WRITING REVIEWS

For anyone who is just starting out as a writer it can be quite daunting when you suddenly realise you do not know what to write about! So before you begin giving any thought to larger projects, a good idea to get you writing every day is by writing reviews.

Another bonus to this exercise is that you can get paid for your opinions. Whether you have just travelled on vacation, dined at a restaurant, purchased something, anything online/offline or just want to express delight or anger at a service – then writing reviews could suit you.

This is not like working on survey sites; these are companies who are seeking writers who can report accurately and in an informative style. However for a novice writer this daily practice and the chance to hone your skills can only help you in your quest to become a writer.

If you are interested take a look at these sites, read other contributors reports. Sometimes it is just a very good excuse to make you actually write every day.

www.reviewstream.com

www.shvoong.com

www.sharedreviews.com

www.rateitall.com

www.carrotreviews.com

www.epinions.com



Always a good feeling that you can actually earn some money while you are learning to write.

Have fun always.


Lucy

WRITING LETTERS TO MAGAZINES

If you are just starting out then you probably do not have a great amount of income coming in. Well there is a way of producing small amounts of cash.

Do you read magazines?

Ever read the letters page?

Now look again, most publications pay for contributions and many reward the star letter with a higher cash payment.

If you study the weekly magazines and in most libraries you can read them for free, try to pick up on the style, general content and angle that they look for. You can often write a letter suitable for that publication and possibly after a few tries find yours has been chosen.

I could not even guess how many publications there are out there, but if you study them and write whatever they are looking for, you should be able to make a small but regular amount of money.

It certainly is a good way to begin to understand what editors are searching for, at a later stage we will look at submitting feature articles to magazines.

I often say, you don’t know what you can do until you try.

Good luck and please let us know how you get on...

Until next time


Lucy.

START A BLOG

Hi

Do you have a blog?

The general consensus is that everyone in the world has a blog and yet I actually meet very few people who do. When I ask why not, the reply is usually “I couldn’t write all those pages”

Just think of blogging as writing in your journal every day; however the beauty of blogging for ‘newbie’ writers is the wonderful opportunity it gives you to write regularly. The daily content can be considered as a form of writing practice and the only way to become a better writer is to practice, practice, practice.

After a few postings you will need to start thinking about getting traffic to your blog and the best way to begin is by submitting articles to the top directories.
If you missed the previous entry on this blog, the posting covered writing articles, worth returning for a read.

Your blog subject can be anything you wish, if you write about something you are passionate towards, the writing will come easily.

So to help get your writing career off the ground, start a blog today and begin writing.


Until tomorrow


Lucy

ARTICLE WRITING

Hi again

How did you get on with the previous posting? I hope you took a look at the various styles of article writing because I hate to be the bearer of bad news but writing articles is something you will be doing a lot of!

Regardless of whichever direction you would like your writing career to go, you will have to write ‘hundreds’ of articles. However before you cringe in horror, writing articles is a chore that you will get use to and be able to complete one in under an hour. Most of the top writers take about 20 mins to turn out 400-500 word articles, practice makes perfect.

Tomorrow we will look at Blogging but one of the most successful ways to promote your blog is by submitting articles to the directories. You can earn money via article writing either with the sites like www.helium.com, www.hubpages.com or www.associatedcontent.com


In a later posting I will cover article writing for freelancers, but let’s get you going on some basic sites first.

When it comes to the next phase of your career, say you want to write an ebook and maybe the length of that seems daunting, just imagine the book broken down into separated article sections. Now it doesn’t seem so scary!

Practice, write an article today and submit it somewhere. At the very least you can start earning a little money while you learn.

Until next time


Lucy

Start Writing Today

If you are just contemplating on starting a new career by writing for profit, you probably are going through a period of self doubt and seriously asking yourself whether you really can write.

Believe me anyone who wants to write, can write. Sometimes you just need to go through a learning curve and the best way to begin is to start writing.

For the novice one of the best places to begin is to take a look at Helium. Here you will discover writers from all levels, amateur to professionals. Go to: www.helium.com
and have a really good look around, read several articles and take a look at the authors.

Then check out the guidelines and writing standards that Helium requires, choose a topic of you own choice, write and submit. All articles are rated, the higher your rating the more revenue you can earn. Unfortunately payments for articles written can be quite small to start with, contribute often, gain those stars and your earnings will grow. (My personal note – if you stop writing for Helium, your stars will fall off – mine have – but you continue to earn revenue from them)

As you write and submit each article you will grow as a writer, understanding why some of your work is rated higher than others will help to hone your skills.

Good Luck and Start Today


Lucy

Why Write

One of the first entries to this writing blog I feel has to be the subject of why do you want to be a writer?

In order to help you start on your writing career it is important for you to understand what it is that makes you want to pursue this profession. If the attraction is to be able to work from home and become the author of a Hollywood block buster, earning million dollar deals, then sorry – in your dreams!

I do not want to disillusion you but in the early days writing can be a very long hard slog, working many hours on your own for what appears to be a pittance! Success though comes to those who practice and learn, it is a craft where hard work and perseverance pays off in the end results. The rewards are worth working for.

All writers will agree and say that we have to write – it’s inside of us but that does not mean that someone cannot start later in life. I hope you are still with me......

Good you are – So for today it would be a good idea if you sat down and wrote a few notes on why you want to write for profit. Think about what your future dreams are, where would you like to see yourself in a year’s time? What are your passions in life, your desires and what motivates you to live each day?

Just this small exercise will open your mind, your thoughts and awaken your creativity. When you have finished, try not to read what you have written and return to it 24 hours later. The results may surprise you.

See you tomorrow


Lucy

Welcome

Whether you would like to write for profit or just wish to record personal events in your journal, I welcome you to this new blog where I hope to guide you on a path to writing success.

In today’s modern world the written word has changed considerably since all of us were at school. No longer do you have to fear your high school English Grammar teacher.

If you can hold a conversation with a friend and then write in the same manner as you did when you spoke, then you have all the abilities needed to write and be published today.

There is an incredible market for authors, both online and off. Over the coming weeks I hope to offer you some interesting tips to guide you in your new career.

To start us off today I offer you this advice – write as often as you can, the more you write the better you can become. You will discover most writers like to set a routine, everyone is different. There are early birds and night owls, me - I’m a night owl. However many novels on the shelves today were written at 4a.m. in the morning!

I know this is only the first entry to a brand new blog, but if anyone found this and you have any questions please leave a comment, I will answer all contacts.

Until next time


Lucy