Real Words

Even as a writer, there are things that you can do on a regular basis to make the way that you work a little bit more friendly to the environment.

Here are eight ways that you can start to “green” your writing:

1. Write about green issues. Even if you don’t get paid. One of the most important things that any writer can do is to educate others about the issues that matter to them. Make it a point to write one green article each week providing information to others about how to live green. If you can’t get them published, see if you can post them as guest posts on blogs to spread the word and help green the world.
2. Take “no tech” days. Writers, especially web writers, spend a whole lot of time online which means they’re spending time using up energy. I know that my work day usually involves running one, if not two, computers as well as exchanging tech messages and keeping either music or television on in the background. But every Tuesday, I take a “no technology” day. I turn off (and unplug) my computer and other electronic devices. I don’t replace them with television or other tech toys. This is good for me because it allows me to spend the day being creative without electronic distractions. And it’s good for the environment that all of my gadgets are turned off.
3. Get into green computing. There are a plethora of different ways that you can make your computer more enironmentally-friendly. Learn about them and implement them. Get an energy-efficient computer; refill ink cartridges instead of sending them to the landfill; do all the day’s printing at once and keep the printer unplugged the rest of the day. These little things add up to big energy savings.
4. Recycle, buy recycled and re-use. You use a lot of items in your writing. Paper, organizing folders, and other items can be bought “recycled”. When you’re done, you can recycle them again. Don’t just send them to the recycling plant either; if you can use them in a new way in your own home, go that route first. It’s amazing what you can recycle; just consider all of these alternative uses for old pens. And remember to recycle your electronics when they’re old; here’s how.
5. Think about reducing your waste as you work. I know that I print out papers that I don’t need to print out. And I get bags for the ink cartridges I just purchased when I could just put them in my purse. Slowly, I’m learning to think before taking each action and consider how it impacts the environment around me.
6. Add or remove a layer of clothing. Many of us work from home. What happens is we get adjusted to the temperature and start to feel cooler or warmer with the weather outside. This means that people who work at home tend to climate control their homes like crazy, turning up the AC or heat. Avoid doing this if you work from home by adding or removing a layer of clothing instead of using these devices.
7. Purchase all of your writing supplies on a green credit card. You should always make all work purchases on a single credit card because then it’s easier to track them and makes doing taxes much simpler. Why not make that card a “green” card which donates money to a charity whenever you make a purchase.
8. Remember that your writing is a gift. You think of it as work but it’s something that’s to be treasured. When the holidays come around, stop buying material things that are going to end up in the dump. Start using your writing to craft letters, love notes, stories and scrapbooks - gifts that your loved ones will treasure forever (and gifts that take up a lot less space on earth than what we usually buy!)

Not all of these things are going to be easy for everyone, but trying to incorporate them into your life in some way will help make you a greener writer. For example, you might not be interested in writing one full article each week about a green issue. However, you can probably work a green tip into one line of an article that you’re already writing anyway. Little changes are what make big differences in the world around us.

Question of the Day: What one green thing can you do as a writer to leave less of an eco-footprint on the world?

Related links to other people’s work: Ideal Bite (easy ways to green your daily life), The EcoFriendly writer, where to purchase an Eco-friendly pen, and Green Writer Marketplace (green job leads)

[Tags] green, writing, eco-friendly, green writer, environment, recycle [/Tags]

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I am saddened to say that one of my favorite steady writing gigs is coming to a close. I have been the VoIP and mobile phones blogger for PC World’s small business channel since last year, a job that I particularly enjoyed. It had that perfect combination of being challenging without overwhelming. It allowed me to research interesting news and report on it in a new way (taking general technology news and giving it a business slant). And it introduced me to a lot of great people in the tech and business industries.

But, alas, the job is ending. The company has decided to go in a different direction from originally intended and the blog will no longer be part of the site. This makes sense given the general direction that they’re going and the highly specific niche interest of the blog. And the situation ended more-than-amicably with a lot of understanding on the part of PC World and the possibility of continuing to work with them in some other capacity in the future. So, it’s not a bad situation but it’s always a little sad when a great writing gig comes to an end.

Luckily, I’ve been through this before and I know what needs to be done to get through the change and land on my feet. Here are the things that I do whenever a good writing gig ends:

• Mourn the loss. Okay, so that sounds a little bit dramatic. But I do think it’s important to take a little time to just be sad and frustrated that this didn’t work out. It’s healthy. I journal about it but do whatever you need to do to work through it.
• Write down what was great about the job before you forget. This is a great tool for helping you to realize what the strong points were of a particular job so that you can look for those qualities in future gigs and find lucrative, satisfying employment.
• Start looking to replace the work. It’s important not to let a job loss put you into a financially tough position. Start looking for new work right away so you don’t find yourself in a resentful bind.
• Remember that when one door closes, another one opens. Trite and cliche perhaps, but true. It’s good to be optimistic at the end of anything because it makes us that much more likely to recognize new opportunities when they come our way. Whenever one job has ended, I’ve always found another (usually better) situation around the bend.
• Get a reference. If you did well at a job that’s ending, you should request a reference letter to keep in your portfolio. This is a great thing to have for future applications and it’s something that’s nice to look back on when you go through low periods with work.
• Stay in touch. If you liked who you worked for, stay in touch over time even after you stop working together. A network of people you like working with is always a good thing to have. It may lead to future employment, it may just be a great support system to have behind you.

It’s never fun when a job unexpectedly ends, even if it ultimately works out. Taking the time to acknowledge the difficulty of the situation and then motivating yourself to move through it will help you get to the other end of the rough patch with your life intact.

Question of the Day: What’s the first thing that you do when a good writing gig ends?

In addition to the many jobs that I have writing about technology, business and Web 2.0., I have a rather fun gig writing the content for The Dating Weblog. This blog is all about the world of online dating, the sites that are making headlines in that industry and the way that people interact online for romantic purposes. The other day, I was simultaneously looking for new news in the online dating world while perusing jobs for additional freelance writing gigs. And what I realized while doing this is that there isn’t a whole lot of difference between searching online for a writing job and searching online for a romantic match.

Here are just some of the similarities that I have seen between the freelance writing job search and the online dating partner hunt:

• Some posts are easily dismissable, others turn into brief affairs. When I apply for online writing jobs, several things might happen. Scenario one: I see a post for a job I like and respond but get no response back. Scenario two: I see a post for a job I might be interested in, get a response back and realize it’s not a good match. Scenario three: I apply and get a job, try it out a few times and decide that I don’t like working with the employer after all. Scenario four: I find a job that works for me and I work well for the employer and we create a lasting relationship. The only difference with online dating is that in online dating, people sometimes approach you first; but if you’re posting a resume on job boards then the same thing may happen with writing jobs.
• There are a plethora of sites to choose from but there aren’t many that are right for one person. There are literally hundreds of websites online devoted to listing different freelance writing jobs. There are also hundreds of different websites for various types of online dating. Some are well-known and often used (Freelance Writing Jobs, Match.com). Others are for specific niche interests (NASW Members Science Writing Job Site, Farmers Only dating site). Each individual needs to sift through the different sites out there to see which ones work best for them.
• Paying for access to a site may or may not make a difference in your level of success. There are sites out there for both types of search that require a paid subscription. There are also free sites. Some people find that they do best on paying job sites where the competition is lower. Likewise with dating sites where the people there are probably more serious about making a match. But some find that free sites suit their needs without the commitment of money.
• You can spot the regulars. When you search daily for online writing jobs, you see a few ads keep cropping up. Before even clicking on a headline, you know that a particular link is just going to take you to a blog network where you can sign up to be a revenue-based blogger. Likewise, spending enough time on a dating site will allow you to pick out the people who troll there daily for date after date.
• You have to keep an eye out for scams. In addition to the annoying regulars, there are people out there to scam you. With writing jobs, it’s often that you’re asked to complete highly specific samples for a company that turns out to not be hiring anyone at all - just taking your samples and using them for their own business. With dating, there are people out there who try to defraud you after you’ve fallen for them romantically. Common sense and a cautious eye can help keep you safe from both types of predators.
• It’s wise to check out the competition. When I’m applying for writing jobs, I like to know how I compare to others who might apply. While I can’t know for sure who is and isn’t applying, I can stay on top of the writing world by paying attention to the blogs of other writers. This gives me ideas on what I can do better and helps me add the right things to my own resume. In dating, you can sometimes get the attention of others on the site by figuring out what sets you apart from the competition online and highlighting that.
• Craigslist works for both of them. I have seen successful writing jobs come out of the posts on Craigslist. And believe it or not, I’ve also seen successful relationships come from posting on their personals section. In both cases, it requires sifting through a whole lot of nonsense to find the gems but in both cases, it was worth it.
• You should update yourself on the sites. Whether or not you post job resumes on a website, you should keep your online profile and portfolio up to date. This helps to secure the best jobs. Similarly, using a new picture and a fresh profile on your dating sites will lead to better responses from fresh matches.
• It can get addictive. Even when I have plenty of work to keep me busy, I find myself heading to the freelance sites to make sure I’m not missing out on anything. And I know people in happy and committed relationships who still see what’s going on in their old online dating world just in case there’s something a little bit better out there. This is okay until it starts interfering with the jobs and relationships that you have going for you.

There are many similarities between searching for jobs online and searching for life partners online. They both require taking the time to find the right sites. They both involve some trial-and-error, some short relationships and the potential for a lot of success. And they both demand that you be online and active if you want to get the best results.

Question of the Day: Have I missed any other similarities between the two?

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[Tags] writing, dating, online, gigs, internet, freelance, jobs, employment, job search [/Tags]

I have a post up today over at Pureblogging which reflects on how important it is for bloggers to read books about blogging. The underlying assumption of the post is that all writers benefit from reading different types of writing. I try to make sure that my own reading agenda includes blog posts, in-depth online articles, magazines and books. I also try to make sure that the content of that reading material is varied. I believe that this helps to broaden my own experience of life as well as to inspire my own writing.

Although I do think that any type of reading at all can do this, I find that it’s useful for me as a writer to read books that are specifically about creativity and the creative process. I don’t, however, limit myself to reading books that are about writing. In fact, I have found that books about creativity in general tend to be more useful to me than books that are specifically about getting my writing going. Rather than writing prompts, I prefer reading about how to make my entire life more creative. A life lived artistically is a life that has inspiration around every turn.

It’s probably no surprise that the first book like this that I discovered was The Artist’s Way. It was years ago that I came across this famous book and worked through the exercises to unleash some of my creativity. I have since read several of Julia Cameron’s books and although I don’t always do the twelve-week process that they’re all about, I do find that I can get some refreshed inspiration here and there by reading through her ideas on creativity. Even the series of quotes lining the margins of her books is often a source of new ideas for me.

The most recent book that I read on creative living was Living Artfully by Sandra Magsamen. This book provides tips, anecdotes and examples of bringing creativity into your daily life. It touches on everything from creativity in your home decor to artistic ways of making your holidays more special. I particularly liked certain tips (such as using empty wine bottles as unique picture frames). But more than this, I found that taking the time each morning to read a few pages really got my creative juices going. This inspired me to provide creative ideas to others in some of my blog posts (see examples here and here) as well as to be more creative in my own personal projects.

In fact, it helped me to come up with many of the projects that I’m working on this year for my own personal development, including the neighborhoods project which I mentioned here in the blog recently. And because of that, I’ve added another goal to the list which is to fill an entire shelf on my bookcase with the  books on creativity that I read this year.

Seeking Input: What other books on creativity should I add to this year’s reading list?

At the end of each year, I set forth some goals for what I would like to accomplish in the New Year. These aren’t resolutions in the traditional sense. Instead, they are a series of projects that I work on throughout the year. By writing them down on paper, I find that I am more likely to work towards accomplishing them. And although they are often unrelated to writing, they are all projects which add information and excitement to my life - something which ultimately results in better writing throughout the years.

Here are some of the annual projects that I’ve got going as a source of inspiration for 2008:

• Neighborhood project. By far, the project that I’m most excited about this year is the neighborhood exploration project that I started. I live in San Francisco, a city that is filled with distinct neighborhoods that each offer their own type of experience. Now that I’ve been here a few years, I stopped really getting outside of my comfort zone and found myself sticking to the same neighborhoods. The neighborhood project is designed to get me out and about again, learning my city.  I chose one neighborhood per month and the goal is just to spend time there, to learn about it online and to find places there that I enjoy. For the first month, I cheated a bit on the definition of “neighborhood” and chose to explore the East Bay, primarily Berkeley, because I had some other things going on over there this month anyway. So far the best thing I’ve checked out there is Lake Chabot - and the hiking trails around it - in East Bay Regional Park.
• Hiking. This also helped jumpstart one of my other ‘projects’ which is to go hiking in a new spot at least once a month. I really believe that physical activity helps to rejuvenate the spirit and get your mind into a clearer place, something that is crucial to being able to write well.
• Milan Kundera project. I often say that Milan Kundera is one of my favorite authors. However, I’ve really only read two of his books and that was many years ago. This project consists of reading all of his books sometime in 2008. Unfortunately, I’m finding that I don’t seem to love the writing as much as I thought I did. I think it might be that I’m not in a mood for heavy writing this week though so I’m going to give it another chance again soon before dismissing the project. I may end up choosing another author in the end (Somerset Maugham comes to mind).
• Ryan Phillippe project. Likewise, I say that this is my favorite actor (Playing by Heart and Crash were favorite movies of mine) but I haven’t seen him in too many things. He has a diverse range of roles and I think it’s good to expose yourself to different creative mediums - such as film - so I’m going to check out all of his movies this year. This started with 54 which reinspired me to start checking out some of the art from that time period again.
• 20 wines project. I only became a wine drinker in the last couple of years so I don’t really know that many wines. I’ve been wanting to learn more about which ones I like and which ones I don’t. Maybe I’ll even start to notice which kinds go with which foods! My goal was to try twenty new wines this year … and to do some research learning more about them as well. I’m already way ahead on this project so I might need to modify it. Let the wine flow!

I believe that inspiration comes from a variety of sources. Writing is drawn from the experiences that we have in life. Fresh experiences translates to fresh writing. Besides, life is healthier and more exciting when you’re learning new things and having new experiences!

Question of the Day: What do you think of annual projects as inspiration throughout the year?

I’m halfway through my week of reporting on MacWorld for Mac-Forums. It’s been a great week so far but it’s also been a really tiring one. I’d forgotten how exhausting it can be to be out and about doing the 9-5 thing! It’s funny, because I generally put in more than an eight hour day. But there’s something about doing it from the comfort of home, without a commute or the sensory overload of a shared office, that makes it a much more relaxing experience.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m thrilled to be at MacWorld this week. I’ve had a chance to learn about all sorts of different gadgets and applications. I’ve met people associated with EFF and people putting out cool magazines that I didn’t know about until now. And today I got the chance to hear some really awesome guest speakers talk about some topics that interested me. I am enjoying every minute.

But I’m also coming home at the end of the day totally ready to just veg out! Of course, in addition to the MacWorld Expo, I’ve to the rest of my fulltime work to keep me busy. So I don’t truly have the opportunity to just relax when I get home. But I’m trying to keep that always important life-work balance in mind to make sure that all of my work is as good as it should be.

Today is Monday which means that it’s my Friday. I’m still learning the ins and outs of working a 5 Day Week that doesn’t have normal days off. It’s what works best for me but there’s an adjustment period of figuring out the details with clients since they, of course, work a Monday through Friday week. It seems to be working out for the most part. I think the fact that I am almost always able to guarantee a quick turnaround for my work is a big contributing factor as to why those two days off in the middle of the week don’t affect my clients too much.

I’ve thought a lot about the turnaround thing and why that is. Many of the writers that I’ve worked with in the past, particularly when I was running MoKa House and needed writers to turn stuff into me, have required far longer turnaround times than what I usually need to get the job done. Part of the reason is because I do write quickly. But most of the reason is that I am organized with my work. It’s amazing what a high level of organization will do to make work go in and out quickly. I’m not sure how I got blessed with an organized brain but it’s definitely something which makes my work flow more smoothly.

As such, the week of work went well. Here are some of the highlights from what I’ve written since the work week began on Thursday:

• VoIP Philosophy: Wirearchy
• Blogging and Blog Commenting Etiquette
• Two Gay Men Donate Sperm to Surrogate Mom
• Gain Weight Safely
• Emotional and Physical Tips for Making your Bed
• Gracefully Back Down from an Argument
• Check your Finger Size for Osteoarthritis Risk
• ASPS Refutes Three Common Concerns about Silicone Breast Implants
• Reverse Mortgage Seniors Should Celebrate Organize Your Home Day
• Improved Technology Reduces Risk of CT Scans

Now I’m going to go enjoy my “weekend”!

Somehow November slipped by. I meant to write and didn’t which seems to be the story of my life. I’m okay with that. If I was ever able to write as much as I had in me to write, what would I have left to do? It’s the same way with reading. Every time that I go into a library, I see thousands of books that I want to read. I’ll never read them all but that’s okay because if I did, there would be nothing left to look forward to when I went into a library.

November slipped by in part because of the vast amount of change that has happened in my writing life recently. Sometimes change demands your attention and asks that you analyze it, look it, figure it out. In those times, the writing is frequent because it’s a tool used to understand the change. But there are other times when the change is happening at such a deep level that you can’t do anything with it yet. You have to just let it happen. That’s what November has been about for me. It’s been a settling, a stirring, a constant motion that underlies everything I do but can’t yet be articulated.

I was busy in November despite this change. I was busy with the normal work that I do - the blogs, the articles, the news writing. (A post will be up soon with links to my most recent work.) I was also busy with drafting the book on alternative home building that I’m working on. But more than that, I was busy just being. I was busy watching the changes in my work subtly manifets themselves.

As most of you know, some big projects I was involved with ended in the last few months. One was MoKa House, my writing firm. Another that’s been ending - or perhaps evolving - is San Fran Voice. Sales of that site are in the works and I’m not sure if I’ll be resuming my work on it yet or not. I’m waiting to see what happens. Other smaller jobs have ended and begun. That’s what this writing business is all about. It’s about learning from the work and putting the learning to use in new ways.

I’m looking forward to December as a month for more reflection. And I’m looking forward to the beginning of the new year - which will be here before we know it! - as an opportunity for new changes and more exciting things to come.

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One of my favorite things about making a living as a freelance writer is that I am always learning something new. Part of this is just the nature of the job. And part of this is because I am always taking on new writing jobs that aren’t in my own areas of expertise. That has allowed me to broaden my experience of the world (and my own expertise for that matter) and to explore areas of study that I would probably never have gotten around to studying on my own. It also makes me interesting at parties and dinner table conversations since there’s always some job that relates to the topic at hand.

Because of my work as a writer, I know the basic qualities of all of the signs in the horoscope. I know the latest medical trends and technologies in preventive imaging software, stem cell research and infertility treatment options. I know that there are certain areas of San Francisco which are said to be haunted including hotels, bridges, forts and homes. I know that black is the new black. The research that I do for my writing has helped me to hone my own use of technology in the home and the office. The articles that I’ve written on plastic surgery and diet pills have reminded me to take a close look at my own relationship with food and my body. And the pieces that I’ve penned on musicians around the globe have helped me to explore a kind of creativity that I would never have gotten so intimately familiar with on my own (since, you know, I’ve got no musical talent).

I was never much of a fan of school. I did it and I excelled at it but it wasn’t for me. One of the problems was that I was always bored with a curriculum. I would read the first assigned book of the semester and then I would become passionately interested in that topic, or a tangential topic, and want to keep exploring it rather than wanting to move on to the next assigned reading material. Being a writer allows me this option. I find out about one new kind of computer software and I want to learn all that there is about related software … and hardware and online applications and careers that use this stuff. And so I find a way to write about it so that I can explore my interest while making a living.

This is what being a writer is all about. I don’t always love every job that I take on (although I try to take on only those that interest me so that I can provide the best writing). But I do generally love the exploration of learning new things. The only drawback is that I always want to visit some new travel destination I just wrote about or to buy some new gadget that I just discovered in my research. But I would say that’s a small price to pay for doing a job that you can always be excited about doing.

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The last thing that I wanted to do this morning when I woke up was to sit down at my desk and start writing. That’s not normally how I feel. Normally, I enjoy writing. I really do. But today was one of those days when I wanted to do anything but write. I wanted to be creative, I just didn’t want to write. I wanted to make mixed CDs for friends, create a new photo collage for my apartment, figure out how to sew the shirt that I’ve been meaning to sew for … um, like two years. The creative urge was there, but writing was not what I wanted to do.

I made myself sit down and write anyway. I set a writing goal this week of fifteen pages per day on one specific project. And I’ll be damned if I was going to set a goal and not achieve it. I don’t usually make clear goals like that and I wasn’t about to sabotage the entire week by throwing in the towel today. So, I sat down. I forced myself to start typing. I told myself that it didn’t even matter if I didn’t use a single word because it was the act of meeting the writing goal that mattered.

The work was done before noon.

Not all days are that easy. Not most of those sentences are good. But I did what I had set out to do with my writing today and that means something. It means that I took my own self-imposed requirements seriously enough to accomplish them. I think that speaks directly to why I am able to manage my life as a freelancer. And I think it also speaks to the potential for future projects to go more smoothly than some of the ones in the past did.

My day isn’t exactly free now. I have other work that I’m going to do, other commitments to my writing that I have to keep. I’m putting in a full day at the desk. But if nothing else gets done, at least I met my writing goals.

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