Entries from September 2008 ↓

(The following is a guest post from Philippe-Antoine Menard, the Chatty DM. Phil is a good friend who I had the pleasure of meeting in person at Gen Con this year. Like many of my other readers, Phil aspires to make his living writing. He’s got some great ideas about his niche, roleplaying games, as well as writing in general. Enjoy! - Bob)

I’m a Writer, because I blog or write Standard Operating Procedures for a Living.

I’m a Writer, because I’m a Dungeon Master and write adventures for my friends.

Late last summer, at the Gen Con gaming convention (One of the biggest in North America), I’ve met many awesome people from the Role Playing Game (RPG) industry (and others like myself, sitting at the edge of
it) and many of them are Writers.

I don’t know why they are Writers, but I’m a Writer because, given the opportunity to write about the things I love, I would do it 12 hours a day. Hell, I’d rather write than sleep!

Along with spending time with my family and gaming with my friends, writing makes me satisfied and happy. It brings me in the Flow: Time just stops existing while I spew stuff my mind makes up on the spot, my fingers flying on the keyboard at a speed that nearly matches my excited geek diatribes.

I’m a Writer, and I post my stuff on the Internet because I chose to ignore my doubts and stopped listening to my Inner Demons. I knew I had talent and I’ve managed to get a lot better  since I started blogging 1 year ago.

I would like to become a published author of RPG material. I’d love to write the sequel to Robin Laws’
Rules of Game Mastering. I’d go absolutely geek-crazy to see my name on a Dungeon/Dragon/Kobolds Quarterly (RPG magazines) article.

If there was a way to make a decent living out of it, I’d quit my job in 5 minutes and never look back.

Thing is, in the RPG industry, gamers won’t pay 400$ for a printed game system. While some would spend it for getting a graphics cards just to play this One computer Game, you won’t see this happening in the
RPG industry.

Writers are paid like crap and amateur writer/fans often give out their work for free.

That’s not freaking fair but that’s life. I understand why it’s like that and thank god that the people in the industry are so nice. Quite often, just having a quick chat (or better yet a game) with a designer you admire makes up for all the work you poured into that adventure you wrote to run for their company at a game convention.

I don’t have the courage to leave my current job and jeopardize my family’s security to pursue that dream. I do it in my free time and I make plans, dark, sinister plans.

You Writers deserve better.

That’s why I bought a new copy of Mutants and Masterminds, that’s why I bought a Harley Stroh (a young rising Adventure Writer) D&D adventure at Gen Con . That’s why I gave Wolfgang Baur money to write a D&D adventure and why I bought his Kobold Guide to Game Design.

Guys, you may be paid peanuts, but you deserve all the support you can get.

Same thing goes for the talented, gutsy bloggers out there. You deserve more recognition for the awesome RPG stuff you’ve been writing these last few years.

My latest crazy idea is be to find a way for RPG bloggers to get access to better ad revenues and explore ways to be paid for the good material they put out. So far, things are promising.

Guys, look at what Joss Whedon (Creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Wolfgang Baur are doing and find something to break the current system.

Therein lies the solution, or so I would like to believe.

Toying with perceptions, making truth out of lies and unmaking the impossible, isn’t what being a Writer is all about?

For the third year in a row, Michael Stelzner over at Writing White Papers has offered his readers a list of the top 10 Blogs for Writers. I’m proud to say that, out of 300 entries, The Writing Journey scored 8th. Thank you, readers, for your support, and thank you Michael for your consideration. I’m proud and humbled all at once to be in such great company.

If you’ve arrived at The Writing Journey today for the first time, be sure to check out some of my most popular posts, over in the sidebar. There you’ll find plenty of solid writing advice, both practical and inspirational.

Here’s the full list, along with Michael’s comments on each:

1. Copyblogger: As the undefeated champ, this blog has held the number-one spot for three straight years!  The baby of Brian Clark, this blog keeps winning because of its excellent and educational articles.
2. Men With Pens: James Chartrand and Harry McLeod are the dynamic duo who continue to deliver rich content and community discussion.
3. Freelance Writing Jobs: Founded by Deb Ng, this site is the first stop for freelance writers seeking new work and great articles (and it remains a top winner since this contest began).
4. Write to Done: This blog delivers a steady stream of excellent articles for all writers and is the product of top blogger Leo Babauta.
5. Confident Writing: Looking for encouragement? Joanna Young will help you take your writing to the next level.
6. The Renegade Writer: Linda Formichelli and Diana Burell, authors of a book by the same name, help freelance journalists find inspiration.
7. Remarkable Communication: One part writing, one part marketing and one part selling, this excellent blog by Sonia Simone will help any writer succeed.
8. Writing Journey: Looking for a great stop on your writing journey? Bob Younce’s blog will refresh and energize you.
9. Freelance Parent: Two moms, Lorna Doone Brewer and Tamara Berry, provide excellent perspective on writing while balancing time with little ones.
10. Urban Muse: Susan Johnston covers a wide range of excellent topics that all writers will enjoy.

Congratulations to everyone!

One of the most amazing things about being a freelance writer is that I don’t have to do any work I don’t want to do. If I’m not comfortable with the subject matter, I don’t have to take the gig. I can pick and choose my work based on my own moral code and comfort level. Unlike my former life as a cubicle dweller, I’ll never have to make a choice between conscience and my boss’ demands.

On top of that, though, the work I do can make a difference in my world. Sure, not every gig is world changing. But some are. And what I do right here is, too. The fact that my work can have a purpose beyond just earning a paycheck is one of the things that sustains me on a daily basis.

I have a guest post today over at Freelance folder calledFreelancers: 3 Principles That Can Change Your World. Go give it a look, and let me know what you think over there, and let me know how you use your career as a freelancer to change your world.

If you’ve been freelancing for any amount of time, you’ve probably had one of those days.

You know the days I’m talking about. You sit down in front of your computer with your morning coffee, and you feel empty. You’ve got nothing. No inspiration, no motivation, no desire to be sitting there. For a brief moment, even the thought of a cubicle is appealing. At least in a cubicle you could blow off some of your day doing something nonconstructive, if you really worked at it.

Of course, it doesn’t take long thinking about that cubicle before you start to snap to your senses. No, you’ve got the best job in the world. You wouldn’t trade it for anything.

You just don’t want to be doing it today.

Words start flowing, but then they all start flowing together. One article seems to read just like another, and every time you finish a page you count how many more you’ve got to do before you can be done for the day.

You’ve got a touch of freelance burnout.

I get to feeling like this about once a month or so. I’ve learned, however, some techniques that help me to get past it, refocus my efforts, and start loving what I do again. While I can’t promise these techniques will work for everyone, they do pretty well for me:

Switch up your editorial calendar

When you’re writing an ebook or a series of articles, you can get so focused on one topic that it becomes utterly boring. Take an hour in the middle of that ebook to work on something else. If you don’t have any other client projects, write a blog post, or work on your novel for a little while. Sometimes just letting the creative juices flow in a different direction is enough to rebuild your steam.

Take a day off

I know, I know. We’re freelancers. We don’t get days off. Well, I’m here to tell you that if you don’t take a day off from time to time, you’re going to crash and burn. Don’t worry about the work; it will be there tomorrow. So will your bills. Give yourself a day, or an afternoon, to refocus. It’s likely that when you return to work tomorrow, your productivity will skyrocket, making up for much of your “lost” day.

Read something inspiring

Whether it’s a Dilbert cartoon or whether it’s an inspiring post from your favorite freelance blogger, sometimes you need someone else to remind you why you’re a freelancer. Go back to a favorite post from days gone by and really read it. Visit some writing blogs, or try to find a new writing blog out there. Read a passage from Stephen King’s On Writing, or even just sit down with a good novel.

There are plent of other ways to refocus your freelancing efforts. What have you tried? What works for you, and what doesn’t?

It feels darn good to be back.

I can honestly say, my little blogging break has done me a world of good. It’s allowed me to focus on the things in my freelance business that really matter, sort out some priorities, and hone in on my core competencies and primary objectives.

Thank you all for your patience, and thank you for coming back today. You’ve been missed, truly.

__________

photo credit: shioshvili

When I first met married my wife back in December of 1996, I loved her and her 2 year-old daughter with everything that was in my being. I thought, as we drove away from the courthouse in downtown Indianapolis on that cold day, that there was no way in the world I would ever lover her more.

I was wrong.

You see, in March of 1998, our daughter Elisabeth was born. It was a rough pregnancy, and it was a bit tenuous right after Ellie was born, but we came through it all right. In fact, we came through it stronger than ever. By December of 1998, I realized that my love for Angie was bigger than ever. I loved her more than I ever thought I could.

When I left the IT field to get my Master’s degree, things were hard. I was struggling with depression and anxiety, and there were days where I was barely functional. Angie saw me through those times, and by the time my freelance writing career began to kick off, I realized that my love for her was, yet again, bigger than it was before.

I was thinking last week about my college days. I recall a particular professor, Wilbur Williams, who was in his 60s when I first met him. He often talked lovingly about his wife, Ardelia. He told how, in their decades of marriage, they had continued to grow more and more in love with each other. My wife and I were very much the same.

Professor Williams used to describe love as a cup. When you first meet and fall in love, your little cup fills up pretty quickly. As time goes on, though, you replace that little cup with a mug. If you don’t continually work to fill up your mug, you’ll feel less and less in love. By the time you hit one, and then two, and then three decades of marriage, you’ve got a giant bowl, and it’s either full of love for your spouse, or it’s not.

That’s why so many relationships fail. As we grow older, our capacity for love grows. If we fill that with something other than love for the other person, it mucks everything up.

———-

What does this have to do with writing?

Well, a writing business , if you’re doing it right, will continue to expand in its possibilities. You’ll find new ways to sell your writing, new clients, new types of writing, and even other sorts of related business. If you don’t give your business the nourishment it needs as it grows, everything gets mucked up.

My successful little writing business, which was once a little bitty espresso cup, is now a full-fledged Starbucks Venti. If it gets any bigger, it’ll become a bucket.

To keep things going, to keep things from getting mucked up, I’ve had to find new ways to fill my cup. I’m working with some other writers to see just how much qaulity content we can produce. I’ve brought on an administrative assistant to help organize our gigs and help keep all of our ducks in a row. I’m mapping out long-term plans, diving into new types of writing business, and finding creative ways to add significant value to my end product.

To be sure, I’ve made mistakes along the way. Like my marriage, my freelance career hasn’t always been a bed of roses. But also like my marriage, I am more committed to and enjoying my business today than I ever have before.

And that’s the lesson for today, folks: if you want to be successful as a freelancer, don’t fight growth. Nurture it, care for it, and do it right, but don’t fight it. If you do, you’ll find yourself less committed and less satisfied than you could be.