Work Begets Work

Swami MartyI am up to my nipples in work right now – mid-stride in the busiest month I can remember for a long time. It’s very exciting for me – I have lots of really interesting projects, none of them even remotely related to each other. I am working on sites all over the world, with some really fantastic people. Articulayers itself has more writers in-house this month than ever before – we’re in the middle of the most aggressive content strategies I have ever been a part of. And my guys are nailing it – if I don’t say it enough, my hat’s off to you, brothers and sisters.

But this is not a means to trumpet about anything I am doing specifically or what my good friends here at Articulayers are cranking out, as much as reflect on the fact that all of this great work is not coming to me – I am going to it, and engaging. I am pursuing that which I’d like to do – though grateful that I do get many solid requests for projects from intelligent clients. But I am not waiting for them to come to me – I go after what I want to do, and starting consciously working toward it.

Work begets work.

Many of my writers on board now are just starting out. This isn’t their first writing gig, but I am willing to bet that for most of them, it is the first one where they were assigned 100 pages to write. This will keep them all insanely busy – hammering away at the keyboard, turning out the prose like champs. Working on a heavy deadline, answering the client’s needs.

During these 100 page assignments, they are going to come to know things about how they work best. Do they need it quiet to get focused, or is music a good motivator? How many pages can they do in a day? How long does it take to edit and finalize the copy? All this and more will be dealt with – and they will all emerge stronger as a result.

But then, this project will end, they’ll get paid and they’ll need to get more work. Some of it might come from here, certainly, but it might not be enough for them. So they can take the lessons learned from creating 100 pages, and roll it over into a pitch for doing something similar for someone else. They’ll now have samples they can share of what they do and can use the work they completed as the tangible means to establish new working relationships. They can prove they got paid to write in the past and I will be right here to confirm it for them. They are experienced professionals by definition…and this is valuable.

Work begets work.

Not every one of these writers is going to like doing this work – it is inevitable. But this is not a bad thing to realize – this is actually a positive thing, too. Because writing for a living is not glamorous very often. If hammering out 100 pages, or doing a tri-fold, or writing a website is not your cup of tea, then look into other kinds of writing, or other kinds of work – but knowing what you won’t do is just as important as knowing what you will do. It is important to try though, to not make a judgement call from the cheap seats without first getting in there yourself and slugging it out for real.

The one thing (besides awesomeness) all of my writers share right now, is a willingness to jump in. They are all committed, and trying their best and that does matter, it counts. Not just to me as their boss right now, but it matters to them – because they are learning things about themselves, how they work, and getting a taste of what it means to be a writer for a living.

Work begets work.

When my awesome month is done, another will take its place. Followed by another, and even more after that. But I am not going to be standing here, looking at my reflection and murmuring Abba songs, I am going to be using the lessons learned to be creating more great big piles of work to do. I have a roster of clients that is comfortable, yet challenging. There is diversity in what I do, and I seriously love it, every single day. I have had LOTS of jobs, and know really well what I don’t want to do any more…and I am not even close to it.

I won’t have to look for anything that is not writing-marketing-internet focused. I have the benefit now of being able to create projects on my own, or I will gladly do whatever one of my clients wants me to address. I take none of it for granted, and am grateful. I want to give back, because the people who have helped me find success were so good to me, it needs to continue. The best way I know how, is to keep working, to stay plugged in, and to be here – ready and eager for the next project.

My newer writers might wonder about what it is like to write all the time, but when we talk about it next time, we will have a common frame of reference through this project, and be able to take the conversations and understanding further as a result. This is important, and meaningful. And it happens this way, because they are willing to work first, then talk about what it means – they get in there and start typing , and hand in 100 pages before we start talking about forever.

I have a great deal of respect for people willing to work. It is fine to understand that some work is not for you, but typically only when you are pursuing the work you champion, and have some experience or relative logic behind the things you shoot down. I don’t like to say no to work – and normally, only other work stands in the way of working on something.

I know my mantra well.

Speaking at Emory

I just was asked by the good folks at Emory University to come speak to some students about freelance writing. I of course said yeah, because I really like talking to new writers, and letting them know that they can do it. The people over there at Emory have always been really nice to me, and I am happy and honored to be part of this.

This will be the third time I am talking over at Emory, but I also make some semi-regular appearances at my own Alma Mater, Kennesaw State University for the same kinds of things. I never plan what I am going to say too much, just kind of go and wing it, based on what people seem to want to know.

Generally, it seems like people want to know how to get started – and I always say the same thing: just get started. Young writers tend to romanticize this lifestyle (although it is pretty cool, I gotta admit) so it seems like it is harder than it is. I actually offer work at many of these things too – but don’t always have people following up on it, which is pretty weird to me. I know when I was a student, I would’ve killed for a chance to write almost anywhere, and my main point to aspiring writers is to keep working, even if you are not getting paid yet. If you stick to it and have talent and drive, you can make a very decent living doing all kinds of writing. I hope to illustrate that to them in a simple way.

So I hope to be entertaining and honest at least and can clearly express my love for this career path. If you are going to be attending this thing (I’ll post some details here when I have them) and want to know something specific from me, feel free to give me a yell, or comment below and I’ll certainly try to answer it for you – otherwise, I am looking forward to meeting some new folks, and get them fired-up about hurling verbs.

More info on this as I get it…

{later add}

It is called “Careers for Writers Networking Night” and will be held in the Winship Ballroom at Emory, from 7:00-8:30 P.M. it is in “the Duc” – Dobbs University Center.

I got one email on it so far, and will tell you – yes, we will be covering the basics of building a portfolio. Briefly – I think I have like 5 of my 15 minutes. Warhol would be proud.  🙂

—–

OK – it’s over now, and I didn’t spit on anyone I think, so I have that going for me. I did spill some juice at one point like a spaz – but no one was too close, so no harm…just embarrassing to spill something for no good reason.

I forgot how they run it, but it was really cool. There were tons of us writers there, covering a wide range of potential career paths. We introduced ourselves and then it was simply a big mixer – folks drifted around, talking about whatever they wanted to know with folks who could offer answers.

I talked a bunch (surprise, surprise) – but the students were great – not a silly question all night. I hope I answered some things for them – it was pretty active, and I tried to stay focused for them. I have no idea how many were there – but they were all on the right path, as far as I could see. Lots of intelligent, well-intentioned folks. Not one of them was at home, watching TV – they were all doing something to increase their experiences and understanding. From that aspect, it was a success for sure. I know I’ll see the work of some of them out there. 🙂

 

Future Writers at Emory

My thanks again to Paul Bredderman over there at Emory – he has always been a very great host, who holds quality events for his students. I hope they know how lucky they are – not every student has those kind of opportunities. But mostly thanks to the writers-to-be I talked to all night – I really appreciate you allowing me to come over, and chat with you. Always feel free to email me – I had a lot less cards when I got done, so feel free to ask me anything you want, any time. And welcome to it – writing for a living is pretty wonderful.

Overcoming Writer’s Block

glorious packers blockers - writers block imageI gotta be honest – I don’t really suffer from writer’s block. Haven’t for years – though I imagine I could again struggle with it someday.

I used to get it more when I was trying to write some fiction, or create something “out of the blue” in some way. As my own work and demands became more tangible through the years, so too did my output, and my own expectations of such it seems.

I am not sure when things got easier in this regard as I have never really thought about it much – but I did notice recently that I never really have writer’s block any more, so I wondered a bit about why.

My conclusion (for now) was that I know I need to be working on something pretty much all the time to keep moving forward. So if one thing is not feeling right (common), I move away until it clears up. It happens in a pretty fluid way, and has for years – so it is kind of invisible to me unless I stare right at it.

Putting Lots of Stuff Out  There

I literally should NEVER have a time when a number of projects don’t come to mind when I am thinking about what I need to do. Prioritizing them reasonably is another thing completely (yipes!), but I should always have lots of things with potential, and/or specific projects that need more immediate attention.

I am not that good at always remembering things, so I use a little whiteboard that is just beyond my normal vision – it is on a wall back behind my desk, but in front of me , so I can turn slightly to read it. I update it every Sunday night, so I can look at it and see what I thought I was going to be working on all week. This simple thing helps me – so if project one feels like an anchor or a demon right now, maybe I can spend a little time on projects 3-4 and return back to the first one later when I am better prepared for it.

It is kind of like getting away from work, but you don’t – you just move away from things that are stifling you for the moment, and bring your attention to something with less of an ominous leer. You find something lighthearted to do, and let the ugly thing wait its turn.

It is important to note, you must be aware of your deadlines, and don’t sandbag – not to yourself or (god forbid) a client. That is not the point. The point, is to take a feeling of stress and anxiety – one that will often cause endless circles of inactivity – and channel it toward something easy. Toss yourself a bone, give yourself a break. With something you can accomplish rather quickly, doing it well and first can often be enough to restart your motors for the big nasty thing you are mentally (or overtly) dodging. When you see yourself doing well, it will often allow you to attack something more challenging with a better frame of mind: you are on a roll, remember.

A simple shift of the day’s workload, and many times you can get warmed-up before attacking and pounding down the more challenging lumps.

The Old Tricks Still Work

I have used lots of writer’s tricks in the past – like copying something from a book, stream-of-consciousness babbling to loosen the jets a bit, scanning headlines, using search engines, looking at my competitors, and on and on…they all can work to get you moving across the blank page. I particularly like stream-of-consciousness writing because the things I write from there are pretty entertaining. But only a few gigs actually pay me to do that – and generally speaking, the pay is not too bad for it. But most often, free-writing is more of a way to loosen-up before digging in deeper to something, and I find it works very well for me. Like stretching first if you were a runner considering a marathon.

The idea I am trying to get across here, is stress about doing well on a challenging task can create a mental block. It can for me, anyway. This can make it feel like no good ideas are coming in, or you are stuck with nowhere to go. Hopefully, the schedule is not always piled high with ONLY these kind of challenges, and there are a few things in any day’s work that are easier to achieve, but still very positive things to do. If you are struggling with the challenge, focusing on the mechanical, or smaller tasks can get you warmed-up and ready to attack the worst ones.

For me, it was important to realize that a mental block was there because I get too worried about doing well to keep moving forward. Reducing the worry of my success helped me to beat this, routinely: I finally realized I am very rarely going to be called on to measure my own quality anyway, so learned to let it go. My job is normally to create, not measure quality.

I used to start over-analyzing things when I needed instead, to be continually creating things for others to analyze. When I focused on more work, I ALWAYS overcame these hurdles – always. Now, I need to really think about this to come up with something to say. Too busy for writer’s block. 🙂

In a nutshell: Question: How do you overcome writer’s block? Answer: Get back to work, silly!

Fixing Lazy Content

Lazy Content HammockMany webmasters I know might hire out Textbroker, or some form of writing service to bulk-up their site. SEO copywriters often get their starts now in these houses: they are burning and churning it out like never before.

I often get hired to mop-up the text that others keep spilling over the edges. In doing this tonight, I saw a place I might be able to help someone, specifically when you are looking at fixing some text you get from a mid-to-low level copywriter.

Why Lazy Content Is Risky

The issue with lazy content is, in time, oogleGay is going to get increasingly better at slicing-up what they are serving. Text that is creatively, thoughtfully, and intentionally delivered is one way we can stay ahead of them.

When you buy content in bulk from a low-cost/affordable text writing service, the writer you hire does not typically care at all about what they are writing. They are churning. Writers in these organizations get paid by producing legible bulk – so there is little inspiration to write something better when coherent-enough and faster-than earns you more.

It is all OK if the writer and the recipient reach agreeable terms, I am not trying to rock the boat here…but I am saying that most often, the recipient is left with something that is grammatically correct, but offering little more.

And the real point is, as the search engines improve, grammar on its own merit is not going to make the cut for long, if it works much at all for you the way it used to. You need flow. You need ideas. You need to keep those Pandas scrambling.

So when you are hiring-out your writing to get a good jump on something, know that you’ll eventually want to clean it up. Start looking for the telltale signs of lazy writing.

Finding Lazy Writing

This was a sentence in the page I was editing tonight (domain changed, just in case):
“[B]PigOinkyOinky.com has some mighty fine selections, with some very nice ones under $50[/B].” (Swear to Google, I only changed the domain here.)
The fact that they took the time to type out “mighty fine” rather than something else is almost admirable. Almost.

But to me, a sentence like this shows me that this is a typer, not a writer, and it shows they could not fill this idea with a vocabulary that made it seem effortless. Or fake it. They are stream-of-conciousnessing, but have nothing to say. They don’t care, nor did I reading it. They are getting paid by the keystroke, and it shows.

This type of stuff, when left alone, is going to struggle, if you ask me.

So is it workable?
Sure.
The post it came from had a single idea I could flesh-out – and I could see some lazy patterns in the writing pretty quickly, so just clipped them all out, and the rest wasn’t too bad.

For the sentence up there that made me see what I was dealing with on this page, I ended up with this:
“[B]PigOinkyOinky.com offers an affordable selection, with some very nice options under $50[/B].”
It says EXACTLY the same thing – just less knuckle-dragging. Standing on its own, it actually makes sense. The eyebrows separate. You get into 9th grade English class.

I used “very” as a modifier, because the target audience is a “Target-store” kind of shopper. Normally, I would work this out, for it is what I think of as weak writing…but it works here to flow with the audience expectations, and to keep the vernacular of the targeted group.

How I Identify “Lazy” Writing

As a guy who fixes this kind of stuff, what I look for are words or sentences that don’t make sense, and paragraphs that don’t carry an idea through from A-B logically. I cut out all the filler, and see what is left.

I try not to write more – I try to only cut or work out their mistakes. This is the key – you are typically cutting, not adding stuff during your edits. Many people get confused with that. But just because they gave you a 975-word page does not mean cutting this down to 300 awesomely stated, tight words would not do the same things for you.

Here’s a hint: It will help you more in the long term (and long tail) to edit harshly based on context, rather than trying to reap rewards from the extra padding of misplaced, “added-in” kind of words. The long tail needs an association of context to be effective, so meaning helps as much as the inclusion of keywords in many cases.

But really, to think that this kind of middling, lazy stuff is going to work for you in the search engines for long, when left as-is, seems kind of foolish to me.
I do think using this filler and low-rent forms of writing is a great way to get something moving – getting a site to age. But you have to fix it at some point, or it will likely NEVER go as far as you’d hoped.

I have seen ALL of the engines get increasingly better at identifying synonyms and related words, and trying to decipher meaning that is not tied so directly the empty chatter of repeated consonants and vowels. Use this to your advantage to improve the actual writing and meaning of the content – eliminate the stiff, SEO-keyword driven repetition that seems like it would work, but really doesn’t.

Don’t Stop with Fixing the Spelling Errors

So when you approach, and look to fix some lazy content, make sure you are thinking about it in terms of meaning and flow as well as the obvious sloppiness inherent in the execution. If you clean it up from a conceptual as well as a mechanical perspective, you are going to better position your site’s content to withstand the algorithm changes sure to be coming soon.