Some purists will try and tell you that writing is an art form and that all artists should work only for the love and fulfilment that their talent brings them.

But I say that’s rubbish. If you want to be a successful and wealthy writer, then you need to write for money. You can pursue a dream of becoming a starving writer living in a garret if you want to, but it’s much better to earn a large salary for your work and live comfortably.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t enjoy writing. On the contrary, writing should be your passion in life. Your writing should be what gets up early in the morning and keeps you up late at night. But you should also be earning a respectable living from your writing.

Being a successful and wealthy writer sounds great but how and where should you begin?

If you don’t know what kind of writer you want to be then you can start by trying out all the different kinds of writing. You can try writing short stories, poetry, comedy, scripts, articles, books, novels, copy writing, ghost writing and more.

And you can send your work out to many different magazines, web sites, publishers and other markets. You’ll probably receive back a huge avalanche of rejections, but in amongst them all you’ll have a few successes.

From these successes you’ll be able to see what pays the best and what you enjoy writing.

From this you can figure out your hourly rate.

For instance, say you were paid a fee of $100 for writing a 1,000-word article. Now that $100 may seem like a lot, but if it took you 4 hours to research and write the article, then your hourly rate is only $25.

Now you could improve that rate by rewriting the article from anther angle and submitting it to other markets. So if you get paid another $100 and it only took you 1 hour to rewrite it, that means that altogether you’ve been paid $200 for 5 hours work which brings your rate up to $40 an hour.

But on the other hand, you may love writing fiction and find that you can write a 1,000-word short story in only an hour. So if your story is published and you’re paid $100, your hourly rate has now more than doubled to $100 an hour.

But it’s not always as simple as adding up the figures. What you can write and get paid for also depends on the needs of the market. Or you may want to write novels but you need to write articles as well to keep the money coming in while you finish your first book.

You may also decide to write for less money to get your foot in the door of a prestigeous magazine or because you have developed a good relationship with an editor and you don’t want to jeapodise it. Or you write for less money because you’re trying to notch up an impressive credit for your port folio.

So while money isn’t always everything, it’s important to keep your eye on the bottom line. That way you’ll always be aware of the most lucrative path for your writing career. Because without the money, you won’t have a writing career. You’ll just be a person who writes in their spare time.


- Ruth Barringham

Most creative writers have a secret desire to enter a writing or poetry contest at some point in life. Yet they stifle that desire by thinking they aren’t good enough to enter. It’s one thing to analyze your writing and know that you are not a Thoreau or Stephen King, and it is altogether another to think so little of your writing that you won’t take the chance on entering contests.

It is a fearsome thing to write and let others read your writing – particularly when you’re not used to it. This is where writing clubs come in very handy. Join with other writers. Post your work in your port where other writers can see it and leave comments on it. Then you can read their work and comment on theirs. Don’t be concerned if you feel inadequate to critique someone else. You will learn as you go.

The writing groups hold lots of different kinds of contests. The prizes are very small, but the point is, it is a wonderful place to begin entering contests.

But for those who are ready to venture forth to something larger, search “writing contests” on the net and you will find all you want. The trick becomes, how to sort them out. Which ones do you enter? Use this as a guide:

· Watch out for contest scams. These contests will want you to pay $50 entry fee, and virtually all of the entrants receive a letter telling them they have won. When you reply, they will want another $20 for a biography, and later on you can pay a little more and become a grand prize winner. The “winners” are told their work will appear in an anthology (collection of short stories or poetry), but of course, you have to buy that, too. Then you are supposed to sell them to your friends and neighbors. A little common sense goes a long way in this kind of thing.

· Follow the direction to a tee. This cannot be expressed strongly enough. Do exactly what you are told or your entry will be thrown out.

· By entering smaller contests, you will have a greater chance of winning. Larger contests such as Writer’s Digest has over 16,000 entrants.

· What you should expect to pay: your entry fee and reading fee should be all you have to pay. These fees are what subsidize the awards, so the fees are necessary. Fees for lesser expensive contests will total $20 to $35. Yes, that is per entry.

· Winning the lottery is much akin to winning a writing contest. Against all odds, even when you think you don’t deserve to win and then you do, it is the ultimate high! No writer should cheat himself/herself out of this great learning experience.

Choose the contest that best suits you and your pocketbook and go for it! Contests usually come out in the spring and fall, so plan to gamble that much on yourself twice a year. See more free writing tips below.


- Deborah Owen

I have done everything there is to do to snap out of my extreme writers block — I’ve read different kinds of books, watched movies, physical activity, everything.

But, everytime I sit down to write, my mind goes absolutely BLANK. This has been going on for almost 8 months.

Please, I need to snap out of this. What can I do???
- Meghan

Every writer at one time or another suffers from writer’s block. It’s that painful inability to get your thoughts down on paper and it comes after all different kinds of writers. Unlike other ailments, writer’s block is not cured by taking two aspirins and going to bed. On the contrary, that approach can often only aggravate the condition, since pressure mounts and panic increases as the task is delayed.

 

Because different writers experience different creative blocks, different treatments are often advisable. But many writers will find the following course of treatment does the trick.

 

1. Figure Out Exactly What You Want to Say

Frequently you can’t get the ideas to come out because you haven’t decided what it is that you want to say in the piece you’re writing. Figuring your real message out as you write may seem efficient, but this approach can actually counterproductive. In the end, your thinking will be muddled and you won’t communicate clearly. Instead of jumping in without a plan, don’t start writing until you come up with a statement of what you hope to produce and how you aim to achieve it.

 

2. Acknowledge that Good Work doesn’t Always Come Easy

Next, recognize that writing anything is hard work. You’re going to struggle to find the right words at times, and the first thoughts that come into your mind won’t always be the best. Although preparation will help, no amount of forethought and planning will eliminate the tedium of putting your thoughts down on the page. Even writers with years of experience sometimes grope for their thoughts like they’re lost in the dark.

 

3. Turn Off Your Inner Critic

Another sure-fire way to slow down your writing pace is to obsess over what you think others will think of you. Again, careful preparation and doing your research will decrease any chance that your writing will fall short of your own and other’s expectations. And others are generally not nearly as critical as you might imagine. Most of the time, people quickly read your writing and give you the benefit of the doubt about what you say and how you say it. 

 

4. Resist the Temptation to Edit as You Write Your Draft

Another way to get bogged down and overwhelmed is editing as you compose. Going back over the same sentence or paragraph time and time again will only help you to lose the train of thought that could result in a great work. All the professionals suggest that you write the first draft all the way through and then go back and make necessary changes. Make sure that you can separate the writing phase from the editing phase of your work. When drafting the message, write the whole thing out in full with no interruptions. The goal at first should be to get your ideas down before they escape.   

 

End Writer’s Block for Good

Writer’s block can happen to any writer. And one major key to beating it is to not let it stop you. Use these tips to manage your creative challenges, and you’ll be able to beat writer’s block every time it strikes.

 


- Melinda Copp