Crayon Writer

Recently I had a writing project for a new client, and for some reason I couldn’t churn it out as quickly as I should have. I finally realized my problem. I wanted it to be perfect, and in worrying about that, I was stuck doing nothing.

Does that sound familiar? Are you so critical of yourself and your writing that it holds you back sometimes?

A freelance writing friend of mine told me a similar story. She agonized and agonized over what to write for her client. She went back and forth with him to make sure she was on the right track. The client told her he wanted the piece to be exciting.

Finally she submitted the project, and much to her dismay, the client sent back a correction. He added an exclamation point to one or two lines! That’s it! That’s what he considered editing, and that’s what he considered exciting. There was nothing wrong with her writing, except that she sat on it too long, all because of perfectionism.

The moral? Write it. Just do it. Get past the fear that it won’t be perfect, because, in all likelihood, what you write is fine for your average client. They just want it done.

Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your writing? How do you overcome it (or do you)?

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With today’s technology, it seems like things should be easier and easier, right?

Maybe.

I’m a pretty darn good speller, but I’m finding myself getting worse as time goes on. I blame it on spellcheck, lazy typing (who needs to type well when you have a backspace key), instant messaging (IMing), and text messaging.

Here are some ideas for fixing this growing problem:

1. Spend at least half an hour each week typing without using the backspace key. Force yourself to spell things right the first time. If you make a mistake, leave it.

2. Go back over your typing and circle all the mistakes you made. Write that (likely huge) number in red ink, and make it big, on your paper.

3. Now that you feel bad, promise yourself that that number will decrease each time you practice.

4. When you IM or text message, spell out the words as often as possible. I know it takes more time, but practice makes perfect.

I haven’t tried this method yet, but as I type this I’m finding myself backspacing a little less often than usual. Next time I’ll do better.

What about you? Have you forgotten how to spell or type too? Any tips for the rest of us?

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Somewhere in the blogosphere I read a post about the origin of blog names.

I thought I’d share with you how I came up with Crayon Writer.

It was pretty difficult at first, since so many good domains are taken. But I knew I wanted to talk about writing in the title, and I knew that my being a mother was important too.

Even though it was difficult to come up with, the concept is actually pretty simple.

I’m a writer who’s the mother of a toddler. When I need to write something in a hurry, I can never find a pen that works. So what do I reach for? A crayon. They’re everywhere. If I stick my hand in the couch, I’m sure to find one quickly.

So there you go. I write with crayons because my toddler uses crayons. I’m a crayon writer. And proud of it. The only problem is that my daughter gets upset when I use her crayons. “That’s MY crayon!”

Sigh…. Maybe I should change the name to Imaginary Pen Writer (LOL!).

How did you come up with your blog’s name?

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In my quest to make freelance writing work for my family, I joined a freelance writers’ group on Yahoo. It’s a great resource for anyone wanting support and advice for their commercial writing business.

One of the members, Danny Thompson, started a Yahoo Group to help freelance writers survive. It’s completely free, it has tons of resources in the Files section, and it sends you daily reminders for your business. He acknowledges that it may not fit your particular situation perfectly, but there are definitely gems for any business owner.

Check out Danny’s free group, Freelance Survival Training. You won’t be disappointed. Remember to check out the Files section too.

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It happens to us all at some time or another. You sit down to type a brilliant piece, and suddenly you can’t think of a thing to say.

During my Entrecard travels I found a really cool post that may help if you have writer’s block.

Assuming you can type without looking at the keyboard, try closing your eyes while you compose your masterpiece. If nothing else, it sounds like a fun exercise.

Try it and let us know how it works for you.

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When you write a blog post or a marketing piece for a client, do you write like you talk?

Generally, I write Crayon Writer the way I think and speak. You may notice the words “so”, “but”, and “and” a lot, for instance.

I also write like a writer (or maybe I think like a writer). When I talk or think, I see the commas, periods, hyphens, and apostrophes in my head. Weird, huh?

Is it a good idea to write like you talk? I think it depends on how correctly you speak or think. If you know that you’re prone to mixing up the subjective and objective tenses, or you know that you don’t spell while you’re thinking, you might want to take a step back after you write something down. A second pair of eyes might be a good idea, even.

But if you know the basic rules of grammar and punctuation , there’s nothing wrong with sounding like a normal, everyday human when you write. Complete with sentence fragments, run-on thoughts, and even colloquial errors.

Above all, have fun when you write. If you spend too much time nitpicking you may sound like a robot. At the same time, make sure others can understand what you mean in your writing.

Here’s an example of a writing faux pas. I saw a truck the other day, driven, I presume, by a woman. There was a cute message written on the window that took me quite a while to figure out. The layout and the missing punctuation were hard to decipher.

Silly boys trucks

are for girls.

Huh?

First I thought, “What are silly boys’ trucks? I guess she’s driving a silly boy’s truck. Interesting. But why are silly boys’ trucks for girls? Why are the trucks silly?”

Finally it dawned on me that she was mimicking the Trix commercial, “Silly rabbit! Tricks are for kids!”

So she did two things wrong. There should have been some punctuation after the word “boys” and the “trucks are for girls” should have been on a line by themselves at the least.

So (didn’t I tell you I use that word a lot?), be careful when you write like you talk, but have fun! You won’t be getting a grade on your blog, but your clients may have something to say about it if you get it wrong.

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Is it ever a good idea to work for free, or close to it?

I just took on a project the past week that really took a lot of time, but there might be some benefit for all of my hard work.

1. One thing I got out of it is a stronger desire to charge what my time is worth.
2. I also dabbled a bit in a new program, In Design, so I learned something new.
3. I worked on a souvenir booklet for a non-profit, service-oriented group, so maybe I did some good in the world too.
4. Just in case, I also made sure the ad I bought for my business was placed in a prominent spot, so maybe I’ll get new business that way.

Time will tell. So, is working for pennies ever worth it? Maybe. Just be sure you have the time, and settle your feelings before taking on the project.

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If you’ve been reading the comments, you might remember the discussion about whether writing for PayPerPost and other paid review sites is a wise idea.

I argued that I’ve seen an increase in Google traffic since my PR was dropped from a 3 to a 0. I also argued that this is my site, not Google’s, so I can monetize however I see fit. There was praise for my courage, and concern that I would never get PR (I thought “never” sounded like a mighty long time, sort of like “life” and “forever” (Prince fans know what I’m talking about)).

Well, I found out that, as opposed to being “slapped” by Google, I’ve been lightly caressed. I now have a PR2! Interesting, especially since I’ve stepped up my paid reviews.

Was all the Google hoopla just a scare tactic? Did Google make a mistake that they’ll soon fix? Will Google really banish the thousands of paid reviewers to PR0, despite the age of our blogs and the incoming links?

While we ponder these mysterious questions of the Googlesphere, I’ll take advantage of the increased pay from reviews that a PR2 will bring.

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Over the years I haven’t owned a watch because I never really pay much attention to time. I get up when the sun (or my daughter) wakes me up, and I kind of just know what time it is.

But if I were to finally get a watch, I’d definitely be sure it includes a stopwatch feature, like the one featured above from Seiko Watches. With constant interruptions from my daughter, I need to be able to literally stop time so I can accurately time a business event (versus getting up and changing a diaper).

Why is it important for freelancers, or any business owner, to properly keep track of their time?

Whenever you take on a project, even if it’s work done for your own business (like accounting, marketing, or even brainstorming), it’s crucial that you know how long it’s taking you.

When you do work for a client, keeping track of how long it takes for each task will help you price future projects more accurately. Be sure to include time spent on the actual writing. But you also have to take into account researching, editing, talking to the client, and more.

Keeping track of time spent on your own business should be accounted for also. This way you can see more clearly how much time it really takes to run your business. Use this information to adjust your hourly rates. You’ll quickly be out of business if you only consider your billable hours when setting your rates.

How do you keep track of your time?

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Do you need a reason to improve your grammar and writing? If you have children, or plan to soon, you have at least one great reason.

My daughter will be 3 years old in about 3 months. Though I know that genetics plays a role in her incredible language ability, I also credit her skills to my parenting style.

One thing I do is talk to her constantly, in regular language. I use prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, contractions, etc. I make it a point to tell her what things are, how they work, and I use a lot of words to explain. I also give her definitions.

My point is that my daughter uses almost perfectly correct grammar when she speaks. Sometimes she’ll say “me” instead of “I”, and of course she’s no English expert, but it’s amazing to watch her learn English everyday. If I didn’t know how to speak properly, and if I didn’t take the time to actually talk to her, she wouldn’t be able to communicate as coherently as she does.

Hand in hand with grammar is writing. I made sure to introduce and point out the alphabet to my daughter early, and we often discuss letters and words. When we’re playing with crayons, I often wrote letters for her, so it’s no surprise that she likes to make letters as best she can (she’s pretty good at writing an A, H, V, and U.)

Another excellent tool is right in front of you. I’ve allowed my daughter to watch me type, and I let her type letters too. This helped her learn not only her alphabet, but also punctuation marks and numbers. She often tells me, “Let me type my name, Mommy.” Right now she just types whatever letters strike her fancy, but she has fun pretending she’s writing words.

All of these everyday activities will help my daughter become a good writer, speaker, and reader.

So if you need to brush up on your basic rules of grammar, or if you never thought it was important to speak to babies and toddlers, give it a second thought. It really does matter.

Just this morning my daughter told me, “I hear a train. That’s strange. Hey! Train. Strange. Train. Strange!” I made sure to tell her that that’s called rhyming. I’ll let you know in a few years when she’s written her first book.

Note: Look for more stories about my daughter’s amazing talents. I’ll be talking about her more and more, or I might just have to start another blog that’s not about writing.

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