Career Management for Writers Archives - Page 5 of 9

How to Get Back to Writing After a Mandatory Break By Realizing Your Resolutions (No Matter The Time of the Year)

Posted on October 9, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Writer at play.

Man, that was a long title. Sorry about that. I can explain. I was away from the blog for a while, and I have a lot to say. Most importantly, by slowly committing to my daily, weekly, monthly and yearly resolutions, I have finally ticked off some significant items of my calendar and to-do list. I’m by no means done, but I’m content with what I’m achieving each day. Given that my to-do list is gigantic and mostly work-related, this means something.

First, on that mandatory break: I don’t hold back about my health issues on this blog. I even wrote a love letter to freelancers with health problems. Of course, I love you all, but those of us with poor health tend to need the extra motivation.

This time it was my gastritis acting up. I had gotten a bit too focused on trying not to get a cold (by taking fish oil pills) and keeping my blood sugar in check (via medication), that my stomach had its biannual (or more frequent) meltdown by making me feel nauseous for days in a row. After a strict and mandatory diet of mostly toasted bread, white cheese and baked potatoes (and *almost no coffee!), I slowly got better. And this time, I really want to take better care of myself.

I generally take good care of myself, with the exception of chocolate, extra dairy, and the lack of exercise. Seriously. I rarely drink. I don’t smoke or consume soda or sugary drinks. Any dessert that isn’t chocolate-based is a waste of space for me. I don’t even eat that much. Any extra pound (yes, there are many) is due to sitting too much (because hello, writer!), and the chocolate overdose.

So after the nausea went away, I’m still on a residual diet. I watch how many raw vegetables I eat. I try not to overdo coffee (my overdo is 3 mugs per day, tops!), and I eat much, much less chocolate. I also try to walk at least 5000 steps a day.

Now, this might seem laughably few to those who are much more active, but even 5000 is better than 0. I go to the park near my house, get a lot of fresh air and play with adorable kitties. I cut most junk and processed foods a while ago.

I also go to bed a little earlier and get up a little earlier. Oh, and I try to reduce the screen time. (Shut up, Yoda! Trying is better than not doing anything at all!)

This conscious effort to move more and eat better has already shown its benefits. I’m pitching to production companies regularly. My to-do list has never seen this much erasing action. I’m happy.

What does this have to do with resolutions? Because it goes directly to those resolutions that we make with the best of intentions but never get to. Because life. Do these sound familiar?

Eat more healthily.
Drink more water.
Get more done!
Pitch more!
Write more!
Move more.
Lose 10 pounds.
See your friends more.

…..

The list goes on and on, but many of us share them. I used to think I was an all-or-nothing person. But it turns out taking smaller steps is better for me.

Because while 10,000 steps a day might be ideal, 5000 still beats the helluva shit out of 1000. Because while I might not want to or need to cut dairy, I can watch it. I can eat two dark pieces of chocolate instead of two bars.

I’m not saying I am, or my life is, perfect. It’s not even close. But people, it turns out, Yoda is wrong. Try there is.

Keep writing and living!

(*I had Turkish coffee when I was nauseous. It is a tried and working medication, though you still shouldn’t drink more than two cups a day. Not great for the heart. It tends to be strong.)

Writing for Free: Everything Writers Need to Know About Writing for Free

Posted on September 9, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Ah, the age-old question. Should a writer ever write for free?

The simple answer to that question is that, if you can help it, no. You should not write for free. Writing is work. It’s labor. And we need to be compensated. As awesome as exposure and fame sound, they don’t buy groceries.

Which brings us to the “if you can help it” part. You might consider writing for free when:

You are a newbie with no clips.

What if you can afford not being paid in the short term? Maybe you are still at your full-time job. Maybe you have another source of income or a partner who can help with the cost of living for a bit? Then, you might consider writing for a very authoritative, popular and respected site – like Copyblogger – for free.

While Copyblogger can afford to pay writers, guest posters – as far as I know- are not paid. However, the traffic, social media shares, and hopefully email subscribers are potentially a lot more than you’d get from writing on your own blog or writing for a site that is much smaller, not-as-well-known and pays a pittance.

You’d also be exposing yourself to a wide audience coming from a variety of industries. You would be majorly enhancing your portfolio by including a link to your Copyblogger piece in your pitches. Clients have a better chance of reaching out to you after your piece there as well.

You are an experienced writer but you have no relevant clips, and you are looking venture into a new niche.

Sometimes you have clips, but nothing remotely close to the ones your potential client is looking for. You can try getting published for pay, and that is better than writing for free. But sometimes, you can’t get published for pay.

Sometimes a publication pays but does not offer a byline: You need your byline to add to your portfolio. You can still opt to get paid if you need the money, but that means you still have zero relevant clips.

You can write for a relative/friend/acquaintance for free. They should ideally pay you. But if they can’t afford it, and or you are new at this niche – meaning you have no experience from your education, work experience, etc., you can write in exchange for a stellar testimonial from them.

Remember, we all write for free…for ourselves.

We write our blogs and social media posts. No one pays us. OK, we are our own boss, but we are also our own marketer. We are marketing our writing with each thing we put out there.

Since we already do a lot of free writing, it is better not to write more for free, as much as we can help it.

I believe that most publications that don’t pay are setting a bad precedent.

Make a website, offer exposure, don’t pay anyone. Right…

Yes, obviously, if my favorite author came out of nowhere and asked me to do some writing for free, telling me that he will share my post (with my byline) with everyone, then yes, I’d do it. For the exposure. Because I’d totally fan out on him. (Yeah, probably not a term.)

But my favorite author is filthy rich. And at this point, he knows I can write. Why else would he ask me to write something for him? So, the obvious question is, why the hell is he not paying me?

The lesson to take from this piece is simple: It’s complicated.

Things, unfortunately, can work differently than other professions. The best thing we can do is to go after paid opportunities as well and as much as we can.

But if we need the byline more than the money, we can swallow our wallet (not our pride; writing for them is prestigious, remember?) occasionally to make our portfolio shine.

Yet every time we do swallow our wallet, we are making it harder for other writers to get paid too.

So, let’s have a toast: May we always get paid and get a byline too.

Tell me, what do you think about writing for free? Please share in the comments.

And if you found this post helpful, please share it on social media. My boss, aka me, is paying me with exposure for this one. 😉

10 Ways Facebook Can Keep You Sane and Productive

Posted on August 10, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

I heard from a couple of writers I respect that they are quitting Facebook. Some of them keep their business pages, or just one group related to their blog or latest product. Few are going cold turkey.

I get where they are coming from. Social media can be a huge time suck. Likes, comments, and upvotes are addictive. For some, it means affirmation and validation. For many, it is a popularity contest. But among those who enjoy the popularity, are writers and other business owners like you and me.

Facebook, while a great platform for connecting like-minded people, staying in contact with friends and building your brand, can be hell: People being constantly negative, friend requests from creepy strangers, newbie bloggers who want to use you as a free consultant and their own Google, and content that gets banned for no good reason along with content that should be banned but isn’t…

Yet the positives far overweigh the negatives. And I can’t give up on Facebook. Maybe it is an age thing: You see, I was there almost from the beginning. I signed up around 2007, right after my Erasmus year. It was mainly a way to keep in touch with friends and neighbors. It was also to kill time during an internship where they didn’t give me much responsibility.

So 10 years later, Facebook remains my favorite social networking site. Granted, it has its cons. I hate most design updates. The ads are a bit much. But worst of all, it is so damn easy to get lost in your news feed when you have over 500+ friends.

But don’t worry. Facebook, with a little insight and self-control from you, can be a very powerful business tool, as well as serving as free therapy and entertainment.

So let me provide a proper bullet-point list on how Facebook keeps me sane and productive, and you can decide for yourselves whether it is worth your time. Because if we are honest, it makes procrastination very easy.

1. Traffic and social proof. Most of my blog traffic and shares come from Facebook. I have a lot of writer friends, and friends who want to be writers/or bloggers here.

2. Social media management skills. I might not be the ultimate Facebook guru, but I’m pretty damn good at it. I do social media marketing for clients, so it helps that hanging around Facebook comes as a second nature to me. I love the site. Damn you, Zuckerberg! You created a monster.

3. Groups for social interaction, business growth and learning. Yes, you can google a lot of things, so I’m not suggesting asking friends and colleagues “What’s WordPress?” or What’s blogging?” in this day and age. But there is a lot Google can’t tell you, especially in the specific way you need to learn them.

Google is a search engine, and sometimes you need to ask direct questions to your more experienced peers. Some of the amazing groups I belong to:

Groups on making money from your non-fiction:

30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success (private group for Gina Horkey’s namesake course.)
Earn More Writing (group for Holly Porter Johnson’s namesake course)
Beyond Your Blog (Group for Susan Maccarelli’s namesake blog)

Anything related to Screenwriting

Bang2write
Screenwriters who can actually write

Anything ficiton-writing

Fiction Writers

I run some awesome groups myself:

Addicted to Writing – official group for this blog
Writers Helping Writers – a group for all things fiction and non-fiction with very few rules. (The existing rules are: Be respectful and nice to each other; helping others comes before self-promotion.)

I get a lot of requests, so I recommend add something about writing to your profile. It also helps if you belong to writing-related groups. This is to avoid people who sign up for everything but not participate, or people who are not serious about writing. Everyone in this group is either working as a professional writer, or trying to. Writers who write as a hobby won’t find it as fun or practical.

Hyperactive Dreamers. This is a super niche group. While most of the members are writers, it is a group for people who love more than more profession, run or want to run more than one business and has multiple fashions. We are extremely helpful, so you are welcome to check it out.

4. Keep in touch with clients. Sometimes you stop with certain clients, but you are on good terms. You can later collaborate on other projects. Or you can just have a wider network. Some of your clients love Facebook. So do you. And who knows? Maybe they want to throw some Facebook-related work your way. Or they see you and remember that they have friends who need writing work.

5. Finding like-minded people. Oh, this is crucial. Many of us full-time writers tend to be at least a little quirky. Frankly, I think it is non-writer people are a little weird, and I need writer buddies to back me up on the sentiment. We have big dreams, and we don’t let overt realism or pessimism deter us. Fellow writers understand why we can’t just write as a hobby.

6. Sharing ideas and exchanging feedback. With some ideas, I’m confident I need to keep pursuing. Some ideas, especially if I’m not experienced in the niche or with the genre, I need feedback on. And once I start working on with an idea, I need more feedback. Obviously, I return the favor.

The good thing about Facebook is that it offers variety. So let’s say you can take criticism, but you are not a fan of tough love. (That’d be me). It’s amazing that I can find friends who will be honest with me without crushing my spirit.

7. Laughter and entertainment. Who doesn’t love a funny video, song, joke, gif, meme…etc? Let me share one right here. The world can be a dark place filled with problems, including and not limited to your own life. So yes, I’m unapologetic about my right to see cute kittens on a regular basis.

8. It improves your writing. When you share posts, you learn quite a bit about how to write succinct but interesting

9. Venting. I don’t recommend venting all the time. It is not pretty, and it might turn off a lot of people, clients and friends included. But we need a place to share our frustration, and writers get frustrated a lot.

I’d argue we lead more challenging lives than other professions, except for other creatives, because we get rejected almost on a daily basis. I’ve been known to receive two rejection emails within 5 minutes. What the….?

I also live in a city with tons of traffic, inconsiderate people, crazy weather and constant construction noise. And then there are health problems and family members…So yeah, we all need to vent sometimes. And it’s great to be welcomed by friends who jump in to say “Me too!” It just is better for everyone if you can combine the anger with some humor.

10. Reducing isolation. I talk to friends, and it feels like I have co-workers. The difference is, I like all of these co-workers. Writing can be very lonely, and it is detrimental to our well-being to be on our own all the time, especially if we have an extroverted side. Social media created the illusion that we’re not working alone, and Facebook just is more comfortable when it comes to messaging and commenting if you’re on your computer a lot.

7 Tips to Limit Time Your Time on Facebook

Turn off the Internet.
Get away from the computer.
Use free apps to block your site. I use SelfControl for Mac. I wrote it about in detail in my productivity book. (If you want to receive The More Productive Writer, email me and I’ll add you to the newsletter. Or you can subscribe to the newsletter by using the TinyLetter form in the right sidebar.)
Schedule more time for exercise and friends.
Leave groups that you haven’t felt the need to participate in a long time, or groups that have failed to provide you benefits.
Unfriend people who you don’t remember even meeting. They aren’t notified when you do.
Unfollow friends whose feed you aren’t enjoying.

How about you? Are you a Facebook person? Let me know your reasons why (and why not) in comments!

And if you liked the post, please share it on social media.

How to Get Back to Work After Vacation (Even If You Are Exhausted)

Posted on July 19, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Pinar Tarhan, writer — Me at one of my favorite places: by the pool. July, 2017.

Hi, everyone! I’m back from a week of beach vacation at an all-inclusive resort in Kemer, Antalya, and I’m positively exhausted. Knackered. Shattered. And the rest of the thesaurus.

Unfortunately, I’m one of those people who needs another vacation to offset the effects of the previous vacation. I had a lot of fun being very active, and now my body is paying the price. So this second “vacation” is basically sleeping off the effects of the first one.

But being a freelance writer means when I don’t work, I don’t make any money, so I have to get back to work ASAP. And it was even more so this time because I had a deadline for the second day of my return.

I’m also planning mini getaways before the summer ends, as well as a couple of days abroad. And fingers crossed, a second beach vacation because I need all the Vitamin D and happiness I can get as someone with a weak immune system, and as a writer who sometimes gets so lost in her stories that she forgets things like the outside world, healthy-eating, and exercise.

But this post is coming to you right after I’ve submitted my piece a day before the deadline and feeling slightly better. So I wanted to share my tips with fellow freelancers who freak about their vacations because of the mountain of work that awaits them afterward.

11 Tips for How to Get Back to Work After Vacation (Even If You are Exhausted):

1) Sleep well and long.

Here’s the thing. I’m not rich. I can afford vacations at five-star resorts through a carefully calculated budget, and watching out for discounts.

So when something you love – aka beach holidays- happens once or twice a year, you make the most of it. This usually comes in the form of overdoing things like swimming, dancing, eating, drinking; and underdoing things like sleeping.

After a week of fun and an exhausting return trip, you need your sleep. So do it. Even if it means it is 5 pm by the time you properly wake up. Your body and mind will thank you for it.

2) Eat healthily, even if you have to commit a few “sins” until you get the energy to concoct something nutritious.

In my case, I ate chocolate before I could move my butt to heat and eat vegetables.

3) Have a nice and long shower, or bath.

You’ll feel refreshed and energized.

4) Take a painkiller with minimal side effects if you are in physical pain.

If everything hurts badly and it hasn’t waned a bit even after the sleep, bath and meal, you might need a painkiller. Of course, this is between you, your common sense and doctor. But if you pushed your body like you never do in a year, taking something might be in order. (But please don’t do anything your doctor doesn’t approve of. I’m not a doctor.)

5) Drink coffee! (Or tea, if that’s your thing.)

After I do all four, I still need my good friend and preferred medicine, coffee. (This time I also watched the two Jim Jefferies Show episodes I missed for relaxation and laughs before getting to work.)

The following tips require you do them before your trip so that the five tips above will be more effective.

6) Stock your fridge (and freezer) with food and beverages that won’t go bad.

So that you won’t have to run to the shops when you’d rather not leave your house. Or your bed.

7) Try not to get a deadline for the first couple of days you are back.

Sometimes it is inevitable, but it is wise to give yourself a breather. In my case, I had already written and edited the essay that was due. I re-read it for flow, overlooked language mistakes, and connectivity. It wasn’t that much work as I had done the heavy lifting earlier.

8) To continue from tip 7, if you must have a deadline soon after your return, do the work before you leave.

So that when you come back, you just have to do minor edits and hit send.

9) Don’t leave your house a mess.

I find it impossible to not to leave the house at least a bit messy while packing. But this time, I managed to leave a relatively tidy place behind, as well as a desk ready to be worked at. I am now more relaxed and motivated to get to work.

10) And try to pick projects that not only pay well, but you care about and enjoy.

Whether it is your internal harsh critic or the editor you are working with, (and it is generally both), a piece can often take longer than you thought it

would. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if you resent yourself, the piece or the topic. So pick something you are passionate about whenever you can.

Writing the essay was scary and emotional, but ultimately, I love the subject. People need to read it, and I want it to be its best version.

It’s hard producing your best work if you are cursing the moment you decided to take on this work.

11) Enjoy the hell out of your vacation!

A great vacation makes you ecstatic and fills your head with awesome story ideas. So arrange for your work to be done before your vacation starts. Have a solid plan on what you will do afterward, but don’t worry about it as you relax with your favorite cocktail.

Do you have any other suggestions on how to get back to work after an exhausting vacation? Please share in the comments.