Life of A Writer

Academic writers wanted (averages $20 per page for model essay/report writing)

Articles related to environmental issues, environmental chemistry or hazardous materials ($.20 per word plus bio)

Blog writers for corporate clients ($8 per post)

Blog writers to write about activities, events and functions in Tacoma, WA. and its surrounding areas ($10 per post)

Part-time writer for a MMA news site ($500 monthly)

Religion writers ($125 to start)

Sustainable Life Media seeking an online news editor to cover the latest trends in the green business ($20-$25 hourly, depending on experience)

Writer to write headlines for a romance site ($15 hourly)

Writer to write on a variety of legal topics for LawInfo.com ($25-$40 per 500-600 word piece)

That concludes this week's telecommute freelance writing jobs. Remember, if you're looking to hire a writer or blogger you can contact me with the details and I'll include your announcement in next week's listings.

Disclaimer: I can't guarantee that any of the telecommute freelance writing jobs listed above will still be available when you apply for them. Furthermore, I'm not responsible for the credibility of the freelance writing jobs. Before committing to any writing gig, get the details and promised payment in writing. If you can't get it in writing, at least save all e-mail communications between you and the company or individual you will be writing for.

If you're scammed or have been scammed by any of the companies or individuals from one of the telecommute freelance writing jobs above, please warn your fellow writers by sharing your experience in the comments area.

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Get to Know Your Characters With a Character Outline is the first part in my Fiction Writing Tips series.

Before you begin writing your fiction novel, you need to get to know your characters on a more personal level, and in order to do that, you need to create a character outline. Then as you’re writing your fiction novel, you can refer back to the character outline if needed.

When I sat down to write my first Christian novel, Help From Above, I just started putting words to paper. However, it wasn’t long until I realized I didn’t know my characters well enough to really make the story come alive on paper. Therefore, I put the writing aside and began creating my first character outline. Later, when I finished the outline, I was able to put life into my story. Besides, it was nice being able to learn more about my characters’ habits, personalities and etc., and things really did come easier when I could refer back to my character outline.

Following is an explanation of the template I created. Use a new template for each main character, but be sure not to create too many characters. Too many characters in a fiction novel may cause your reader to lose interest and lay your book down for good.

What’s your character’s role in your fiction novel?

By role, I mean is this character the antagonist, protagonist, a family member of the antagonist or protagonist, a friend of the antagonist or protagonist, the girlfriend, boyfriend, fiancé or spouse of the antagonist or protagonist.

The antagonist is the person who will create the conflict for the protagonist throughout your fiction novel. The protagonist will be the main character throughout your fiction novel.

What’s your character’s name?

First, decide on a gender for this character, and then give him or her a name. Some resources to help you pick a name for your character are as follows:

Behind the Name
Fantasy Name Generator
Seventh Sanctum

How old is your character?

You may not mention your character's age in your fiction novel, but just in case, it doesn’t hurt to give each of your characters an age.

How does your character make a living?

Give your character an occupation such as a business owner, artist, writer, nurse, doctor or etc.

What are your character’s good and bad habits?

Think of some good and/or bad habits that you could give your character and have him or her portray these habits in your fiction novel. Some examples: bites nails when nervous, plays with her hair when she’s nervous, constantly says like when she’s talking, etc.

What’s your character’s personality like?

Is this character outgoing, shy, friendly, independent, hard working or etc.? You can give him or her more than one trait. For example, maybe your main character is shy and hard working.

Does your character have any secrets?

These secrets could be from your character’s past or present. You could also give him or her more than one secret, and make this secret a part of your fiction novel. Not all your character’s have to have a secret, but it helps if the main character has at least one secret that he or she struggles to keep hidden throughout the story.

That my friends are what all of my character outlines include. If you’d like to use this template to get to know your characters better, feel free to download it. The free Adobe Reader will be needed to download the free character outline. As you can probably already tell, this is a basic character outline. If you need to, feel free to add to it.

Next week I’ll tell you how to create a story outline, and I’ll also give you a free story outline template to work with.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on today’s post. By commenting on this post you’ll receive an entry into my Mentoring Session Contest. The Mentoring Session Contest ties into this series. Spam comments will not receive an entry and will be deleted.

Finally, to ensure that you don’t miss any upcoming posts in my Fiction Writing Tips series, subscribe to my RSS feed via e-mail. If you subscribe via e-mail, you’ll earn another entry into my Mentoring Session Contest.

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I had planned to post the first part of my Fiction Writing Tips series on Sunday, but things didn't go as I had planned them, and here's why: On Friday I woke from bed with a terrible sinus infection. So, on my way to pick up the kids from their dad's house, I bought some over-the-counter sinus tablets that I hoped and prayed would work over the weekend so I could get back to work and bring you part one of the Fiction Writing Tips series. But I suppose the sinus tablets I bought weren't all that great, because by Saturday morning my sinus infection was worse instead of better. In fact, today I'm still not quite up to power, but at least I can hold my head up for a longer period of time now. With that said, I'll post part one of the Fiction Writing Tips series some time tomorrow.

Thank you for waiting patiently and I apologize that things didn't go as planned. I tried to sit down at my computer Sunday night to get the series up as well as get some other writing done, but I just couldn't do it. I don't know why this sinus infection has taken over and is not letting up much, but I hope and pray to God it does soon. The sinus headache has stayed with me since Friday, and the top of my eye lids hurt so bad that it's hard to close them and get sleep. I have no energy and feel tired all the time. On top of all that, I have a runny nose and find myself short of breath often, but the shortness of breath is probably normal since I have asthma. Anyway, since I'm finally able to hold my head up for a longer period of time, I will post part one in the Fiction Writing Tips series tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Again, my apologies for those of you who have been waiting patiently for this series. Just hang in there with me for one more day.

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For the past few months I've been struggling to write. As always, though, I managed to write the articles, because I wasn't totally blocked -- I just struggled every now and then. Anyway, as I said my prayers Wednesday night, I asked God to give me my muse back, and the very next night He answered -- Praise God! Problem was, I couldn't work as usual that night. I had an appointment the next day, so I had to hit the sack early so I'd be well rested and could get up for my appointment. I did have one article due the next day that I had to write, so I finished it then went to bed. When I wrote that article, that's when I realized my prayer had been answered, and I hated not being able to take advantage of the blessing, but I knew the appointment was one I had to make, so I called it a night.

As soon as my head hit the pillow that night, words to articles were rapidly rushing through my mind.

"Hmm... I wonder if I can manage to stay awake all day without sleep. Maybe with a lot of coffee I could," I told myself. "No, then I'd be running back and forth to the bathroom every five minutes. Besides, I need to be rested," I continued telling myself.

Despite trying to ignore the muse to get rest, I couldn't sleep with everything that was running through my mind, and the last time I glanced at the clock it was 7:00am. Next thing I knew, my alarm was going off! I had set my alarm for 11:15am (yep, I needed that extra 15 minutes ).

I came to the conclusion that I should have just stayed up and taken advantage of the blessing, but since I was determined to get rest, I thanked God for the answered prayer and asked him to let my muse last a while, and thankfully, it's still with me.

What did I learn? I learned that you can't ignore the muse when it hits. Even if you don't get up and write, it WILL stick with you throughout the entire night.

Have you ever ignored your muse? If so, what was the outcome?

Photo courtesy of Flickr

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Remember back in January when I said I had some surprises in store for you this year? Well, the first surprise was the Help From Above Birthday Contest, which didn't attract the attention I had hoped it would since there were no entries. However, I'm hoping this next contest is much more attractive to you, and yes, it's one of the next surprises I mentioned in January.

With that out of the way, the question now is this: Are you ready for one of my biggest contests ever?! Oh yes, this is the one I made a short announcement about a few weeks ago on Twitter, as well as in my latest fan club newsletter and in the May 2008 edition of Coffee Break for Writers. I've been so excited about this that I had to make a brief mention, and I even prepared a few things ahead of time -- months ahead to be exact.

About a month ago one of my readers e-mailed me, and as I do with all the fans and readers who e-mail me or write me through postal mail, I replied to her with advice and encouragement. But before I replied, I visited her blog and discovered that she -- like many of us -- has a God-given talent, which is why I gave her encouragement; I seen her writing talent through her blog. In fact, I enjoyed her blog so much that I subscribed to it, and her next post was what inspired me to write my first blog series entitled Fiction Writing Tips, which I decided to tie into my Mentoring Session Contest.

As I read the post my reader made on her blog, I also realized my contest could be of great help to her if she decides to enter. Why? Because in that post she said she had finally decided to start writing a book, but she admitted that she didn't know where to start. Not knowing where to begin is common among many aspiring writers who finally decide to sit down and write that book, and that's why I decided to write the Fiction Writing Tips series to go along with the free mentoring session with me via e-mail. And the best news is the free mentoring session will last until the winning writer writes the last word in his or her first -- or next -- fiction novel!

The Fiction Writing Tips series will include information for aspiring and veteran fiction writers, and I truly believe the series should be tied to the Mentoring Session Contest since they're related. Following is what will be included in the Fiction Writing Tips series and the Mentoring Session Contest:

Fiction Writing Tips Series:

1. Writing an outline.
2. Getting to know your characters.
3. Writing the first draft.
4. Editing the first draft.
5. Tips on researching publishers and agents.
6. Free templates.
7. Links to additional reading...
8. ... and anything else that strikes my fancy or is suggested by you.

The first post for this series is planned for May 25, 2008.

Mentoring Session Contest -- Winner Will Receive:

1. Encouragement.

2. Honest (but gentle) criticism of your book, query, synopsis, chapter by chapter outline and press release.

3. Free editing.

4. A list of possible publishers to market your book to.

5. List of possible book reviewers.

6. I'll give you a review of your book, which will be published here as well as on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

7. I'll interview you, and if you're planning a virtual book tour for your book, we can include my interview with you here at Life of a Writer.

8. Marketing advice.

9. A special gift valued at $30. This special gift will be announced at a later date, because I need to check to see how I can purchase a gift subscription first.

Again, this mentoring session will not end until you've written the last word in your book. If it continues over three years, though, I might have to announce an expiration date.

The winner of the Mentoring Session Contest will be announced at the end of the Fiction Writing Tips series. The winner will be drawn from a hat and announced here at Life of a Writer.

If you believe you're ready to write your first -- or next -- fiction novel and would love some help throughout the process, there are four ways to enter my Mentoring Session Contest:

1.Post an announcement about the Fiction Writing Tips series along with the Mentoring Session Contest on your blog, and link that post back to this one. Please link the words Fiction Writing Tips and Mentoring Session Contest.

After you've placed the announcement and a link back to this post using the above-mentioned words, return here and leave a comment with the link to your post. Once I confirm that you've followed the directions above, I'll place your name in the hat for the Mentoring Session Contest.

2. Comment on any of the posts in the Fiction Writing Tips series. You won't be able to do this until I publish the first post in the series, which is scheduled for May 25, 2008.

3. Follow me on Twitter. Once you've completed this task, return to this post and leave a comment letting me know what name you go by on Twitter, so I'll know it was you that followed me.

4. Subscribe to Life of a Writer via e-mail. Within 24 hours after you subscribe, I'll send you an e-mail to let you know you've been entered. At this time, I'll ask for your name, because your name is what I'll use when I announce the winner.

If you perform all four tasks, then you'll receive four entries into the Mentoring Session Contest, increasing your chances of winning. Also note in regards to commenting on the Fiction Writing Tips series, if your comment is of a spam nature, then it won't be published, nor will you receive an entry into the Mentoring Session Contest. If you post an actual comment that adds value and is not spam, then you'll be just fine.

And that, my friends, are the complete details. If you have any questions about the series or contest, or if you have any suggestions for the Fiction Writing Tips series, contact me or leave a comment.

If you don't want to miss any of the posts in the Fiction Writing Tips series, subscribe via e-mail or add Life of a Writer to your favorite RSS reader. Remember, if you subscribe to Life of a Writer via e-mail, you'll receive your first entry in the Mentoring Session Contest. Good luck!

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This weekend was certainly an exciting one as I went from writing to driving lessons. My 15-year-old daughter received her driver's permit and was anxious to take advantage of it. This was her first time ever driving on the highway, but I figured she has to learn sometime, right?

I had my stepson pull over to the shoulder of the road so he and Cyndie could switch places in the driver's seat. Cyndie smiled as she climbed in behind the wheel.

"Ok, before you start, adjust your mirrors so you can see, and adjust your seat to a comfortable position. The speed limit is 55," I instructed her.
"Yes, mom, I know. I'm ready," she said.
"Just relax," I told her as she pulled out onto the highway."
"You're making me nervous, mom."
"Trust me, hunny, I'm more nervous than you are right now, and I'm just trying to help you since it's your first time on the highway."

I fought to keep silent so I didn't make her too nervous, but the whole time I was scared out of my wits! Every now and then I had to remind her to keep it between the lines, because she would hug the white line everytime she'd meet another car. And she still has to get use to the gas pedal. She tends to speed up and slow down. What was really amusing, though, was she'd run about 60 through the flats, but when we reached a hill, she'd slow down.

We came upon a construction zone with a stoplight. She began slowing down, but not soon enough. I held my breath and pressed my foot hard to the floorboard on an invisiable break that wasn't working. Luckily, we stopped just an inch or so behind the truck without hitting it. I then released my breath.

"You have to slow down sooner," my stepson announced calmly from the back seat.
"Sorry," she replied.

We all made it home in one piece, and I thank God for that. She still needs practice, but overall she doesn't do too bad. However, I think I'm going to need a whole bottle of nerve pills to get through this stage of parenting ...LOL... I'll keep you up to date on her driving lessons, and hopefully my sanity stays intact through all of them.

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Welcome to my first weekly listings of telecommute freelance writing jobs. All of the following freelance writing jobs pay, and according to the jobs' details, they're not "peanut" paying writing jobs. If you're looking to hire a writer or blogger, contact me with the details and I'll include your announcement in next week's listings.

If you're ready to add more clients to your writing schedule and increase your monthly income, check out this week's telecommute freelance writing jobs. Good luck!

Article writer/blogger to write on a variety of web-centric topic ($15 and $20 per article)

Article writer to write about infidelity, affairs and relationships ($10 per article to start)

Bankers' Edge hiring writers to research and write articles related to the banking industry ($500 per completed assignment)

Bloggers to write daily updates for First30Days.com ($500 monthly)

Blogger for Banks.com's personal finance blog ($15 per post)

Corporate media relations blogger ($20 per post)

Credit report-related article writer ($25 per article, which will increase to $30 per article after one month)

Legal writer for a bi-monthly newsletter ($30 to $40 hourly, based on experience)

Newsletter article writer ($15-$20 per article)

Real estate blogger (Pay is negotiable depending on skill, experience and commitment.)

Tech and Pop Culture Bloggers ($250-$500 monthly, plus traffic bonuses)

Writers to write how-to guides (Payment varies, but averages between $50 and up)

Writers to write on technology topics ($.12-$.14 per word)

I scour the Internet to save you time and share some of the better work-at-home writing gigs that I can find. With that said, I can't guarantee that any of the telecommute freelance writing jobs (or blogging jobs) listed above will still be available when you apply for them. Furthermore, I'm not responsible for the credibility of the freelance writing or blogging jobs. Before commiting to any writing gig, get the details and promised payment in writing. If you can't get it in writing, then at least save all e-mail communications between you and the company or individual you will be writing for.

If you're scammed or have been scammed by any of the companies or individuals from one of the telecommute freelance writing jobs above, please share your experience in the comments area.

These telecommute freelance writing job listings will be posted on a weekly basis, so be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed or via e-mail for the updates.

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