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How to Catch the Writing Bug
If you earn income as a writer, or use writing as a marketing tool, you know how difficult it can be at times to write. I started writing for my website and newsletter a few years ago. Sometimes it would be two or three weeks between articles....
The Benefits of Freewriting
It's 2 am and you're sitting at your desk, no ideas and no thoughts. The cup of coffee to your side is the sixth. But still, the same blank sheet of paper from an hour ago taunts you, there is nothing to show for your effort but a back cramp and a...
The Secret Ingredient to Your Writing
Okay, so what do you need to succeed in your writing career? To keep it simple, I would say just five things – the first four are obvious enough but the last one may shock (and comfort) you. Let's go through them in order: Technical ability This...
Writing A Business Website Sales/Marketing FAQ
Everyone on the web thinks they can write a FAQ. But then why are so many FAQs so lacking? How often have you read a FAQ and thought, "that didn't tell me anything I needed to know!"? Two Worst FAQ Writing Faux Pas * Many websites don't separate...
Writing Tips For Novice Authors
If you are reading this article then you probably have asked yourself at some point in your life, "Do I have what it takes to become an author?"
I believe that successful authors, those who actually write and finish that novel, or book of...
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WRITING YOUR WRITING JOB DESCRIPTION
Have you ever heard about the "motivational" concept of writing your
own obituary?
The idea is, you write what you would like your obit to say, by
summarizing all those accomplishments that you most want to achieve
during the course of your life. Motivation gurus suggest that this
enables us to focus on what's most important to us, while discarding
those activities that truly don't matter in the long run.
Along similar--but less morbid--lines, I believe that we writers
might find it helpful if we took the time to write our own writing
job descriptions. If we could lead the writing lives of our dreams,
what types of writing would we be doing? Who would our customers
and/or readers be? In what niches would we specialize? What would
we consider to be our strongest skills, our areas of expertise?
Or let's say that you want to diversify your writing goals. You
could develop a job description for each niche. In this way, you
could identify the experience and skills you already possess, and
which ones you still need to work on.
Here's an example: suppose one of your writing career goals involves
writing profile articles--of celebrities, politicians, business
leaders, scientists, or just ordinary people who do extraordinary
things. What attributes would such a writer need to possess?
Excellent interviewing skills, obviously. Research skills would help
as
well; you certainly wouldn't want to walk into the interview with
absolutely no background knowledge of your interviewee or his/her
subject matter. Attention to detail would come in handy, too. What
is your interviewee wearing? What can you say about his smile, or
her vocal qualities? What does the interviewee's home or office tell
us about him?
So your profile writing job description might look like this:
Job Title: Profile Article Writer
Job Description: Interview famous, influential and or interesting
people, and write article profiles on them for publication in local
and national magazines.
Skills/Experience Needed: Excellent writing skills and attention to
detail required. Experience in conducting interviews with people in a
wide variety of occupations. Proven online and library research
skills. Knowledge of publications with a track record of running
article profiles.
Do you see how creating a writing job description for yourself might
help direct you towards the kinds of writing assignments that you
want to land? If so, spend some time today developing your own.
About the Author
Mary Anne Hahn is editor and publisher of WriteSuccess, the free
biweekly ezine of ideas, information and inspiration for people who
want to launch and maintain successful writing careers. To
subscribe, mailto: writesuccess-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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| Writing.Com: Writers, Writing, Poetry, Creative Writing, Fiction ... |
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| www.writing.com |
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| Guide to Grammar and Writing |
| The Guide to Grammar and Writing contains scores of digital handouts on grammar and English usage, over 170 computer-graded quizzes, recommendations on ... |
| grammar.ccc.commnet.edu |
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| Purdue University's Online Writing Lab - The OWL Family of Sites |
| Writing lab and resources. Email newsletter available. |
| owl.english.purdue.edu |
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| OWL at Purdue University: General Writing Concerns Handouts |
| This page contains important links to the writing: planning/writing/revising aspects of the OWL website. |
| owl.english.purdue.edu |
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| Writing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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| en.wikipedia.org |
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| Writing.org - Advice for Freelance Writers |
| Articles to help you launch a freelance writing career, from a former literary agent and PLAYBOY editor. |
| www.writing.org |
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| Writing HTML |
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| www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu |
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| National Novel Writing Month - National Novel Writing Month |
| NaNoWriMo is an annual (November) novel writing project that brings together professional and amateur writers from all over the world. |
| www.nanowrimo.org |
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| Poynter Online |
| Apply by Dec. 11 Reporting and Writing the Untold Stories Apply by Dec. 11 ... Reporting & Writing for Multi-Platform Newsrooms. Apply by Jan. 10 ... |
| www.poynter.org |
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| Pages tagged with "writing" on del.icio.us |
| This short online course provides a practical introduction to writing fiction. During the course you will be expected to write two short pieces for ... |
| del.icio.us |
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| BBC Get Writing |
| The BBC's online resource for writing drama and comedy for television, radio and film. |
| www.bbc.co.uk |
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| TOC About Writing |
| Menu of articles on writing written by professional SF/F writers. |
| www.sfwa.org |
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| 11 Rules of Writing -- a concise guide to important grammar ... |
| A concise guide to some of the most frequently violated rules of writing, punctuation, and grammar. |
| www.junketstudies.com |
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| NAEP Writing Subject Area |
| NAEP assesses student performance in writing periodically in grades 4, 8, and 12 for the nation, and in grades 4 and 8 for the states. |
| nces.ed.gov |
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| Writing: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
| See all blog posts tagged with writing on Technorati. |
| www.technorati.com |
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| IPL Teenspace: A+ Research & Writing |
| Includes step-by-step instructions on researching and writing, how to find information online and offline, as well as links to useful resources. |
| www.ipl.org |
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| Dictionary.com: Writing Resources |
| Free online English dictionary and reference guide. List of sites writers can use. |
| dictionary.reference.com |
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| WritingFix: Home of Interactive Writing Prompts and 6 Trait ... |
| Daily and interactive writing prompts. |
| www.writingfix.com |
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| Advice on Academic Writing |
| Includes articles on critical reading, planning, researching, style and editing, grammar and punctuation. |
| www.utoronto.ca |
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