Layla Velasquez is a freelance writer with an address in Texas. But she currently resides on Cloud Nine, in a state of constant euphoria as she gets to write full-time. She has written pieces for CCM Magazine, Woodlands Lifestyle and Homes, and USA Today Online. You can read her blog at The Vagrant Writer.
It happens to us all at some point or another.
We have to write an article that requires an interview, or “get quotes.” For writers who are naturally introverted, doing an interview can cause enough anxiety to asphyxiate us. But, if you prepare well enough, doing an interview can be quite easy.
As a freelance writer, keeping organized is one of the most important lessons you have to learn.
No one is going to stand over you making sure you do your work. If you miss too many deadlines, your clients will drop you.
So, you’ve finally landed a freelance writing client.
Hooray for you.
But, they want you to write something you’ve never done before…a press release. You told them, “Sure,” but you really don’t even know what it is. Now you’re stuck.
There is nothing worse for a writer than feeling, “blocked.”
You sit at your computer and it stares you down. You’ve got this expensive machine, the most advanced invention that humankind has ever concocted, sitting at your command.
And it waits. And waits. And waits. And you’ve got nothing. You almost want to apologize to the computer for bothering it.
The writer’s notebook.
It’s in every writer’s advice book. Until about two years ago, I thought it seemed nerdy and even a bit self-indulgent.
I could never see myself carrying around this spiral of ideas and randomly busting it out mid-conversation. But, when agents rejected my novel because I wasn’t successful enough, I decided to develop habits for greater success.
