Getting Ideas for Projects

Where do ideas come from? Most writers get lots of them, and ideas are truly the backbone of writing. You need great ideas to write that query, create that book, impress that client, and land that job. Being able to create lots of ideas fast is a skill that’s in demand. There are a few reliable ways to generate ideas for your writing:

1) Carry around a notebook. Every time you get an idea, jot it down. You may get ideas from your daily walks, from questions clients and friends ask you, from things you read, and from the things you see. Become sensitive to questions. They are often the best hint that an idea is about to develop. If you find yourself reading something and thinking to yourself “I wonder…” then you have an idea. Stay alert for questions that people ask you – “How do I…?”  “What do you think…?” These are often great ideas for articles or short fillers.

2) Brainstorm. I like to brainstorm on big pieces of paper, using lots of colored pens. Brainstorming is nothing more than just writing down all the ideas you have – even the silly ones – to see which ideas are best.

3) Collect. Paste newspaper clippings, photos you like, pictures cut from magazines, and stubs into a scrapbook. Browse through once a week or once a month – this is a great way to generate ideas for personal essays and articles.

4) Put together two things that don’t belong. In many ways, there are no completely new ideas. But, you can put a fresh spin on things. Flip randomly through a list of words and pick one word. Then, close your eyes and run through the list again, randomly stopping on a word. Now, put your two words together and create a poem, story, or filler about it. Trying to make two very different words fit together is a good practice for thinking creatively.

5) Look at what you have already written and try to find new approaches. This works really well with articles. For example, if you have written an article about choosing a digital camera, maybe you can write an article about setting up your camera or taking pictures. Maybe you could write a personal essay about the first time you used your camera. Maybe you could write an article for a children’s magazine about how kids can choose their first camera.

Today’s leads:

1) http://db.texaspress.com/jobbank/ — The Texas Press Association has a job bank.

2) http://www.vpa.net/jobs.htm — Jobs at Virginia newspapers.

3) http://www.allfreelancework.com/ — You need to register, but it’s free to do so. Jobs range from low-paying to decent gigs.

4) http://www.aquent.com/ — This recruitment company offers creative staffing and marketing solutions to businesses. Their page has a job search function, or you can send in your CV and register with the company.

5) http://www.freelanceq.com/ — This site allows you to register for free and will troll the web for you, looking for freelance work opportunities that meet your search criteria. A handy tool for job-seekers and a neat way to find lots of opportunities.

6) http://www.sologig.com/ — This is another website that has you register before you can get any gigs. It is not a bid site, but I notice that most employers do not post the fees they want to pay – you apply for the job and “negotiate” with the employer about fees. This can work against you, especially if lots of other writers apply. This isn’t a freelance bid site, but the results may be similar. Still, some of you may like it.

7) http://www.writeradvice.com/markets.html — This web site has lots of great resources, plus markets for writers.

Creativity

Creativity is one of those things I think about a lot. Is my writing fresh and creative enough? How can I be more creative in what I write? Every writer I know also thinks about and worries about the subject. Years ago, it was popular to believe that creativity was just something that some people were born with. Today, it is popular to see creativity as something that can be taught. Great teachers such as Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron are worth checking out if you want to learn how to boost your creativity. You may not agree with everything they write – I don’t – but the exercises and tools they give are great.

Today’s job leads:

1) http://www.inanews.com/about/viewlistings.php — The Iowa Newspaper Association has a job listings page.

2) http://www.mna.org/mna-resources/mnajob.html — The Minnesota Newspaper Association lists lots of jobs for writers.

3) http://nenews.org/jobs/index.html — The New England Newspaper Association has a job bank.

4) http://www.njpa.org/njpa/jobs/index.html — The New Jersey Press Association has a job page.

5) http://www.ncpress.com/ncpa/jobbank.html — The North Carolina Press Association lists jobs for writers and editors.

6) http://www.orenews.com/cgi-bin/internal/database/jobs/showjobs.cgi — ONPA member newspapers regularly advertise writing and editorial jobs on this page.

7) http://www.snpa.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=CircuitAddOn.employment – The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association lists news jobs, writing and editorial positions, and internships here.

Freewriting

Freewriting is one of those tools I use all the time. It’s a great way to complete work when I’m not feeling motivated and it’s a great way to get my creativity going when I feel sluggish. Freewriting is also blessedly simple:

1) Get your weapons. You will need a piece of paper and a pen or your computer and a timer. You can find an online timer at http://html_help4u.tripod.com/javatime.html and at http://www.timeme.com/timer.htm.

2) Decide how long you will write. At the beginning, 5 minutes might be a good aim, but if you learn to like freewriting as much as I do, you might end up going for 45 minutes. You can also set your timer for 10 or 15 minutes – do what feels right for you.

3) At the top of your paper or blank screen, type out what you will be writing about. This can be a topic you have for an article, the next scene of your novel, or just a general idea , such as “love.”

4) Start the timer and immediately begin to write. Write without stopping until the alarm goes off. Write quickly and do not go back or edit what you have written. Just keep moving forward. If you get stuck, write “I don’t know what to write, but” or write the words at the top of your screen or paper. You may veer off in all sorts of directions or even onto different topics. Again, don’t think or worry about it. Just write.

5) When the timer indicates that your time is off, review what you have written. You may find that there are some sentences, ideas, and phrases that you can use in your work. If there aren’t you will still find that you leave the exercise more motivated to write. It’s very rewarding to be able to produce some work – and often good work – in such a short period of time.

6) Repeat as necessary.

Many people think that freewriting works because when you do this exercise you are not listening to that little voice inside your head that tries to tell you that you can’t write. Creativity experts – including Natalie Goldman and Julia Cameron – both advise something similar to this exercise. It really works. Try it out for yourself.

1) http://www.freedom.com/jobs/ — Freedom Communications Inc. usually has a number of jobs of interest to writers, mostly in the US.

2) http://www.hearstcorp.com/human_resources/ — Hearst has many opportunities for editors and some for writers.

3) http://www.hotjobs.com/ — A general job site, usually with a number of jobs for writers and editors.

4) http://jobs.mediageneral.com/ — Lots of media jobs here.

5) http://www.lee.net/careers/ — Lee Enterprises has a number of positions in newspapers.

6) http://biz.oregonian.com/jobs/ — The Oregonian has lots of newsroom jobs, internships, and some editor positions, usually.

7) http://gapress.org/classifieds.html — The Georgia Press Association has a classified section that lists Georgia news jobs.

Ghostwriting

A few posts ago, I wrote about a plagiarism case that was bothering me. Well it’s still bothering me. The so-called author is still not admitting that she did anything wrong, because her ghostwriter apparently offered her the plagiarized material. This is just a stupid argument. When you place your name on something, you take responsibility for it. Unless you have a contract stating specifically that the ghostwriter is liable for any mistakes or problems with the text, you are also legally responsible for the work that appears under your name. Even with all that, it is just common sense to check to make sure that the content you have received is not plagiarized. Add to the fact that this writer very unethically claimed that the writing was her own and you have a real mess.

Why does the case bother me? A few reasons. First of all, I don’t think this was just a “mistake” and the author’s bull-headed and suspicious actions after being uncovered anger me. It’s not ok to keep plagiarized work on other sites after you have been outed. It’s not ok to try to bully others into not speaking about your case. It’s not ok to try to get pity in order to distract attention away from what you have done wrong.

The other thing that really bothers me is the way that this author used ghostwriting. I ghostwrite and it is in fact a very lucrative and interesting job. However, I do not ghostwrite for people who style themselves as “writers” and try to get work from ghostwritten material, which is what this author tried to do. Ghostwriters are for businesses and professionals who have something to say but don’t have the writing ability to express themselves. Ghostwriters, for example, help celebrities write autobiographies or help companies create websites. If you claim that writing is your “gift” you do not hire a ghostwriter – you continue polishing your gift until it can be shared with the world. You do not take shortcuts.

Rant over. Here are today’s job leads:

1) http://novelandshortstory.com/blog/ — This blog lists markets, conferences, and other opportunities of interest to fiction writers.

2) http://www.netread.com/jobs/jobs/ — Lots of jobs for writers, editors, designers, and professionals in the publishing industry.

3) http://careerlink.com/ –  A general job site, but often with a good listing of jobs opportunities.

4) http://www.mcclatchy.com/108/story/230.html — A newspaper giant with many jobs of interest to writers.

5) http://www.cnhi.com/employment — Employment opportunities at CNHI newspapers.

6) http://www.coxnews.com/html/careers.html — Job opportunities at Cox newspapers.

7) http://www.dowjones.com/Careers/Careers.htm/index.html — Dow Jones have editorial positions and other opportunities of interest to writers.

Today’s Writing Leads

I don’t have a ton of time today, but I just wanted to post some leads here:

 

1) http://www.corecreativegroup.com/ — This web site posts regular writing gigs.

2) http://themusepub.blogspot.com/ — This blog posts plenty of job opps.

3) http://www.careerbuilder.ca/CA/Default.aspx — A general job site, but with lots of writing jobs.

4) http://performancing.com/forum/326 — Lots of blogging jobs listed here.

5) http://www.ralan.com/ — Lots of paying markets for speculative fiction writers.

 

6) http://www.jobadsusa.com/jobseekers/search.php3 — A general job site, usually with a good selection of writing and editing gigs.

7) http://www.creative-weblogging.com/50226711/jobs.php — A blog with lots of writing jobs, blogging jobs, and editing opportunities.  

Landing Great Jobs

Of the many writing jobs out there, only some are gigs you actually want. When applying for jobs, make it your policy to never apply for jobs you wouldn’t love. You have so many options that it really does not make any sense to take on work that will make you dread heading to the computer every morning. Research companies before applying and even once you land a gig, keep in mind that you can say “no.” Sometimes a company will seem very legitimate before you apply but once your application is accepted you might find that all your projects are due ASAP – with no extra compensation for the rush jobs.

Part of getting a great jobs means working out expectations early on. Determine your hourly or by-word fee as well as deadlines and be wary of that “extra bit of work” assigned to you from time to time. You should be compensated for even the “little extra bit” you have to do. The last thing you want is a client devaluing your work by slowly and steadily assigning more work for the same pay. Make your rules clear up front – when do you need to be paid? How will you be paid? Do you wish to impose late fees on late payments? How much lead time do you need on assignments? Are there rules business calls you want to make? If so, you better make them now, before a client gets too used to calling you late at night and on Sunday mornings.

Take a few minutes to draw up your perfect work circumstance and when you take on an assignment, consider sharing these rules – gently and kindly – with your new employer. It’s not so scary – start with “To better create content that makes my clients happy, I have the following rules. Can we agree to abide by them?” If your rules are reasonable the only clients you will alienate are those you don’t want to be working with anyway.

As a writer, you set your own working conditions, so set them consciously.

Here are today’s job leads:

1) http://bloodletters.com/goblin/?viewall=true – Markets for prose and poetry, mostly SF, horror, and fantasy.

2) http://www.writingtoheal.com/pew/markets.html — This site lists markets accepting personal essays. Read writer guidelines – not all markets listed are paying ones.

3) http://www.publication.com/aylad/paying.htm — A list of paying markets (mostly magazines).

4) http://womenst.library.wisc.edu/mags.htm — Lots of markets. Almost all are women’s publications.

5) http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/basic/employment.jsp — Basic Books sometimes has editor positions open and they are always accepting resumes.

6) http://www.battelle.org/careers/index.aspx — Battelle publishes science and tech books and are sometimes in need of editors.

7) http://www.beacon.org/client/client_pages/about_openings.cfm — Beacon Press often has jobs and internships of interest to writers.

Today’s Job Leads

1) http://www.writelit.com/market — Markets listed and updated often.

2) http://www.smartwriters.com/content/blogcategory/25/18/ — Magazine markets for children’s writers.

3) http://www.jbwb.co.uk/markets.html — Lots of markets listed, most in the UK. You need to navigate around the site a bit to figure out where the markets are, but it is well worth the effort.

4) http://home.snafu.de/gadfly/a-c.htm — Canadian paying markets for your work.

5) http://www.forwriters.com/markets.html — Lots of markets for your work. Most listed here are paying, with some non-paying.

6) http://storypilot.com/ — A search engine that lets you find markets for your work. Mostly for fantasy and SF writers.

7) http://www.utmostchristianwriters.com/markets/wrpubs.php — Markets for Christian writers. Not all markets are paying, so read the writer guidelines.

Creative Writing — Barbara Kyle’s Writing Fiction Workshops

Here is a peek inside a writers’ workshop. Some very useful ideas here.

Controversy

There’s a bit of a tempest in a tea pot right now over allegations that a newbie author has plagiarized word for word the work of noted author David Gemmell. The situation is very weird, since the author chose to work with noted scam artists (which she now blames for the plagiarism) and because both the author and her agent are threatening law suits and even Wiccan curses on everyone. You can read all about the controversy here:

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2007/10/11/top-10-tips-for-plagairists/

A number of things that the author is doing – including using her disability as an excuse and painting herself as the victim of a scam – make it very hard to defend her. Nevertheless, reading about the whole mess has made me realize:

1) Publishers that accept anything for a fee are not a great route. Presumably, the publisher in this case did not check for plagiarism or writing quality because the company was being paid to produce the book. Of course, plagiarism does happen with traditional publishers, but it seems less likely to happen when there are professional editors reading your work.

2) If your agent cannot string together a decent sentence and charges you fees to place your book with a vanity press, you need a new agent.

3) You really, really need to know about the publishing industry before trying to get into writing books. Part of the reason why I find it so hard to have sympathy for the author in this case is because she claims that she did not know that the people around her were scam artists. Yet, she has her own web site and obviously does some online marketing. Surely, she has enough computer knowledge to Google the names of people she is working with to check their legitimacy.

4) If you don’t like writing and pay someone else to write for you, become a business entity or a retailer. Do not become an author, especially not one that gushes that writing is a “gift” you want to share with the world.

5) If you screw up, it’s better just to admit the mistake, apologize and try to rectify the situation. The author in this case at first claimed that the work was hers then did not immediately try to remove the offending text from her web page. In fact, what she seemed to want most is for people to stop talking about it.

That’s just my two cents. Here are the job leads for today:

1) http://www.randallpub.com/careers.shtml Randall Reilly sometimes has editorial positions open.

2) http://www.putman.net/careers/submit_resume.php — Putman Media sometimes has writing and editing opportunities.

3) http://www.phillips.com/employment.html — Phillips often has content, writing, and editing jobs available.

4) http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/pbonline.html — This great site from Louie Crew has a list of poetry markets that accept submissions electronically.

5) http://www.poetrymachine.com/ — This great site lists lots of markets for poetry – International, Canadian and US markets here.

6) http://www.writers.ns.ca/periodicals.html — The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia has a nice page of markets.

7) http://www.writersreign.co.uk/Markets_for_Writers.html — Markets and writing gigs, mostly in the UK.

Writers and Money

It’s a touchy subject and the one topic most likely to cause conflict on writers’ discussion boards and forums. Some writers write for no pay while others claim that writers writing for free lower everyone’s chances for decent payment. A decent fee for one writer is unacceptably low for another.

If you’re a professional writer and can produce good copy reliably then you deserve to be compensated for your work. If you choose to write for nothing, that is your business, but if you write for money you should be paid a good wage.

So what’s a good wage? Ahh. That’s the big question. Everyone has a different view of what a fair wage is and in part it varies depending on where you live. A decent wage in New York City is very different from a decent wage in Nova Scotia. Your best bet when figuring this out is to determine how much you want to make per year. Let’s say that for you it’s $40 000. Keep in mind that taxes, all benefits, sick days, and health care costs come out of this. Let’s say, though, that you live somewhere where living costs are low and $40 000 is a decent wage for you.

There are 52 weeks in a year so you will need to earn about $770 per week to average out $40 000. For a 40-hour work week that’s about $154 a day or about $20 per hour. That means that when considering a project, you should estimate (generously) how much time you will need to complete the project. If the amount you are getting is less than $20/hour you need to renegotiate or turn down the project. I know that turning down a paying project is scary, but if it is taking you away from a decent wage, you need to turn it down.

By the way, to be on the safe side, I recommend that anyone who wants to earn $40 000 a year writing (which is a very easy goal to achieve, in fact) actually double the hourly wage. That’s right – aim for $40 an hour rather than $20. That’s because if you stick with the $20 you will inevitably earn less than your $40 000. Again, as a freelancer you are paying for overhead, taxes, benefits, and sick days out of your own pocket, so increasing your wage is the best way to ensure that you meet your financial needs. You can even follow this model with $100 000 or whatever yearly wage you want to earn. Once you know you need to earn a certain amount each day, it’s amazing how clearly you can select which projects to take on. It’s also very freeing to know that you sit at your desk until you earn your daily amount. Once you have done that, you can switch off your computer and enjoy the rest of the evening.

Today’s job leads:

1) http://www.cpb.org/jobline/ — Jobs in public broadcasting.

2) http://www.publishinghelp.com/editors/eoclas.shtml — Jobs for editors and some copywriters from Editors Only classifieds.

3) http://careerbank.naa.org/search.cfm — Lots of jobs in newspapers, as well as internships. Most are in the US, although some Canadian jobs do crop up.

4) http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/ubm/workingubm/jobshop/ — United Business Media has positions (editorial and some copywriting, usually) open in the UK and US.

5) http://www.reedbusiness.apply2jobs.com/ — Reed Business Information has positions available in the US in editorial and publishing fields.

6) http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=variety_careers – Online media and writing job search board.

7) http://jobs.publishersweekly.com/ — Publishers Weekly has a Job Zone that lists lots of jobs in editing and publishing fields.