Writing-World - the site for freelance writers

Unnecessary Quotation Marks: not just unnecessary, absolutely hilarious

Now, I know I said recently that pointing out other people's errors is pretty mean, but let's face it: it's sometimes just plain funny, too.

Take unnecessary quotation marks. Why do people "do" it? Who knows. But the results can be be downright hilarious, so when Fi drew my attention to an entire blog dedicated to recording these bloopers, I knew I was about to lose a large part of my afternoon to sitting chuckling over the images.

It's called The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, and I totally recommend it if you're ever in need of a bit of light relief. My favourite so far is the poster shown above. You just know those people are going to be keeping your small change all to themselves, don't you?*

*Note: Not really.

The Fashion Police named best fashion blog in the Glam Network Awards 2009!

A few weeks ago, my blog The Fashion Police was nominated in the fashion category of the Glam Network Awards 2009.  

I posted about the awards on the site itself at the time, but then more or less forgot about it, so you can only imagine how excited I was yesterday when I received an email notifying me that The Fashion Police was the winner of its category!

This is the first major award any of my sites have won, and, coming a few weeks after I decided to quit freelancing and focus on my own blogs full time, it couldn't have come at a better time. The award is voted for by blog readers, so if there's anyone out there reading this who voted for us, my heartfelt thanks: you helped made my day! (And my week, too...)

Follow me on Twitter!

I've mentioned Twitter a few times here recently, and will probably mention it a few more, given that so much of my online life is spent over there now, so I thought I'd invite those of you with Twitter accounts of your own to come on over and say hello.  I tend to use Twitter for social rather than work purposes, but it's always nice to find a new way to connect with people: you can follow me here.

Typos, and why they're not always the end of the world

I have a confession to make: sometimes I make typos. In fact, sometimes they're not even typos. Sometimes - and this will really shock you - sometimes they're actual spelling errors.

I know, I know: a professional writer who sometimes makes mistakes. I should resign right this very second and go and get a job that doesn't require me to write at all, ever: especially given that I actually have a website about writing. I'm not going to, though, because here's the thing: I don't think minor typos are that big a deal. There, I said it. I will let you take a moment to pick yourself back up off the floor here...

Still with me? OK, let me clarify: I'm not saying it's OK to make mistakes, and that we shouldn't bother about them. Not at all. On the contrary, I think anyone who makes a living from writing should make an effort to ensure their writing is as clear, and as error-free as possible. Absolutely.

What I am saying, though, is that when the odd, minor typo creeps in, I don't think it's the end of the world. I mean, we've all done it, haven't we? To err is human, after all, and I can't think of anyone - not a single person - who has never in their life hit the wrong key on a keyboard and failed to notice it.

And yes, I know that's what proofreading is for. But as most writers will tell you, when you've written something yourself, it can be hard to spot the mistakes in it. You see what you THINK is there, and sometimes errors go undetected. Or undetected by you, anyway. Here's one of the big drawbacks of writing online, you see: for every typo you ever make, there will be at least five people ready to jump on it and crow over it. The line, "You call yourself a professional writer, but..." will be used at least once. It's not a good scene, trust me.

Undoubtedly, some of these people are genuinely trying to be helpful. You should be grateful to these people. They're the ones who politely tell us when we've typed something wrong (and tell us by email, too, rather than pointing out the mistake in public and drawing further attention to it), and allow us to correct it without trying to make us feel like idiots for making it in the first place.

Then there are the rest.

Ask Writing World: Is it possible to make money at home by proofreading?

 

Is it possible to make money working from home as a proofreader?

This is one of the questions I get asked most often, and the short answer is: yes.  It is.

I happen to think most things are possible if you work hard enough, though, so perhaps a better question here would be: is it EASY to make a living working from home as a proofreader?

Actually, I suspect this is what most people who ask the first question really wanted to know anyway, and the short answer to that one is: no. It most definitely isn't.

Setting Some Blogging Targets

  Well, after my declaration of a whole new start for me, including more posts here at Writing World (thanks for the encouragement on that post, by the way, everyone - it's much appreciated!) I managed to fall at the first hurdle, and didn't update here at all. D'oh.

I have no real reason for this, other than that it was just One of Those Weeks. On Monday I had my first migraine in nine months, and the after-effects didn't really clear until Thursday or so, leaving me struggling to keep up with my posts, and playing catch-up by the end of the week. This is one of the perils of being your own boss, of course, and the main reason why it's always good to have some posts up your sleeve, and saved as drafts, to prepare for just such an eventuality. If only I'd take my own advice, eh?

Anyway, things are now back on track (well, sort of...) and as I tend to be fairly goal-driven, I thought I'd try setting down a couple of goals for myself, to see if I can try and meet them in my first year of blogging full-time.

A New Start

 

As those of you who read my personal blog (hi, both of you!) might already know, this has been a big week for me, and the start of April and Springtime also marks the start of a slight change of direction in my writing career.

As of last Friday, I'm no longer a freelance writer.

Don't worry, it sounds more dramatic than it actually is. On Friday, I wrote my last ever blog post for my last remaining freelance client. That client was Shiny Media, and I've been working for them on a freelance basis for around four years now, most recently as editor of their shoe blog, Shoewawa.

During that time, though, I've also been working on my own blogs, and those sites have been growing fast: so fast, in fact, that I've been gradually forced to cut back on the amount of time I spend writing for other people, and increase the time I spend working on my own sites. Eventually I reached the point where Shiny was my last remaining freelance client, and as much as I've loved writing for the company (it was Shiny Media that got me into professional blogging in the first place, and without the experience I gained with them, I probably wouldn't be writing this now), I've always known that if I really wanted to grown my own business, the time would come when I had to give up the freelance work and focus on my own sites exclusively.

Well, it looks like that time has come, and I couldn't be more excited about it - and a little nervous, too, obviously. As of now, I'm totally my own boss: all of my income will be coming from the Midas Media network of blogs, and I won't be taking on any more freelance commissions. Well, not unless Vogue come calling, obviously...

We have lots of things planned for the sites. (By "we", incidentally, I mean me and Terry, who isn't often mentioned here, but who is constantly working away in the background, running the technical side of things: I'm not totally a one-woman show!) There will be a change of blogging platform, a little face lift here and there, added features, and also a new blog launching in the next few months.

I hope you'll stick around and see what happens!

As for WritingWorld, well, although I'm no longer freelancing myself, I'm hoping the change will be a positive one here, too. Hopefully the extra time will allow me to update the site more frequently, but you can probably expect more of an emphasis on making a living through blogging, as that's what I'll be focusing on myself.

Bad PR: The Social Media Stalker

Social media is great. Seriously, isn't social media great? It lets you connect with people you might not otherwise have interacted with, it gives you access to new and sometimes fascinating pieces of information, it provides a bit of light relief, and, yes, it can be a great tool for marketing and PR.

It's that last point I have the problem with.

Or, actually, that's not quite right. I don't have a problem with sites like Facebook and Twitter being used as a PR/marketing took per se. I can see how those sites could be useful to people in those occupations, and actually, I don't really mind people using them to pitch me the occasional story idea. Well, I don't mind too much, anyway. Personally, I tend to use Facebook and Twitter  for the third reason listed above - a little bit of light relief during the working day - but I know not everyone uses them  that way, so it's not a huge deal if PRs want to use those channels to contact me about something.

What I do have a problem with, however, is a certain breed of PR I've come to think of as the Social Media Stalker. I encountered one today, as a matter of fact. In the course of just a couple of hours, this person:

Deadbeat Employer: 25 cents for 500 words (and you have to be bilingual!)

When Toni sent me a link to this job advert, I thought at first that the rate was 25 dollars per 500 words . But no. The employer helpfully states:

"Please don't be one of those that confuses cents with dollars. This is 25 cents per clear written blog post."

Wow! Twenty five cents ALL TO MYSELF? There's more, though!

"...we will also increase your pay out too [sic] 1 dollars per article in the future once you have successfully submitted up to 1000 unique posts."

Well, that makes all the difference, doesn't it? I mean, after just 1,000 posts (of 500 words each, remember), you could be earning a massive $1 per post! Now, I'm no mathematician, but I've just worked this out, and for those 1,000 posts, you would make...

$250!

How long do you think it would take you to write 1,000 articles, readers? I'm going to guess "a while". Worth it for $250, do you think? Again, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess "probably not".

Of course, you're probably thinking this "job" advert is aimed at the kind of writers who'll barely be able to string a sentence together. You would be wrong, though, because if you want to apply, you'll need to be "intelligent and articulate" - oh, and bilingual. Yes, bilingual. Just think, all of those years studying a second language will be totally worth it when those first 25 cents hit your Paypal account, no?

I'm surprised this particular employer doesn't just charge writers to work for him. Surely that's the next step?

Freelance Writing Gigs - week ending 13/3/09

Chicksinthehuddle.com Seeks Freelance Writers with Attitude!

Freelance writer needed

Freelance writers wanted

Freelance blog writers needed

Part time freelance writing/blogging

Freelance journalist needed (LA)

Freelance PR writer needed

Freelance writer - green topics

Freelance writer needed