10 Items That I Am Thankful For as a Writer

I hope that everyone has a happy Thanksgiving filled with family and friends eating all the insanely-delicious food.   In my personal blog, “What I’m Thankful for 2009,”I wrote about all the wonderful people who I am thankful for. 

Now, I want to write about all the wonderful things that I’m thankful for that help me with my writing:

1.  Stationery and Pens – I am obsessed with stationery and pens.  Whenever I head to a store where I can get some, I don’t think twice.  I get it.  I have a diary I write in every day, and I use colored pens to do it.  To-do lists, writing book, sketchbook.  You name it, I have it.

2.  My Laptop– I can’t imagine life without my laptop.  I write, write, and write away in it.  I’m thankful that I have one.

3. My Music – Whenever I write, I have you to help me get the thoughts out in my head.  Thanks for always being there with me through all the times in my life.

4. WordPress – You have given me total control over my blogs, and I love you for that.  I love the flexibility you give me, and I don’t know how I could ever use another blog platform after finding you. 

5. Windows Live Writer – You are my favorite Windows product, and I wish that you were available on Mac.  I have written great blog posts due to you.  Thank you for that.

6. NeoOffice – You are my favorite word processing software ever. 

7. Scrivener – For writing stories, you are awesome! Even though I don’t think I am going to be a NaNoWriMo winner, you definitely kept my writing organized and in one place. 

8. Social Networking Sites – You might sometimes distract me, but you have also given me inspiration and ideas.  The people are mainly what I am talking about.  You all rock!

9. Coffee – Whenever I am too tired to write, you keep me going.  You are the accessory every Writer should have.

10. Technology – You have given me software, hardware, a way to find interesting people, and information for me to use in my writing.  You make the world go round.

Hope this list made you laugh and agree on some of the items.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Creating Lists Can Help Writers In Many Ways

If it weren’t for lists, I don’t know how I would survive.  Even though I am a major Internet junkie, I still use notebooks and stickies to keep track of my lists.  I have my to-do lists that I write every morning, so I can check off the things that need to get done.  It’s a great way to feel like you have accomplished something, which is a big motivator.  I also have goals list that I update monthly.  I’ve been doing this since I was in my early twenties, and it has helped me achieve many wonderful things in my life.

I do use Amazon, 43 Things, and Google Tasks to maintain my lists online, but I mainly rely on my paper ones.  There are my wish lists, shopping lists, home improvement lists, etc.

Lists have helped me in writing outlines for stories, project plans, and/or requirements.  It’s easy to detail what I want with a basic list because I know how to effectively create one.  I learned a lot when I bought a Franklin Covey planner  It came along with a tutorial on effective list making.  Even in my mind, I can keep a running list that I can later on put on paper.

List making is fun, and I love sitting down and creating a list.  It’s also a good excuse to go get some new stationary and pens (I am obsessed with buying them).

Photo Detail: Wreck this Journal: Shopping Lists, originally uploaded by Lost Star.

Three Reasons to Reconsider Keeping a Client

Freelancing has its perks, but as everyone knows, there is never something that is completely without its problem.  One of the questions freelancers always have is “when should I not work with a client anymore.”  Even though the economy has slowed down, you still have to think about your happiness and comfort level when working with a client.  Here are three reasons to no longer work with a client:

1.  Does not want to pay for work you have done – This is an obvious reason.  I once worked with a client who wanted me to do some revision on a proposal that I had done because the contract representative had changed the work.  We agreed on the amount, and I did the revisions.  However, when it came time to pay me for the work, she refused indicating that it was part of the original contract.  They contacted me in May to do some work for them, and I refused.  I did not want to be put in that position again.

2. Constantly calls and emails when you are working on the project – If you are unable to do your work because you are too busy answering your client’s emails and calls, then maybe this isn’t the relationship that you want to have. A client should trust you enough to perform the work. It’s a stressful situation to be in when you feel you are constantly having to reassure someone that you will get the work done on time and with no errors. Additionally, you won’t be able to produce the level of work you probably would have because all of your time is being spent talking to the client.

3. Wants you to perform work that is out of your scope and gets upset when you tell him/her that – If you are constantly being asked to do work that is out of the scope of the original work, then you don’t want to work with that person.  I once had a client contact me three weeks after the work was done to zip a file for him.  Furthermore, he called me on Sunday morning to do this work while not even thinking about compensating me.  I zipped the file for him, but I let him know that this is not in my line of work.  He then got upset and didn’t contact me again.

You have to be happy to freelance.  If you feel like someone is causing you to lose that, then it’s time to reconsider your relationship with that person.