Rules 7 - 10
7) Repeat after Kenny Rogers: “You got to know when to hold’em; know when to fold’em…”
Sometimes we all get stuck on a track that leads to nowhere but for some reason we keep banging our heads on the same wall.
There ARE alternatives in life, especially for writers. Remember that.
I was a newspaper reporter for four years in Washington DC. The first couple of years I thought my career was going somewhere.
During the last two years I realized, nope, it wasn’t really going to add up to anything. I was on a treadmill repeating the same old things for the same old results. No progress.
After looking around for six months, someone suggested “technical writing” – something I didn't even think before. I wasn’t even sure what tech writers exactly did. But I decided to take a calculated gamble anyways.
I gave myself six months to see what would happen. And I never looked back since. Am I glad I did not try to hold on to my “journalism cards”! I would probably be on welfare roll by now, God forbid.
So be aware of the many alternatives waiting for you out there.
If sports writing doesn’t work, perhaps you should try catalog writing. If your newspaper job is going nowhere, perhaps you should try writing a novel or try direct marketing copy.
Move sideways to move forward.
Have a web site. You have to have this one.
I have a blog for sure. Who doesn’t have one these days?
But my main web site is a non-blog type of traditional site, designed to display my “wares” to prospective clients. People who’d like to hire my services can find all kinds of pertinent information there to help them make up their minds.
One other thing I have on my web site is a Subscription Form for those who’d like to receive my free monthly newsletter (currently in its 73rd issue) packed with useful information and tips about copywriting, information design and marketing.
You must also have a similar site to communicate with your audience, clients, editors, employers, while displaying the samples of your work.
Google offers FREE web hosting and web site building tools, for quite a few years now. I’ve actually built my web site on Google Pages. I may have to move it soon to a dedicated server but it has served me pretty well so far, since 2006. So, free server, free web space, free HTML editor – what excuse do you have not to build your web site right away, like today?
9) Join, connect, participate, collaborate. Writing is a solitary job.
We usually sit in our own cubicles and rooms, creating worlds never imagined before. But there’s also a professional side to writing; a business side.
You need to be in the know; you need to connect and communicate with your other writers, and stay in circulation to follow the trends and hear about the opportunities. Become a member of your local writing organization.
I’m a member of a pretty good writers club that regularly offer classes of all kinds. I end up taking about one class a year. But I also am a member of many on-line communities and newsletters.
I regularly exchange e-mails with selected writer friends and acquaintances whose judgments and good will I respect.
I sometimes end up collaborating with them on special projects; like the last screenplay I’m working on right now. The idea of writing it came from my co-author and after a year, we’re working on our second jointly-written script. We both know that neither of us would be able to write these scripts if we tried to do it solely on our own. So we are lucky in that respect. But we couldn’t have known anything about that luck if we did not choose to get in touch and stay in touch in the first place.
You are a precious fish in a vast ocean. Swim a little in a school of fishes and see how faster you can stream.
10) Take care of your health. I can’t emphasize this strongly enough.
Most people learn late in their careers that writing is actually an athletic event. You burn a lot of precious calories and brain cells when pounding out anything.
When we write we use a lot: proteins, vitamins, amino acids, carbon and nitrogen, and God knows what else. Eat well, fresh and organic, if possible.
Take it easy on the red meat. Go generous with fruits, green veggies, and fiber. Stay away from booze and junk since they all dull the mind and drop a curtain of haze over your clear skies.
Charles Bukowski was an alcoholic, and wrote some great poems.
Wallace Stevens was the Vice President of Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. He was an insurance guy; a suit and a "square."
He wrote even greater poems while walking during his lunch hours to his home.
Guess who has left a deeper imprint on American Literature today?
Get your sleep well and exercise well. Get those glands and ligaments moving. Get that life juice in your veins circulating, carrying fresh oxygen and bubbling ideas to your brain. When your body is not complaining, the mind will be a more pliant servant.
Take good care and just feel how lucky you are to be a writer, bringing hope, joy and love to our troubled world!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit Akinci’s web site http://www.writer111.com to subscribe to his free Monthly Success Update Newsletter, packed with information and tips on copywriting, information design and marketing.
Popularity: 10% [?]
May 8th, 2008 at 11:49 am
When my writing career was going nowhere beyond some freelance work and a continual promise from my old company to move me to a position I was better suited for, I made the move to instructional design. I didn’t know what it entailed, but I lucked out into finding a boss/company that was an incredible fit for me. Now I write for them when I’m not too busy being a project manager, and I work on blogging and fiction in my own time. It was the best move I ever made.