There are days when I really struggle with writing. When I do, I go to one particular bookshelf and pull out one of the four books listed below. No matter how bad my writer’s block is, a few pages — or a few chapters in a truly desperate situation — will inspire me to write. These four books have an amazing power to get me back on track and remind me why I wanted to write in the first place.
The Novel, by James Michener — There is very little fiction focusing on writing that actually gets through to me. I’ll spend hours reading a novel, pointing out that if a real writer worked that way, she’d be broke. But Michener put his years and years of actual writing experience to work and put together a story that rings true. Because it seems so real to me, I keep coming back to it. I think I’ve probably read The Novel all the way through once every six months since high school.
The Thirteenth Daughter of the Moon, by Stephen Nightingale — This book has absolutely nothing to do with writing, although it has an awful lot to do with storytelling. When it comes to writing a novel that sounds exactly like one of your buddies sat down with you at the bar and started telling tall tales (the kind that get taller with every drink), Nightingale is the best.
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations — A dictionary of quotations seems like an odd source of inspiration, I suppose. And my copy is older than I am. There’s probably been all sorts of brilliant wisdom in the past few decades that I’m missing out on. But when I’m struggling to find the words to describe something, I love seeing what other people have said in the past. Even if I’m writing copy, I pull out this book and start looking up relevant words. Why a book and not Wikiquote? Well, for one thing, Wikiquote can’t be thrown. Occasionally, I need a satisfying thump as much as I need a good quote.
Anne of Windy Poplars, by L.M. Montgomery — This is the book that really convinced me that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I love all the Anne of Green Gables books, but Windy Poplars is so different from the rest of the series (especially structurally). It showed me that there are multiple ways to tell a story, and is more of an old friend that I revisit than a book that I reread.
No matter what type of writing your freelance business relies on, there will be a time when you struggle to find the right words. It’s important to have the resources that will keep you on track through those tough times. I’ve slowly found a few books that inspire me; one I read for a class, one I discovered wandering around the library.
I’ve been known to lend these books out. I have three copies of The Novel, just to make sure that I always have a copy on hand when I need it.
What’s on your inspiration shelf? How did you find the words that help you move forward?
This is the 24th edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival. There’s some wonderful information in these links and I hope you’ll take the time to look at them. If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 25th edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
There are so many ads, calls for submissions and editors outright begging for writers with a good understanding of the sustainability movement. Your average news writer can’t just shift gears into covering green stories and neither can your average business writer. That means this niche is perfect for exploitation by any freelance writer willing to put forth the effort.
The thing about writing green is that you need to know just a little more science and engineering than your average writer. You need to be able to look at specs for a new solar panel and translate it into layman’s terms. You need to be able to look at a new soap and be able to tell consumers whether it’s really an improvement for their homes — and whether their pocketbooks can withstand the crunch.
Interested in getting started? Check out these sites to start getting a clearer picture of sustainable news.
Hugg: This site gives you an idea of the best green stories today. It operates in pretty much the same way as Digg, but focuses on the best of tree-hugging news.
CSRWire: This site is just for press releases on socially responsible topics, including environmentalism. It’s a quick way to find a story on a green topic.
TreeHugger: A great site covering green news. A must to have on your daily reading list if you’ll be covering green topics.
MatterNetwork: I’m biased, of course, because I write for MatterNetwork. It’s a great resource, though, bringing together scores of articles on all sorts of green topics.
Green writing isn’t just about articles, either. Every company wants to position themselves as just a little greener than the competition these days. If you can step up and say that you’re the green copy writing guru, the expert at sustainable buzzwords, the perfect writer for their eco-friendly project, you can pick a little green of your own.
Here’s edition 23 of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival, right on schdule! If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 24th edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
This post marks the 22nd edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival. If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 23rd edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
I’m pleased to present the 21st edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival. If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 22st edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
We’ve reached the 20th edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival! This calls for a celebration! Personally, I think I’ll make some brownies.
If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 21st edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival
The 19th Edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival is right here! Next week will be our 20th carnival — I can barely believe it! If you’d like to submit a post or two, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
I took a class titled “Newsgathering” in during my undergraduate days. It was focused on teaching journalists how to get the information necessary for crafting a quality story. One discussion that has stuck with me was on the topic of interviews.
I have an admitted preference for email interviews — in most circumstances, they take up less time for everyone involved, and it’s significantly harder for someone to claim that you misquoted them. But my professor still stands by the in-person interview. He settles for phone interviews when he has to and considers the email interview Plan C at best.
The general idea is that an in-person interview is more adaptive: you can change the questions and don’t have to do multiple follow ups if an interview subject’s answer sparks a new idea. Furthermore, a good writer seems to be able to pull answers out of a subject when talking to them that the writer might not get in an email.
But an email interview is acceptable in most instances. I really have only two situations in which I make it a point to do a personal interview, or even a phone call:
When I’m essentially cold calling a subject with whom i have no connection. If I’m picking names out of a phone book, I know I’ll have a better chance of getting my questions answered if I make a phone call than if I send off an email that could easily slip into a spam filter.
When I’m working with an emotional and hostile interview subject. There are plenty of situations when I’ve wound up interviewing someone who really didn’t want to talk to me and an email just isn’t going to get an honest answer in those situations.
How do you conduct your interviews? Are you cool with emailing off a couple of questions? Or are you going to track down a real live person to talk to?
This edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival is huge! I’m just blown away by the great entries we received. If you’d like to participate in the next edition (19!), you can submit articles at Blog Carnival
