Dear Friends,

I have been writing all my life. I started a regular journal when I was 12 years old. I've written everything from poetry to prose and all the stuff in between. I've been getting paid to write for a little more than a year, though. Boy! has it been an amazing ride so far. 

Recently, I attended a writer's group meeting where I met a person who literally gave me the push I needed to jump into copywriting. 

Her name is Jane. Jane has been freelance writing forever.  At that writer's group meeting she shared a lot of advice, but the thing that has stuck with me the most was that phrase I used for my title. She said, "You have to pay attention to what feeds you, and what drains you. Follow the rewarded path"

Such great advice, huh!? 

When you are doing everything that drains you, and nothing that fills you up, eventually you will become empty. Lifeless. On the flip side, if you are always being filled and never drained, you will feel useless and unimportant, which is altogether draining too! 

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am the opposite of lifeless. I try hard to keep it that way. It is very important for me to feel involved, and to participate in life. I want to be a useful, happy, and contributing member to society. I have made it a goal to find balance in the things that drain and fill me.

I never want to be useless! I never want to be lifeless!

Recently, I made the decision to quit working for Copywriter Today. When I was working for that company, I was not following the rewarded path. Every day was stressful. I felt terrible about life, and I was a bad mother. I neglected playing with my children. I yelled at them for silly things because they were distracting me from meeting my deadlines.  

The company is still a great company, and all of the people there were great. I learned a lot from them and from the articles that I was writing, and I don't regret a minute that I spent with them. BUT I wasn't happy. It didn't help that I was paid hourly, for a set amount of time per article and I always took longer than was allowed by my employer. I didn't feel like I was using my time wisely.

I asked for a pay raise. I made suggestions for changing the time limits. I wrote while everyone slept. I stayed up late and woke up early and tried to fit everything in. In the end, I knew that this one thing was upsetting the balance between my filling things and my draining things, and I made the decision to cut it out of my life. 

SO! I would like to offer you the same advice: 

• Follow the rewarded path. Do what feels good and right, and you will always find true happiness.
  
• Pay attention to what drains you and what fills you. Find a balance and make sure you are always being filled more than drained. 
  

'Till next time my friends!
Sincerely,
Lindsay

I am currently helping a client to write an inspirational memoir in her own voice. I've discovered a few challenges along the way and I'd like to share them with you. Maybe we can both learn from them.

The Biggest Challenge:
The biggest challenge when collaborating on any creative work will always be a difference in opinions. The thing you have to remember is that this is THEIR story. They HIRED you to create something for them. They are the boss. You have every right to share your opinion and persuade them to see "The Right," but in the end you are not in charge. Giving up that control can sometimes be really hard, but you can do it. Just remember not to give up the control in your personal writings!

Asking For the Right Fee:
If you really want to know how much to charge, take a look at what other writers are charging and double it, especially if you are good. With that in mind, be willing to work for less if you really feel passionately about the project. The current project that I am working on is not paying me enough to pay the bills, but I believe in it, and I feel like my employer deserves a break. Be careful not to do this too much, though. You may never be able to climb out of the low-priced jobs if you aren't willing to charge EVERYONE your "normal" price.

Be Realistic:
Make sure when you are quoting times and deadlines that you are being realistic. Remember that it's better to overestimate the time it takes to do a project than to underestimate. People like getting things early, but abhor getting things late. 

Keep Communications Open:
The most important part of any relationship is to keep communications open and honest. If you can manage to be completely transparent, you will gain clients for life. Not only that, but they will tell their friends and they will tell their friends, and so on. Keep your relationship with your client strong by giving them realistic deadlines, telling them as soon as a problem arises, and by treating them with respect. 

That's it for today folks. Good luck with your writing and may we ever be successful!

I first want to begin by saying, I have been writing my whole life! I started keeping a regular journal when I was twelve years old. I wrote poetry throughout my school years, I wrote lullabies when each of my children was born, and I even took a few news writing classes when I was in college.

I have always done it, but I never actually DREAMED of doing it as a career. I always dreamed of making money as a photographer. I started my own portrait business when I was 19. I loved taking real photos of real people. I helped to make memories last. That was my slogan anyways. I never could bring myself to ask the ridiculous fees that other portrait photographers were asking so I was undercharging and way too busy for my family.

 When I became a mother, I decided to put my photography on a back burner. I believe that family should always come before career. Pretty soon though, I was bored. Plus my husband asked for a little help making ends meet so I tried to find alternative ways to make money. 

I didn't trust those get rich quick schemes. We had just moved to a new place and I didn't really have anyone to watch the kids while I worked on photo jobs. Not to mention a lot of the jobs that were on the work-at-home-websites, really were boring or terrifying! I mean, who wants to stuff envelopes, or sell various products to complete strangers! 

One day I drove past the office for my local newspaper, and I remembered my experience with newswriting from college. I thought, "I can earn money writing articles... It won't be much but it will be something!" And it's true. The pay is low and it's very time consuming, but it was something! Plus, I have been able to connect with members of the community, which will pay dividends, and my husband is getting some help with the bread winning, which is priceless. Writing for the news paper also helped me to think more about the other ways that I could earn money writing; books, articles for magazines, blogs, and more. 

I had never realized all of the possibilities, but the truth is that a lot of writing jobs just don't pay well. I knew that. I had been hoping that someone would pick up one of my children's books and offer me a million dollars... someday. That was when I discovered the wonderful world of copywriting. I did a lot of research. I spent a lot of time pouring over the different copywriting courses. Now I can work from home, help bring the bacon, and enjoy myself while I am doing it.

Why do I write? BECAUSE I CAN!