13 June, 2010 10:08 am

Time Management – Free Report Download

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by Deb    in NonFiction Writing, Writing Diary

Working with Demand Studios has shown me that I need to get to grips with time management.

This isn’t something that’s new to me. I’m well aware that I get sidetracked very easily. Particularly when doing online research – which writing for Demand Studios is really all about.

Consequently I’m putting a few brakes on myself to try and streamline my working process and stay more focused on the task in hand.

So I’ve been looking around on the net a bit, (hmmm, does that count as getting sidetracked?) for some time management tips. When I come across any I’ll pass them on here.

Here’s one, it’s an affiliate link but don’t let that put you off. The report is free to download and it contains some good advice with regard to getting more done in the allotted time: Time Management Secrets of a Madman

Speaking of Demand Studios – I’m now on my 8th article for them and my work is beginning to appear online. The regular payment is very nice, the not having to come up with ideas is nice too. The search for assignments can be a challenge (more on that later) and is another area where I need to be more proactive with my time management.

Here’s that link again. And remember, it’s a free download. Nothing to lose but your timewasting habits.

Time Management Secrets of a Madman

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5 June, 2010 9:11 am

Demand Studios Rewrites

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by Deb    in Articles, NonFiction Writing, Writing Diary

I was a little bit more canny with my next choice of assignment titles.

“Write about what you know” is almost a mantra for writers, so I decided to put it to use in a practical sense.

What do I know?

Well, sometimes that’s a hard question to answer. I know loads. Lots of little bits about a lot of subjects. But what do I know really well?

Writing.

I know how to write, and I know how to teach other people how to write – or at least how to make their writing better and avoid some of the pitfalls.

I plugged ‘writing’ and various alternatives into the demand studios filter and came up with a title on the writer’s code of ethics which I quickly claimed.

Having one title left out of my initial three, I did a little thinking ‘outside the box’, and found another title relating to telling stories to preschool children which I also claimed.

Writing about the code of ethics was easy for me, the research and writing combined took just over an hour. That’s better than my long ramble with the raccoons of a few days ago. I’d like to do it faster, and maybe when I’m more familiar with the DS style and voice I’ll be able to. For now, I’m happy with that.

Shock, horror. The article came back within hours asking for rewrites. Glancing through the rewrite requests it seemed just about everything I’d written was flagged for change.

I’d expected the raccoons to come back. They didn’t. I didn’t expect the code of ethics to come back. It did. Lesson. Don’t assume anything with Demand Studios. Copy Editors work to strict guidelines (as do the writers) and theoretically we’re all working to the same rules. Interpretations, however, differ.

For instance, I didn’t include a caption with the illustration I sent with the raccoons. No problem there according to the CE who reviewed it. But the copy editor who reviewed my second article insisted all photos must have a caption.

To be fair, the rewrites were very simple changes and on reflection I couldn’t argue with any of them. They were small changes, but as writers we know what a huge difference small changes to word order or language can make.

I made the changes as requested and resubmitted and, happily, the second version was quickly accepted. Again within hours.

The point I’m making here is that you just can’t be precious about your words. If you get a rewrite request, just do it. Of course there are instances when the request is wrong or will change the meaning or angle of your article, and in those cases you need to think carefully about where you stand on the issue. If the change goes against the grain with you then maybe you need to walk away from it. But you don’t niggle about the small stuff. It’s not worth it, not even when it surprises you.

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4 June, 2010 10:17 am

First Article with Demand Studios

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by Deb    in Articles, NonFiction Writing, Writing Diary

It’s been a month since I signed up with Demand Studios. This week I decided I’d better do something about it.

The search for assignments is actually quite hard, and the amount of documentation that details the style, content, level of research, referencing system etc is staggering.

Whilst I haven’t been actively writing for Demand Studios since signing up, I have been dipping into the various style guides and reading the forums – and thinking this is waaay too much work for what they’re offering.

Anyone who tells you it’s a piece of cake, or even a scam, hasn’t been there. Yes, once you know how it probably is easy. But so is everything when you’ve learned it. The Demand Studios learning curve is quite steep.

But I lost a relatively lucrative gig this month. So, here we go. I always said Demand would be more of a standby than a main earner. I just didn’t expect to need the standby this soon.

The Search for Assignments

Back to the search for assignments. When you first start out with Demand Studios you’re allowed to claim a maximum of 3 titles. You have to get those approved before you’re allowed any more. Once you pass the magic 3 acceptances mark you can maintain a rolling total of 10 titles.

You’re presented with literally hundreds of article titles on just about every topic under the sun. And yet I couldn’t find a single one that appealed to me. I gave up the first search thinking this just wasn’t for me.

But I’m nothing if not persistent, so I went back again, and this time tried searching a little bit more intelligently. There’s a filter box where you can enter specific keywords for the subject you’d like to write about.

An Unwise Choice

I like animals. I’ve written about dogs before (http://www.dogtrainingguidance.com) so I thought I’d see if that threw anything my way and started searching for animal-based titles.

I actually ended up myself quite a task. I found a title that involved raccoons and how they mark their territory. Okay. I can do that, thinks I.

Ha! Do I know anything about Raccoons? Nope. Did I set myself up for a load of reasearch? Yep. Are Raccoons triksy little beasts that change behaviour depending on their geographical location? Yep. Does that make documenting their habits in 500 words harder? Too right.

The article took over three hours to write. Very bad on Demand Studios pay.

On the upside, it was accepted straight away which surprised me no end. I was sure I’d have a rewrite call.

Lesson learned. Choose titles that I know at least something about. 2 to get then I get to the magic 10.

PS – I managed to get my first article accepted immediately, but it took me 3 rewrites before they liked my Bio because I wasn’t presenting it just exactly as they liked. And even now, when it’s been accepted, they’ve changed what I wrote. They maybe should have written it themselves in the first place.

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3 May, 2010 10:12 am

Writing with Demand Studios

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by Deb    in Articles, NonFiction Writing, Writing Diary

I’ve decided to give writing with Demand Studios a try, and I’ll log here how it goes and whether it turns out to be worth the effort or not.

First Impressions

Having got through the application process, which took about four days and involved submitting my resume along with a writing sample, I was required to fill in my profile/bio and submit tax information before I could claim any assignments. Fair enough. I’ve read a lot from people who object to giving tax information online (understandably), but as I’m writing from the UK all this meant for me was to give them my contact details and declare I was outside the USA. Nothing scary there.

The attractive thing about writing with Demand Studios is that it’s always there, with writing assignments on tap when other work is a bit scarce.

The pay’s not great, but if you’ve spent any time browsing the writing gig boards and become depressed over the number of $2 jobs, then $15 at Demand Studios suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. At today’s conversion rate it’s somewhere around the £9.80 mark for 400 – 500 words.

It’s definitely not a way to get rich through writing, but it is (possibly) a way to find ongoing motivation to write that has a tangible reward with twice weekly pay days through PayPal.

There are a lot of assignments.

I can’t claim any before filling in the resume/bio bit, but I could glance through what was available. It’s a real mixed bag, with some titles making no sense whatsoever. I can see finding titles to claim could become a big time drain – and if writing with Demand Studios is going to pay then time is of the essence.

I’m putting a strict time limit of one hour on each assignment I take on, and that has to include the research, gathering of resources and sources where needed, and the writing. My practised ability to freewrite will pay dividends here.

Guidance for New Demand Studios Writers

Of this there is a ton. Everything from style sheets to finished, approved articles. It’s all in the resource centre. Whereas some people like to dive right in and get writing, I’m in the camp that likes to have a good read around what’s expected of me. Yep, I always read instruction manuals before I press buttons on new gadgets, and yep, I drive the family mad.

So I approached writing with Demand Studios in the same fashion, and I’m reading everything, including forum postings on the newbie board so I can get an idea of what other new Demand Studios writers have struggled with.

I advise any other new writers to do the same. The forum community seems friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.

As each submitted assignment has to go through an editing process, most new writers worry that they won’t pass, or that they’ll be fired for getting rejections. Or they fret over why something was rejected and whether or not a rewrite is worth the time. The more experienced writers provide a steadying, reassuring voice and I’ve yet to come across any patronising voices – the biggest turn off for newcomers who want to ask questions.

It’s early days for me, having not even claimed my first assignment yet, so I have no idea how it’ll turn out.

The thing is to make it work for me rather than the other way round. The articles/assignments aren’t rocket science, but I can already see that the format and research could make writing with Demand Studios time consuming if I don’t choose titles carefully.

Off to find one then. As a newbie, I have a maximum of three, which I need to write and get approved. After that I can maintain a queue of ten.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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22 April, 2010 10:31 am

Rewriting And The Importance of Words

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by Deb    in Fiction Writing, NonFiction Writing

In his blog, David Hewson talks here about how changing one word when rewriting can make a huge difference to the atmosphere and ‘punch’ of a scene. The word in question is ‘piss’ and two examples are given – one with it, and the rewrite without it. The rewrite is, to my mind, definitely stronger.

It’s just one little word, but whether it’s in the sentence or not makes a huge difference to the reading experience. Less is definitely more in this case.

With the word, the focus of attention falls directly on the word itself and detracts from everything else that is equally important in building up the whole scene. The rotten fruit, the rubbish, the abandoned plastic – they matter too, but somehow they’re  overshadowed and sidelined when the word ‘piss’ is included at the end.

During rewriting and redrafting the offending word is removed. Without the word, the scene is allowed to hang in the reader’s mind as a whole. We most certainly understand what the overriding stench is, but it’s allowed to permeate the other dereliction, not obliterate it.

Words matter. Even little ones.

Skilful editing and rewriting comes from knowing what to take out and what to leave in and is arguably the hardest thing in the writing process.

I find the best way of discovering what needs to come out is to get some distance between my muse and my writing. When a piece has been allowed to ‘rest’ for a while, your mind is more willing to accept that not every word is perfectly placed. You’re more able to read your words as a reader rather than a writer, and making that distinction is important because readers primarily want involvement in the story, immersion in the atmosphere, empathy with the characters, and anticipation along with recognition of peril.

All this happens very quickly when reading. It also happens on a subconscious level. The above elements are either there or they’re not, and if any of them are missing the story will fail one level or another. Depending on the strength of the others, you’ll either lose the reader completely or they’ll carry on reading with reservations. But some of the trust in the unspoken reader/writer contract will be lost.

Trust goes full circle back to the rewriting process. You have to learn to trust your own writerly instincts. When you’re reading back through a piece, if something jars with you, it’ll jar with readers too. Don’t be tempted to gloss over it because of the hard work involved with figuring out what’s wrong and what it needs to make it right. Don’t be tempted to think that just because it’s only one word, or sentence, or paragraph or page it won’t matter.

It will, and does, matter. Every word matters, individually and collectively.

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