Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Freelance Blogging: Tips To Streamline Your Services

Freelance blogging: with blog gigs plentiful, be selective

Tim says he’s surprised at how quickly his blogging services became popular. “I took on everything I could get for months. That was a mistake. When we’re back to normal and I start a new marketing push, I’ll target a specific niche,” he said.

He’s rethinking his blog writing process too. “I’m hiring a virtual assistant—I’ve been spending more time on business chores than on writing. I also want to speed up my writing because I charge by the project, not by the hour.”

Are you in the same situation? If you’ve got freelance blogging clients, let’s look at how you can streamline your services.

via www.angelabooth.com

Become A Freelance Writer: It’s Time To Build Your Dream Life

Freelance writer: from zero to hero

I’ve been coaching writers since the 1990s. In 2002, I began offering writing programs. Freelance Power is the program I wish had been available when I started writing. I could have saved 10 to 15 years of struggle.

It took at least 15 years until I developed the proper freelance mindset. You can develop it in 12 weeks—even if you’re a complete newbie to professional writing.

On the other hand, you may be writing already, but you’re unhappy with your income and clients. You feel that you could be much more successful if only you knew how.

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3 Easy Writing Tips To Get Things Done In 2020

Writing tips: start with a process

Ouch. I used to have a writing process, but that vanished this year, due to workplace chaos.

I wrote about an easy writing process here, and I’m getting back to the “50 words” strategy:

I can write those 50 words anywhere:

• While I’m waiting for a meeting to start;

• When I’m hanging on the phone;

• First thing in the morning — even before I make coffee;

• Last thing at night, before I switch off my bedside lamp.

Then I’ll commit to my favorite writing tips from our writers’ group.

via peneloperedmont.com

The Ultimate List of Trello Tips and Tricks

Quickly moving a card from one list to another

Did you start adding a card and realised you’re in the wrong list? Click “Add card” in the right list without saving the started card and everything you added will move to the newly opened card in the right list.

Drag and drop multiple attachments onto a card

You’re going to like this if you attach a lot of documents and media in Trello. Just select as many files as you want and drop them onto your card.

Create new cards from a spreadsheet or list

Add your to-do lists as individual cards in Trello with only one click. Copy the whole list (a column in a spreadsheet, or any other list of separated lines) and paste it into a new card. Trello will ask you if you want to keep them it in one card or split into separate ones.

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Writing: 3 Tips To Help You To Create Believable Conflict

1. Try to make your characters’ conflicts stem from who they are

The most realistic conflicts between characters stem from who they are. The Odd Couple is my favorite example of this type of conflict. When Felix and Oscar live together they’re so different that conflict is guaranteed.

Have you watched any episodes of the long-running TV series, MASH? The series’ major conflicts came from the Korean war, but the characters were all in conflict too.

Most of the conflicts in your novel will be minor, but your major conflicts should be difficult or seemingly impossible to resolve.

via peneloperedmont.com

Confident Writer: 3 Strategies To Build Morale And Positivity

We can build confidence in ourselves and then, in others.

The confident writer: distance yourself from the fear virus

Avoid reading and watching fear-instigating and fear-building materials from the same individuals and companies which bring you clickbait.

Remember that every word you read (and to which you listen) has an agenda behind it. When you read a headline, ask yourself: whose agenda is this? Why?

(Avoid writing fear clickbait too.)

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2 Essential Writing Habits For Every Writer (Hobbyist And Pro)

Writing habits: repeat an activity until it’s a habit

This article, 7 Steps To Developing A New Habit, offers good advice.

The most important tip:

…never allow an exception to your new habit pattern during the formative stages. Don’t make excuses or rationalizations.

Alex and I decided that we’ll stick with the following two activities for 21 days until they become habits. (In the above article, Brian Tracy suggests that it takes 21 days to establish a habit.)

via peneloperedmont.com

How To Outline Your Writing: 3 Easy Tricks You Need Today

To eliminate the panic, I suggest to my students that they substitute the word “map” for “outline.”

A map:

• Orients you: it shows you where you are;
• Reveals routes to your destination;
• Is a visual guide. With a map, you can take in a lot of information at a glance.

Mind maps are a wonderful tool to help you to outline/ map your projects.

If you hate outlining; start by creating intuitive mind maps.

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Work From Home: 5 Steps For Relaxed Productivity

Work from home: keep track of minutes and hours

If you want to get things done, you need a plan.

I created an easy daily plan for Mandy; I know it works. I use it myself and have suggested variations of it to many students over the years.

Your first step is a morning review.

1. Morning review: what’s today’s major task?

No matter how long or short your To Do list, choose ONE task you must get done, no matter what.

It helps to create a Daily Log, so you can track how you’re spending your time. As soon as I hit my computer each morning, I create a new Daily Log note in my Journal notebook in Evernote. Whenever I think of it—every hour or so—I note the time, and what I’ve been doing.

via www.angelabooth.com

Your Side Hustle: Can You Turn A Hobby Into A Business?

How to turn your hobby into a side hustle: start with research

Before you invest money and time into developing your side hustle, do a little research.

Start with Google. Enter “sell my (whatever-you-want-to-sell LOCATION)” into the search query box, without quotes.

You’ll see how many people are operating locally.

Patty’s tip: start your side hustle with local sales

If you’re like Patty and want to sell home-sewn items like clutches and purses, enter that into Google, or Facebook, with your location. Although you can sell globally, try selling your items locally first.

Why start by selling locally? Because you can get feedback on what works, instantly.

via peneloperedmont.com

Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days (Final SALE)

“Isn’t a novella just a short novel?”

In a word, no.

When you write a novella, you have a smaller canvas on which to tell your story, so you’ll have a smaller cast of characters, and fewer complications.

That said, you need as much suspense for a novella as you do for a novel; a focus on character development is vital.

Consider novellas for your self-publishing plans (they’re fast to write)

Novellas are faster to write than novels. With a word count of between 20,000 and 40,000 words, you can produce two novellas in the time it takes you to write one novel.

(If you wish, you can write a novella in seven days.)

via www.angelabooth.com

4 Ways To Find Bestselling Ideas

Now let’s look at methods you can use to find novel-worthy ideas.

1. Get inspired via ideas “ripped from the headlines” 

Global and national news is depressing. Pandemics, misery, and politics…If you write thrillers, crime fiction or adventure novels (or even fantasy) you might find the headlines fascinating for your “ripped from the headlines” idea.

I prefer local news for idea exploration, because (generally speaking) it’s more relatable. Also useful to me: magazines which cover psychology and science.

When you find yourself reading a news article, and looking for more information, ask yourself: who? and why? You may find an idea.

via www.angelabooth.com

3 Tips To Make Your Fiction Believable

1. Motivation: give your characters reasons for acting the way they do

If you read reviews on Amazon, you’ll often find readers complaining about characters’ motivations. “Then suddenly, for no reason…” “Just because it had to happen for the story…” etc.

In real life, people do weird things. Your story people can do weird things too, but you (and readers) must be clear on why your characters do what they do. This means that if you know that something is going to happen at the mid-point, you need to plant the seeds of that earlier.

You won’t always be able to do this in your first draft of course. However, it must be done. Every character needs clear motivation for acting the way he does.

via peneloperedmont.com

Tools To Smooth Your Self-Publishing Journey

If you’re an indie author, chances are that you’re a part-timer. You have a full time job, a family, and little time to write. You may also find some areas of writing, publishing, and marketing a challenge.

I received some questions about the apps I use, and covered some of them.

Indie author: apps to help you

In this post on writing when you have no time, I discussed apps like Evernote, Ulysses, and Day One, which save time, and help you to write.

The theme of this post was “write faster,” and we discussed Scrivener and Vellum. Both apps are a huge help for self-publishing authors.

via peneloperedmont.com

3 Tips To Plot And Revise Your Novel

Mind mapping helps you to relax and write your novel

Writing a novel is stressful at every stage:

• When you’re starting your novel you’ll make dozens of decisions. Character names, their appearance and relationships, as well as plotting essentials;
• Once all your characters are on stage, you need to make more decisions. Who wants what, and when? Are Fred’s eyes blue, or brown? If Jennifer’s a doormat, she’s not likely to be able to stand up to a home intruder…
• And on, and on.

Do yourself a favor, and add important information to a mind map. As well as acting as a memory aid, your mind map sparks creative ideas. You can attach notes and images to your maps, too; they’ll help you to develop fresh insights.

via peneloperedmont.com