About Writing: Just Get Started!

Do you have writer’s block? Are you not sure where to start? Simply start writing and you are one step closer to finishing.

A Work In Context – The Paradigm

A paradigm has been described as “A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them.”

Each writer comes at their work with a certain paradigm at work. Each writer will write with a set of assumptions about the world around them, they will subconsciously include concepts and values they find imperative. In the broadest perspective possible each writer will express their worldview in some form o…

A Secret To Getting Published

When Warner Books, one of the world’s largest publishing companies, published my first book, The Angry Clam, back in 1998, the most common question I was asked was, “What were you smoking when you wrote this book?” This was quickly followed by the second most common question, “How in the world did a 40-page, hand-written book with bad drawings of a clam get published?”

The answer to the first question was easy – pure Turkish Hashish – just kidding. (Actually, I awoke in th…

5 Writing Myths Busted

Don’t let your writing fall victim to these five myths about writing.

Write in Chunks to Write Effectively

Professional writers are often admired or envied for the end products they create. Yet, few look at the process of writing as an exciting career choice. And, for good reason. Don’t try to get your entire message written at once – especially if it’s an important message. Instead, think of writing as a series of intense moments broken up by longer periods spent doing something else.

For example, if you need to write an important memo, think about the chunks involved in creating it. Let’s say your memo will start with an objective, in which you outline the problem that needs to be addressed. In the second section you outline the options for addressing the problem.

Blogging: A Writer’s Journal

A novel way for a writer to keep prospects and fans in the loop on their progress as a writer is through the use of a web log or ‘Blog’.

“This notion of self-publishing, which is what Blogger and blogging are really about, is the next big wave of human communication. The last big wave was Web activity. Before that one it was e-mail.” – Eric Schmidt

This online tool has allowed many writers to share thoughts, humor, politics, and more with any and all who would visit. Si…

5 Reasons Every Writer Needs a Web Site

If you are serious about your writing, in fact even if you aren’t, you need a web site. Let me repeat that — every writer needs a web site!

1. Your web site can serve as your showcase and portfolio. It can include your biography, experience, and writing credits as well as copies of your work or better yet–links to your published work. So many queries today are done electronically and it much easier to simply include a URL for editors or prospective clients to visit than to try to attach copies and/or a long list of urls on various locations.

2. Your web site can be your creative outlet. Perhaps your bread-and-butter writing is in the financial field but you really enjoy writing poetry or about fly fishing. Then you can publish those pieces on your web site to receive exposure or simply to reward yourself for a job well done.

3. You can demonstrate your expertise in your particular field or fields by demonstrating the number of articles you have written in that area as well as any experience and/or education you may offer in this field. Listing your articles or putting a selection on your site will get your name linked with various key words surrounding that topic in the search engines.

4. For writers, your name is your brand and you need to continually have your name out there and furthermore you need to have it connected with your areas of expertise. The more articles and essays you have published on the web then the more times your name gets out there for readers, clients, and editors. Owning your own web site (deannamascle.com for example) is like owning your own billboard on the internet superhighway.

5. You can earn money with your own web site and your writing even without getting paid by publications. Place Pay-Per-Click ads on your site or sign up for some affiliate programs to advertise on your site. I hope I’ve convinced you that a web site can be an asset to your writing career, but I must warn you that web mastering can be very addictive to us creative types. Don’t let it overtake your writing time.

3 Ways You Can Profit From Giving Your Writing Away

I recently made an important discovery that I just couldn’t wait to share. You can make money by giving your writing away. You have to do the work yourself and it will take some time to set everything in place — but anyone with an elementary grasp of the English language can make this work!

Giving your writing away to web sites, blogs, ezines, and newsletters can really make you some serious cash on the internet and I’m not joking. I have been writing professionally for two decades and I never thought I’d make more by writing for free but I am.

The truth is that I’m making more money writing part-time for free than I did in any of my full-time paid writing jobs and that includes advances and royalties from the publication of three novels.

      ~ Traffic for my web sites and blogs (I’ve seen traffic triple within a week from some articles)

      ~ Reputation building for me and my online enterprises which helps attract clients, customers, and visitors

      ~ Profit for my advertisers and for me through sales of my own products as well as affiliate income

It really is not a difficult or complicated business model and one any competent writer, or anyone with the ability to string a decent sentence together, could replicate or modify to suit their purpose. I am a writer not a business person, but I know this is working for me and that it could work for you, too.

And let me share one last terrific benefit of this writing business — you can write whatever you want. You aren’t dependent on some editor’s whim or assignment. You don’t need to worry about tightly focusing your work to fit within a publication’s editorial guidelines. You are in total control — you write to suit yourself in terms of topic, approach, and tone. I promise!