Prepare a structure for the article

Before you begin writing, you should create a structure of the article. When you undertake this exercise what you are basically doing is creating a skeleton which you will later fill with flesh, blood, and muscles. The structure of an article provides it a basic framework that will later be developed in a full grown article.

Divided the contents in subheadings

Once you know how your final article will look like, you need to divide your articles into sections and sub-sections using headings and subheadings for better readability. To break an article into sections and subsections apply the rule of thumb given below. The rule of thumb is: always put the important ideas into headings of an article, so that people know what individual paragraphs will talk about, and what the article, as a whole, is about.

Write down main points

Now it is time to add some flesh to the structure you have created so far. Under each headings and subheadings, write 2 or 3 bullet points that summarize the central idea of each paragraph, and which add up to make the complete paragraph.

That is it. You are done. Now only the filling up step is left, which could be done anytime, even after one or more breaks.

As said, the final step in the process is to write content beneath headings and subheadings using the main points (bullet points) that you have listed. By following this guide, you will be able to write good quality articles even when you take frequent breaks.

3 time wasting monsters

Personal conversation

This is the most dangerous monster that covertly follows you everywhere, which you always fail to notice until it’s already late. You can find this monster lurking around in your office and even in your home. It makes you feel that you are doing some important discussion, but the fact is you are not. You are just wasting time talking about your personal stuff when you should be working on the project at hand.

There is a time and place for personal discussion. Confine it there only. Do not let it disturb your work schedule.

Frequently checking e-mails

E-mails are important, and some are very important. But none of them is as important as the work you have at your hand, so it will be more fruitful to spend time on doing the work than checking mails, regularly.

Make a mail checking routine. I would suggest checking your mails once or twice a day, but if you expect important mails throughout the day or if you cannot live without browsing through your inbox then check your mail 4 times a day, at max. Do not let this monster kill your time.

Breaks

Taking breaks during a day is important, as it help you energize yourself. A break helps you remove your thought from the project, and hence get a fresh perspective on the subject matter, when you get back to it after the break. But frequent or too many breaks do not allow you to come back to the subject matter, ruining the purpose of the break itself.

Too many breaks create distraction, so avoid indulging in that. In fact, I will suggest you to make a “break taking” plan around your work schedule. This will keep you on track, and the plan will keep this “time wasting” monster contained.

These 3 monsters should be avoided at any cost, if your goal is to do anything with your life.

You do not need any experience to start with your freelance writing career. All you need is writing ability and determination to make it big. You need a lot of determination because I know many freelance writing aspirants who left the field just after a handful of failures.

No, it is not tough to break into this career, but it takes time before you start making significant sum of money. Initially, the growth rate may be slow, but eventually it will pick up. This is not the right career choice for those who want overnight success, as success comes slowly. I think it happens in every legit field.

What role does experience plays?

Although it does not matter if you have any experience of writing or not, but experience does play a part in your freelancing career. Experience does two things:

1. Get you higher pay rate.
2. Help you complete the assignment in significantly less time.
3. It also helps you know beforehand how much time one project will require. You can use this knowledge to properly bill your clients.

Lack of experience will only result in lower rate and more assignment completion time. And I think, when starting out you can adjust with this. Do not give up, if your rate doesn’t increase in a month or 2 month or may be even in 6 month because the more time you are spending in this career the stronger is the chance of your success. Do not quit it now.

And who said you do not have experience?

Even if you have not written professionally, you must have written a lot of stuff—term paper, assignments, school and colleges essays, or even for school or college publications. Won’t you call it experience? I certainly will. After all, writing is writing is writing, no matter for what you write.

In terms of writing ability, you may already have what it takes to make it big in the freelance writing. If you are not sure then show your written pieces to someone whom you know is good at writing, and go by his opinion. If he says you need improvement then work on it. Nothing is here that you cannot do. All you need is sheer determination. Keep pushing, you will soon be there.

For your free writing success!

Show what you are capable of

Not everyone out there is hunting for young employees; in other words, not everyone is concerned about employees’ in one’s company. These people are more concerned about their present productivity, which they believe can only be boosted if employees with certain experience join their team. For these employers, the more experienced the team is the better result they will get. Capitalize of this line of thinking, and strengthen your candidacy by showing your experience. Also tell them what you can do for them, if hired.

Find employer seeking older employees

Not everyone loves young workforce, some take it for inexperienced lot that cannot deliver. This group of employers is looking for people who have ground knowledge of their field and know how things take shape. This group of employees will be a good fit for you. Search for such companies and apply categorically mentioning your experience.

Legal action upon discrimination

I know this is not good, and I wish it never come to that, but in some situations it becomes absolute must. Under the law of our nation, no employer can discriminate on the basis of age, so when push comes to shove, you should take an employer to the court of law. But you must understand that proving it will not be easy, regardless, you should seek legal action if you are discriminated against. You should not suffer due to your age.

Although I will not recommend legal course of action, as it is nothing but waste of precious time, which can be used to find a job. I also do not support any kind of discrimination, so if your age is told to be the reason for not getting a job then go forward and prove it in the court.

It has been heavy stuff here. Let’s take a break with a promise to meet in the next installment. Till then stay fit and keep looking. And yes do not forget to comment.

-Make sure that you have a good schedule, and that you stick to that schedule.  If you’re a writer that works from home, the biggest part of making that transition is remembering that this is still a serious job.  Just because your environment is the comfort of your own home, doesn’t mean you can slack.  Schedule out your projects and stick to them, in the long run this will help you feel like you’re in more of a professional environment, and you’ll be more apt to get your writing done.

-Know when you need to take a break.  Because writing is so creative, sometimes you need to take a break to keep the creative juices flowing.  Give yourself 5-10 minutes when you’re feeling especially unproductive.  Take a moment, go outside and get some fresh air, then go back to work.  You should feel calmer, and more willing to resume normal duties.

-Don’t get down on yourself, or bully yourself into writing.  Everyone goes through phases where they don’t feel like writing.  You just have to stay confident and positive, and keep plugging away.  The feeling will pass, but don’t give in and stop working because of it.

-Finally, try making a reward system for yourself.  If you have a lot of articles to do, map out the articles and make up rewards for completing a certain amount.  Like if you desperately want to take a break, set a goal to finish four of those articles before you do.  If you’re hungry and really want to eat lunch, make sure you complete another two beforehand.

It will not be wrong to say that the online media is more or less an action media from where we gather information and put to our day to day use.  Therefore, the content produced for this media should be different from the content produced for any other media.

Nature of online content

• Instead of reading each word people tend to scan through the material they see on the screen. Hence, the article should be easily scanable. We need to break an article into sub-headings and supply bullet points to make the article easy to read.
• Do not use impersonal pronouns like one, someone, they etc. Use ‘you’ instead of he, she, or one.
• Use conversational language, and do not beat around the bush. Be direct.
• The attention span of individuals surfing net is quite divided; therefore, supply images, tables, and lists to make the article easy to read.
• Holding readers’ attention is the key. And the lighter the article will be to the readers’ eyes the more time they will spend scanning the article.
• You just have ten to fifteen seconds to grab the readers’ attention. So the opening sequence should be powerful.
• The title of your article should build curiosity, which the content of your article should satiate.
• Do not use close- ended assertive questions in your titles which could be answered in ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

The web is a participatory medium. And your article is a way to start a conversation. Do not provide all the answers, leave scope for discussion. The more people will interact with you, the more involved they will become. This is how we build community on the web.

• Investor
• Employee
• Customers

Investor

Investors are a group of people who invest their hard-earned money to get return from your business. They invest in your business because they trust you, and they see hope in your business. Till the time you are fulfilling their expectations, they will keep their money in your business. Hence, you need to keep them apprised of any development in your business. Keep on giving them good news, and your business will be in good shape.

Employee

Your employee is the second pillar of your business. It is your employees only that can make or break your business. Your business solely depends upon their performance to meet the investors’ expectations, and to deliver on the promises made to your customers. It is thus in your best interest that you keep your employee happy. A happy employee will satisfy the needs of many customers, and will present a favorable picture to investors, whereas, a disgruntled employee is a big deal breaker. They will piss everyone off, including you.

Customers

It is the customers for whom you have erected such a giant structure, raised money, and hired so many highly qualified employees. The end goal of your business is to serve this group of people, and all your energy should be channelized to do so. The moment you step away from your path, your business is doomed. Do not let your vision blurred by the shine and sparkles of advertisements and press coverage, you have not achieved anything if you have not served your customer right.

A parting thought

Which one of the three is more important? Well, this is tricky to answer as none of them is more important than rest of the two. You need to make a balance.

Form an equilateral triangle placing each one of them at each corner of the triangle, and you should sit right in the center, equidistant from each one of them.

Take risks

Do not always play a safe game; rather, never play a safe game. Take risks and explore the terrain. You will not learn new things about life, about new ways to construct sentences, and will never get new ideas to write about until you venture out and take risk. Try different construction; try different storyline; so what if you fail!

Revisit your write-ups

Reading and analyzing what you have written in the past is another way to ensure quality of your future writing. You should have a sense of history. You should know from where you started and how far have you come, and then only you can realistically decide where you can go from here.

Rope in your friend

This advice is the toughest to follow because no matter how good your friendship is, he or she will not like to do proofreading for you, at least not readily. My friends have never done that for me, and neither have I put myself through the grueling session of proofreading for my friends. You got the clue, but still you need to talk your friend into proofreading your stuff. If they don’t agree then you have not tried hard enough.

Take a break

Writing is not like producing soap in the factory. You cannot just keep on pouring oil and chemicals for hours, even when you are tired and exhausted, to get the final product. To write well, you need to take breaks between your writing. Play games, watch TV, listen to music, or do whatever you like, but take breaks.

Take a break then return to proofread

Do not proofread your document right after finishing it. You will miss out many errors because your mind was primed by the article. Take a break 10-20 minutes and then come back to do the proofreading. Please do not think about what you wrote during the break.

-Firstly, organize everything.  Don’t just make sure that your work environment is well organized and neat, but make sure that your day follows suit.  Set aside time for phone calls and checking your email so that you don’t get bogged down trying to keep up with both, as either could end up dominating your day and interfering with how much actual work you are able to get done for that day.

-Secondly, don’t fall into the work distraction pitfalls.  These include mostly bringing in aspects of your personal life to work.  Such as browsing the internet, making personal calls, having a non-work related conversation with coworkers.  All of these are huge time wasters and will significantly cut into how much work you are able to complete each day.

-Thirdly, try using one single planner for all of your daily goals and activities.  This way you’re never confused or having to check more than one place to keep yourself organized.

-Fourthly, figure out your work strengths and weaknesses, and be completely honest in your self assessment.  This way you can focus on your strengths in a clinch to get work done and done well, and also be aware of your weaknesses so that they do not dominate your performances.  By pointing out your weaknesses you can become a more complete and better worker.

-Finally, know when to take a break.  It’s unhealthy for your body to sit down for long periods of time, as it constricts blood flow to different parts of the body.  Every 60-90 minutes you should be taking a quick 5-10 minute break where you stand up and take a few steps, either to walk away from your desk for a moment or to just walk around your office.  Your mind and body will feel much better, and in the end you’ll get more work done because of that.