Busy Busy Bee

Early in the month, I had applied for a writing gig about writing health articles. I had resisted it for a while, but eventually common sense won out.

I do medical transcription. I have internists, gastroenterologists, pediatricians, neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, psychiatrists, and psychologists I can call in for expert sources.

So I applied for the gig and promptly forgot about it.

One day last week, I got an e-mail stating they were interested in working for me but would like a health-related sample article rather than the writing- and freelance-related ones I had submitted.

I weighed the pros and cons. I researched the company. I finally decided to take the risk and do the sample article. If they took it and ran, shame on me. I submitted it, as requested, by Sunday evening.

They didn’t take it and run.

I got an e-mail Wednesday afternoon requesting an invoice and mailing information so they could send me a check. They liked the article! They also asked when I could start writing for them regularly.

Of course, I said, basically, “whenever you want me to.”

So I got another e-mail with a list of topics for my next assignments due by next Friday.

The point, other than I’m very happy to have a new gig and have some work coming in that’s not from the day job?

Persistence pays off. Keep on keeping on. Set goals for yourself and work towards them.

I’m still doing that. What I have now isn’t enough for me to go full-[time yet, but I’m working on it and definitely making progress.

Filed under: writing , applications, article, freelance, freelance writer, freelance writing, goal-setting, goals, Jen Nipps, jennipps, submissions, write, writer, writers, writing

Membership in a Writers’ Group Vital to Writing?

On Saturday, I had a conversation with my Granny that went something like this:

Her: So are you still going to the writers’ group?
Me: No.
Her: Well, why not?
Me: The one here doesn’t really offer me anything useful.
Her: Well, are you still writing?
Me: Yes, and I’m starting to make some money with it.
Her: You are??

I’m actually proud of myself that on her question about if I were still writing, I didn’t go with my first reaction, which would have  been “DUH!“

I wonder, though, why some people think it’s of the utmost importance that writers be members of an in-person writers’ group. A good group, like the one I was a member of for several years, can be a great help and a marvelous asset. A bad one can drag you down, leave you uninspired, and eventually lead to lower writing output.

That’s not what I wanted for myself.

That’s why I decided the local writers’ group didn’t work for me. Yes, it can and will be an asset to someone else and I wish every single member in that group the best of luck with their writing.

I don’t think it’s all that vital to be a member of a writers’ group, though. At least, not an in-person one. I get a lot of feedback, support, and encouragement from online groups. Yes, I’d like to be able to go to a good in-person group again, but unless I want to walk 60+ miles one way, that won’t happen unless/until I start one myself.

(For that matter, belonging to Toastmasters is also somehow encouraging/inspiring writing-wise.)

So what groups do I go to online?

The main ones are Web Writing Wonders and the AbsoluteWrite Water Cooler, but there are others I go to.

Even then, do you think Dickens belonged to a writers’ group? What about Plato?

There have been writers a lot longer than there have been writers’ groups. They may likely have had their personal support systems, but that’s not an actual group.

Therefore, to my way of thinking, they’re not absolutely necessary. Helpful, yes. Necessary, no.

You — I — can be writers without belonging to any kind of writers’ group. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Filed under: writing , AbsoluteWrite, AbsoluteWrite Water Cooler, Dickens, Jen Nipps, jennipps, Plato, Web Writing Wonders, write, writer, writers, writing

I’ll Be Teaching

A big part of writing, as I have always understood it, is teaching.

Most of the time, people read articles to learn something. Often, they read fact-based fiction (no, I will not call it “faction”) to learn something.

Many writers I know — Peggy Fielding, Romney Nesbitt, and Dusty Richards among them –  teach as a regular part of their writing.

It was around this time last year that I learned The Center of Continuing Education & Community Services at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, was looking for additional teachers to send proposals in for possible inclusion in the program.

I started working on a proposal, but there were a lot of unanswered questions for me. I didn’t know, really, how to go about getting the answers.

This year, I noticed they were still — again? — looking for teachers. There was a key difference, though. They were offering an informational class on how to do a proposal for the program. I signed up.

As a result of the class, I submitted a proposal for a class on how to make money writing. Unoriginally enough, I called it “Make Money Writing.”

One day last week, I found out that I will, indeed, be teaching that class this summer. It will be on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 June 2 through June 30. There will be a total of five classes. I plan to take participants through the process from finding ideas, finding markets, writing a query, and drafting the article.

Yes, there will be assignments throughout the class. Chief among them will be one I borrow from Peggy Fielding: Write at least 30 minutes every day.

A selling writer writes.

And, yes, I’ll be teaching.

Filed under: writing , East Central University, Jen Nipps, jennipps, Make Money Writing, Oklahoma, queries, query, teach, teaching, write, writer, writers, writing