My youngest showed me a bookmark that listed the 20 Texas Bluebonnet nominated books. “Mom, I’m going to read all 20 of these books,” he said. Needless to say, I did cartwheels and back flips in my mind. (The only place it can happen as I haven’t done a decent cartwheel since the ’80s.) A … Read more
Welcome to meryl’s notes blog (this here place you’re lookin’ at) in Plano, Texas. We’re honored to be a stop in Chynna Laird’s WOW! Women On Writing Blog tour. About Chynna Laird: She’s a psychology major, freelance writer and multi award-winning author living in Edmonton, Alberta with her partner, Steve, and their four children. Her … Read more
After arriving at my mom’s house on Thanksgiving, my seventeen-year-old daughter hands me an envelope. Perplexed, I opened it to find a incredible and moving handwritten note of thanks from her. Let’s just say it was enough to bring tears. She wrote one for my mom, my siblings, close friends and — the most amazing … Read more
Image by otherthings via Flickr Many professors and writers I spoke with on this subject, and their numbers are too great to list here, all recommend the same thing: Write a draft, correct it, consider correcting it again, turn it in. Did you see those action items in the middle? Write a draft first. Know … Read more
No rule book exists to tell us how to behave ourselves in social media. With no eyes peeking into ours, we forget real people are out there reading our stuff and we make an impression with every sentence we write online. A colleague told me about an agent who posted in public that his or her … Read more
Imagine This: The editor of a magazine you’ve written several pieces for says yes to a recent query. You outline the parameters of the piece and the conversation turns to money. He says, “Let’s try something a little different this time. Figure out how many hours you think it’ll take to do the piece. Factor … Read more
Prizes: Lifetime subscription for RadioTime.com RedButton software — TiVO for radio where you can pause and record live radio. Business Daffynitions: Humor from the Workplace from Joe Heuer, the Rock and Roll Guru. Just leave a 30-word comment on this post by June 29 to get an entry for a drawing. It’s Poewar’s John Hewitt‘s … Read more
The winner of one full copy of Spinword PC game from Joyboost from the How to Become a Freelance Writer entry is Karen Swim! Congratulations again, Karen. It’s possible to win more than once in the blog entry prizes. This entry’s prizes are a book by Tara Calishain and AWAI’s Accelerated Six Figure Copywriting program … Read more
I’ve been reading Anne Wayman’s stuff for a long time beginning with her About.com page for writers. Then, I followed her to The Golden Pencil and About Freelance Writing. I don’t know how she finds the energy to manage two sites, do her regular writing work, post at least 40 writing gigs every couple of … Read more
Note: The tips in this article can apply to other freelance careers including Web design, art, and photography. People emailed me asking me for advice on how to get started in the writing biz. When I stop to think about it, maybe I’ve been lucky to accomplish much writing in a short time. I have … Read more