Yes, You are now a Professional Writer

The moment you chose to write a commercial blog (which is what each of us here at WA possesses), you made a choice to become a professional writer. No matter your niche, the purpose of your writing is to inform, inspire, influence, and, ultimately, to sell. The moment we attach affiliate ads or any other commercial linkage onto our site, we are selling.

I’ve been getting paid to write for many years. Along the way I have picked up or adhered to a number of principles and practices that have helped to keep the copy flowing. Maybe something here will help you, too.

Focus on your niche. Seems obvious, right? Maintaining focus is smart. If your blog is about children’s clothing, you probably should not write and publish content about the healing benefits of acupuncture. Just make sure your content has an organic connection. For example, children’s clothing may connect with the travails of a working mom - you can expand on what it's like to be a busy mom getting everything ready in the morning while expounding on the benefits of outfits that young children can handle on their own, giving mom time enough to drink her coffee.

Embrace the box. “Out of the box” is a dangerous myth for any writer/artist. Your niche is a box or boundary. The content you write needs to fit inside that parameter. As a pro, our jobs are to expand the box, but not go outside the box. According to noted psychologist Rollo May, artists have a passion for form – it is the job of the artist to create form out of chaos. That can only be done if we embrace the box. For more on this see my post: http://blazingmind.com/embrace-the-box/

Focus on your market. To whom are you writing? It’s always helped when I can imagine an individual within my market – my ideal client. For Blazing Mind that would be a person, typically 35-65 years old, that is professional, educated and is seeking authenticity and freedom personally and professionally. Depending on the article, the person could be a housewife living in suburban Connecticut, or an executive living in Los Angeles. Whoever it is, I write to that person. This tends to help in keeping my copy conversational and connectable.

Set a deadline. Writing for money means writing to a deadline. Know your capacity and set reasonable timelines. And then meet your deadlines.

Share the deadline. Create accountability. Writing can be a lonely business. A great way to increase productivity and maintain integrity with deadlines is to share your timeline with a trusted friend or colleague. Do regular check-ins and help each other to create accountability.

Begin by Re-Writing. Writer’s block sucks, and a blank screen can be overwhelming. A trick I learned that can often help in pushing through a block is to re-write the last piece I completed. The simple act of writing begins to oil the mechanism, and because you’re re-writing related content, the mind will kick in and the ideas and words you were seeking will appear on the page. Trust me, this technique works.

Walk away. If re-writing doesn’t work, go fishing. Do something fun. Take a walk. Read a book (writers are readers). Believe it or not, walking away for a short time is an essential part of the creative process. Taking a break allows ideas to incubate, marinate and become seasoned. The ideas will come when you least expect them – and then it’s time to write.

Refuse to edit while you write. Unless you’re fixing a simple spelling error, don’t edit while you write. Write first. Get a rough draft down completely, and then edit. They are two very separate and distinct functions. Editing while you’re writing is a distraction you don’t need and can keep you from completing, which will lead to missed deadlines.

Great writing begins with re-writing. Sometimes your first draft will be awful. Don’t worry about it. Find the good stuff that is there (and there will be good stuff) and build around those ideas. Re-write. Keep re-writing until you’ve got it nailed. The art of writing is re-writing.

Read what you just wrote. When you think you have it nailed, read what you have written. Out loud. For me this is the conversation test. There are times when you read silently and it all seems good. But, when you read it aloud, you might find a clunky sentence or two that you can change. You’ll also find misspellings and punctuation glitches doing this. It’s a great way to check your work.

Live with what you wrote - Click “Publish”. Start again. As a Pro, your job is to produce copy. At some point you just have to say, “That’s the best I've got right now!” So you let it go, click “publish”, and move on to the next article.

Once you publish, the piece you wrote is no longer yours. It belongs to your readers. If you’ve done your job a conversation will be created, concepts will be accepted, minds will be influenced, information will be passed along, people will be educated, inspired or motivated. Maybe they’ll buy now, maybe later. Seeds are planted. Your job is done.

Hope there is something valuable here - a nugget you can use!