Knowing you are good enough

How do you know you are good enough? Good enough to land a good gig, write a good article, get a contract?

I'm sure this is something many freelance writers battle with constantly. And especially when you are just starting out.

Knowing you are good enough isn't easy and I'm not the one to tell you how to get over it but I do know one thing: It's all connected to your self esteem. If you constantly think you will fail and if you never bid on the projects you want because you think you aren't good enough then you will never win.

I saw a very good project and I am telling myself to send in my samples. But who's to say I'll get it? And then, who's to say I won't? Someone has to get it, why not me?

Well I'm not sure I will get it but then again I cannot sit around and think that I won't get it because surely then I never will. And rejection is something you have to learn to live with when you are in the writing field.

So how do you know you are good enough?

On a break

I have been and I still am on a break.
I´m coming back though and sporadic updates will come until I have the time to fully commit to this blog. My intentions are good but time isn´t on my side.

Thanks for stopping by, and please come back soon for news.

Tomorrow...

... I will add lots of things to this now quite empty blog.

I have just added a great blogroll for writers from the Absolute Write forum.
There are some great blogs on there and the blogroll is growing, if you are a writer, why not join yourself?

See you tomorrow!

Reading as a child

Did you read a lot as a child?

I did and I am sure that is why I love to write. I love to create in my mind and make up stories. I have several small books in my head.

By making your kids read you stimulate their minds and their imagination. Using ones imagination is important in everything we do in life. From daily small things to business and writing.

I still love to read and once you give me a good book I will not pout it away until I have finished reading everything. My husband wasn´t introduced to reading as a child and he has no understanding what so ever about my reading. For him reading is boring and only something you do when really needed. Every time I start reading a book he sighs, he knows that there will be no contact with me for a few days then.

And I just disappear into my little world.

I am so happy I had the opportunity to read a lot as a child. And I will try to make my son understand and enjoy the wonderful world that is hiding inside that cover.

If you haven't introduced your children to reading yet because you don't like it yourself, do your kids a favor and bring them to the library.

They will surely thank you.

Technorati Tags: reading, child, kids, imagination

Use your blog as a resume

Many people, like myself, want to start writing but have no idea on how to start.

If you are a bit internet wise you you will get to the point when you hear about paid blogging or online freelance writing.

What do I mean with internet wise? Well basically you can surf around on the internet for years without hearing about this. Unless you start looking for it.

I have always loved to write. I have an unpublished poem book that I would love to get published. It's even in the right format, what is missing is sending it to a publisher. This little poem book was my lifesaver once, I wrote down all my feelings when I had a difficult time in my life. And I am absolutely sure that it's still good. Even after all those years.

When I started blogging in English I realized that you can be an online freelance writer. You don't need to have an office or contacts in the ¨real world¨ you can do everything over the internet. Isn't that great?

I have landed two writing gigs. My Daily Power Walk over at Creative Weblogging and just recently another one as a paid columnist at HubPages. And how did I do that?

I gave them the address to my blogs.

I had only been blogging in English for about 1,5 month when I managed to get the gig for Daily Power Walk. So as you can see I didn't send a big resume or anything like that.

So what are you waiting for? Start blogging if you haven't already started!

Technorati Tags: freelance writing, writing gig

Writing is like cooking

You know when you go to someone's house and they make you dinner. You adore the food and ask for the recipe.
When you come home you try to make it yourself, ¨It's so easy to make, you can't go wrong¨- Annie, the dinner hostess says.

You look at the recipe and the ingredients, yes you have everything at home. So you start preparing the food. It smells nice and you're thinking ¨hey it's not that difficult¨.

Then you set the table and ask the family to sit down so you can all enjoy this lovely dinner.
You put the fork to your mouth - ¨What's this? This doesn't taste the same as what Annie made¨.
And you realize it doesn't taste the same.
But it doesn't taste bad either, so you continue to eat and enjoy your meal.

See that's the thing, writing is like cooking.
Even if you use the same ingredients it will taste different. The flavor will never be the same. Only similar. Unless you make it so many times that you finally get it right.

But what is right and what is wrong? And what would cooking or writing be if we all cooked and wrote the same?

I'll tell you what: Boring.

Don't try to copy someone else in what they do, be yourself. You cooking and writing is just as good as someone else's.

And remember, it takes time to learn how to cook, but we can all learn it.

Stressed

If there is something I have a problem with it's writing when I'm stressed.

I simply cannot concentrate when I have other things I ¨have¨to do.
It will always be there in the back of my mind and bugging me. If I have things to do at home I can't write until I have done them and when I have done them it's usually too late to write.

I can't write to music nor can I write when I'm stressed. But I do think that the stress thing is common so I'm not to worried.
The only thing I am worried about is not doing my other things in time so that I have time to write what I want.
That is a worry!

Stolen content

When you find out that someone is stealing your content you get quite surprised and then angry. If you are just an ordinarily blogger like me you think, hey, who's ever going to want to steal my posts?

Well someone can actually.
Your post might be a good post and someone wants to make it off like it's theirs. Or you can get robot attacked. That's what happened to one of my blogs. A Spam robot is stealing my posts. And not only mine but several other bloggers. It seems like little can be done because these people are so smart. They make sure that it will get difficult for you to track them down.

Like this one, server in Brazil, host in Russia, IP in the US. You can see it just smells bad all over the place. Well you get my point.

I am still looking into what can be done about this and will continue my investigation and any tips on this I will share.

Oh yes!

Oh yes!
Now this blog has been ¨re-wamped¨ and finally feels inspiring to write in! I love the new look, simple but yet colorful! Just like writing can be.

I hope you like it too.

The link lists will expand as time passes by, I want to make sure all the links are correct and in the right place.

If you are a fellow writer, I'd love to have your link in my sidebar. Just tell me.

How cheap is cheap?

When it comes to setting a price on your time and skills it's something that is not easily done.
When I started writing I was happy if I made a few $$, now I know more about how to value my work.

First of all I'd like to say that everything depends on where in the world you live.
I live in Brazil where $5 means almost R$10. If you get R$10 an hour you can say you are pretty well off. My husband gets something like R$15/day! ( If I calculated right, anyway he doesn't get much)

So if I can make R$10 from writing a review or story or something then that means that I earn more for a few minutes work than he does all day.

If you live in the U.S, then $5 might not seem like a great deal. Once again it depends on where in the U.S you live.

But even my prices are expensive if you compare to the people in India.

One thing I have learned is that you have to not sell yourself too cheap.
So what that I live in Brazil, is my work less worth than someone in the U.S?
If I am a good writer, then what does that have to do with where I live?

Today I will not write for just a $ here or there, I value my time and my work more.
It´s not easy, every writer knows that, but being too cheap can also harm you.
Every time someone asks me how much they should charge, and I am far from an expert, then I always say to stay in the middle but not go too cheap.

How cheap is cheap?