The Article Writer

Yes, take this as a shameless plug for Picasa, the picture sharing program owned by Google. Once in awhile I have to tell you about a product that is free and fun to use. Besides, I do have an ulterior motive for mentioning Picasa…

Anyway, Picasa has come in handy for me as someone who has needed to share pictures online with a web client. Back in February I needed to have a client view the same pictures I was seeing, but I didn’t want to upload them to the internet and post them on one of my sites. Instead, we both downloaded Picasa and quickly began to share pictures. At the same time we were on the phone discussing the pictures — my client described each one to me and I quickly labeled the pictures and got the job done.

So, if you are looking for a fun-free-to-use program, then I recommend that you get Picasa. Cheap “me” likes to find all of the open source stuff out there and Picasa is one of the better programs going.

Picasa Google Freeware Share Pictures

Some writers claim to suffer from “writer’s block” when working on a writing project. Little or nothing comes forth that makes any sense to them or inspires the writer to produce a work that is interesting, informative, engaging, entertaining, etc.

Personally, I don’t believe that I am ever fully blocked from writing. Sometimes it seems as if my words are void, lacking energy, or just simply dull. When those times come around, I generally distract myself long enough until inspiration returns. This can involve organizing my business files, taking a walk, talking with my wife and kids, doing anything to take me away long enough to let inspiration seep back in.

For other times I simply just keep on writing. Sooner or later something “gels” and I am back on track. As long as I keep on writing.

I had a nice exchange a few days ago with John Hewitt over at his www.poewar.com blog. John made mention how difficult it is to make money writing articles. While he made some good points, I countered that I have been doing very well [especially this year] as I have been able to write well above the 3 article a day minimum amount he mentioned.

After my last comment, John left still another comment, but I didn’t want to respond. I don’t want to make it look like I am arguing with him, instead I will say this here:

You can make a living writing articles IF you market yourself AND you have a strong client base. I agree with John: you can spend a lot of time looking for clients, vetting them out, and doing their work. On the other hand, if you are good at what you do and your clients are looking for an ongoing relationship, you can juggle 3, 4, or 5 clients throughout the year and spend more time writing, less time marketing yourself.

I am in exactly that position right now and I plan on maintaining a terrific working relationship with everyone on my client list. From time to time I will actively seek new clients, but for the most part they find me. That’s right, more often then not my new clients come across my site, like what they see, and ask to use my services.

Is it always easy working this way? No, but what is in this life? Precious little!