Archive for the "Toolbox" category

In this series, I’ve been trying to encourage providers of writing services to try editing. In this post I hope to illustrate the process with an example. Over the transom. I still hear the ‘plonk’. Even though it’s a virtual manuscript hitting my in-box, I hear the sound of a ream of paper falling solidly [...]

If you are still nervous about taking on editing/proofing jobs (and you haven’t yet taken the oDesk test) here’s a resource for you: www.newsu.org. You can find free courses there- both general writing and one called “Cleaning Your Copy” which runs through the material found on the oDesk test. There is also a practice quiz [...]

The Need I’ve noticed a trend on oDesk and other contract writing sites. The trend is to hire as cheaply as possible and then either the buyer edits the material into something usable or hires someone else to do it. (And when they get someone else to take a second look, you can bet the [...]

This post is going to wander a bit, so please do bear with me. I’d like to start with an announcement: oDesk is going to end support for Internet Explorer 6 some time in September 2008. I thought I had better put that out there just in case we have some readers who still use [...]

I’m still fairly new at writing for money. I took the plunge January 1st, this year. In many ways, I’m still a rookie. So when buyers contact me directly with an invitation, I am delighted and a little amazed. The usual pattern is: read the job board, find something that I can do within a [...]

In a previous post, Becoming Invisible I mentioned some errors that shock readers out of the spell you are casting with your fine writing. I’ve accumulated more for my list and here they are. Gaffs to avoid These are mistakes I have collected from writing I have read or edited (and some I’ve made myself). [...]

As a writer, I’m interested in the written word. How it connects my mind to yours and how that process goes awry. I’d like to point out something that happens to me quite often on the Internet. I’m reading along, and like an electric shock, some error or other jumps off the page and jolts [...]

Each freelancing job is unique in some respects and we are constantly dancing with new partners. It’s one of the reasons we like freelancing; the variety keeps it fresh and interesting. A consequence of the variety is the initial back and forth we do for each job while we are coming to grips with this [...]

In my first post on going it alone, I mentioned that you don’t have to sever ties with oDesk right off, rather, a mixed strategy was best. Here’s some more tips and tricks along those lines. Funnel through oDesk. This has already worked for me. A client wanted to link up in Skype. The job [...]

I recently posted on a Microsoft launch event that I attended in Washington DC, and Nelson made a comment about the sheer nerdish superiority of Linux over any Microsoft product. As a nerd/geek/computer addict I have to admit to a certain love for Open Source. Linux is a wonderful thing, even if I can’t get [...]