The start of a new year always seems to prompt at least a couple of weeks of good behaviour. Yeah, this is the year we’re going to lose 10 pounds, learn a new skill, get organized. And so I found myself looking around at the mess in my home office over the holidays, thinking, “This [...]
Tag Archives: Freelance writing
In praise of home offices
It was still dark as I drove my husband to a 7 a.m. doctor’s appointment yesterday. Traffic was building on the highway, but at least it was moving. In another half an hour, cars would probably be keeping no better than a snail’s pace. It suddenly occurred to me that in my former corporate life, [...]
Dressed for indie success
At two recent networking events, someone commented that I am always well-dressed. A translator I once worked with was surprised to find, when we finally met in person, that I wasn’t the scruffy, unwashed writer he had expected. People imagine that independents sit around in our bathrobes and fuzzy slippers, and therefore we don’t know [...]
You should volunteer. Do you?
Last night at a networking event given by IABC/Toronto’s Alliance of Independent Practitioners, or AIP, I shared why I volunteer, as did Leslie Hetherington, Donna Papacosta, Barb Sawyers and Lee Weisser. AIP is a sub-group of IABC that supports more than 100 independent communicators, offering professional development and networking opportunities that address our particular needs. [...]
How to warm up to cold calling
While decluttering my office this week, I ran across a battered 1981 edition of The Canadian Writer’s Market. In it I found 32 pages of agency listings, each entry with a pencilled X or check mark beside it, plus new telephone numbers and scribbled names. I was a newlywed, had just moved to Toronto and [...]
The writer’s diet includes humble pie
This week I had the shocking experience of having someone Not. Like. My. Work. I say shocking because I’ve been fortunate. Over about 18 years of running my own business, I’ve been able to submit a first draft of my assignments that’s pretty close to what’s required. There may be a bit of back and [...]
6 things clients want from a writer
I turned down an assignment today that wasn’t my area of expertise. Instead, I referred my contact to someone else I knew would do a great job. But it got me thinking, what do clients want from a freelance writer? Here are some things, beyond of course the ability to write: 1. To know you [...]
Tips to regain your daily focus
Usually, I’m very disciplined about writing. After walking my dog in the morning, I’m at my desk at 9 a.m. I turn the sound off so I’m not distracted by the whirr of arriving tweets, or the siren song of e-mail in my in-box. I don’t even listen to music so I can concentrate. So [...]
6 tips to avoid the legal blues
So when I sang the legal blues recently, I should have been more helpful and given some suggestions for avoiding approval problems with lawyers. Here they are: Consider what’s going on. In a time when lawyers are super-super-sensitive, like a lawsuit or merger, ask if you should even be writing the article. Talk to them [...]
Comforts of home, office version
Today is Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day, the 7th annual celebration of the freedom of home business ownership. Today’s the day to make the bathrobe your power suit, or so says Kristie Tamsevicius, whose blog offers “mom-geared work-at-home tips.” (I found Kristie T. via the “Publicity Hound” Joan Stewart‘s Tips of the Week, an [...]
