Freelancing for Pleasure and Profit

Issue #23

Greetings, Gather writers, and welcome to this issue of Freelancing for Pleasure and Profit. Did you create a writing list of New Year's Resolutions? This is completely separate from the list you may have previously comprised. It doesn't involve losing weight or exercising more, spending less on credit cards or abstaining from chocolate. This one is 100% dedicated to your writing resolutions for the brand new year. Would you like to see mine? Let me preface it by saying that each year I do make a list. I don't always get around to it by January 1. In fact I don't really think of it as related to "New Year's" at all. And...I do make it a point to accomplish most of what's on it every year. I have complete faith that you can do it, too!

Allow me to digress for just a moment here. Before sharing my new list, let's take a look at last year's writing list, and my honest evaluation of it. Maybe you have one from last year that you can evaluate in a similar way.

2007 Writing List

1. Finish my book on Amish culture

2. Get published in 6 new publications (new to me...not necessarily new to the market)

3. Find 3 new regular writing gigs (columns or regular assignments that garner regular wages)

4. Try my hand at a new form of writing

5. Find a person of interest to write a biography or life story on

2007 Results

1. No way, no how. The Amish book didn't get finished. In fact I only wrote a couple of chapters all year. I don't get very high marks for this one.

2. Success! I actually got published in 8 new markets in 2007...from online publications to anthologies to glossy magazines, newspapers and even a tabloid-type magazine.

3. Done, done and done. (and my bills are very happy about this one....as is my husband!)

4. Tried miserably and think I failed. I gave poetry a shot on a couple of occasions. I definitely need a course of Poetry: 101. Ed Nudelman, are you available?

5. Done! I found the person...who at this point must still remain unnamed. I will say this, however. Famous people are HEAVILY guarded by their agents. And THIS agent is extremely neglectful about returning phone calls, as in 3+ months for one simple answer! I'll keep plugging away. It looks like there's a book here for 2008!

Now.....the 2008 list...

2008 Writing List:

1. Finish the book on Amish culture. (Stop laughing at me!)

2. Secure interviews and start working on said biography or life story as in #5 from 2007 list.

3. Get published in 6 new publications.

4. Resurrect my former writing newsletter "Freelancing Later in Life." It once had thousands of subscribers and a couple of years ago "Life" stepped in and I had to forgo its publication.

5. Create and initiate monthly updates of a new web site to promote my writing.

6. Improve my photography skills. This really is important to many publications. If writers can provide good quality photos, it often improves their chance of publication.

7. Find one more steady, ongoing (and good paying!) writing gig.

So there you have it! I've shared my trials and tribulations, my successes and failures, and my hopes for the new writing year. How about sharing yours?