Still Alive :)

I'm still alive! Things have been super hectic around here, between regular work and training for a new non-writing client, blogging has been pushed to the background. Now I have some serious catching up to do! As always, I have a lot to say, but with only a few days left to say it, I don't think I will complete the challenges. :(

Easter was fun around here although I neglected to take more than a few pictures this year. We had way to many places to be and not enough time to be at all of them, so we chose to spend the day before with my husbands brother and mom. My brother in law is in the Army, and he is being deployed once again. :( He and his wife are expecting a baby any day now, and after his birth he will be sent back to Afghanistan. While I am very proud of him, and I do support our troops 100 percent, I am so saddened that he will miss so much of his son's life. It just doesn't seem right to me, is all this war and fighting more important than fathers being with their children? Or mothers, for that matter. Families should be together, especially during the first year of a child's life. My sister in law is a much stronger woman than I am, I don't think I could handle it.

We spent Easter day with the other side of my husbands family and had a great time hunting eggs and just enjoying the day, I adore my in laws on this side of the family, they are such laid back, easy to love people. There is always plenty of joking around and good cooking, and we always leave full of food and exhausted! It was a truly wonderful day.

I will be trying to post several times a day from now on. It won't help me to complete the challenges, but it will give me an outlet for all these ideas floating around in my head! That is if the storms that have hit us today will calm down a bit, my internet service is in and out which is making doing anything difficult!

J is for Just Keep Going!!

That's right....Just keep going! This clip from the movie Facing the Giants has always inspired me and this week I particularly needed to watch it again. It doesn't matter if what you are facing has to do with your freelance career or your personal life. You just keep going. No matter what life throws at you, no matter what stumbling blocks get thrown in your path, you persevere and keep driving right through it.

If you want something badly enough, and you let a set back or road block stop you from achieving it, you will be left with nothing but regret and broken dreams. But if you just keep on going, no matter how tired you are, or how many things get in your way, you WILL achieve your goals. So, just keep going!

Updates on Life as I Know It :)

I often feel that I share to much of my personal life and opinions on this blog and that I am risking boring my readers. But after reading one of my favorite blogs, The Self Employed Writer, today I have decided to continue sharing what is going on in my life as well as pertinent information for freelancing parents.

First of all, the dogs at animal control that I posted about on Tuesday. I brought two dogs home with me that day. One of them is a little brindle boy who is just terrified of everything! I don't know what his past was like, or why he is like this, but the slightest movement or noise spooks him. I was told he was a bad bet by the guy who followed me around the place, that no one could get close to him. But he was on the list to be put down and I knew no one else would take him home since he was so skittish and because he has a prolapsed gland in his eye. It took time to catch him in his little, dirty pen but with the help of a friend we got him. Now we are slowly showing him that he is safe and can trust us. My four year old son is my secret weapon in this quest, he has a natural affinity with any animal and his smaller size makes him less of a threat. Bracken will come to him when he will run from the rest of us.

Our second rescue was a little cutie pie who had no name, the same four year old has named him Boxer. He is a friendly guy with helicopter ears that make him look like he is going to launch into space at any moment! His ribs are sticking out and he has worms, but he is a happy guy now. Food twice a day instead of a few times a week and a good worm medication will have him ready for a new home in no time.

The other major thing going on around here is the blog challenges, and as of this post I am three days behind. But, I will catch up and I will complete both challenges.

I am struggling with making the changes to this blog that I want to, because I cannot find a way to do it with blogger. The other sections of this blog are just crappy, to put it politely. I want the information I put in these sections to be separated by date like these blog posts are, but instead they post as one long post and I cannot figure out how to change that! It is frustrating but I don't want to change hosts at this point in time. If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it!

Independence of Freelancing

One of the things I love the most about freelancing is the independence it allows me. If there is a party at school, I can be there. If one of my babies is sick, I don't have to scramble around trying to take a day off and worry about my job. I just get them settled in on the couch and work while taking care of them. Or, like yesterday, I can just say the heck with it and go sit beside a pond with a fishing pole and enjoy the pure joy on my youngest child's face when he pulls in a fish. :)

Independence can also be a bad thing for a freelancer. It is to easy to say you will do it later, or catch up tomorrow because you would rather do something else. Then you end up behind on deadlines or not making your financial goal for the week because other things got in the way. Speaking for myself, not making what I need to make for the week frustrates me and makes it even harder for me to buckle down and get it done.

Setting goals is helpful for some, while other freelancers set strict office hours and do not do anything but work during those hours. Software such as Focus Booster helps to keep track of the time you work, and holds you accountable for the amount of time you are working.

How to you keep yourself motivated to get everything done despite the independence of your work? This seems to be what most freelancers see as their biggest problem, so sharing advice might help someone else! :)

Goals

Without goals, we wouldn't accomplish anything. Or at least I wouldn't! :)

I have plenty of them, some related to this blog, others related to writing or my personal life. Since being held accountable is a huge help in helping force myself to do what needs to be done, I thought I would share some of my goals today.

For this blog, I want to achieve a decent following and make improvements such as a domain name and larger recipe, craft and book review sections. There are quite a few changes that I want to make in the design of it, but first I have to figure out how! Anyone know a good blogger tutorial?

For my writing, I want to expand my career so that I am doing more work for private clients as opposed to content companies. I want to write more about the things that are important to me. And I want to see my name in print.

As for my personal goals, I want to develop a more positive attitude. People see me as an upbeat person, and I am. But I am also my own worst enemy, always finding fault in my appearance, writing and everything else about myself. I also want to continue the home improvements we started several months ago, and finish our extra bedroom.

Now, you know what I hope to achieve in the future so tell me about your goals. What do you want to achieve? How to you plan to make it happen?

Fatigue

To say I am tired would be putting it lightly. Due to my unbelievably crappy internet provider, I have been battling to stay online. Not being able to stay online makes it difficult to blog, work or even check my bank balance! It also results in my losing what little sleep I get because I spend that time trying to catch up.

I gave in today, and decided to just take a day off and relax. I even took a short nap earlier, but not long enough to make me feel truly rested. Now it is 2 AM and my baby boy is wide awake, which of course means I am too. And in just 3 short hours and a few measly minutes it will be time to wake up and start the day. I am thinking I will continue to be fatigued for quite a while!

I am also two days behind with the Ultimate Blog Challenge, so I will be posting again later today to begin catching up! Hopefully by the time I hit all my article deadlines and catch up on blogging, I can get at least one full nights sleep!

What are your tips for dealing with fatigue? I would love to hear them!

Expectations

All freelancers have different expectations for their business. Some just want extra income in order to provide extras for their family or themselves. Others want, or need, to have the ability to support themselves with the income completely. Sometimes, expectations change because your life changes.

When I first began freelancing, it was for extra income to help with the bills and take care of the extra things such as school clothes and holiday shopping. Then the economy went to hell and my hubby no longer had any work for his electrical business. Thankfully, I was able to step it up and keep everything paid for a year while he searched for work and finally went back to school to change careers. Now that he is again out of work because of the wreck, I am able to again keep everything going until his income is back. It is a real blessing to have that ability, while still being right here when my kids need me, make it to school functions, and serve a good meal every night.

I write because I have to, even if I wasn't doing it for a living I would still write. I have written for as long as I can remember! But I freelance because it allows me to adjust my work schedule around my family and put their needs first. I worked 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week outside of the home when my older children were young. I never want to do that again!

What are your expectations for your business? And what do you intend to do to make sure those expectations happen?

Dependability

If a pipe burst in your home and the plumber you called to fix it promised to be there by 6, you would be pretty upset if you were still waiting around at 7. Clients feel the same way about the work you do for them. If they expect articles to be delivered by 9 pm on Friday and you send them in at 8 am on Saturday, they will most likely find another writer for their needs.

Being dependable is one of the most important things you can do for your business. Just as you do not want to use a business that you can't depend on, clients will not want to use your talents if they aren't assured work will be done on time. And since word of mouth is an important part of advertising, people will start hearing bad things about your business and be less likely to choose you.

Being well organized is one way to ensure you meet deadlines on time. Knowing what work you have to do and when it needs to be done will enable you to get work done in the correct order to get it turned in on time.

Time management is another important factor in dependability. It is also one that I struggle with regularly. A fellow blogger has been doing a series on time management that I have found inspiring. You can find her at The Self Employed Writer. Her posts have inspired me and helped with managing my own time. It is well worth the read.

Content Companies

Having multiple places to write content for is very important, since work is sometimes scarce. With multiple eggs, you aren't completely dependent on one company to provide your income. I have done a list of content companies before, but things have changed, with companies closing or changing and new companies starting. So it is time for a new, updated list.

Break Studios places articles on sites such as Mademan.com. Articles pay $8 each and payment is made through paypal on the 1st and the 15th of every month.

Bright Hub ranges in pay from revenue share to $10 per article.

Demand Studios pays from $7.50 to $25 for articles, depending on the site you are writing for. Pay is twice a week and is made through paypal.

Emerging Cast
has an average pay of $2 per article and pays once a month through paypal or bank transfer.

Internet Brands pays from $4 to $10 per article and payment is made once a month through paypal.

Need An Article pays weekly through paypal and articles start at $5.

Textbroker pays twice a month through paypal. Article rates vary widely according to the level of the writer and the word count.

Writer Access also varies according to levels and word count. Pay is once a month by paypal.

Word Gigs pays between $1 and $4 for articles and pays once a month through paypal.

B is For Blogging ;)

Yes, blogging. My newest obsession! I was suffering this morning, because instead of being able to grab my coffee and sit down to blog, we had to make the long drive to get the stuff out of hubby's truck. Seeing that truck in person, rather than in pics, did not make my morning. It did make me want to hug that man of mine a little tighter though!

I started this blog originally because there are many people out there who have a talent and want to use it to make a living from home. And the majority of people like this are parents as well. Not to mention, my children and my freelancing career are my two biggest loves and I have a lot to say about them both!

I have big dreams for this blog, starting with getting a real domain name and expanding the site to have larger and searchable craft and recipe sections. The blog will remain the main focus, but the rest of it will be a great resource for both freelancers and parents alike. And a section for book reviews as well, since reading is another love of mine. Of course, none of this is going to happen immediately. It will take hard work and time. But if a dream isn't worth hard work, it isn't much of a dream! Until then, I will keep on blogging. :)

What I want to know is, why do you blog? What made you start your blog originally and what keeps you blogging now? I can't wait to hear everyone's responses!

As for the blog challenges, this is only day two but things are going great. And I have found many new blogs to follow written by awesome writers! I am actually considering having a guest blogger or two for this blog. What do you think?

Accountability

I don't know about the rest of you, but I need accountability to accomplish everything I need to do in a day! Being held accountable for bills and having extra money to make sure my little munchkins enjoy their childhood keeps me writing everyday.

This month, I have joined two different blog challenges in order to help myself stay accountable for blogging each day. The first one, Ultimate Blog Challenge, requires me to post 30 times in the month of April. I can choose to do it by posting once per day, or do several posts in one day. I have done this challenge before, but fell slightly short of the quota.

The second challenge, A to Z Challenge, requires 26 posts. That is one post for each letter of the alphabet, hence today's post which is brought to you by the letter A. Excuse the Sesame Street flashbacks, I do have five children! ;)

I am hoping for two things from both of these challenges. My main priority is to develop a habit of posting daily that will stick with me after the challenge is over. I have a lot to say, I just don't always find the time to sit down and say it!

My second goal is to bring more readers to this blog, since there is little sense in saying what I have to say if no one is listening! And in the process, I will find many other blogs to feed my daily reading addiction. My favorite part of blogging is definitely checking out the blogs that my readers have!

Hopefully, by the end of the month I will have spectacular results to report. And if not, I will have fun trying! Anyone care to join me?

Scheduling Your Days

Some people may envision life as a freelancer as lazy days spent in pajamas, working here and there when you want to. It's a nice vision, but any freelancer knows that it is far from the truth.

In order to be a successful freelancer, you must be disciplined and extremely self motivated. Working from home means that you have double the distractions compared to someone who works in a traditional office environment. When working from home, a schedule is a must have. Not every schedule will work for every freelancer though.

Some people manage well with a simple to do list. Simply listing everything that they must accomplish on any given day gives them the ability to buckle down and get it done. Others need a more formal schedule, listing each hour of the day and what needs to be done during that time.

If one way of scheduling your day doesn't work, try an alternative and keep on trying different ways until you find the one that works. Staying well organized will make the difference between succeeding or failing as a freelancer.

What do you do to stay on track?

Marketing Yourself, Continued

Essentially, you are a business. You may be only one person in a small office set up in a corner of your home, but you are still a business. Businesses need to be advertised in order to get their name out their for people to see.

This means different things for different freelancers. For me, at the moment, this blog is my main focus. Which is why I am putting the facebook and twitter associated with it to better use. Being more active on both will put this blog in front of people. On that note, feel free to follow me on both facebook and twitter. ;)

To other freelancers, this may mean gaining more private clients by advertising in newspapers, trade publications or online. This will enable them to broaden their horizons and keep a steady amount of work coming in at all times.

Word of mouth is also very important to any business. Websites such as Freelance Writing and Freelance Writing Gigs are a great place to find potential clients. If these clients are happy with your work, they will tell other clients and bring you more work.

So what are your goals for the business that you are? How do you plan to accomplish these goals?

What Do You Struggle With?

One of the hardest parts of being a freelance writer, for me anyways, is the need to market myself in order to make money. I am a shy person in general, and a very shy writer. I went years without showing anyone anything that I wrote. One day, in a fit of temper because my husbands volunteer fire department needed equipment they couldn't afford because of the lack of community support, I wrote a short piece about volunteer firefighters. I made the mistake of letting him read it and the next thing I know, every person in his department had read it and it kept spreading. I got emails from other departments asking permission to use it. People stopped me in the grocery store to tell me how good it was. My confidence in my writing ability soared, and my writing career began at that point.

But even now, I still have lapses of confidence in my writing. I don't let friends or family members read my blog, except for few exceptions. I swear every time I send a writing sample to a potential client that it is the worst thing I have ever written. I am my own worst critic, so I don't like to take the risk of putting myself out there for others to criticize.

But, if I don't market myself I won't have much of a career, will I? So I do it anyway despite my fears. Because writing is what I do. It's all I want to do. No other career would fulfill me like writing does.

What is your biggest struggle in your freelancing career?

My Newest Addiction.....Swagbucks!

As a writer, I do a ton of research everyday so of course I use a search engine a lot! I signed up for Swagbucks quite awhile ago but just started using it on a regular basis. Searching allows you to win points that can be used to get merchandise or gift cards. I love Amazon.com so of course those are the gift cards I am going for!

Searching isn't the only way to earn points though. You can watch videos on SBTV, play games or complete simple tasks to bring up your points balance, and they add up pretty quickly. You also get points for referring friends! I am thinking I can just keep racking up gift cards until December and do some painless Christmas shopping right here at my desk. :)

It's Friday!!

Finally! And to make it even better, I don't have to wait patiently for the man of the house to show up sometime today and give me a hand since he surprised me by showing up around 1 am this morning. I even got to sleep in this morning, waking up only long enough to get the kids clothes together and going straight back to bed.

Posting about my mother's stories yesterday got me thinking about my love of books and words and how I have been surrounded by them for as long as I remember. Would I have been such an avid reader if I had grown up in a different environment? my grandmother tells tales of a tiny me who know one would believe could read until she would pull out a book and prove it. Or of having to drive daily down a certain road in Orlando where strip clubs abounded with me trying to read every sign in sight. A certain club, called Circus Circus, caused many a tantrum because I wanted to go see the circus and could not understand why it was only for adults. As proud as she was that I was reading at such a young age, she wished for me to stop many times.

On the other hand, I do know several people who enjoy reading when no one else in their family is interested in it. But none of them are really as bad as I am about it. I am miserable if I don't have anything to read and there are books in every room of our home, much to the dismay of the man of the house. My grandmother is the same way and every time I go home to visit, she sends me home with boxes of books to make room for new ones on her shelves.

Do you think environment has a lot to do with a love of reading? Are your kids avid readers or writers because you are? I would love to hear your opinions on this!

Fiction Writing

Do you have a book inside of you? You are not alone, if you do! Many freelance writers never even consider writing a work of fiction, while others dream of seeing their novel on the shelf at their favorite bookstore. I definitely belong to the second group.

I have written many short stories over the years, the first one when I was in the fourth grade. My teacher raved about it, and encouraged me to write more. After that, I was hooked! I can remember a story my mother wrote when I was a child, it was about toys that came to life when no people were around. This was way before the days of the Toy Story movies and every time I see Woody or Buzz, I think about that story. I write stories for my kids all the time, although many of them are made up on the spot to help them stay calm while waiting and never actually make it to paper.

Of course, I am writing a book too. How could I not? The darn story entered my mind one day and stayed in there developing until I finally applied fingers to keyboard and let it out. But it is now stalled, not even half way finished, because there are only so many hours in a day and so many of them are full! But it's all still right here in my head, developing...simmering, I guess. I know what is going to happen, I know what comes next and what comes at the end. One day, I will find the time to get it all out of my head and hopefully someone out there will think it is good enough to publish.

What about you? Do you have a book inside you begging to get out? How do you find time to write it while also making a living and taking care of the other responsibilities in your life?

Google's Attack on Content Mills

For many freelance writers, so called content mills are the way the bills get paid. Although writing website content generally pays less than writing for print publications, it is easier to break into and easier to do when you are balancing parenthood and your writing career. Google's recent changes have seriously hurt many websites and that is causing panic among content writers. Many Ehow.com writers received an email today notifying them that some revenue share articles were removed. This may mean a significant loss of revenue for some writers.

What are you going to do to prevent this from having to much of an impact on your income? After getting frustrated and kind of down in the dumps about it, I have decided on my own battle plan to ensure that I do not give up my dream of making a living with my writing.

1. Blogging I am going to begin blogging regularly again, since a blog is mine and cannot be controlled by other people. I may even start other blogs, there are a few ideas floating around in my head. :) And a well maintained blog is a great place to send potential clients so that they can get a general idea of your writing style. Which leads me to the next step in my plan.....

2. More Private Clients Just an hour a day spent sending out resumes and writing samples to prospective clients could net big returns. Submitting to print publications is also a good idea!

3. Revenue Share Not all rev share sites have been hit by this google disaster. Some of them are still going strong, and are a great place to place quality articles to build a passive income.

4. Just Keep Writing! Until content sites such as Demand Studios or Internet Brands start refusing to pay me for articles, I will continue to write them. Why stop now, when the money is still flowing in? Granted, the editors are becoming harder to please, and the choices of titles to write is narrower, but I can still write!

Makeover time!

For this blog that is, although the owner of this blog seriously needs one as well!

I have high hopes for Freelancing Parents, but I have been neglecting it really badly. I want this blog to be a place where parents like me, who balance working from home in whatever capacity and raising children, can gain ideas and support. I want the kind of blog where readers comment with their insight and we all work together to achieve our goals. I would love to have a whole freelancing community so that we can share any and every thing.

In order to do that, I have to quit neglecting my blog! Yes, I am taking all the blame, I'm a parent, so I'm used to it! ;)

So today is makeover day. From now on, I will be a more active blogger. I will do more book reviews, write more about the parenting aspect of this blog and think up a good idea for a regular contest. Maybe I can even bring in a guest blogger from time to time to liven things up.

As far as my monthly goal goes, I am still right on target. I have made $660 so far with Demand Studios so I am pretty sure I will hit $1200 by the end of the month. It has been hard to adjust to not having help with the kids. Starting this week, they have started staying with a family member on Mondays while hubby is in school. That gives me the whole day to write. It worked out perfect this week and I am hoping it will be the same next week. I also catch up on Fridays when hubby is home.

The rest of the week I hang out with the kids and have started a major decluttering around here. I fit in writing when ever the munchkins are occupied playing or in the evenings. It's working out pretty good so far. And I really am enjoying doing more with the kids and doing things around the house. Except the dishes....I hate dishes. :(

Update :)

I am slacking on posting, and for that I apologize. It is really difficult to find time in the day to take care of all the kids needs and write what I need to each day to reach my goal. So far, I am doing it but it doesn't leave much time for anything else!

I am trying to work out a schedule that will make the day easier on all of us and allow me to accomplish more. I haven't accomplished it yet, lol, but I am making progress!

So far I have managed to write 4 articles each day except for Saturday and Sunday. I wrote nothing over the weekend, but that's okay. I am still on target. $240 of $1200 done. I can do this!