It seems that these days being a freelance writer is cool and sexy. People around the world are chasing location independence and the internet age has given them this ability.
Freelancing is awesome but it’s not just about choosing whether you work today or not or staying in your pyjamas till noon. It’s actually requires some hard work on your part too.
Freelancer is defined as being self-employed and working for various companies. Did you know historically ‘freelancer’ meant a medieval mercenary? Just a bit of useless trivia for you.
It can also be sexy as hell.
At least Gina at Horkey Handbook makes it look like it is.
If you want to be a freelance writer, I highly recommend you go and check out Gina’s course on 30 Days Or Less To Freelance Writing Success. I did. And it was worth every cent.
There are a ton of courses out there claiming to help you become a freelancer. I’m not saying they aren’t any good. What I’m saying is Gina’s course is awesome.
It’s trumps on quality, cost, and ongoing support.
It actually tells you everything you really need to know without having to ask.
On top of that, there’s a community on Facebook for all graduates of her course. The group is impressive and generous. Whenever there’s a question, someone finds an answer. The support is incredible and sometimes that’s what you need to take the next step in starting your freelance writing career or getting out of a rut for a more advanced freelancer.
It’s not just the notes on a page, the emailed activities at the end of each module but someone rooting for you, holding your hand, having gone through similar experiences.
A lot of courses take your money, provide you with the material and then forget about you. Gina doesn’t do that. She’s there to answer your questions and offer ongoing support. It’s incredible.
If you’re serious about getting in the game, this is the course that will help you get there.
If you want to be successful you need a network of people around you. Thanks to the Internet age, your clients don’t have to live in the same city, country or even continent as you.
I wish this course was around eight years ago. It would have kicked me in the butt much sooner to get a move on and make freelancing a part of my life, and saved me a lot of frustration.
I’ve actually decided to run through the course again for a kick in the backside.
The dream is much closer than I could have ever anticipated. I feel a little giddy inside.
Accountability is important when it comes to starting a business. The beginning stages are the hardest. Having someone who’s got your back when rejection hits, and to pull you back up and make sure that you persevere and succeed is not just encouraging but fucking brilliant. We all need someone like that in our lives.
Success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s a daily effort. And each day can be a success on its own merits. The definition is yours alone. Own it.
Gina regularly updates the course so it’s always up-to-date info that you can learn to get your freelance writing business off the ground. She also has a VA course, 30 Days To Virtual Assistant Success if you’re interested in that direction.
Gina’s course has everything you need to get started as a freelancer and so much more. But if you still don’t believe me, here’s a quick interview with Gina.
If you don’t believe me, check out this quick interview with Gina!
* This content contains affiliate links.
Check out the transcript below!
Interview with Gina Horkey from Horkey Handbook!
Kasia: So tell us a bit about yourself.
Gina: Hi, my name is Gina Horkey. I self identify as a married millennial mamma to two precious toddlers. Of course I screw something up in the first like minute, right.
Kasia: Um, so what about for your business side of things. Tell us a bit about that. What do you do?
Gina: At first I broke into freelance writing and then I added some virtual assistant work, ah, for a client. Um, as a full time job I was a personal finance adviser and support person to a large planning practice. So I built my freelance business actually on the side of that for the first like eight months and then I put in my notice…that was back in 2014 so I’ve been going strong going on to two and a half years.
Gina: So, I had a fair amount of success early on in my freelancing career. I was able to bring my income from nothing all the way up to $4000 a month in the first six months and that was on the side again of that full time job, and you know I am very much a processes and data person so I kind of chronicled my journey during that time so that I didn’t live out that whole definition of insanity, as far as doing the same thing over again and expecting a different results, and so by taking notes, documenting my pitches and kind of my behaviour it helped me to see what I needed to change over time and then when I reflected on that, you know six months later I thought, well, I kind of have a blueprint here that could maybe help somebody else, and so I also had somebody whispering in my ear, an online peer that said ‘hey when are you going to break into the products market’ and I was like ’what do you mean the products market? Like who am I to put something out?’ That little bug just kept growing stronger and I decided to take November of 2014 and every morning I got up, I was again still working full time, and at 4:30 in the morning and I cranked out a lesson or two. By the end of that month I had 30 Days Or Less To Freelance Writing Success. The whole goal of the course was just to take what I had learned ah, practical advice that was really actionable as well. So the lessons are really short and the goal was to like read something and then immediately go and do something, so you’re taking action every single day towards your goal of becoming a freelance writer.
Kasia: Fantastic, so did you ever think, did you expect it to be as successful as it has become?
Gina: No (laughs). Not that I’m that big of a deal, or the course isn’t that big of a deal, but you know I launched it in December and then I was hoping that people would buy it and then I was hoping that they would be able to put it into practice and get the results that I had, and you know I’m really happy to say that I’ve got some really great testimonials that I’ve collected over time, and you know people that have been in the first couple of weeks of the course that had you know started making $500 a month. There are of course people that it takes a little longer to that as well, and that’s completely ok. But it’s been really fun getting to know this community of people. The Facebook group now is almost 600 strong and not everybody that takes the course, you know decides to join that but they’re very supportive of one another and you can tell that the goal is to build each other up, and to cheer each other on, it’s very much a mentality of abundance rather than scarcity, like they don’t see each other as competition. And I think I’ve had a little bit of a hand in that. I try to be a natural encourager but I’m just really proud of the group as well for doing that for one another.
Kasia: Well, your course has probably changed a few people’s lives.
Gina: Well, they’ve done the hard work. I’ve just given them you know the tool or an instruction or two.
Kasia: Well, we all need a nudge sometimes, in the right direction.
Gina: We do, even myself.
Kasia: Um, so what makes your course unique to all the other courses that are on the market?
Gina: Sure, I think you know, me, um not to give myself a big head but you know that’s one of the common pieces of feedback that I get is that I’m very relatable and the way that I write is very conversational, and so the person that is taking the course doesn’t feel like they are studying for this big final exam – there’s not an exam at the end of the course. The exam is getting clients and being successful, right? But they think it’s instead of me kind of being over their shoulder talking to them as a friend, and teaching them as a friend and breaking it down so that they can again go and put it into practice really easily, so I’ve heard that quite a bit, that makes me really proud. I’ve also heard that encouraging part like I’m their kind of cheerleader there egging them on. The Facebook group is great that’s nothing crazy, new or outlandish, but the group itself, the people that are in there, like I said are really awesome. So when you just put all that stuff together and you know the action on your part, the dedication on your part, I think it gets results and that’s what’s important.
Kasia: So It’s not really just signing up for a course and getting a few emails, you are actually very hands on throughout?
Gina: I try to be. As much as I can. There are a couple of different tiers. So if you just want to do it yourself you totally can, if you want a little bit more coaching there’s options for that as well. I try to keep it affordable too, so it doesn’t break the bank. You should be able to make your investment back with a client or two. And you know the goal is again just to help people get started and take action because where most of us fail is thinking too much, learning too much. Um you know you can read on the internet for days and if you don’t put any of the information into practice then it’s really hard to get results so instead of listening to every expert out there on freelance writing maybe give a course like mine a try, and you know commit to putting the action steps in place to doing them and seeing where you are at the end of a couple weeks or a month, depending on how much time you have.
Kasia: That’s what comes down to, doesn’t it. It’s taking action even if it’s a small one.
Gina: Exactly.
Kasia: So, um, what do you think is the hardest part of freelancing?
Gina: Ourselves. You know, it can be a tough gig. In a way it’s sales. You’re selling yourself you’re trying to market and get clients. If you don’t have any experience than I think we get in our way by telling ourselves like, who are we to put ourselves out there, to call ourselves a professional writer or are we gonna be any good, is the client going to like our writing and you know a lot of that fear then builds up that inaction, right? And tells us not to put ourselves out there, not to pitch, not to turn in a piece for review and I think it’s really ourselves and kind of the self doubt. I think rejection can be hard but that all kind of blends in with the same thing but the opportunity is abundant if you want to spend more talking about that. I was actually on a podcast interview earlier today and we were talking about how we’re moving into a more global economy and workplace which is great, and there’s just a lot of opportunities to be a freelancer or a webpreneur these days. If you think about it every company really needs a website , every website needs writing through copy, through white papers, through email, and then a lot of them are very open to have a blog as well so obviously that’s something that needs to be updated on a regularly basis in order to connect with a client or customer base.
Kasia: Well, definitely in an information age aren’t we?
Gina: Yeah. I don’t see our mediums continuing to change and experiment, as far as video is really hot right now but you still need writing to go along with the video to introduce it, right? Kasia: That’s right.
Gina: Plus a lot of people will deliver a video interview as well as transcribe it into a blog post which has to do with writing, um, so the writing part isn’t going anywhere ah anytime soon.
Kasia: Awesome. So, how does, um 30 Days Or Less To Freelance Writing Success help wannabe or aspiring freelancers overcome some of the hardships like you said – the fear of rejection, overcoming their own inability to take that plunge?
Gina: Yeah, so, one of the things the course doesn’t really cover is how to write, right. There’s definitely tips on formatting and blogging and that sort of thing but you need to kind of have decent writing chops to begin with. Um but the rest of the course is definitely on the business of freelancing, the business of freelance writing and so, I think how it helps people that are unsure or have that self doubt is it breaks it down to those manageable, small steps, so really all you have to do is plug in and play. If you kind of just follow what is outlined for you, if you put in a half an hour or an hour a day for a period of time, then there’s no reason that you can’t put the things in place to have a launching pad for a successful business.
Kasia: So, do you think most people can be, can start a successful freelance business?
Gina: I think if you have a good attention to detail, you’re responsible as far as like meeting deadlines, you aren’t afraid of putting yourself out there or at least you’ll get better at it over time as far as prospecting. And you have a sufficient command of the English language – I’m a much better writer than I am a talker I don’t know. Yes, there’s a lot of opportunity again and you’ll get better with time. I mean look at random bloggers um they weren’t that great in the beginning. You and I weren’t that great a writers in the beginning but the more you practice your craft, the better you’ll get at it and now that also goes with the learning curve I think of the type of clients you get too, so my first client I was writing WordPress these descriptions for $7.50 a piece, US. They were 150-200 words and I think that is somewhere around like 5 cents a word, I can do the math real quick. But um you know at my skill level at the time you know that was a decent pay check , would I take that project today? Probably not. It just wouldn’t be worth my time. But I needed the certain stepping stones in order to get my feet wet to practice. My boss, the client was really great at helping me give me constructive criticism or feedback, not criticism um which helped me to grow as a writer and as a freelance writer.
Kasia: You’ve grown quite a bit from what, it’s only been what two years since you started?
Gina: Yep, going on to two and a half.
Kasia: That’s fantastic. That’s very impressive, um, result.
Gina: Yeah. I appreciate that. You know I started as a freelance writer and then worked my way into virtual assistance and then you know the course is obviously on the product side of my blog, I try to do a little bit of affiliate marketing too…I’m a big fan of diversification and I like try new things too.
Kasia: There’s nothing better than multiple streams coming through , isn’t it?
Gina: Yeah, unless you drive yourself crazy on too many things. But I think it’s good to try different things for sure and to have a couple of different ones because you know things will change and it’s summer right now a lot of the time that’s lower for freelancers because companies are taking more time off that doesn’t mean there aren’t clients to be had. Though I built my business in the beginning during the summer months as well here in the United States anyway I know you’re in winter over in Australia um but and that’s the other great part is you guys are in winter so maybe you’re not taking as many holidays as we are over here so there’s a chance to work with different types of clients across the world. Um, my point is yes, things are cyclical but I think that if you’re putting consistent effort out there especially from pitching standpoint, and when I say pitching you know going out there bidding for freelance jobs , prospecting, marketing. Um that if you consistently do that over time you know you’ll be able to fill your client load pretty quickly. And certain things take time to also come into fruition you might pitch somebody today but you might not hear back from them for a conversation for two or four months from now, so it makes sense to be deliberate and consistent about it.
Kasia: Fantastic. So if you were starting um freelancing today is there anything that you’d do differently?
Gina: No, I’m a fan of learning from my journey. I’m sure there were things that weren’t as effective but at the same time I was able to ramp up pretty quickly so I don’t see anything really glaring. Um one piece of advice is to be as authentic as possible, and relational. Ah, because you never know who will become your client or who you could refer for. But if you’re only looking at relationships, and building relationships from that standpoint of. what can you offer me or who do you know kind of thing that’s not good. But instead be interested in people to try to develop relationships that I think that really helps with prospecting too um people like to work with or refer to people they like so kind of keep that in mind from the get go. I think I could have done more relationship building and I can still do more relationship building it’s just always hard when you have a finite amount of time.
Kasia: That’s right, it is time, it comes down to time, doesn’t it? Time to fit it all in. And it is who you know, not what you know, often?
Gina: Right but I didn’t have a journalistic background. I went to college and I had a psychology degree and then I was in personal finance , did a lot of writing as a part of my day to day job activities, but I didn’t have any concrete experience in that realm, and I didn’t have any contacts in my network either that gave me work so everything that I did was built through that hustle and that grind of putting myself out there and making connections. So, please if you’re listening definitely hear you don’t have to have this established network already. It’s something that you can build over time, you don’t have to have a journalism degree. It’s something that you can use your skills and always build and invest in them as well.
Kasia: That’s fantastic advice. That’s one thing that could keep people from embarking on a freelancing career.
Gina: And the whole thing about working online and freelancing and we’ve kind of talked a little bit about this already is, like, most people want to learn new skills and always kind of to broaden their horizons, and what they’re capable of doing, and it’s a pretty fast paced world, things are always moving. There’s new tools that are on the market coming out on the market, look at social media platforms there’s a few if you’re new ones popping up all the time. I think if you have a capacity to use things and an interest in learning new things you could make a good webpreneaur.
Kasia; Um, so where do you see the freelancing industry heading in the next five to ten years especially, um when so many people are actually turning to the industry?
Gina: Yeah, we eluded a little bit to it earlier when I was talking about just like the opportunity that exists. That’s what I really think will happen, as more companies work with freelancers, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, whatever you call yourself, there are so many names these days but basically you know small business or self-employed people are going to be people that want to work in corporate America or similar capacity around the world where they like being an employee they want to clock in and just do their work and what have you, but there’s a growing number of people that are frustrated with that type of atmosphere. They want more flexibility and control and they are comfortable with taking the risk and working hard in order to get more of that reward as well. So I don’t see that part slowing down. It’ll be interesting to see what types of platforms continue to pop up. You know if you think of Fiver, or you think of what used to be Elance is now Upwork . Those aren’t places that we recommend that you go look for freelance writing work by the way although you could they just don’t, aren’t known to be the highest paid places. Um but I think that part will be interesting to see how many more places are I guess hooking up freelancers with clients and in a capacity where you’re getting good quality service and the freelancer is getting a good rate as well.
Kasia; Ok, so opportunities are still available.
Gina: Totally.
Kasia; That’s good to know. Um so why should freelancers, or aspiring freelancers sign up for 30 Days Or Less to Freelance Writing Success?
Gina: Well the course is catered definitely for kind of newbies, people that are just looking to break in that really haven’t, don’t have a lot of experience, definitely don’t have a full client load. But there’s a lot of people that have taken it that have already gotten their feet wet and they really want to take their business to the next level. So if you thrive on structure, you want kind of a road map, something that’s worked for other people, now going on, I don’t know, 800 people that have taken the course I think it’s a good kind of starting point for you. I’m also working on an advanced version right now which will focus more on like blog monetisation as well as freelance writing. Some other aspects of working online. But I think it’s a great, simple, when I say simple program, it kind of is. It will challenge your comfort zone and you will learn new things but it’s not overly technical, you don’t have to do a lot of math. You know it’s fun and there’s a great supportive place in the Facebook community as well.
Kasia: Fantastic. And so do you have any other courses going at the moment?
Gina: So I have one for virtual assistants as well. It’s the same name. So, 30 Days Or Less To Virtual Assistance Success . Um, you know I broke into freelance writing first and then added the VA services on. And the VA services are honestly what allowed me to put in my notice at work behind because of the predictability of the pay, which isn’t always there from a freelance writing standpoint although you can get more retainer type clients. Actually all the client’s i work with right now are predictable in that nature. We have a retainer agreement um so I created that course because the two are honestly very complementary to one another, and you know a lot of writers don’t want to write for forty hours a week or whatever too, so maybe virtual assistance work is a good complement for them, um plus it’s just another growing field that I see people have a lot of enjoyment with that course too. It’s been around about a year now .
Kasia: Excellent. Well thank you so much for your time Gina. It’s been great chatting to you. I mean, I’ve done the course, I think it’s fantastic. It’s definitely helped me boost my abilities and confidence so I highly recommend it. Um, thank you again and have a lovely day.
Do you want to be good or do you want to be great?
I want to be great. Getting there isn’t going to happen overnight. But I’ve noticed there are a few things that definitely improve my writing skills a little bit every day.
The changes won’t happen instantly, and I’ve still a lot to learn, but they will happen.
You are a writer, right? You want to be published and widely read. You want to earn a living or at least a side income from your craft. You want to constantly improve, don’t you?
Good writers are easy to come by, great writers are few and far between.
Check out these three ways to improve your writing.
Write, edit, and write some more.
Writing on its own isn’t enough. You want to get better with each word, sentence, paragraph you put down on the page. You want to experiment with different forms of writing. With short paragraphs, with long paragraphs. You want to be able to keep to the rules and no when to break them especially when you’re writing fiction or blogging.
Write every day. You don’t have to formally sit down and write for an hour or two for the time you write to be valuable time.
Ten minutes is enough.
Get up ten minutes earlier if you have to. Start journaling. Get into the habit of writing down your thoughts and feelings. Look out the window and write down what you see. Show, don’t tell. Use descriptive words. Paint a picture with your words.
Have an hour?
Write a pitch to your favourite magazine.
Pen an article on a quirky angle of something you love doing.
Draft a short story.
Brainstorm an idea for a book.
Write a poem.
Stretch your writing muscles in whatever way you can.
After your done. Use a program like Grammarly to check your writing. Writers write. That’s what they are good at. Editing is not necessarily their forte.
To improve your writing you need to edit. Check out the Elements of Style book. It’s short and sweet and has everything you need to know. Another goodie is Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. Learn the rules so later you know how to break them.
Put your piece into Grammarly (there’s a free and paid option). See what results it spits out. Understand where you went wrong. If you need clarification invest in an editor to help you, at least in the beginning. Or if you’re lucky to have a friend who’s a grammar nazi, see if they’d be willing to read through your work and pick out all your mistakes – just promise them you won’t get offended and never be their friend again!
Read more books, magazines, newspapers and anything you can get your hands on
To be a good writer you also have to be a ready. I really don’t understand how some writers say they do not read. It makes me sad actually.
Reading fuels creativity. It is the backbone of writing. Even in fiction you need to read (ie. research, duh) to be able to write adequately. You are reading this now, aren’t you?
You need to put something in your brain to get something out in return.
It’s easy to say you don’t have time to read but if that is the case, then you probably don’t have the time to write either. You might be better off doing something more in line with your time availability.
There is always time to read and like with writing it doesn’t have to be a one or two hour stint.
10 minutes is enough.
How much can you read in 10 minutes?
2-3 articles in a magazine.
5-10 pages of a fiction book.
5 -10 pages of a non-fiction book
Each time you read your brain processes the information, retains what it requires, allows you to remember what you need to and stores the rest in your subconscious. You never know when an idea will form from the information you have obtained or what topic it’s going to be related to.
I’ve watched action flicks and got article ideas from them.
I’ve read non-fiction books and came up with book plots.
You are a creative and you need to add fuel to the fire to ensure it keeps burning. Start by reading things you like and then move onto reading everything you can get your hands on – the good, the bad and the ugly. Every book can teach you something.
I used to keep a spreadsheet of the books I read, now Goodreads does it for me. You can even enter a reading challenge. I’m aiming for 52 books this year. That’s one per week. Could you read 12 books? 24? 100?
Get published and use feedback to get better
Writing for yourself is one thing. Write for an audience is a completely different kettle of tea.
Until I published my first book, Lethal Disposal, I didn’t feel like my writing was improving even though I had been writing fiction for the better part of two decades. But I had no audience other than myself. I was too scared to show anyone my work, and so I was also slow to improve.
As soon as I hit publish, something clicked in my brain and my writing style and output changed. I was no writing for an audience and I wanted to publish again, and get better at it.
The second and third books I wrote were novellas. I wanted to experiment with a shorter style and write quickly. My writing improved with each one. Scrivener helped me pick up the pace.
Blogging has been the same. I’ve started eight blogs since 2008. I have learnt something from each one of them. I probably would have improved quicker had I made contact with other bloggers. I was shy, naive and thought I could do it all myself. No, you really cannot. You need to connect with others to grow and improve. We are not alone on this planet and one way or another we need each other to succeed.
Need to get published. Why not start a blog? Check out this post for starting a blog and you can do it today, in less than 30 minutes. The post is aimed for authors but you can use the instructions for a blog in any niche.
Being a writer is a job that allows for lifelong learning. It’s one of the reasons I want to do it full time. I’m an eternal student. If I had the time (made the time), I would go back to university in a heart beat to study things like law, forensics, physiotherapy, nutrition, criminology and psychology. I’m a geek in that regard. Writing can let me in to all those topics and so much more without having to sit in a lecture hall and spend tens of thousands of dollars. I can write, read, and interview experts, all the while learning about the topics that interest me and becoming a better writer. Thanks to the internet I can share it with an audience, you, almost instantaneously, or I can use the information I gather in my fiction books.
What topics keep you up at night?
There’s never been a better time to be a writer than today.
Ideas are interesting things. Ideas are everywhere and nowhere. It’s your job as a writer to notice them and use them to your advantage.
Not the answer you were hoping for? No, me neither when I was starting out.
I prefer to work in specifics. Tell me step by step. Don’t make me assume. Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups. The more you assume, the more fucks up.
Excuse the French but it doesn’t sound as effective without the cursing. I got that from a movie line by the way, Under Siege 2. Not the best film but entertaining if you like the late 80s early 90s action flicks. I don’t mind them for a bit of numbing of the brain. They’re entertaining and that’s all they are meant to be. If I want something deeper I’ll reach for Braveheart.
Ideas are everywhere. Including in those numbing movies, we are probably wasting our time watching. Consider them research and watch guilt free!
Ideas form from the movies we watch, the television series that we binge on, the books we read, the newspapers we peruse, the people we talk to.
If you’re a writer, you will find ideas wherever you look and sometimes even when you’re not looking.
I tried not looking for ideas once. It didn’t work for long. The ideas where always there, scratching at the surface. Pushing me to go back to putting words on the page.
Having said that, I can’t fathom where artists get their inspiration from. How they paint the beautiful pictures they do? It’s probably the same for people who don’t write. Ideas exist all over the place and we simply must start chipping away at them until a coherent story forms.
I’m a writer. I see ideas all the time. Whether it’s a conversation I overheard at a local cafe, watching the news for the latest scandal, reading the newspaper or a magazine, talking with colleagues, binging on a TV series completely out of my favourite genre, watching, reading, dreaming.
Yet, I still fear one day I will wake up and have no idea. Is that even possible? Well, I’d rather not jinx myself. I hope that there’s always going to be a new idea just around the corner.
Play the ‘What if?’ game
I’ve found that playing the ‘what if’ game works wonders. One kernel of an idea can create an awesome story.
It took me about an hour and a half to outline my novella, Lethal Instincts, using the what if method. I got the bare bones down while my then 16-month toddler was sleeping in his pram and I sipped my coffee at the Hilton cafe.
The story evolved from the initial outline as I wrote. But that one hour and a half were all I needed to get the story moving.
I did this again for another book in a new series recently which I’m hoping to start soon. The idea for it kept floating around refusing to leave me alone so I had to write it down.
So how do you play the what if game? Here’s an example.
What if a young woman discovers she was adopted? What if her parents hid that from her? How would she react? Why did her real parents give her up? Who were they? Were they hiding something? Hiding her from someone? What if someone would kill her if they found out she existed? What if her real parents decided to find her to save her? What if her adopted parents were willing to do everything to stop them? What are some of the things they’d do? What if she had something they needed? What if, what if?
You’ve got two story angles. One where the child is protected, the other where they wish to do harm. Which way are you going to go? Which angle will give you the story you want to write?
Write down as many possibilities as you can think of. Don’t censor yourself. This is the fun part. The creative part where you can come up with the most ridiculous scenarios.
By asking questions a story slowly evolves on the page and you can take it anywhere you want. It could be a suspense-thriller. A family drama. A horror. It’s your story, it’s your choice.
That’s the what if game. You just keep asking questions until you come up with a story that excites you. Then start writing.
ACTION STEPS
Grab a piece of paper or start a fresh page in your Word document.
Start playing the what if game. You can continue on with what I started above or choose something of your own.
What sort of books do you like to read?
Is there anything you read that you think could be better?
How could you improve on it?
Is there a character you would have liked to know more about?
Create their world and see what evolves. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Pencil in time each week to brainstorm ideas. James Patterson has too many ideas to write everything himself so he has co-writers. I once read in an interview that he had a filing cabinet overflowing with ideas.
Create a folder and start collecting interesting pieces of information from the news, from your studies, snippets of conversation, poetry, photos. Anything that gets the idea pot brewing.
Always carry something you can jot notes on. Smartphones are great. So is pen and paper. Yes, I’m old-school in some ways.
Read outside your genre. Pick up a national newspaper instead of the local one. Switch radio stations. Listen to podcasts on psychology, sociology, business, economics or whatever topic that interests you.
Blogging is simple but it ain’t always easy. While we hope to get it right the first time, the reality is much different. We are going to make a lot of blogging mistakes. I’ve been blogging for 8 years and I still make mistakes, sometimes I even repeat a few, especially when life gets in the way.
So, I rounded up some awesome bloggers to share with you a few of the blogging mistakes they’ve made and included some of my own.
Learning from others mistakes will save you time and money. We all want more of both, don’t we?
Check out these common blogging mistakes and how you can fix them.
1 – Not getting advice on the technical side of things.
HTML. CSS Codes. SEO. What the? I’m still not comfortable with these terms but I’m learning. Unfortunately, it took me a while to realise that although this is a one-woman show, I can’t succeed without the assistance of others. It’s my business but a business requires support staff or people who know more than I do, especially when it comes to the technical side of things.
How to fix it?
Hire a VA. Get someone to look over your website. Make sure theirs looks great first and they have some experience. Hiring a VA was the best thing I’ve done for my writing business. I am only one person and I cannot do everything myself, at least not long term.
“A blogging mistake I made in the beginning was probably having no clear focus or plan for my blog. I started my blog entirely as a hobby, so I didn’t really do much research on blogging, instead I just went with the flow and winged everything. If I could go back, I would have taken it a little more seriously in the beginning. My blog posts from the beginning are scary to read, haha!”
“Another blogging mistake I made was that I spread myself too thin. I thought that the way to be a successful blogger would be to start several blogs. This made me tired and I didn’t have much love for my other blogs that I created. Instead, I knew that Making Sense of Cents was my one true love, so I sold the rest and focused again on my main website. It was a great decision!”
“With all of the above being said, I don’t believe in regret, haha. I think that everything I did made me and my blog into who I am today, and I am very happy with how everything turned out. Everyone has to learn somehow!”
2 – Forgetting the value of plugins (not knowing what they are and what they do).
Ok, there are so many plugins available for your WordPress site that It’s not always easy to figure out what you need. Not all plugins are created equal and before you go installing them all you need to figure which ones you need to get the most out of your website.
How to fix it?
Look at some of your favourite blogs. How do they look? What functions do they seem to have that yours doesn’t? You can always email the owner of the blog and ask them or search for plugins using keywords. Google is also great. Type in ‘must have plugins for bloggers’ and see what pops up.
Plugins will provide you with a lot more functionalities than just the bare bones of WordPress. You need them to run a successful blog.
3 – Ignoring relationship building (you can’t be a successful blogger with online relationships!)
As in real life, it’s more with who you know than what you know. I’m an introvert and like to do things myself. It’s not easy for me to connect with others and that’s a skill I need to work on. Relationships are imperative to your success as a blogger. Take your time to get to know people and make sure to be kind to everyone that you cross paths with.
How to fix it?
Reach out to your fellow bloggers. Find someone who’s awesome and send them an email. Ask if they offer guests posts (free or paid), write epic stuff for them if they do, have a chat, remember the holidays, promote them on social media. Be supportive of their work. It’s the little things that can make a huge difference down the line.
“My biggest blogging mistake was blogging in the dark. I was pumping out 7 posts a week and waiting for the world to read them. After six months, I finally started networking with other bloggers and being active on social media and it boosted my reach, even though I was only posting three times a week or less.”
“My second biggest mistake was writing whatever came out of my mind, without worrying about optimization. A long title that has nothing to do with what is in the post won’t incite readers to click. Adding a few keywords and a better headline can go a long way.”
How do I expect to get readers without marketing and promotions? Ten or fifteen years ago it may have been easier to get discovered by readers organically. With today’s competition (hundreds of thousands of new blogs each year), it’s easy to get lost amongst the flock. I wrote and expected readers to find me. I laugh at this now but there was a moment in time where I thought I would give up because I didn’t realise what I was doing wrong.
How to fix it?
You don’t know what works and what doesn’t so just do as much as you can and that includes using all the social media like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Linkedin, Google+. Share it on your business sites and personal ones too. Join blog networks. Engage readers and get them to share your content too.
“Not engaging with other bloggers in the same niche enough. I initially thought that I would write and people would just visit my site organically, like they somehow would just happen across my website – naïve, I know.”
“The other big mistake is that I tried to push out too many articles to make my site look “lived in”. I thought quantity was more important and quality, and it just isn’t.”
“Stop spending so much time thinking about Google and other search engines. All that leads to is incessantly looking at stats and trying to improve rankings, not improve content and user experience on the website.”
5 – Should have spent more time commenting on other blogs in and around my niche.
Commenting on your peers blogs is one way to build relationships, get your name out there and become part of a community. It’s also easier to then make direct contact with the blogger(should you require advice or an interview or just to offer them praise. Bloggers love getting comments, especially if they create a conversation.
How to fix it?
Find ten blogs in your niche and start commenting on them after each blog post. Just makes sure it’s more than ‘Great post’. Comment with value, engage in conversation. Sooner or later readers are going to flock to your blog too and start commenting. After you’re comfortable with the ten, find another ten, and so forth. Obviously you want to spend more time writing and promoting than commenting on other blogs but at the beginning it can make a difference. Once you have more people coming to you you can limit your comments to once a week on the blogs you love the most.
6 – Proofreading and formatting – yes it matters.
I get excited and I rush things. Delayed gratification, what’s that? End result is an article or book or post with errors that could have easily been avoided had I spent an extra ten minutes going through my work. Duh!
How to fix it?
Use the spell checker and then print off the page, let it rest an hour, then read it slowly as a reader. Circle any spelling or grammatical issues, words missing, words repeated. Fix them up. Edit the writing, rewrite what’s necessary. Give it to someone else to read through. You want to be as close to error-free as you can get. I can’t proofread on screen I’ve done it and made mistakes, ones that made me cringe and want to give up on blogging but instead I turned it around to a lesson learned.
7 – Not starting with WordPress.
WordPress rocks. When I first entered the blogging arena I went straight to Blogger. Big mistake. WordPress is just so much easier to use and has so many better functions and is more visually appealing.
How to fix it?
If you’re new to blogging check out all the different platforms available. I wish I started with WordPress from the onset. It’s just so much easier to use and has more functionalities. Do you want to start a blog? Check out this post on starting an author blog.
“Choosing a unique niche – Many bloggers start out with too wide of a net. To be a travel, food, or fitness blog is not enough. There are thousands and thousands of general topic blogs in each of those spaces. You have to stand out. I started out as a food, travel beer, and wine blog. Being a little bit of everything brought me zero followers. Nobody knew what my brand was. You have to niche down. One way to do this is to do something epic – make a pledge to visit every winery in California or spend 100 days eating real food.”
“Seriously think about your blog name – You will be stuck with it forever as re-branding is very difficult. Don’t choose it on a whim. Test it. Research others in your space with similar words. Check for social media handles. Ask your friends what they think. I came up with mine – The Wandering Gourmand – after polishing off a bottle of wine. Six years later and I hate it. Nobody can spell or pronounce gourmand and half the travel blogs out there use the word Wandering.”
8 – Trying to do the same thing and expecting a different result.
Aren’t we all a little bit guilty of this one? I know I am. But slowly that’s changing. If something isn’t working there’s no point in trying to bang down a door that standing against a brick wall.
How to fix it?
You need to be more aware of what you are doing. Analyse everything. What results are you seeing from your writing and your marketing? Are some topics more popular than others? Are you getting more traffic from one source than another? These are important pieces of information. Note them down. If something isn’t working figure out why and change it.
9 – Not focusing on the audience enough.
It’s my blog but I’m writing for you, my audience. I think for a moment I forgot what the real intention of this place was.
How to fix it?
What makes other blogs successful? They offer useful and engaging content for their readers. You need to do the same. Emulate them. What’s your blog’s focus? How do you want to help your readers?
One mistake I made when I first started is not updating my blog enough times during the week and on a consistent basis. When I first started, I decided I’d publish a post every Wednesday. I managed to do this most of the time, but there were definitely some weeks where I didn’t write at all. I’d get busy and put my blog on hold. I soon realized this was not a good strategy. It’s important to update your blog frequently and consistently — that’s key to building a strong brand.
A second mistake I made is not promoting my own content. When I first started, I would publish blog posts but for some reason, I never found the courage to share the blog posts I wrote. I’ve learned that you have to dig deep and find the confidence to share your work with the world. After all, if you don’t believe in yourself, who else will?
You need to take chances to get anywhere in life. That’s one thing I forgot to do.
How to fix it?
Do things that scare you. Take chances with writing, marketing and reaching out to people. Say ‘yes’ more often. Embrace change.
Want a challenge?
Open up your blog and start going through it. Look at your home page, blog page, your about page, etc. Make notes on what you like and don’t like about them. What are some things that can improve them. Write it down.
Each day/week tweak your blog, no matter how small or big, to make it better.
By the end of the year you’ll have changed the trajectory of your blogging business and hopefully improved it in more ways than one.
What blogging mistakes have you made? How did you overcome them?
Want to write a novel? Get your butt in the chair, fingers on the keyboard, and write away.
Writing a novel. It’s an item on the bucket list of many. But few will actually sit down and write that novel. It’s a shame because they could be the next JK Rowling or Stephen King and don’t even know it. Your first book is likely to suck but if you enjoy the process you might surprise yourself with the third or fourth and one day end up on the bestseller lists.
Writing a book is simple, but it isn’t easy.
“When asked, How do you write? I invariably answer, One word at a time.” -Stephen King
Even for those seasoned authors who write a book per year. Each one is starting afresh, the same uncertainties hover around from the self-doubt to criticism, to how in the world am I going to get another idea. It’s natural, don’t worry about it, just keep going.
So how do you really write a novel?
It’s a question I still ask and I’ve so far published three books – one novel, two novellas. I’ve also written a dozen others in various genres over the past two decades (gosh I feel old!), and rightfully so, I threw them in the trash.
Is there a science to writing a novel? A formula? A technique?
There are so many books on the market on how to write one it makes new writers wonder if it’s as difficult as open-heart surgery. Is that why doctors become authors – they need a tough challenge? (Although I’d say after open-heart surgery everything else would seem easy).
Writing a novel is hard work. If anyone tells you different then they’ve either (a) never done it before, (b) are lying to you, or (c) have done it so many times that each book is the same.
Let me clarify.
Writing a novel is simple, but it’s hard work.
Every writer has a different technique to get the novel written. Some are procrastinators. Others pantsters. Some love to outline to the final detail. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. The only thing you need to realise is that your novel won’t get written unless you sit down and start writing it regardless of how talented you feel.
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. -Stephen King
Are you willing to put your butt in chair, start working hard and get writing?
Let me help you out here with a little pop quiz. Don’t worry I’m not going to grade you on it. But it might give you a better idea whether you’re actually in this for the long haul or just dreaming of fame and fortune. Either one is ok but only one has a guarantee.
Do you really want to write a novel?
No. Go do something else. I heard knitting can be fun.
Maybe.
Why?
You enjoy writing. Awesome, keep going.
Money. Hmm, chances of making a living are slim, getting loaded even slimmer.
Fame. It’s like winning the literary lottery.
Entertainment. Go for it, it’s entertaining coming up with how to kill your characters or make them fall in love with each other.
Challenge. It certainly is. It also teaches you commitment. While it can take as little as a week to write a novel, generally it will probably take you twenty times that for your first one. Unless of course your special and you’ll have five books out in six months.
Yes, I really want to write a novel!
Awesome. What are you waiting for? It’s time to get started!!
Open the blank page. Start playing the ‘what if’ game. Start writing.
Outline your story. Add some quirky characters. Present three challenges. Start writing.
Keep writing. Finish the damn book.
Writing a novel is simple. It gets written one word, one sentence, one paragraph and one page at a time. It won’t happen overnight but it will happen.
Aim for one page per day. Can you do that?
That’s 365 pages in a year.
Let’s say a page is 250 words. That’s 91,250 words in 12 months.
Are they going to be good words? That’s not the point when you’re getting the draft down on paper. You just want to write it, purge it out of your system. Prove to yourself that it’s doable. Then move on to the next one.
A few years ago, maybe it was back in the 20th Century, I read a lot of ‘how to’ books, who am I kidding, I still read them. Anyway, I read a piece of advice about writing a novel. Anyone can do it, pick a book of your shelf and start copying page by page onto your word document. You’ve written a novel. Of course, you don’t want to be doing that but the exercise has some merit.
There are three elements that you need to write your novel:
A plot
Some characters
A setting
You could go deeper and consider the theme and subplots but these can arise organically through your writing.
Let’s take the romance genre as an example, it’s an easy one.
Boy meets girl or girl meets boy. They’re attracted to each other. Something or someone comes between them. They are separated. Then just when it seems impossible boy and girl reunite and live happily ever after.
Now fill the in the blanks. Who’s the boy and girl? Where are they from? What do they love/hate? How do they meet? Who doesn’t want them together? List five things that get in the way or add conflict to the relationship. What do they want from each other? From life?
Once you have a basic idea of your story you can start writing. How? Like Stephen King says, ‘one word at a time.’
The best way to learn is to write. Practice makes perfect – although I don’t think there’s anything that’s perfect and if we aim for that, especially as beginners, we’re bound to never finish anything.
With each book you write, and hopefully, you are in this for the long haul, you will improve. Sometimes it’ll be an action scene, the dialogue, maybe chapter cliffhangers, and then one day, the book you write will be like ‘wow, this practice makes perfect BS really does work’.
People will often say that they want to write a book and one day when they’ve got more time, retired, raised the kids, come back from holiday, got a better idea, they’d start writing. Most of them will never write a novel. There’s no ‘best’ time to write a book. If you really want to write one you will without making a single excuse.
Anyone can write a book, but not everyone will.
ACTION STEPS
Commit to writing a page every day. If that seems like a lot start with half a page, a paragraph or even a sentence. Over time it all adds up. The point is to create a habit and fit it into work with your lifestyle. Some writers prefer the morning’s others need to burn the midnight oil. I write on my commute to the day job. I’ve drafted several novels by having that hour in the morning and afternoon to write, mind you, I don’t always meet my quota but as long as I get something down it is one step closer to finishing. A good day is 3000 words, a mediocre one is 500. Either way, it’s more words on the page than the day before.
If you need motivation, grab a book from your bookshelf and type up the chapter. Obviously, this is for your personal use only. Type it up and note down the dialogue, the description, any flashbacks, action scenes. Use different highlighters. How does it all work? What sort of dialogue tags are used – said, whispered, asked?
An editor recently told me I use a lot of the word ‘was’. Do a find on the word and see how many times it shows up. There are often better words to use to strengthen your scenes and your story. That one little tip made a huge difference to my self-editing technique and it’s something I’ll do before sending off my book for a professional edit.
Have you considered writing a novel? Written one already? Did you find it easy or difficult? What is holding you back?
If you want to be a freelance writer, I highly recommend you go and check out Gina’s course on 30 Days Or Less To Freelance Writing Success. I did. And it was worth every cent.
