroy your Old Printer
On travel:
On business and finance:
On celebrity stuff and entertainment:
- The Best Longest-Running Broadway Shows
- 5 Leading Reasons People get Tattoo Removal
- Infertility Demands Center Stage
Misc:
Question of the Day: What about you; where was your best article published online this week? Leave links in the comment section below.
[Tags] kathryn vercillo, links, writing, articles, blog posts [/Tags]
Just a quick note to let everyone know that Ghosts of Alcatraz, my second book, is now available for purchase. I’ll be adding more information to the blog soon about my experiences writing this book. In the meantime, you can check it out at the Schiffer site.
If you’re interested in knowing what I’ve been researching lately, you can find out by checking out the following articles which I penned this week for various places around the web:
On writing, blogging and the web:
- 10 Great Free Web Hosting Services
- Creative Reading: Books that Inspire Your Soul
- The Stressful Art of Blogging
- ProBloggers Announce Book Launch
- Green Social Bookmarking
- Tips for Reducing Blogging Stress
On wireless technology:
On travel:
- Best Places to Shop in Palm Beach
- Visiting the U.S. Virgin Islands
- Historic Landmarks in New York
- Magic Kingdom Disney World
- Top Landmarks in London
On business and finance:
- Don’t Forget These Important Tax Deductions
- How to Keep Yourself Safe when Getting a Reverse Mortgage Loan
- The Longer you Have a Reverse Mortgage, the More you’ll Owe
- Housing Slump Causes Botox Decline
On celebrities:
- Why There Shouldn’t be a Celebrity Tattoo Removal Reality Show
- Celebrity Tattoo Removal (Who’s done it? Who should?)
- Celebrities Who Survived Infertility
On Misc:
There are some terrific articles around the web today about writing, blogging and creativity. Here are links to some of the ones that I’m reading:
- One Animal Trait that Will Keep Your Blog from Extinction @ PC Focal
- Fan the Creative Flames @ 6 LDS Writers and a Frog
- Hello Real Job, Welcome to My Writing @ Write Stuff
- Stop Thinking and Keep Writing @ Angela Booth’s Writing Blog
- 5 Reasons You Should be Using WordPress Tags @ Small Fish, Big Money
- Interview with Children’s Book Author and Freelance Editor Margot Finke @ Blog Critics
- How to Unleash the Hidden Power of Website Linking by Brian Terry
- The MacGyver Guide to Creativity @ Tapping Creativity
- Use the Pareto Principle to Sack Annoying Clients @ The Writer’s Manifesto
- Single Best Source of Freelance Jobs @ Beyond the Rhetoric
- Start Writing The Eulogies for Print Encyclopedias @ New York Times
- Blogging and Newspapers: A Lesson in How Not to Brand and Market @ Mark Cuban
- 12 Ways to Tap into an Endless Well of Creativity @ psdtuts
- Taking Criticism: Are You a Dinosaur? @ Get Paid to Write Online
- What is Your Blog Style @ Blogging About Writing
- Job Ad Feeback @ Freelance Writing Jobs
- Fiction Writing: Hurt Your Characters @ Men with Pens
- Getting Past Maintenance @ Kevin’s Blog
- How to Avoid a Major Meltdown @ Working Writers Coach
And here are links to some of my favorite articles that I authored this week:
- 10,000 Ideas and Resources for Writers and Bloggers (here)
- The 10 Basic Promotion Tools Every Blogger Should Be Using @ Pureblogging
- 25 Ways to Drive Traffic to your Blog @ HubPages
- 10 Reasons Credit Card Companies are Evil and 20 Outrageous Spending Stories @ Apply4Credit
- Top 10 Facebook Phone Applications @ Dial-a-Phone
- Theme Parks in Houston @ Discount Travel Blog
- Top Landmarks in Rome @ Kathika
One of the things that I do as a writer is to regularly immerse myself in a variety of different projects which are designed to keep me interested and engaged in life. It is only through getting out and active in an array of different experiences that we gain the kind of creative inspiration that really keeps us fresh as writers. One of the projects that I have going on this year is called ‘the neighborhood project’. My goal is to focus on exploring one specific San Francisco neighborhood each month. The neighborhoods here are all so unique and interesting, filled with their own histories and cultures and modern attractions, that it is impossible not to find that there’s something to find in every single part of the city. I find that I benefit from this because it lets me explore a topic in-depth for one month (which is great for a writer/researcher to do) and also because it allows me to really go out in search of experiences and images that I wouldn’t otherwise have found.
February was Chinatown month because Chinese New Year fell in February and that meant that it was the time for the annual Chinese New Year parade. I had been saying that I was going to go to that event every year for as many Februarys as I’ve been in San Francisco and I’d never made it before, usually because it was raining. It poured down rain this year but I went anyway and it was a terrific experience. The streets were packed with entertainers and costumes and firecrackers and merriment and it was definitely something worth seeing.
Some of the other things I explored and experienced in Chinatown last month included:
- Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. I had heard about this place on Ross Alley in Chinatown and wanted to explore it. I was expecting it to be a big factory because I knew that you could tour it to see how fortune cookies are made. However, it’s in a small building in an alley that appears unmarked. It’s just one room with handwritten signs saying that you should leave 50 cents if you wish to take pictures. Indeed, you can see how fortune cookies are made and you can sample them. Neat little place and it reminded me that not every famous things needs to be super historic or super modern; there’s an in-between that’s really what real life is all about.
- The alleys of Chinatown. I go through Chinatown nearly every day but there’s so much of it I’d never explored before. Every little alley has its own shops, its own art, its own architecture. You could spend an entire day wandering around the few blocks that make up Chinatown and stumbling across new things all of the time.
- Amy Tan. I knew that Amy Tan’s books are set in and inspired by the time that she lived in Chinatown. That inspired me to go ahead and start reading her books again, starting with the Joy Luck Club. These aren’t the types of novels I typically read and I was interested in the chance to immerse myself in them. I certainly appreciate them in a different way now that I live in San Francisco than when I first read them before I’d moved here.
Related Links: How Annual Projects Inspire Creativity, The Way That Berkeley Inspires
Question of the Day: What similar projects do you have going on that keep you going when you aren’t otherwise feeling motivated?
[Tags] inspiration, writing, creativity, projects [/Tags]
I recently gave up a position working as a daily blogger for The Dating Weblog. This is a blog associated with the Creative Weblogging network and is a paying blog position that is now open for someone else to take over. This blog is about the topic of online dating and is best for people who want to write about relationships in general and online dating sites in particular.
The posts I wrote included information about new and niche online dating sites, ideas on where to go on a first date or a holiday date, etiquette suggestions for interacting with romantic partners online, recommendations for books and sites about online dating and links to technology related to online dating. However there is some flexibility to define for yourself what type of posts you would be interested in doing for the site.
The site requires 3 posts per week, averaging approximately 300 words per post, Monday through Friday. Links out and images are also required on the posts. The pay is a flat rate of $84 per month. It’s a good gig and I enjoyed it while I was doing it. It was just time for me to move on. (See this post on steadily increasing freelance income to learn why I give up some good gigs).
In addition to this blog, Creative Weblogging has several other blogs that need new writers. These include technology, wedding and UK Travel blogs. Learn more and get complete application information here.
Question of the Day: Can anyone with experience working on another Creative Weblogging blog share some of that experience here?
[Tags] freelance, writing, blogging, jobs, creative weblogging, online dating [/Tags]
HubPages is a great platform for writing articles that earn you revenue in an ongoing fashion. Through this site, I have had the opportunity to write about a whole range of different topics that interest me. These are great for earning a little bit of extra income through Google Adsense and Amazon Affiliates programs. However, what I really love is that I get to write about things that I don’t always have an opportunity to write about on other sites.
As an example of the breadth of topics that I’ve touched on with my HubPages work, here are the articles that I completed for the site during the month of February:
- Tips for Getting Rid of a Caffeine Headache
- How to Prepare a Child for Flying Alone
- Identifying and Healing Narcissistic Wounds
- Calorie Burners: Swimming vs. Running
- Parenting Books by Dr. Michele Borba
- Learning a Foreign Language by Knowing Your Learning Style
- The Best Goal Tracking Tools Online
- The Emotions of Blogging
- Breaking into Blogging
- 8 Uses for Olive Oil (that Have Nothing to do with Food)
- Computer Eye Strain
- The Perfect Valentine’s Gifts
- 5 Tips for Making Homeschooling a Success
- Encouraging Your Teen to go to College
- Making and Enjoying Limoncello
Today is Tuesday and that means that I must have pre-written this post because I’m not online at all on Tuesdays. That’s because Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my “weekend” and Tuesdays are my tech-free day. Although I don’t always stick to the rules completely, I try to avoid use of televisions, cell phones and computers during this day.
There are a multitude of reasons that I think it’s important for web writers to take a tech-free day each week. Some of those reasons include:
- Boosts creativity. It’s easy to get distracted by the same old things when you’re always doing the same old things. By taking away the TV, phone and computer, you force yourself to “think outside the box” about activities. I find that this challenges me to do a variety of different types of things that I probably wouldn’t do if I had access to video games and web browsers.
- It’s good to be green. I think it’s important that writers (and everyone else) engage in eco-friendly actions. Here are some other ways to green your writing.
- True days off. Most freelancers don’t take real, true, scheduled days off. Ever since I started doing so, I’ve felt better about my work. I get more done during my work week than I did before and I also get more enjoyment out of my days off. It’s Tuesday and I don’t have to think about any work again until Thursday!
There are many benefits to tech-free Tuesdays. In fact, I find new ones each week so maybe I’ll have more to share with you on Thursday!
Question of the Day: What do you think of the idea of tech-free Tuesdays?
[Tags] green, tech-free, technology, writing, web, eco-friendly, environment, work, freelance, relax [/Tags]
I have more than enough freelance work. Despite this, I check out the ads for new freelance writing jobs nearly every day. I probably apply to new positions a few times per week. Is this a case of “the grass is always greener”? Not necessarily.
I believe that the key to being a successful freelancer is to challenge yourself to regularly rise higher in the business. This means finding jobs that you like more and which pay you more than the jobs which you currently have. While you may be content with the work that you’re doing, it may be the case that there are better jobs out there for you. I believe that it’s important to always work to find those jobs.
Unfortunately, what sometimes happens is that too many job applications get approved at once. That was the case for me this week when I discovered that I’d been hired for multiple new positions. Some of those I am excited about, others I’m waiting to see on and a couple of them I rejected off the bat. I’ve said before that I believe freelancing is a lot like dating; I’m in that stage of “first dates” with several new jobs and am trying to see which ones will become relationships and which ones will fizzle out.
It’s been a stressful week. However, it’s been a good week in that I was able to eliminate some work that I hadn’t been excited about because I got new work that’s more satisfying. Transitions are never easy but they’re what makes you move forward in the experiences that you’re undertaking. I have never been one who wanted to be stagnant and I continue to believe that aiming for the moon will land you amongst the stars.
Question of the Day: How often do you fill out new freelance job applications?
Make sure to check out this weekend’s list of freelance jobs here.
[Tags] freelance, applications, job, employment, writing, work [/Tags]
