Creative Writing

I’ve had quite a few people ask me how to go about getting the word out about their writing skills and talents to the rest of the world. I’m probably not the most qualified to answer this question, but I’m going to give it a shot. I won’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t do, I’ll just tell you what I’ve been doing and go from there.

Of course, it’s all going to depend on your level of writing and in what genre you write. For those who write fiction, I’d say to join in several of the writing groups that cater to this style. Though I love to write my short stories, I don’t make a ton of money from it. I’ve made a little, but not much. Sites such as Writers Weekly offer market listings for print magazines that accept submissions for fictional stories. Another site, called Duotrope.com , sends out a weekly newsletter filled with listings of sites and print magazines looking for submissions.

I know more about writing articles and other forms of non-fiction, but again, I wouldn’t call myself an expert. Again, Writers Weekly is a wonderful resource for finding markets for your articles, no matter which topic you write about. Another great place to look is a website called Freelance Writing Gigs . This site has new listings for writing jobs every day, mostly online. However, they do post gigs for Internships and print publications as well.

The one thing that has worked best for me, however, is simply through word of mouth. When I first started writing online, I joined forums, writing groups, and anything else where I could let it be known that I was a writer. And from there, it just kind of snowballed. I wrote a couple of articles for one person, and the next thing I knew, I was doing more writing for other people than for myself. Which is why I haven’t been updating this site as often as I should. But, I won’t complain.

There is no right or wrong way to get yourself noticed as a writer. Just remember these few things:

a.) There is always someone out there who writes better than you

b.) There is always someone out there who writes worse than you

c.) Quality is more important than quantity

And most of all, it’s your creativity that makes you who you are.

Ok kids, this is a more personal post than my usual ones.  Why?  Because I’m a bit perplexed at the moment.  I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do the NaNoWriMo thing this year.  I’ve been all geared up to do it again this year, even had my story line all ready to go.  Then, the unthinkable happened.  I had a bunch of people contact me wanting me to do some writing for them.  And the kicker, is that they all want to give me money to do so.

It’s kind of weird for me to think that someone else out there would pay me to write for them.  Why?  Because in my mind, I’m a total goober.  I’m not complaining, just freaking out.  And at the rate things are coming at me, it doesn’t look like I’ll have time to do my NaNo thing.  That’s not a bad thing, it’s just strange that all this should come at this point in my life.  With Christmas coming so fast, I can really use the money.  My dilemma is that I’m afraid that it will all come to a halt about half way through the month of November and then it will be too late for me to work on my book and still make the 50K mark.

It was actually through this site that this all started happening for me.  Check out the comments in my about page.  I freaked when I saw them, and couldn’t wait to get started.  To date, I’ve finished 3 gigs and have 3 more waiting for me to finish.  If this keeps up, I’ll be a happy camper and my family will have a very merry Christmas. 

So, what should I do?  Should I keep writing for these other people and throw out the plans for NaNo, or should I try to do the NaNo thing on top of these paid gigs?  I’m so confused.  LOL.  I mean, giving up the gigs is NOT an option, but giving up the NaNo thing is breaking my heart.  I love doing the NaNoWriMo thing each November.  I get excited about it, I get giddy about it, I make my family cook their own meals during it.  Give me your opinions, I totally value them. 

When I first started writing online more than 10 years ago, I thought I’d never get to the stage where I actually made real money for what I was doing. However, I’m not only doing what I’ve always dreamed of doing, I’m doing it well enough to help pay some of the expenses of my son’s upcoming graduation costs. However, I’m finding that there is a lot more to this than I thought, and that nobody ever talked about.

Believe it or not, there are some down sides to being a freelance writer. Yes, it’s true. For the most part, I’m living my dream, but I’m finding that I wasn’t given all the details to this type of lifestyle. Though I won’t get into all the petty things I’ve run across, I will give you a few ideas of what to look for in the world of online freelance writing.

First of all, I wished someone would have told me when I started this journey that it was going to take me more than 10 years to see my dream come true. Honestly, I thought by now I’d be living in a big house on the hill with a nice car, picket fence, and all the finer things in life. The truth of the matter is that I’m just now getting to the point where I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Another thing I’ve learned over the years is that what’s hot one day, is old news the next. When you write online, you’ve got to be able to keep up with all the latest trends, and know when they’re no longer seen as interesting. And now, there’s all this talk about making sure you’ve got the right keywords in your articles, and the right amount of keywords. Not to mention the fact that you’ve got to produce something unique from those words that doesn’t resemble anything else on the Internet.

I think, though, the biggest thing I’ve learned throughout my journey is that even when you’ve managed to make a name for yourself online, you’re still a nobody in traditional writing circles. Most magazines and other print venues want a sample of your writing abilities. When you tell them that you’ve written for several websites and online magazines, they look at you as though you’ve got the plague. This makes it hard to get anything into print, which is where the real money lies.

That may be the biggest lesson I’ve learned, but the most important one is the fact that you can never give up. If you really want to be a writer, it shouldn’t matter where your work is showcased. Anyone who has the desire to be a writer will tell you that the greatest feeling isn’t so much in the amount of money you’ve made, but in the number of people who have read what you have to say. And for me, that’s worth more than gold.

It seems that almost everyone out there has a blog these days. Some of them are still used for their personal use, but more and more blogs are being made for the publication of information. The main reason is that they’re much easier to maintain than a traditional website, but it’s also because you can post just about anything you want. So, what does this have to do with creative writing? Everything.

Most people create what are now known as “niche blogs”. These are stylized sites designed to discuss one particular topic, such as creative writing. However, when it comes to making money from these sites, you have to know which keywords or phrases are bringing in the most traffic. The experts will tell you that you’ve got to buy expensive software to find out what these words and phrases are, but no me. I’m cheap and I’ll admit it.

There is a site that you can sign up with for keyword answers. It’s called NicheBotClassic.com and it is 100% free. You can become a member for free, but you don’t have to be a member to use this tool. How it works is this, you simply put in your choice of keywords and/or phrases into the little box provided, and they’ll give you the 50 most popular searches that coincide with your words.

You will also be given a daily predicted search total from the 3 major search engines. Meaning that they’ll tell you how many searches they “think” this keyword(s) will get from Google, Yahoo, and MSN. You can also check each of these sites to see how well your competition is doing and who they are. Now, I know what you’re thinking. What in the name of Grandpa Gus does this have to do with creative writing? As I said before, everything.

With some keyword searches, you’ll only get a couple other ideas or phrases that are similar to yours. However, for the most part you’ll get a lot of different terms, and with that, a ton of new ideas. Yes kids, you can use this tool as a way of coming up with new and improved writing ideas. You can also us it to see what others are writing about, and that will give you some idea as to what people are looking for. And when you know what the people want, you’ll know what to give them.

Being a creative writer is only part of the game. You’ve got to be creative in everything you do. Be creative in finding new ideas. Be creative in getting your name out there to the world. And, be creative in keeping up with your competition. After all, you’re creative one, remember?

When I first started writing online, I was writing poetry. Now mind you, my poetry is rhyming verse. I’ve been writing in this style since I was in junior high school, and absolutely loved it. I’ve got hundreds of notebooks and binders filled with my poems, but when I tried to find a place for them online, I was quickly told that rhyming poetry is a sure sign of being an amateur. I was devistated.

I tried writing free verse after that, but found out immediately that I sucked at it. So, I thought my days as a poet were over. That’s when it came to me. Rhyming poetry would be a great way to break into the greeting card market. I’ve always been one of those people who stood in the greeting card isle for hours reading all the cards. So, I started submitting my prose to every greeting card company I could find an address for. I also found out that the greeting card industry is filled with a lot of tough competition.

I was just about ready to give up when it came to me to do my own greeting cards. The cool thing is that anyone can do this. Doesn’t matter whether you want to do e-cards or if you’re looking to create actual greeting cards. All it takes is a few creative lines and some ingenuity.

The first thing you want to think about is who you’re creating the cards for. Are they going to be birthday cards, sympathy cards, or just a little something to say hi? The best part about this is that you can make greeting cards for ANY occasion. I’ve even seen some that say Congratulations on your Divorce.

If you can put together a few poetic lines, you can make your own greeting cards. You can go so far as to put together a webpage and sell them online. If you can make cards that are just off the wall enough, you’ll have people knocking down your virtual door to get to them. As far as the card design, that’s totally up to you. You can go with a good printer and some free clip-art pieces. Or, you can glue little pieces of fabric or whatever and create “hand-made” cards. It’s amazing what people will look for online.

If you’re one of the people out there who have a knack for writing rhyming poetry, but aren’t sure what to do with it, try creating your own greeting cards. Who says rhyming poetry is amateurish. Greeting card companies are making millions of dollars every year because of it. Who knows, you could be the next Hallmark on the block.