It’s great if the writing’s clever, but is it good?
One of my first jobs was at a magazine that basically had a typo for a name. Of course, it was done on purpose, you know, because it was so clever. So clever, that at a meeting with a potential client last week, I was asked if that was a typo on my resume. So clever, that while I worked at the magazine, I had to spell out the name mind numbingly slow (a as in apple, n as in nancy, for ten whole letters) every time I gave out my email

Reading for writing: the open eye method
We hear it over and over: Reading makes good writers. I couldn’t possibly agree more, which is why I’d like to expand upon this thought. Too often, we assume that reading to help our writing includes only books, magazines, and other long-form publications. But reading just about anything and everything is where the real learning happens. I’ll admit, I’m one of those people who’ll miss getting on an elevator if

Freelancers: Where is your work coming from?
Here’s a great, quick exercise in evaluating your marketing efforts to make sure they’re paying off. At a networking event I recently attended, Michelle Villalobos of Mivista Consulting asked everyone to write down their Top 5 Clients. Then write down how you got those clients. Was it through a networking event? A simple Google search leading to your website? Maybe

Getting to the real roots of the writing
It’s funny the random things we learn from. Last night, while watching supplements for the first Harry Potter movie (I think I’m one of the few who watch supplements, thanks to my film-loving husband), one of the writers said something that got me thinking. While adapting the book to a screenplay, he was impressed by the wealth of information J.K. Rowlings had about the world she’d created. He said that the book was like a tree t

The Urge to Quit
The writing software I use makes you press a button labeled “quit” whenever you exit a file. I was reading through some chapters of my novel in progress last night, and I felt like I was reading it through some muddy glasses through which everything looked terrible. I started to feel embarrassed for myself (you know that feeling when you watch a comedian onstage, but he’s really not funny? It’s the uncomfortable embarrassme