Getting back in the writing game

I have recently (last night… err night before last now) published the webpage of The WRITE Business Solutions. It can be found at www.theWRITEbusinesssolutions.com. I intend to create a full website as soon as possible. In the meantime, I intend to update this blog much more frequently with entries from previous guests, new guest bloggers and myself. In you are interested in submitting a guest blog about your writing experiences and struggles send me an email at www.theWRITEbusinesssolutions@yahoo.com. I have been very lazy with my writing. I have not written much professionally or personally in quite a while. I have been posting writing related links to the group page on Facebook but other than that, I haven’t done much. I have been dealing with a lot of life but that is no excuse to let my writing suffer but let’s face it, it happens. I have been making plans for writing projects though and I have some ideas for query letters. I simply haven’t written the queries or done any of the research for those queries. My goal at the beginning of the year was to write and submit a query once a month. I came up with article ideas for January, February, March and April. I haven’t come up with an idea for May and I would like to think of some seasonal stuff and I know now is the time to submit those to many publications. Again, I haven’t done any of the research though and I can’t write the query letters, much less submit them until I have done the research. I do hope to get back on tract though. I have to. I am a writer and it is time I started acting like one again. I have many writer friends on FB and … (what do we refer to friends we know and see face to face outside of Facebook?) personally and I see and read about their success all the time. I know I can join them if I will just do the work and believe in myself again. Somewhere along the way, I lost the confidence I had in my writing and the self doubt has wreaked havoc on my career. Maybe a little writing exercise about my personal writing experience will help. Here is my writing story and how The WRITE Business Solutions came to be. I remember writing as early as the fifth grade but I didn’t know I was a writer until the seventh grade. From then on, I knew what I was. In high school, if anyone asked what I wanted to be or what I was going to be I answered I was a writer. I never had any doubt that I would write stories, they would become books, and novels and people would read them and enjoy them. I never thought about pursuing the education I lacked though. I was a writer I knew how to write. I knew how to tell a story and create a story that engrossed and entertained people. I wasn’t the best at the fundamentals of English, my spelling was awful and my grammar was lacking. I would respond egotistically that’s what editors were for when anyone would criticize my writing. No one ever criticized my writing for the story only for the grammar, structural, spelling or any combination of the three. I’m in the process of deciding which school I will attend and working towards eliminating the kinks so that I can finish the education, I am lacking. I plan to major in Creative Writing with a minor in English and Journalism or majoring in Creative writing and English with a minor in Journalism or majoring in English with a minor in Creative Writing and Journalism. I joined a local writers group a while back and I have attended two or three meetings. I feel guilty every other Monday (like tonight, make that last night) when they meet and I am not there. There were times when I was watching kids, which is my side job that pays the bills I’m not paying with my writing at the moment. I have been sick, selfish and or lazy on others. Now, I am not able to go because of conditions beyond my control but as soon as I am able to attend again, I intend to do so. I enjoyed the meetings I attended and received some good feedback when I shared my work and I learned a lot from listening. I’m not sure I felt as though I really fit in though but I’m thinking that might be because I hadn’t attended more meetings. I started my writing career at the encouragement of several friends, many who were in the writing field themselves. One of them was Robyn White (McDaniel at that time) whom I met when she started working as the Director of Communications at Associated Grocers. In our company newsletter, her introduction mentioned she had won copyeditor of the year several times in Arcadia. I sent her a sample of something I had written and she asked me what I was doing working in accounting. I responded that I was in hell but making a living. She suggested I start freelancing. When Robyn first suggested I freelance, I looked at her and said I’m not a reporter. She responded that was the easiest and fastest way to be paid as a writer. Robyn let me write for the company newsletter and I came up with a few ideas that were fun and involved finding subjects willing to be interviewed and interviewing them. It was fun, my peers seemed to enjoy what I wrote, and it boosted my writing ego. Through a mutual love of Days of Our Lives, I met Angela Campbell. Angie was an editor and reporter at a newspaper as well as an up and coming novelist (she’s a little past the up and coming point now) and she encouraged me to write and helped teach me the ropes and AP style when I started corresponding (stringing) for a local paper. She taught me everything I know. I landed my second gig corresponding with the main paper in Baton Rouge and continued to correspond for the Daily Star as well. In late 2004, I decided to write full time and started The WRITE Business Solutions. I placed ads and answered ads looking for freelancers. I acquired enough clients that along with my reporting gigs (I had three beats with the first paper and two with the second) I was able to support my family. I wrote daily on my personal writing working on my book at first but that soon feel to the wayside. Some meetings ran long and the articles had to be in to my editors. Then I managed to get quite a few clients and eventually the work was more than I was able to keep up. That was when I started to build a data base of writers. I hated turning down clients and I wasn’t able to complete the work so I thought I’d pass along the work. My clients knew me, trusted me, and liked my work. I still wanted them to be “mine” at least in a sense of the word. I took the responsibility of interviewing each writer who applied. I read over their clips and decided if they were a fit or not. I did not guarantee any work to the writer and I did not ask for any payments of any type. I knew what I would want for the pieces of work and that’s what I offered the writers. I explained to my clients that I was essentially the middle man and I informed them of what the writer would be making as well as what percentage I would like them to pay me for providing them with the writer, editing the article and guaranteeing the quality of the article and the timeliness of it. Business was good and with the exception of one client I never had a problem receiving payment and I never had any problems with any of the writers who wrote for me. The problem with the client was resolved with the exception that no one, including myself received his or her copy of the magazine. After several slow payments were received, I held the work for the following issue until payment was received and when I released the work once, payment was received and dispersed to the writers, I ceased doing business with the client. I informed the writers of what was going on and kept them informed every step of the way, throughout the process. After the client and I had dissolved our business dealings, I gave the writers permission to write for the client directly if they chose to do so. I know of at least two writers who did. I accepted a position as a full time reporter for a small bi-weekly newspaper in Wyoming. During that time, I didn’t have much time to write and The WRITE Business Solutions went into hiatus for a bit. My family and I moved to Idaho for a few years after that and then finally made it back to Louisiana. It’s been a wild ride and now I’m ready to rebuild my writing career and get back to where I was before.