Any technical writers out there? Tell us about your career, what you do, what you don’t do

I’ve been intrigued lately with some things I’ve been reading about technical writing and technical writers. As far as I understand the job, you could almost think of it as a writing equivalent of “magician.”

A good technical writer has the ability to organize, categorize, and simplify jobs and equipment so those of us who barely know there’s a difference between CAT5 and CAT6 can understand and select the equipment we need. (I THINK those are two designations for some sort of computer network cabling — see, I told you I barely know the difference.)

In a braver, more desperate moment I once applied for a job as a technical writer. I’m pretty good at understanding and explaining complex tasks in simple terms. I’m a pretty organized person. So I went happily into the Human Resources Department at a local high-tech company and applied for a technical writer position they had posted. The company makes cable connectors and various sorts of switches for office networking environments.

About half way through the courtesy interview they gave me, the HR director and I both knew I wasn’t going to fit. That’s when I discovered “technical writer” implies some expertise in mechanics, science, math, and all those other classes I either never had or didn’t do well at.

How about those of you reading this? Any technical writers out there? Tell us about your work — what you do, what you LIKE to do, what you dislike most about technical writing. Enlighten us, please.

Technorati Tags: technical writing, freelance careers, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Do online collection agencies need copywriters? I wonder

I will confess that my wife and I have received those no-fun letters/warnings from commercial collection agencies. You may know what I mean. The letter sequence starts with something polite and gracious, but if you can’t pay up and they need to send you additional letters, or even make phone calls, the content and tone tend to turn toward the Dark Side, and really can be unpleasant.

But with the real world turning more toward the online world — are there actually any online collection agencies doing business? And if so, do they require copywriters to write something like, say, collection emails?

I really don’t know whether there is such a market out there, much less whether there is a profitable market there for freelance copywriters — other than the obvious possibility of writing website content, doing web design, etc., for collection agencies seeking an Internet presence.

If you know of such opportunities, I invite you to leave a comment and tell us about your experiences. No spam, please. I’m not looking for a collection agency, I’m seeking any information you might have about online copywriting opportunities related to collection agencies.

We try to be diverse.

Technorati Tags: online collection agencies, Internet writing, copywriting opportunities, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Useful tips for using AdSense on your website

One of the ways you can make at least a bit of money through your Internet writing and blogging work is to use Google AdSense on your site.

If you haven’t yet heard of AdSense or signed up for an account, you need to go here to the AdSense site and find out all about the program.

If you’ve already got an AdSense account and use AdSense, you can spend literally hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours reading every “guru’s” eBook and special tips about how to make money with the program. In the process you can waste a ton of money and time — I know this to be true because I’ve been there and done that.

What’s the answer? Trial and error, and extensive reading on the Google AdSense site and blogs, as well as many free blogs and forums out there. Do NOT spend a ton of time or money on all the latest get-rich-quick-through-AdSense silliness.

Here’s a useful starting point to get some helpful hints about using AdSense to make money online. It’s a free video, and it’s done by the Google AdSense Australian team — not by the latest gurus-of-the-moment. If you get past the Australian accents (grin) there’s a world of helpful info that’s perfectly adaptable to any AdSense supported country/website. Hope you find something helpful here:

ChaCha — another online income possibility for ambitious writers

I’ve written here from time to time about how difficult it can be to really make any money writing for the Internet. I’ve touched on the outrageously poor pay many people offer those they hire to write articles for website content. I’ve also told you of my experiences writing blog posts for money.

My daughter has a friend who somehow found out about a site called “ChaCha,” which pays writers to research and answer specific questions from site users.

I applied for ChaCha, seeking to become one of their Guides. The Guides are the people who get paid to answer questions/queries from ChaCha visitors. I haven’t started doing this yet, but I’m giving it a serious look. After reading their requirements for Guides and their FAQ page about the service, I understand Guides are making anything from $3.00-$9.00 per hour.

I’m not absolutely clear on how it all works, but I believe I read that they pay about 15-20 cents for each question you research and answer — which means you would have to put in an incredible amount of time and work to earn even $3.00 per hour, to say nothing of $9.00.

Anyone out there doing this ChaCha Guide gig already? Have I misunderstood or misstated the process and payment plan? Please comment and clarify what I’ve said if you have first-hand experience with this.

Meanwhile, I offer ChaCha as a possibility for those of you with the time and interest to try it as an avenue for earning money writing online. Let us know how it works out for you.

Technorati Tags: Internet writing, writing as a business, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Features of newest WordPress 2.6

Here’s a short video from the WordPress people about the newly released version 2.6. I’m always personally a little hesitant to upgrade too quickly to any version of any software I own. I’d rather let other folks try it out for awhile to help get any major bugs out of it.

But this newest WP version, if you blog a lot, certainly deserves your consideration. It contains some improved features over version 2.5.1.

Take a look:

The difficulty of living in the ‘in-between’ world of freelance writers

When I was in high school, I read a journalism textbook specifically about those who wanted to become “freelance writers,” and decided that was what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Many, MANY years later, I’m still a practicing freelance writer. With a few more years of such practice, maybe I’ll get it right. And nothing about being a practicing freelance writer is quite so frustrating as that “in-between” status of being self-employed but not really a “small business,” by most definitions at least.

Although I certainly consider my freelance writing and editing career to be a business, I have little to none of the small business opportunitites open to me that other small businessmen/people have available. If you don’t believe me, when was the last time you, as a freelance writer, went down to your local bank for a small business loan to expand your writing business? Yes? No?

Consider the difficulty of obtaining quality, affordable health insurance. People who own and operate small businesses frequently have such options. There are one or two organizations of freelancers who have sort of banded together to make better health insurance options available, but there are still no great deals.

I guess my point in all this is to raise a little discussion, and perhaps to offer a word or two of warning. My warning would be this: Before you give up your “day job,” make sure you are financially and emotionally prepared for the freelance life. It’s tough out here in the trenches outside of “best-sellerdom” land.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing, small business opportunities, writing and life, writing as a business, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Tip for online writing — write reviews of products, websites

I’ve had a modest amount of success online lately doing reviews of various products and websites on one of my marketing ventures. People love to read reviews of products and services, mostly because they want to get others’ opinions before making a purchase or using a service.

Whether we’re talking about a diet pill review, a review of some popular or useful software, or a book review, if you put it online someone from somewhere will look for it and perhaps find your review. If you can do that and draw traffic often enough in large quantities, you have the potential to make some money.

That’s a simple plan — well in keeping with my earlier words today about simplifying your writing and your lifestyle — and it’s been done a lot. But it still works. Try it. Then leave us a comment and tell us about your experience.

Technorati Tags: writing for the Internet, online writing, writing reviews, creating website traffic, writing tips at garyspeer.com

For those times when writing is a hassle, take Thoreau’s advice and simplify

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” The quote website I found told me those words of Henry David Thoreau are from the chapter “Where I Lived and What I Lived For” in his delightful philosophical essay/book, “Walden.”

I don’t have my “Walden” handy to check the quote, but I do recall reading it years ago and remembering the quote as “Simplify, simplify, simplify!” Either version makes the point I have found very helpful when my writing life becomes too much and the joy seems to have died. I find I really just need to simplify things.

1. Get back to simpler writing. As a freelance writer hoping to make some money to pay the bills, there is always the temptation to take every bit of work that comes along. That’s a mistake. It’ll wear you down and wear you out.

2. Get back to simpler times and simpler tools to do your writing. With all the high-tech goodies and gadgets out there, even writers fall prey to the temptations faced by S.W.A.T. teams looking to load up all possible tactical gear for every possible situation. There’s simply a limit to the gear S.W.A.T. members can handle, and likewise there are useful tools but they can become the object of your writing time and process instead of actually WRITING. By way of illustration: Two of the most successful writers I know got their start with pens and steno pads, and often return to that for doing their first drafts when life gets to be an over-complicated hassle.

3. Get back to the simple passions that got you started writing. I’m taking the summer to dig into Western writing, a genre I’ve loved since I first was old enough to read, go to movies, and later watch on television. Have you overloaded your writing tasks and interests and gotten away from your passion?

Take Thoreau’s advice. You won’t regret it, and your writing will benefit from it.

Technorati Tags: simplification, writing passion, writing as a business, writing and life writing tips at garyspeer.com

How’s your summer? I’m working on some old book manuscripts myself

Let me be very honest about this: I am not a published novelist. I read a lot of novels. I have some friends and personal acquaintances who are published novelists.

I, however, have never exercised the self-discipline in “practice” which I “preach” about regarding steady, daily work on a novel until it gets done. I have at least four manuscripts in various stages of disarray — but no books yet completed, much less published.

I’ve taken a couple of those novels out of the mothball stuffed closet on my hard drive, dusted them off, and aired them out. The musty smell is nearly gone now, and I’m weighing my options and preparing to put some daily effort into finishing them.

I’m thinking about continuing the story of Buckskin Bob and the Colorado gold scam, since it fits well with the “Life in the Old West” website I launched a few weeks ago. That site is drawing a growing crowd of readers, which has encouraged me to think and write more about the American West.

On the other hand, I enjoy working on the manuscript I started about a retired couple in a small town in Nebraska who suddenly come into millions of dollars in an unexpected way and have some “bad guys” out to get them and get their fortune. As an Old Guy that one appeals to me in a special way.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

Meanwhile, how’s your summer going? Doing some writing? Tell us about it.

Technorati Tags: novels, novelists, book manuscripts, writing as a business, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Just between you and me: multi-tasking gets harder with age

There was a time when I could work out on one of those fancy NordicTrack ellipticals or other exercise equipment, listen to a CD on my walkman (sure, I’m old; never owned an iPod), interview a fellow exerciser, and take notes for the interview profile practically all at the same time.

These days, if the cat’s rummaging around her toy box near my recliner while I’m typing a post, I shush her and take a minute to get back my focus. If the cat makes noise, there’s a sudden wind gust, and the phone rings, well. That’s almost too much input for me to handle all at once.

Getting old, I guess. I “cut my teeth” writing and editing in the newsroom of a daily newspaper and learned I had to multi-task (we didn’t call it that; the process hadn’t yet been named) or I’d soon be missing deadlines. Miss enough deadlines working at a newspaper or other high-stress operation and you’ll soon be looking for work. With a wife and two small kids, I couldn’t afford to be job hunting, so I quickly developed the ability to work under pressure in the midst of chaos. Not always in the midst of chaos, but often.

Nowadays, I’ve gotten mentally soft. Or old. Or both.

Moral of the story: If you’re serious about a writing and/or editing career, learn to focus on the task at hand, but be aware of what’s happening around you and prepared to multi-task. Or find a different career path.

Technorati Tags: multi-tasking, mental focus, advice for new writers, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Never underestimate the power of well-written ad copy

In the “real” world, there would be absolutely no market for diet pills. In the “real” world, losing weight simply means eating less food and getting more exercise. Of course, in the world we live in, diet pills, diet plans, special foods, and various weight-loss groups still can’t accomplish lasting weight loss for most people.

In fact, if you write ad copy, you create the world we live in. No weight loss system hires copywriters to explain in plain, clear fashion that their products are unnecessary. None of the companies manufacturing special 30-day diets will hire copywriters to say, “Don’t spend all that extra money to buy our pre-measured, pre-packaged foods. Just buy good, fresh food, prepare it with a minimum of cooking, eat small amounts, and exercise regularly.”

Never underestimate the power of good ad copy writing. If you write content for a website, think about who you’re writing to, think about what your visitors are looking for, and you’ll “get it right.” Always emphasize benefits, not features. Now get out there and create the “real” world you wish to work in.

Technorati Tags: ad copywriting, creating your world, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Good research, careful observation may uncover surprising story ideas

Here’s an important lesson for beginning writers: Keep your eyes open, do your research, and you never know when something useful will pop up for your writing.

A few months ago I worked for awhile with a guy who used to do telemarketing for an online hotel reservation chain. You know the sort of business I mean, right? They arrange great hotel deals for people who use their online reservation service.

This particular company, as I discovered from talking with my coworker, was contractually obligated by the hotels they worked with to take care of all the guest’s requests if those guests had made their reservation through the company. (Awkwardly written wasn’t it?)

My coworker explained it this way: “If a guest needed extra towels, he would call the hotel desk. The desk would say, ‘Sorry, sir, you made the reservation through XXXXX.com. You’ll have to call them. Here’s their toll-free number.’ The guest would call us at the toll-free number, we would call the hotel desk, and tell someone at the desk that the guest in room such-and-such needs two extra towels.’ ”

How bizarre. But what a great idea to work into a plot. Next time you write something regarding a hotel stay, why not put in some bit about a guest getting frustrated about making toll-free calls just to relay the message and get extra towels?

Do your research well and you’ll uncover little oddities that make nice additions to your stories. Keep your eyes and ears wide open at work or around friends, and you never know when such a gem will drop into your writer’s bag of tricks.

Technorati Tags: advice for new writers, plot devices, story details, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Not hanging out here as much anymore — such is my new ‘day job’

I am sorry to say that, after doing this for several years, I’m sort of putting the blog into a state of “semi-retirement.”

Due to the 1) increased hours I must spend at my “day job,” 2) the lack of comments and/or participation by most of the people who visit here and read my ramblings, and, 3) increased time I must spend on my online marketing efforts, I will not be able to spend as much time as you and I might like on this blog.

I hope you’ve found some useful writing tips and writing information here in the years since I started this blog. I trust you’ll come back and check for new information, as well as use the “Search” function to find “old” info I’ve written about in the past. Those of you who’ve been around here awhile know that I went through most of a year when I did lot’s of “Useful Website” paid posts for everything from phone cards to weight loss pills. I trust you who are interested in writing ad copy might find that entire category useful — to learn how and how NOT to write ad copy, I guess.

And I really have appreciated the various comments and questions many of you have shared with us all over the years.

This isn’t “goodbye.” It’s not “farewell.” Think of it as sort of “see you again soon — but not as frequently as in the past.” I guess.

Let me append a big “however” to all this: Should some generous patron of the arts (!) or literature wish to offer me a “blog for money” arrangement with sufficient income to do this full time, hey, you’ve got me! LOL! (And that’s probably more exclamation marks than you’ll ever again see me use in a single post.)

A pearl is a pearl is a pearl — do your research carefully

I really know very little about jewelry in general, and even less about pearls in particular. Doing some research for a writing project, I discovered my understanding of saltwater pearls and freshwater pearls was seriously lacking.

I always thought freshwater pearls were, well, sort of “fake” or less desirable than “real” or saltwater pearls. I never really knew why I thought this, but I was certain it was true.

I was wrong. Although freshwater pearl prices I found browsing the Internet were generally less than saltwater pearls, the freshwater varieties are still valuable and many are highly sought after.

Above all, I discovered that there is a whole world of types, shapes, sizes, and colors of pearls. The “value” of a pearl has far more to do with shape and coloration than whether it’s saltwater or freshwater, “natural” or cultured.

The “moral” to this story for writers, I guess, would be this: Research with care, taking nothing for granted when you’re getting ready to write about something you aren’t very familiar with.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to research the value of postage stamps for a plot idea I’ve been mulling over about stamp collecting.

Technorati Tags: freshwater pearls, saltwater pearls, research, plot devices, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Which expression do you prefer — ‘adult diaper’ or ‘adult incontinence product’?

I’m not asking which you prefer to USE, of course, but which you prefer to read or see in print — adult diaper or adult incontinence product.

What we’re talking about here, in writing terms, is the use of a euphemism — which one online source defines as: “Substitution of a delicate or inoffensive term or phrase for one that has coarse, sordid, or otherwise unpleasant associations, as in the use of ‘lavatory’ or ‘rest room’ for ‘toilet,’ and ‘pass away’ for ‘die.’ ”

We ought to be aware of euphemisms and use them appropriately in our writing. But we ought also, for the cause of honesty and direct writing, be aware of euphemisms run amok. In my thinking, “adult incontinence product” for “adult diaper” is close to being a runaway euphemism. Why do we find “adult diaper” objectionable — or do we? Must all references to human biological processes be considered “crude” or “rude” and be replaced by euphemisms? Why??

Enough of my editorializing, how do you feel about using or not using euphemisms? The standards certainly are very subjective, varying from place to place and social setting to social setting. What are your guidelines for using euphemisms or not using euphemisms in your writing? Share with us, please.

Technorati Tags: euphemisms, active writing, direct writing, English usage, writing tips at garyspeer.com

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