All Entries Tagged With: "freelance writing"
I Think I’d Rather Be A Paidlance Writer
One of my favorite sites out there is Clients From Hell. If you’ve not been there, you really need to go have a look. Be prepared to laugh your fanny off. Oh, also be prepared to shake your head in horror, wonder and amazement. Here is the snippet that inspired me to write this post: [...]
Write What You Know (You Can Get Away With)
So, just pop it into a preheated oven and cook at gas mark 7 for an hour. That’s what I’d do to cookery books. I appreciate that book-burning on such a grand scale is frowned upon in polite circles, but I don’t really move in polite circles so I’m not that bothered. The fascination with [...]
The Guilt of Freelance Writing
For someone who calls himself a freelance writer, I do precious little freelance writing these days. My other work and life in general gets in the way. I don’t feel too bad about that in terms of not being a jobbing freelance writer any more, because I’m still earning a wage, but I do sometimes [...]
Getting Back To Freelance Writing
For the past year or so, I’ve been on kind of a freelance writing hiatus. Not that I had given it up completely, I mean there were several writing projects that kept my attention through the year but for the most part I had taken down my freelance writing shingle. Well, things have recently changed. [...]
Is Freelance Writing a Career?
I guess it kind of depends on your definition of “career” doesn’t it? For me, when I think of a career I envision something that one does as their primary means of supporting themselves. In my mind, a career is a long term proposition that doesn’t include using the current job as a stepping stone [...]
Talent May Not Out
I expect you’ve heard of the expression “talent will out”. It’s linked most strongly with the acting profession. It’s the sort of encouraging guff you say to someone who is struggling but truly deserves to make it. It basically means – if they carry on acting – their talent is so great it will at [...]
It’s a No From Me
The silly season is upon us. The X-Factor USA – the most potent argument ever for gun control – hit our screens last week. Lord, I hope these people are put through a metal detector before they are put before the judges. They are insane. Even most of the talented ones are insane; they’re just [...]
Mightier Than The Email
I have a website called markpepper.com, yet when I search for “Mark Pepper” I don’t even come out on page 1 of Google. If I searched for “freelance writer”, I think I would probably die of old age before I came across my website. Having a website is essential for any freelance writer, but people [...]
You Could Be A Contender
I’ve been blogging here for nearly 2 years now and for the past 18 months I’ve been pleasantly surprised, if not downright shocked, that I’ve found anything to write about. Writing about freelance writing is really a finite proposition. You can keep tweaking earlier articles, adding new slants and what you believe are fresh gems [...]
WWW – Wanton Waste of Words
First of all, that’s nice alliteration, huh? Anyway, I stumbled across a couple of study reports in my regular daily rounds and couldn’t quite believe anyone would need to know the information contained therein. Well, it’s all good to know, but, unless you’re an idiot, you really should know it already. On the plus side, [...]
Freelance Writing – 10 Proofreading Tips Every Blogger Needs to Know
If you are like most bloggers, you love to write. Unfortunately, you probably also hate proofreading. Here are some proofreading tips to make it easier for you to get better results with less effort: Write outside your browser. Make the writing process easier on yourself by writing outside your Web browser. When you write in [...]
Plan B From Utter Desperation
The eminently sensible man who is my father always used to ask me when I was trying to get acting work if I had a Plan B. Of course I didn’t. Plan Bs were for people whose Plan As weren’t going to work. My Plan A was to become a famous actor and that was [...]
Where Do Writing Ideas Come From?
I have a few blogs that I write articles for. The commitment isn’t all that huge, really. It amounts to a dozen or so obligatory articles for my paying clients. Once I add the articles I should write for my own blog, I’m looking at about 20 articles a month. At first blush this doesn’t [...]
And The Award Goes To …
This isn’t really about freelance writing. Okay, it’s nothing to do with it. I have spoken before about the effect poor education has on writing skills, but this isn’t even that tenuous. It’s just a funny/sad tale I heard a couple of days ago. The 12-year-old son of a friend of ours in the UK [...]
Preparing To Write
I was having an extended Twitter session last night when one of my followers asked what I do to get focused. This got me thinking about what I do to get prepared to write. My rock-solid answer is… It depends. Sometimes I’ve got a clear vision of an inspired writing session and I just sit [...]
Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?
When I was doing my TV work, I got an interesting and uplifting perspective on the whole interview process from a big casting director. I had expressed my chagrin at the odds against me (or any of the other actors) securing the part, given the sheer number of us being seen by the casting team [...]
The Bright Side Of Freelance Writing
In my post last week I pointed out some of the things that you would be giving up by pursuing your freelance writing dream. The flip side of that coin is that there is some pretty cool stuff about being a freelance writer. Let’s talk about it a bit. The good stuff: Freedom – Do [...]
Billy No-Mates
Are you a happy, outgoing individual with a pleasing disposition and a great sense of humour? No, I don’t want a date with you. I only ask because, if you are not yet immersed full-time in freelance writing, you should consider how your character may affect your response to the pressures and loneliness of the [...]
