Nanowrimo Time

I've been working on my novel outline for this year's nanowrimo. I've got a plot summary and 2 main character sketches. I need to get my villain sorted out yet and write an outline of the scenes a la snowflake. It's not as though I don't have plenty of work to do, because I do, but I need to be able to start and finish a novel this year as each year that I fail to finish has left me feeling miserable.

I have a feist female reluctant investigator and her friend who runs a missing person's bureau. I have an idea of the villain but am finding it difficult fleshing him out. At the moment he is Jack Devlin a Chicago ( crooked) sports promoter living in south London, and he's behind the disappearance of some local dogs and possibly the death of a local dog walker. I want my investigator to be fooled by his charm to beging with and that is what is making his characterisation difficult, which is why I've decided to leave him for the time being and start on scene outlines in the hope that it will give me more insight into his character. I'll be posting regular updates on my Nano progress here, with occasional forays over here.

5 Reasons Why Your Freelance Writing Website is Important

If you are a new to freelancing and you don't yet have a website then you should get one as soon as possible. There are plenty of options for highlighting your services and showcasing your writing. Opening a site with Squarespace is one, although getting your own domain name and hosting package is probably better. You can build a website like this one here on Wordpress - even a free Blogger blog is better than nothing, but a website is best. There are any number of reasons why a freelance writer should have a website or at least a decent blog, and here are five of them.

1. You Can Help Others With Their Writing

One of the things that all the freelancers I know love to do, is to share their experience and knowledge with other writers or would be writers. There is nothing better than to have someone say, thanks for the advice, I've now started my own freelance writing business, or thanks, I'm now writing regularly. Helping others is a great way of sharing your own good fortune and of helping the writing community to grow. The more good writers there are, the more we all have to keep on upping our game, and that can only be a good thing. One of the secrets to better writing, is writing often.

2.Having a Website Removes Your Excuses For Not Writing

One of the things that seems to beset most writers at some time or other, is that they make excuses for their lack of writing. Whether you are a freelance writer, a novelist, a poet, or perhaps all three, you should know by now that writers write. What makes a writer is not how many words they can reach, how many clients they have, or even how many books they have written, it is the plain fact that they write.

Sometimes writing gets hard because we expect it to be perfect, and it never is, nobody gets it right the first time. The difference between a writer and a wanna be writer, is that a writer will work on what they have written in order to improve it, notice I don't say, make it perfect; that's because I think this desire to be perfect can become an excuse not to do anything, whether that is writing or baking a cake. A writer will do their best with what they have and then get it out there, a writer wants to be read. If you don't write anything and put it into the public realm, then there won't be anyone but you to read it.

3. Websites Help You Connect With Other Writers

When you have a website and you post useful or entertaining information, then you can bet that at least some other writers will read what you have written. When a person likes or disagrees with what you have written, they may often leave a comment. If someone leaves a comment on your site then you should reply to it. Conversations in the virtual world are one of the many ways that writers get to know each other and build writing communities.

4. A Website Shows Others That You Can Write

Very often, those who are new to freelance writing, find it hard to get work because they don't have any writing clips or samples. A website is a great place to showcase your writing. You can have a blog like this one, where you post on a regular basis, on a website you can also have a page that has snippets of your writing and links to anything else that you may have published online. When you apply for writing gigs it is good to have somewhere you can point potential clients to show them what you can do. Having your own blog or website can get you clients.

5. Let Potential Clients Find You

I had a nice surprise just a few days ago, someone contacted me through this website and offered me some work. I was more than happy to oblige, I completed that project, got paid the rate that I asked, and now have repeat work from that person. When you have a website clients can find you, and if you make it possible for them to contact you through your site, you could be in for an ongoing relationship. If you don't have your own site then why not take the plunge now? If you already have a website what reasons would you give for a beginner to have their own site?

Article Marketing

If you have a website and you want to attract visitors to your site, either earn some Google Adsense money or to get someone to buy your goods or services, you should write some articles and submit them to article directories. You can have a link in the content and one in the resource box back to your site, this will give you some quality backlinks that will raise the profile of your site in the search engines, and it will bring targeted traffic to your blog or website.

You don't have to write long articles, 300-400 words is ideal and articles that provide tips or how tos are best. People love reading articles that tell them how to do something or give them information on something, and which is clearly written and easy to read off the screen. Using articles to promote a website or a product is not a new idea, people have been doing it for quite some time because it works.

Not everyone has either the time or the flair for writing simple articles and submitting them to a number of article directories. If you have a bit of cash to spare it is well worth your time to pay a writer to produce and submit the articles for you. It won't take long before you page rank improves and you get the sort of traffic to your site that is interested in buying your goods or services. If you only submit to a few sites then use Ezine Articles, Go Articles and Article Alley as these directories are the most widely read.

Yet another way of using article marketing to promote your site and to make some residual income, is to submit articles to sites like Triond and Bukisa where you not only get backlinks but also a share in advertising revenue based on the number of page views your articles receive. Article marketing makes good business sense, and because Google loves fresh and interesting content, it can raise the page ranking of your site.

Earn Some Residual Income and Get Some Writing Clips

Not all writers will agree with me on this one, but writing for residual income is a good way of getting some writing practice and also a good way of getting some writing clips.

Residual Income

Pick one or two subjects you're familiar with that you are familiar with such as cooking, auto repairs, personal finance, parenting, or whatever subject it is that you have some knowledge of. You can write articles in those subjects and submit them to sites such as Bukisa, Ehow and Triond. These sites do not pay you up front but on the amount of page views your articles get. If you just write a couple a week withing a couple of months you will have articles that will earn you residual income, and keep on earning it for as long as the articles are being read.

Some (prolific) writers say that they make a fair income writing for the sites mentioned above, but other writers would argue that writing for such sites does not a) make you very much money, b) make you a freelance writer. I think that if you are writing and getting published as well as earning some money, then you can call yourself a freelance writer. I also think that this kind of writing gets you the following:

• Used to researching and writing articles on a number of subjects
• A trickle of income that for some, turns into a steady stream of revenue that keeps on coming long after the articles have been written and published
• Some worthwhile writing clips

You can also write articles for Constant Content and Associated Content. Both these sites will pay you some residual income and AC will pay US writers a minimal sum for their work. If you write for Constant Content, not only do you get some residual income for articles that stay on the site, usually those that you set a usage price on. Constant Content allows you to set your own price for your articles one is for full rights, one is for limited rights and one for usage. I made money from this site when I started out, and a couple of my usage articles have also brought in some residual income I wasn't expecting. With each of these sites you sign up for an account and start writing, Constant Content has quite strict rules and you need to follow the guidlines carefully. They also have people who request articles on a particular subject and this is where you are more likely to sell full rights articles.

Writing Clips

One of the most difficult things for beginning freelancers is the fact that most clients will want to see previously published work. You can point them to your blog of course but they may also want to see whether you can please others with your writing. Keep your submitted articles in a file labelled clips or portfolio each with a link to where the work has been published. I found this quite useful when I started out and clients asked to see some previous work. If a client asks for a sample of your writing then just point them to Bukisa or AC, wherever your work is.

Once you have a file with some clips in it, you can use it as a brief portfolio when you sign up for other freelancing jobsites next time.