Writers Unbound

Reader question:

How do I get people to read my manuscript?

The Literate Hippie answers:

Promise to reward them with sexual favors, cash, and/or never ever ever to bother them again, or even speak to them, most especially about anything to do with books or writing.

Also. Finish your manuscript.
You haven’t, have you? You just want the Literate Hippie to think you have and offer you help from his empathetic, open Hippie heart. Unfortunately, the Literate Hippie also carries in his empathetic heart a good supply of both realism and sarcasm. Write the whole manuscript first. You may figure out that it’s not worth reading, which brings me to my next point.

Write a manuscript worth reading.
Not every story should be told, you know. Not everyone knows how to tell a story well. Do you have the combination of a story that should be told and the skill to tell a story well? Do you know the most important rules of writing? Do you abide by them? Do people other than your parents think you are skilled at writing? Do people laugh at your jokes and enjoy conversing with you? Do you have deep friendships? Have you succeeded in a romantic relationship for more than six months? Have you sacrificed something meaningful? Have you grieved? If you can’t answer positively for most of those questions, work on changing your life experience. Then write a manuscript.

If you’re two steps ahead of the Literate Hippie and have in your hands, even now, a well-written manuscript worth reading, then follow the route that thousands of writers before you have trod. Query. Submit. Query. Submit. Query. Submit. Query. Submit. Query. Submit. Query. Submit.

And then, after you’ve done that, do it some more.

Alternately, go publish your manuscript on Amazon Kindle, as a serial work on your own website, or via other means of self-publication. Then you won’t have to worry about getting people to read your manuscript; you’ll have to worry about getting them to read your book.

The Literate Hippie Lectures:

What You Get From a Book (Is Your Own Fault)

Instructions that get us into trouble when it comes to reading: Finish what you start. If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. The early bird gets the worm.

First, finishing what you start is a great idea when it comes to, oh, cleaning your room or graduating college. Not always a great idea when it comes to books.
How do you know if a book is worth your time? You don’t, no matter how highly recommended it is, how many accolades it has received, or who said you would just love it. Not all books are worth your time, and if you can’t realize that when one isn’t within the first 20 pages and put it down, what you will get from it is the pain of knowing you have a finished a job that wasn’t even worth starting.

Some books should be read and must be read, but need not be read with great attention or care.
Skim. It’s okay. Read the index and skip to the parts that interest you. Find the summarizing paragraphs. Learn to glean the information you are looking for without wasting your time on the information that you don’t need, that isn’t relevant, or that you already know. If you fail to adjust your standard for thoroughness (“doing the job well”) as fits each book, what you will get from it is a waste of time and a store of useless information.

Some books should be read and treated with great care, but not now.
Today may not be the day. People change, and books seem different at different times. Do not force yourself (unless it’s a class assignment) to read something that holds no application or interest for you. Put it on the shelf. Save it for a different time. Wait until you can treat it with the attention it does deserve. Don’t force yourself to be an early bird, because what you will get from it is the bitter aftertaste that comes from forcing down worms.

Reader question:

What are the most important rules of writing?

The Literate Hippie answers:

1. Be brief.
2. Eliminate modifiers.
3. Say something interesting.
4. Read.

Oh. You want more?

Be brief.

Say what you mean in the most accurate words you can find. The Literate Hippie admits to daily struggles with this rule of writing.

Eliminate modifiers.

Adjectives and adverbs can confuse your readers and sink your sentences. Do not hide your nouns and verbs. Use modifiers that matter; eliminate the rest. The Literate Hippie admits to intense daily struggles with this most important rule of writing. (Count the modifiers in that sentence.)

Say something interesting.

And say it halfway between textbook and fluff. We have boredom, and we have drivel. Strive for content that matters in a style that intrigues.

Read.

Read classics. Read new books. Read articles. Read nonfiction and fiction. Read what is written by people who write well. Consume good writing. Don’t waste your time on bad.

Reader question of the day:

How do books become classics and why should I read them?

The Literate Hippie answers:

1. They stand the test of time, meaning that people still read them even though they’re old. There is still something of value in them, something beyond culture and time in which they were written. They lasted. People like them, hundreds of years later.

2. They tell a story or discuss an issue that matters.

3. They’re well-written, bigger than the author, and have (for many) a definite emotional and/or intellectual effect, often a life-changing one. Sometimes (often) they have historical effects, meaning that the ideas presented in them alter the course of cultures and civilizations.

Now, on to the second part of the question. Why should you read them?

Well, you shouldn’t, if you want to be a small-minded, uninformed, and culturally bound person when you grow up. Watch lots of television, go to movies, listen to music (only popular Western music, please, and read magazines. That should be just perfect. Communicate via text message and email and never learn how to actually compose a paragraph on paper. You’ll reach your goal.

If, however, you would prefer to be informed and filled with a vastness of perspective that will allow you to empathize with and understand people very different from yourself, read books. Read the classics. Immerse yourself in other cultures and times. Learn that your own world is not the first to succeed or the first to struggle. Learn that culture is a passing fancy. Learn that your assumptions may not be accurate. Learn that others have suffered, have rejoiced, have overcome, have failed, have lived and died in ways you never imagined.

Learn to spell.

What is “the Literate Hippie”?

The Literate Hippie thinks it best to answer the question by defining the terms. First item: “the,” an article, denotes a single and distinct entity, a particular person, rather than an “in general” item. As this applies to the question, just any old literate hippie won’t do. We are discussing “the” Literate Hippie, as distinguished from others masquerading as similar beings. Don’t be fooled.

Second item: “literate,” an adjective describing the state of both education and intelligence. The most basic meaning is the ability to read and write; we can expand it to describe one who is well-versed in literature, or further generalize to mean one who is well-versed in any particular field.

Third item: “hippie,” a noun, and herein resides the heart of the question, are we correct? Articles are simple, and you know what they mean. Literate is a common enough modifier, and if you’re reading blogs about writing and reading then you can most probably use the modifier accurately to describe yourself. No surprises there. But hippie. That’s what you’re not sure about. You’re trying to picture a bearded man sitting in the mud at Woodstock, documenting it all on his laptop. Incongruous, to put it mildly. Or is it? What do you think of when you hear the term hippie? Rebellion? 1960’s? Sexual revolution? Daisy chains and tie-dyed skirts?

Special brownies?

There are lots of associations with hippie. Many of them are negative, at worst, and laughable, at best. Let’s distill the term down to the heart of what, in a multi-cultural sense, we mean by hippie. We mean this:

someone who is unfettered by the social conventions of the day. Someone who enjoys creativity more than materialism. Someone who values freedom, originality, and ingenuity more than social status.

Separate yourself for a moment from your normal associations with the word hippie. Hippie, as we mean it, isn’t about the shoes you wear (or don’t wear) or the beard you grow (or don’t grow) or the stuff you smoke (or don’t smoke). It’s about not letting conventionality be your standard. It’s being okay with being ostracized. It’s wanting to think for yourself.

It’s what most truly literate people end up being in spite of themselves.

She sat on the tree and kept looking down on me
As if we had been gone a long time
Whoa Baby, it’s me I said and gave her a wink
Hi Baby, it’s me she said and that made me blink
She never called me Baby in daylight.

I said Well what are you thinking for the next day or so
She said I’m taking a plane to Peru
Whoa Baby, take me I said and gave her a wink
No Baby, you stink she said and that made me blink
I sniffed and said, You know that’s not true

She said Trust your messed-up head to take it like it wasn’t said
As simple as a literal smell
Don’t you Whoa Baby me, she said, and jumped off the tree
Wh- I started instead I tried Wait one moment please
She was gone. I turned to you and said Well.

Thursday 13 Edition #1 (I’ve been Thursday-13ing for a while, but I haven’t actually participated in /linked to the meme. My predecessor here at WU might have, but I haven’t. So, I’m going to start us off again on an official WUThursday 13 roll.)
Here is Edition 1.

Holiday time, already. Yes. Why? Because that’s what they tell us freelance writers. Start writing your holiday articles now.People are searching for gift ideas already. Make your pitches. Bring in traffic. If you so happen to be a freelance writer in hopes of a holiday article in a “real” magazine, well baby, your chance for this year’s holiday is long gone. Write one now and send it in; maybe you’ll be pertinent enough for next year.

I tell ya. It’s enough to make a holiday-loving gal a real Scrooge. Isn’t the thing we love most about holidays the fact that they are brief? That’s what makes us anticipate them. We’re not celebrating holidays, wrapping gifts, baking cookies, singing carols, and tying up mistletoe OR[insert your version of holiday merriment here] 365 days a year. More like 4 weeks, 8 if we stretch it all the way from November 1 to the end of December.

But the freelance writers: we get to live it for much, much longer than that. So to help all of us find a way to enjoy the holidays once we actually get to them, here is my Thursday 13 list:

1. Turn the heat way up all through October and be sure you’re sweating while you write. It will make the holidays seem so-o-o far away. By the time you finish your articles and things are really chilly outside, you’ll appreciate it.
2. For every 3 holiday articles you write, force yourself to write 1 article about modern cannibalism, high school poetry, what really goes in fast food, or something equally repulsive. It will make the holidays seem extremely appealing all over again.
3. Write some of your articles from the perspective of an alien seeking to understand the strange planet earth customs. Let it rekindle your fascination.
4. Whatever you do, don’tgive in to the urge to turn on Christmas carols to “get you in the mood” while you’re writing the holiday articles. It will completely backfire and by the time the radio stations are playing them, you won’t be able to tolerate another chorus of Jingle Bells without jingling somebody’s bells right out the window.
5. In lieu of holiday music, listen to foreign or different-from-your-norm music instead, like gypsy rock or country or African or tonal. Something you’re not normally into. It will help you disconnect from what you’re writing… (I’m totally making that up, but try it and let me know if it works.)
6. Don’t eat any cookies until December 1st. None. No fudge either, of any kind, and limit your chocolate to the minimum level required to sustain life.
7. Try to get the article writing jobs that are about the “other” holidays of winter. If you normally celebrate Hanukkah, write about Christmas and Kwanzaa. If you celebrate Christmas, write about Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa… You get the idea. It will help you learn about all the holidays and keep your own from becoming stale before Thanksgiving.
8. Use your holiday articles for a cathartic emotional release. Write about all the things you wish you could change about your childhood holidays, or the traditions you hated, or the worst gift you ever got. Cry. Weep over the keyboard. Then lift your head, blow your nose, and create the holiday of your dreams.
9. Write your holiday articles from the opposite of your normal holiday philosophic viewpoint. For example, if you hate the mass marketization of Christmas, write like a person who buys into it all. Or, if you buy into it all, write like a person who is cynical of selling holidays. If you’re into full holiday home regalia, write articles about Christmas minimalism. And vice versa.
10. Go ahead and do all your decorating while you’re in the midst of writing all those holiday articles. It will get you inspired, you’ll be months ahead of the neighbors, and then you can take a nap when you’re through with the holiday writing…
11. Send proposals for Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter articles to your Christmas clients now. Sure, maybe they’ll think you’re crazy, but it will give you something to write besides more winter holiday topics. And some of them might even be impressed with how ahead-of-schedule you are, hire you on, and then you’ll get to write about St. Patty’s day instead of New Year’s Day! Oh, wow!
12. Ban your friends and family members from mentioning anything to do with holidays, festivities, travel plans, or gift ideas until you have finished writing all your holiday articles. Tell them you simply must be able to think about non-holiday things while conversing, since you are so entrenched in holidays while writing, and that they’ll ruin your entire holiday if they don’t cooperate. If they rebel, threaten to take them off the gift list. But don’t talk about actual gifts…
13. No matter how chilly it gets weather-wise, don’t allow yourself to wear any sweaters, corduroys, scarves, gloves, jackets, winter hats, or pullovers until you have written all your articles. You should consider limiting wool socks, as well. Those items are reserved for “actual holiday time wear” and banning them will help you separate writing from actually celebrating.

Make it a good day.

Continuing our discussion of my own “self-sufficiency” freelance writing plan. If you’re just stepping in, you might want to read Part 1 and Part 2.

Step 2: Online Articles and Publications

Many freelance writers start here, browsing job boards and bid sites and building their repertoire with each job attained. The two big problems with starting here are first, the difficulty in getting the good jobs when you have no experience/clips yet, and second, the vast amount of spammy and/or insultingly under “funded” article writing jobs. Each of those obstacles can be overcome, but it can also take time. That’s why I started blogging first: it gave me something consistent to work on, a daily way to build my reputation as a writer, and even when I wasn’t getting decent jobs, or any jobs at all, I was still building my writing skills, my online, SEO, and blogging knowledge, and my professional experience.

Now that I have more blogging experience, I can use that as well as the non-blog writing experience I have (most of which was from offline sources) to gain the better blogging jobs and the better article writing jobs. Since I know I can get the better jobs, I don’t even bother applying to anything that sounds spammish at all or that offers less than what I’ve set as my standard (for now): $0.10 per word or $15 $20 per hour.

My plan is to increase my minimum pay standard as I gain jobs, gain experience, and set up more sources of income. Right now, Step 2 is where I am on my self-sufficiency journey. I’m enjoying it.

If you’re not sure there’s any point to pursuing self-sufficiency (via freelance writing or any method), take a few minutes to read this article by Steve Pavlina.

How about you? Where are you? What step is next?

Make it a good day.

Image Credit: extranoise.

From Steve Pavlina’s post: Ask Steve - Blogging Questions.

Imagine yourself on a stage before an audience of a million people. You have the mic for as long as you want. What would you say? Would you start spouting marketing gobbledegook? Maybe if you want to get boo’ed off the stage. Would you blab on about what you had for breakfast this morning? Zzzzzzz. Figure out what you’d say to that audience (for real), and you’ll know what to blog about. Then go do it!

From Yaro Starack’s post: Pillar Article - How To Write Great Blog Content.

Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

From Darren Rowse’s post: Writing Good Content.

My advice to new bloggers trying to break into a topic where others are already blogging is to take a surf through the other blogs and websites in your niche and do some analysis upon what sort of content that they are producing. In most niches you’ll find that sites are all presenting very similar information in pretty much the same voice, tone and style. As a new blogger on the topic you have a choice - you can either replicate what they are doing and try to do it better (difficult as they will already have loyal readers and unless you’re brilliant at it you’re unlikely to convert these readers over to you) OR you can distinguish yourself in someway from what others are doing.

From Leo Babauta’s post: What Makes Great Blogwriting?

The difference between blogwriting and other forms of writing lies in the audience, and the closeness of the blogger to his readers. Unlike other similar forms of writing, such as the op-ed column, magazine writing and the like, blogwriting is intensely close to the audience….If you try to write without personality, if you try to remove yourself from your writing, it will be dry and not a bit boring. I don’t advise it.

What’s your best blogging advice on writing great content?

It’s tomorrow! Let’s continue the discussion about self-sufficiency, planning for success, what-have-you. Yesterday I outlined my plan. Today I’ll elaborate on the steps a little bit, as my own cryptic notes may not be as obvious to everyone else as they are to me.

Step 1: Blogging

Blogging is the easiest first step for beginning freelancers, I believe, that can also become something worthwhile and lucrative. But it takes time to get to the lucrative point and so many freelance writers end up taking spammy website content jobs and bulk article writing gigs and picking up some copywriting as they can. I have no problem with website content; I like it. It’s lovely. I have no problem with articles, and I just adore copywriting. (Okay, maybe adore is a bit too strong.)

But your early writing is your reputation; it’s your expertise. If you take whatever you can get to get a few bucks in your freelance pocket, you end up with a clips portfolio that looks like a print version of QVC. Not great if you want to move up to higher ground in the freelance world.

This is why I prefer blogs as the starting point. I begin with a two-pronged advance: one independent blog, and one network blog. The independent blog is a great way to, first, get your feet wet and learn blogging terms and play around and, most importantly, create a consistent and professional venue for your (first) chosen area of expertise. When you start sending in apps that require samples, you can go glean from your blog archives and save yourself the trouble of writing up another 500-word article on your topic. This only works well, of course, if you do three things: 1) Keep your blog focused on what you are trying to write about, professionally. 2) Write good blog posts, longer than 250 words, and just leave the little personal updates/photos of my vacation/rant about my new shoes posts off. 3) Apply for jobs that are also focused on what you are trying to write about, professionally, so you can include those posts you wrote for your blog as sample material.

The network blog is a nice place to get help with blogging, to find out about deadlines and requirements for post length and topic and how often you must post, and to build an audience sooner and to make some money from ad revenue sharing. Networks do have better exposure than the independent blogs, at least in the beginning of your blogging venture. So it’s worthwhile for three reasons: 1) Experience, 2) Credibility, and 3) Networking.
Blogging for a network means you are getting experience as a professional blogger, which gives you credibility and an entire blog to use as a reference in your applications. Plus you have an automatic networking opportunity within the blog network. Talk to other bloggers in the network, comment, interact, do joint contests or promotions, etc. Be helpful and friendly, and you’ll end up getting friends and help. Funny how that works.

What Do You Think?

Blogging was my first real step into freelance writing. I had done some freelance writing, already, before I started blogging. I gained that job through old connection when I was working at a “real” job and not pursuing freelance writing at all. It paid well, with sporadic assignments, and I enjoyed it. It whetted my appetite for freelance writing. When the organization changed and the job was no more, I was hooked on freelance writing. Now I’m hooked on blogging… and freelance writing, which are really one and the same thing, just different subcategories of it.

How did you get started freelancing? What was your first job? How did you get it? If you were starting over now, what would you do? What do you think is the best way to get started freelancing? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Make it a good day.