I still love the west coast. California is peerless. But the East offers so much in terms of history (which I love) and beauty (of which I am a great admirer.) I am determined to explore this coast as much as time and opportunity allow (which may be plenty and could be little to none.)

Right now, I am in Georgia, not far from a place called Lost Mountain, which seems neither to be lost nor a mountain, but is gorgeous, nonetheless. The Pines and Oaks and whatever other trees these happen to be are magnificent. The ones that have recently fallen onto the roofs of houses and cars may be somewhat less so, but even they know how to throw their weight around.

A couple of years ago, Donya and I spent a few days in Savannah. We were impressed with the city’s sense of history. They cling tenaciously to their rich heritage, marking it with monuments, statues, and perfectly spaced squares for the enjoyment of townsman and tourist alike.

Conversely, Atlanta is modern, sleek, with an eye toward tomorrow. It reminds me of Dallas because of its healthy commerce and rapid growth in recent years. Still, there are museums, curio shops, and national parks to remind one of the darkest days in the region’s history: the Civil War.

The city that burned has that war burned into consciousness. There is a residue of discomfort that seems to grapple with the juxtaposed sentiments associated with happiness that this is still the UNITED States and the bitter sadness that the bloodbath ended with the Sons of the South as losers of the conflict.

I am a product of the wild and woolly West. I have lived my life and formed my opinions, beliefs, and habits west of the Mississippi. But the Deep South portion of the East is growing on me.

I can hardly wait to wander north.

Take Matt Richtel, of the New York Times, for instance. This guy believes he sees a similarity between the modern freelance blogger positioned before his computer screen and the sweatshops of the industrial age. Richtel writes:

They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong…

[Read the full article here]

Of course, here is a man with one of those rare, hard-to-land jobs, writing for one of the world’s leading newspapers, casting aspersions on the market that opens doors for the millions not as fortunate. Richtel’s take is, in this writer’s opinion, a continuance of the pervasive superiority complex so many in “mainstream” media exude.

Richtel’s sweatshop comparison falls flat because we live in a world where more employment and educational options exist than ever before. People choose freelancing, even with its long hours, hard work, difficult deadlines, and sometimes hard-to-meet quality demands because it gives them a sense of ownership, of fulfillment.

Richtel’s illustrations of a few prolific bloggers who have died of heart attacks are incredibly cheap shock value. They could have as easily been prolific joggers! As more people blog, more bloggers will eventually die. That’s what we do. We live, we work, we try to matter…and sooner or later, we die.

As traditional sources of information find themselves more and more marginalized and battling to remain prevalent - or just relevant, look for more articles and editorials from them lambasting the freelancers markets.

So, keep writing, my freelancing friends, you have their attention!

Write away. Write now.

Ostensibly, we are passionate about writing around here. After all, the wonderful world of writing is what The Write Crowd is all about. Yet, here my blog sits…unattended. I could blame it on many things. I could excuse myself by telling you that I work a day job, maintain a moonlighting ghost-and-copy writing business, and own three other websites. But you don’t want to hear that. You’re busy, too!

I have learned through the years that more often than not, writing is about 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. There are those rare times when the ratio is reversed. That’s when the words flow, a mighty torrent of epic, passionate, irresistible power. That’s when writing is easy, rewarding, and fun!!! Those times, at least for me, are less common. More often than not, I find myself somewhat inspired…and then obliged to toil and strain and bleed and sweat to  turn that dab of inspiration into something worth reading.

About a year ago, I launched an online writing service through my personal website, writedaddy.com. It took six months to land my first job. When I did, others followed close on its heels, and pretty soon, I found myself inundated with requests. I was writing web content, sales letters, white papers, marketing emails, blog content and various other pieces for a growing - and diverse - clientele. I soon learned that writing is WORK! HARD work.

I owed it to my clients to deliver a quality product. They were paying for passion and wit and charm and poignancy and…I needed to deliver. Consequently, I found myself elbow deep in research. I was reading articles on a litany of subjects, watching videos, listening to audio, camping out at Wikipedia and Google. I always wanted to work as a writer…and be paid to do so. I just hadn’t figured it would really be work.

It is.

Lessons learned:

1. Write when you feel like it. When you don’t feel like it, write some more.
2. Work at your craft. A strong work ethic is even more important than an extensive vocabulary or a vivid imagination.
3. Practice self-discipline. Set a routine that fits the demands of your lifestyle and family dynamics…and stick with it.
4. Don’t forget to include your mate and/or children (or parents) in the planning of your writing schedule. Agree with them on when, where, and how long.
5. Once you have established a schedule, be flexible. Inspiration seldom punches a clock.
6. Don’t neglect your writing…or your life. Balance is absolutely essential.
7. Don’t forget to have fun. All work and no play…

Sometimes, writing is murder. (He wrote.)

Write away. Write now.

Please note that this is a work of fiction rooted in truth. It is this author’s attempt to see the world through the eyes of a man whose mind betrays him. I hope you are as moved by reading it as I was when writing it. Just click on the image below to be directed to a full-blown readable version.

All the best to you and yours.

Write away. Write now.

~Gene

There are almost as many reasons to blog as there are blogs. Maybe it is passion about a particular topic that has you blogging. Maybe it is the need to get out whatever is in you. Whatever the reason, it’s a good one…because, well, it’s your reason.

I have a couple of new friends for whom I have done some work. They are each blogging experts, and I thought I would share their blogs here. Maybe you will find their insights as useful and timely as I have. Here they are…

http://easyblogsrus.com/

http://www.bloggingexpertise.com/

If you have a blog that is not X-rated and you would like to tell us about it, use the “comments” section and share it. We are readers, too, you know.

Happy blogging!

Write away! Write Now!

~Gene

(Get it? Putting off writing about procrastination? Come on. Smile. Or does it hurt too much to smile?)

Someone once said, “If it weren’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done.” They said it. I stole it…because, I live it every day. That is especially true concerning taking time to produce a little creative writing. As my freelance business grows, I find myself more and more writing everything for everyone, but not much for myself.

I am not complaining, mind you! It is very gratifying when people begin paying you to write. Very! And my wife likes it, too. She doesn’t ask, “Are you glued to that laptop?” nearly as much as she once did. So, that’s cool.

Here’ the thing. Most of us havethe time to do the things we want to do. We just don’t take the time. Staring at a blank Word document can be intimidating…daunting, even. You have all those ideas chasing each other about, like waterbugs skittering across the surface of your brain. You want to just nab one and slap it on the screen, but they move too quickly, too erratically. So, you break open a carton of ice cream instead. Or pick up the remote and turn on American Idol.

There is always tomorrow, right?

Right?

Well, maybe.

Maybe not.

So…write away. Write now.

So, in the spirit of keeping your nose (er, prose) clean, I share with you seven deadly sins of writing.THOU SHALT NOT…

1.      Use a passive voice. Show action with your sentences.

1.1.   Thumbs up: “John read the book.”

1.2.  Thumbs down: “The book was read by John.”

2.      Use the ambiguous “this” to summarize what you just said in a previous sentence. Use a noun with it!

3.      Use “while” when what you mean is “and,” “but,” or “although.” While is a time-sensitive word and should be used that way. “He drove the truck while I slept.”

4.      Divide a section by one. You do not need a subsection unless you intend to divide your subject by at least two.

4.1.  See? This is just silly. With no 4.2, I don’t need a 4.1!

5.      Just read what you write with your eyes. Read it aloud, instead. Your ears are more discerning than your eyes. You will find the sentences that make no sense, need tightening, or correction.

6.      Fill your writing with long sentences that go on and on endlessly without taking any sort of breath or using any kind of punctuation and just wander and meander and lollygag drunkenly across the dadgum page giving the reader a migraine and causing him to swear by all that is holy he will never read another thing you write! You know, sort of like the sentence I just pummeled you with.

7.      Fluff. Thou shalt not FLUFF! No fluff! Stop that. If you have something to say, then say it. And when you are done, hush!

OK. I’m done.

Write away. Write now.

But a new year never seems to completely rid us of old baggage, does it? Too often, we cling to the same old excuses, the same old fears, the same old inhibitions.

You have a desire to write, but you fear failure. You plan to finally pen that short story, but you just don’t have the time. Pretty soon, you wake up and it’s New Year’s eve again, and where did the time go? What did you do that you were really passionate about?

Maybe you are afraid you won’t finish. You will get bogged down in life…to many diapers to change, mouths to feed, overtime hours to work. Maybe! Maybe that is just what will happen. Or maybe, just maybe, you will make the time to do it.

There is one way to guarantee you will never finish that book, or poem, or short story, or biography, or…

Never start. You sure won’t finish what you never start. So, here, in a single word, is my advice:

BEGIN!

Write on. Write away.

But what?

Few things are more frustrating than staring at a blank piece of notebook paper or the snow-white background of an empty Word document. Stuck! All dressed up and no place to go. What to do? What to write?

My thoughts on the subject are pretty basic, really. They are not revolutionary…BUT, I believe, they make for solid advice. So, here goes…

First, write about what YOU CARE ABOUT.

What is it that gets your juices flowing? Is it a hobby? A relationship? Politics? A sport? A sports team? Religion? Whatever it is, you have strong opinions about it. You have a wealth of experience with it. You have stories to share. You have suggestions to make. You have advice to give.

The thing is, when you write about what you care about, the passion is real. Your reader will sense that. He or she will be drawn in and carried along by the urgency, the personal investment, the empathy of your piece.

Second, write about what YOU KNOW ABOUT.

You are an expert on something. What is it? Are you a Geek? Gifted in the kitchen? A sports stats freak? A Bible savant? Share the knowledge. Share the love. Don’t leave the rest of us out here in the cold, baby.

Write a How-To piece; a cookbook; an editorial on the greatest team - or player, or whatever - of all time; a theological masterpiece..or whatever it is you have the goods on.

Maybe these observations are too basic to be of use to you. Maybe you already knew this. OK. Fair enough. BUT, I wrote something, didn’t I?

Your turn. Write on. Write away!

But everyone knows it’s good to beat the crowd…and here at thewritecrowd.com, the crowd is coming. But you’re the early bird, right? You somehow managed to find us before we even had a chance to tell you we were here. You beat the crowd. Way to go!

Since you’re here already and since you’re such a crowd-beater, why not go ahead and become a crowd-pleaser. Take the time to register yourself on our message board. Blow the dust off that old poem or short story or editorial you have never shared with anyone and post it. When the crowd arrives, your work will be there, greeting them with open arms. You’re the pioneering sort, so, well, pioneer!

Write on! Write away!

G