The weekly ezine with a road map for
sidetracked writers.
"Be better writers today
than we were yesterday."
Hello, gang!
Thought for the Week -
Back to...
Back to school always triggers thoughts of Back to Work for me. Something about the cooler weather, the trees changing and the inexpensive office supplies makes me ready to jump onto the keyboard.
Of course, we have six people in my immediate family who have birthdays in the next six weeks so instead of organizing my office, I'm organizing party games and birthday cakes.
But that's the best part about working from home and for yourself. When your personal life needs extra time, you can take it without getting permission from the boss. I know many of you are working to make the leap to full-time writing, and today's notes may help... press releases are one of the easiest and best ways to start writing for businesses.
I recently had fun chatting with Michael Knowles of WriteThinking.net. If you are considering business or technical writing, be sure to check out his site at http://www.writethinking.net,
or you can see our interview and his review.
As the anniversary of September 11th rolls around this week, I'd like to repeat last year's virtual "Moment of Silence" to remember those who lost their lives, and the friends and family who must go on without their loved ones.
I heard the best advice from our priest who is trained to work with trauma victims. He suggested we should "be patient with everyone around you," since the most difficult time often isn't when the traumatic event occurs but later as the reality sinks in and the anniversaries roll around.
P.S. "This week, I had the pleasure of reading The Organized Writer and interviewing author Julie Hood.
This is a book no writer should be without...."
-- Michael Knowles, http://www.WriteThinking.net
Whether you are promoting your book or your clients, writing the perfect press release can really boost your exposure. Press releases are also good business writing projects because they are necessary for your clients, easy to finish projects, and give them residual benefits (publicity and more customers!).
The more you can target the release to interested parties, the better luck you will have with your publicity. I've also noticed with our releases that email releases get better response. Maybe the copy-and-paste factor helps!
I've collected a database of local media outlets. The bigger your database, the better you can target your releases for your clients.
Here is a link to newspapers, radio/TV, and magazine sources, including some international ones: http://newslink.org/
One last tip, take a few minutes to read through some recent releases to get your mind ready to write a press release. Here are some links to get you started:
Notice how some of the releases simply announce a new book, while others give some sort of information or answers to a common problem and then mention the book.
Moira Allen of Writing-World.com has just announced some new market guides. To help jump start interest, she is offering a special price. Everything I've ever read by Moira has been top-notch, so I know these guides will be outstanding. I ordered mine (you can get six for only $12.50)... if you're interested, you can find out more at
Like Organized
Writer.com? You'll love the book.....
Check out the latest review of The Organized Writer, by Betty Winslow at
AbsoluteWrite.com:
"With intriguing chapters...and an appendix of 25 ready-to-use forms, this book is exactly what disorganized writers need to pull themselves out of the pit of disorganization they have fallen into."
M T W T F S S
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1. Declutter (only 5 minutes)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2. Read (only 5 minutes)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3. Assess (30 seconds to 5 minutes)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 4. Write (at least 5 minutes)
Weekly Checklist
For freelance writers: Use this weekly checklist to find, write and send a query every week of 2003!
Monday
__ Make notes on a new idea.
Tuesday: Accounting Day
__ Post your accounting records.
__ Pay bills.
__ Follow up on outstanding invoices and queries.
Wednesday
__ Find a new market using links below.
Thursday: Errand Day
__ Make copies.
__ Return books to library.
__ Make deposit at bank.
Friday
__ Finish query and submit.
__ Match your query to the market.
Saturday Weekly Review
__ How was this week?
__ What's up next week?
__ Review your Projects list in your planner and check the
status.
__ Jot the next action steps for your projects on next week's
calendar.
__ Backup your computer files.
__ Virus scan your computer.
Sunday
__ Relax and enjoy!
__ Do something fun today!
Thanks for visiting Writer-Reminders! If you have comments,
success stories, or suggestions, reply to this message or e-mail
me at :julie@writer-reminders.com
Your privacy is very important to me. Your email address will never be
sold by Writer-Reminders. For more on Yahoo's privacy policy, visit http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/
Copyright 2002-2003 Finally Organized LLC. All rights reserved worldwide. This
newsletter is provided with the understanding that the author is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other
professional services. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be
sought.
Writer-Reminders and OrganizedWriter.com provide links to other Internet
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Writer-Reminders and OrganizedWriter.com do not guarantee, approve or
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OrganizedWriter.com.
