Making Lemonade from Lemons

Vivian Zabel at Brain Cells & Bubble Wrap gave me the “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade” Award. I was a bit taken aback until I started to think (yes, I know, dangerous activity).

The requirements for this award are simple. All you have to do is nominate 10 blogs you think are worthy of the award.

I apologize in advance if I nominate any blogs that have already received this.

1. Rinda Elliott
2. Road to Scholarships
3. Freshman Writer
4. Carys Weldon
5. Writers’ Round-About
6. Anything That Pays
7. Jenn Hollowell: Author & Artist
8. Squiggle: The Writing World of Plaid Earthworm
9. Mind Over Mullis
10. Writing the Cyber Highway

Yes, most of these are writing-related blogs. But what better people to make lemonade from the lemons the submission process gives us with all the thanks-but-no-thanks letters we get back with our precious manuscripts?

Now it’s your turn. Pass the award on to ten more deserving blogs.

Filed under: writing , Jen Nipps, jennipps, Rinda Elliott, Road to Scholarships, Freshman Writer, Carys Weldon, Writers Round-About, Anything That Pays, jenn Hollowell, Squiggle, Mind over Mullis, Writing the Cyber Highway, make lemonade from lemons, Vivian Zabel

Sources for Writers: HARO

Do you know about HARO?

Have you ever used it?

What is it??

HARO – Help a Reporter Out – is the brainchild of Peter Shankman. You can sign up to send a query or be a source. As a source, you’ll receive three HARO mailings a day with varying numbers of queries. Some queries are for national publications and/or news shows.

If you sign up to send a query, you fill out an online form, which will then be sent out to the mailing list. The number of responses varies.

I’ve used HARO a couple times. Once was on a plus-size fashion query I was working on. Within a couple hours, I had over 20 responses. I am still in contact with some of the people who replied through social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Plurk.

Speaking of Twitter, if you’re already a member or plan to sign up, follow Peter Shankman @skydiver. He posts urgent HARO requests there as they come in.

Filed under: writing , queries, Jen Nipps, jennipps, writing, writers, write, writer, Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, sources for writers, HARO, Peter Shankman, @skydiver, sources

Announcing…

Refilling the Well

Last Monday, January 5, I saw an ad on Craigslist (via Freelance Writing Jobs) looking for bloggers. I sent a letter of interest. Monday evening, I got a reply directing me to the Today.com site and their online application.

I thought about it for a minute. I knew the pay would be relatively low, but it was on a subject I’m very interested in. So I went ahead with the application.

Tuesday morning, I got an e-mail saying I had been approved. That afternoon, I set up the blog and first post. With the exception of yesterday, which was a very long day during which I did not have access to the Internet, I’ve put up an entry a day. I have had some criticism that it is too advertising-heavy. The only thing I can do about that is to say I’m sorry. That’s the way today.com sets it up and I have no control over it.

I invite you to visit, read a bit, and even leave a comment if you wish.

Filed under: writing , creative, creativity, applications, Jen Nipps, jennipps, writing, writers, write, writer, Refilling the Well, today.com

Sources for Writers: Journchat

[Note: This is the first in a new series of Sources for Writers, be they websites, books, stores, etc. If you have a source you'd like to be considered for this feature, please e-mail it to me with "Sources for Writers" as the subject line.]

Before I tell you about Journchat, I need to tell you about the site where it’s hosted: Twitter.

Twitter is a microblogging/social media platform that limits your posts (called tweets) to 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Sarah Evans (@PRsarahevans) organized and hosts Journcat. Counting last night, there have been five chats so far. Personally, I hope it continues for a long time.

Journchat takes place every Monday evening from 8:00 to 11:00 PM EST/7:00 to 10:00 CST. There are a couple options for participating. You can go to search.twitter.com and type “journchat” in the search box. To view newer tweets, you will have to refresh the window frequently. Some better options are to use TweetChat or TweetGrid.

In Tweetchat, you sign in and type “journchat” in the box. It will scroll real-time the tweets as they come in. As I understand TweetGrid, which I have not used myself, you set up a couple columns. Some people set up one column for their own user ID and another for journchat.

The basis of journchat is as a forum for PR pros, journalists, freelance writers, and bloggers to get together to discuss issues within the industry. There is a lot to be learned from one another. Every week, recaps of the chat are posted at journchat.info.

The chat is very fast-paced yet very informative. There were a few yesterday who said that Journchat could be the equivalent of an MBA. It’s definitely (in my opinion) a crash-course in PR and journalism and how the two work together. It has been a great resource for this writer. I think it would be valuable for many others as well.

Join in next week and have fun.

Filed under: writing , Jen Nipps, jennipps, writing, writers, write, writer, Twitter, Sarah Evans, journchat, sources for writers, PR

Do You Have a Press Page?

Darren Rowse of Problogger had a blog post in March 2008 about the various pages every blog needs. He listed 20 pages.

First was an about page. I have that.

Second was a contact page. OK, I don’t exactly have that, but my e-mail address is on the about page and in the sidebar with the Idea Pocket info.

Third was a press page. I had to think about that one. Why would I need a press page? I haven’t (at the time) been quoted in any articles or had anything written about me, had I?

Well…

Yes, I actually had. In October 2008, Rebecca Laffar-Smith of Future-Tarot quoted me in an article/entry about the Knight of Wands. And that’s just the only one I knew about.

I decided that even if I only had one article on the Press page, I would put one up. It would grow eventually.

Since then,  Lauren Berger (aka The Intern Queen) quoted me in an article on cover letters. (If I had thought, I would have mentioned something about my HR background in my Twitter profile to include, might have to change that.) Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen, a freelance writer in British Columbia, quoted me about confidence-building tips for writers.

I’ve gone from doubting the need for a Press page to wondering what else I can add to it and where it can be found.

Do you have a press page on your website or blog?

Filed under: writing , Jen Nipps, jennipps, writing, write, writer, article, Problogger, cover letters, press, press page

Should You Put an Ad on Craigslist?

I have a friend who posted an ad about her writing services on Craigslist. I watched to see what kind of results she would get. I didn’t know how it would turn out.She posted that she had received good results and had some new clients from it.

After debating a bit more, I decided to try it. I put the ad in on the Oklahoma City and Dallas boards under services offered.

Here’s my ad:

Jen Nipps is a creativity expert and freelance writer/editor. She has been writing professionally since 2001 and offers writing, editing, blogging, and speaking services in a variety of areas.

Some of these services include:
*Articles
*Blog Posts
*Essays
*Ghost Writing
*Short stories
*E-books
*How-To’s
*Flyers/brochures
*Web site content
*Press releases
*Resumes & cover letters
*Project organization
*Other

She enjoys writing about the following topics:
*Creativity
*Writing
*Fashion
*Food (recipes)
*Health (diabetes, high blood pressure)
*Disabilities (visual impairments, hearing impairments)
*Human resources
*Plus-size issues
*Beauty
*Women’s issues

Clients say she’s creative, talented, enthusiastic, responsible, detail-oriented, and great to work with.

Visit Jen’s website (www.jenifernipps.com) to learn more and to contact Jen about these and other writing/editing and speaking services.

If you want term papers written, do not contact Jen as she will not be a participant in cheating or plagiarism of any kind.

I set up a new e-mail address for it. After a little more than a month, the only thing I have received is spam.

Should you put an ad up on Craigslist? Going from my experience, I would say no. Going from my friend’s experience, yes. Ultimately it’s up to you. Unless you’re offering an adult service, there is no fee for the listing, so you’ve lost nothing other than the time it took to set up your account and post the ad.

Filed under: writing , Jen Nipps, jennipps, writing, Oklahoma, writers, write, writer, Craigslist, ads

Out of the Starting Gate

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2009 be your best year yet. I plan to make it mine.

Even though today is a holiday, I’m not going to give myself any slack. I’ve done that quite a bit because of Christmas. So today I’m going to be working on my daily query quota.

I updated my new blog (Jen’s Getting Fit) last night, but it’s possible a new post will be up there today. Here’s my update for Creatif, so that leaves *gulp* 3 blogs to update this week. Oh well. I’m the goofball that started them.

The Tournament of Roses parade is on in the background. I’m going to go watch a little of it while working on some query ideas.

Happy writing!

Filed under: writing , Jen Nipps, jennipps, writing, write, writer, submissions, query