Brand new writing blog design!

If you’ve been following my blog for some time you’ll know I have been threatening to change the look of it for a while now. The reason it wasn’t done earlier is twofold:

• Real life got in the way

• I couldn’t decide on a new blog theme!

Anyway after spending a few hours looking at all the possibilities I finally found one that looks more professional, smoother, cleaner and is hopefully easier on the eye for you guys as well. Please do let me know what you think! Be warned though that there are going to be plenty of smaller tweaks and changes going on over the next few weeks, as I finally get it exactly how I want it to be. And since every blog is an ongoing thing anyway, it could mean lots of changes!

So where does my writing blog go from here?

First of all there’s some general housekeeping to do behind the scenes. You know the kind of thing – tidying up my tags, organising my categories and so on. Hopefully you will find the new layout much easier to find your way around than the old one. Funny, isn’t it, how a blog design can look great to start with, and then after a year or two it just doesn’t cut it anymore?

I’m planning on doing some more product reviews over time, and you will see longer blog posts too I think. I also want to share some of my experiences of having a writing blog from a writer’s point of view. It’s such a good tool for connecting with people and some of my clients found me via my blog, so you never know where it will lead you. This has always rather surprised me because this is a writing blog aimed at writers rather than clients, although I’m certainly pleased to see them when they do turn up!

Major writing blog change #1: CommentLuv added!

I’m especially excited about this because it benefits YOU as well. From now on, assuming it all works as it should do, every time you comment on one of my blog posts you’ll be able to automatically link back to your own writing blog as well.

All will become clear as you fill out the comment form if you’ve never used CommentLuv before. I’ve used it on other sites that have it enabled and it is well worth doing.

Major writing blog change #2: it’s easier than ever to subscribe to my RSS feed

I’m the first to admit that the old blog design had an RSS invitation over on the right hand side that was almost an apology. That’s gone now – instead you’ll see the familiar RSS icon near the top of the page. It’s big enough to be noticeable but not so big it smacks you between the eyes.

I wanted my new look writing blog to be more balanced than the old look, and so far I think it’s going okay.

A new chapter for my writing blog

I wish I’d done this sooner, but I’m glad I’ve done it now. Every blog needs refreshing from time to time, and although I still have some refreshing to do behind the scenes, no doubt you’ll see a few tweaks and changes upfront as well.

So there you have it – after nigh on two days of experimenting, adjusting and more, we’ve finally got the new design live. Enjoy it and let me know what you think!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Yes there are some changes coming to this very blog in the very near future. I’ve been thinking for a while that it needs a bit of sprucing up, but I didn’t want to announce any changes until I had found a blog theme that I felt I could really do something with.

This feels like the next step up for the blog. First of all I went from a free blog to a hosted one, and now it’s time to make things look a little more professional. So don’t worry if you try to access the blog in the next few days and you get a holding page. I’m still here – just working hard behind the scenes to get a brand new look up and running!

Once the new look site is up there will probably be a few ongoing changes and tweaks until it’s all done. I hope you will enjoy the journey with me and be back to read some brand new blog posts again soon. I’ve got lots planned – but it’s all after I change the appearance of my blog to ramp things up a little.

See you again soon – under a brand new guise! Until then, keep writing and selling and enjoy it. And don’t be surprised if you revisit and it still looks the same – there’s a lot going on behind the scenes for a while and this will probably continue until we’re ready to launch the new blog.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Hi all, just wanted to post a quick note to say I’m having problems with my RSS feed.  It would appear that it hasn’t been updating for the past 10 days or so, which would explain why some of you may not have been getting my updates.

For now I would ask you to bookmark my blog and visit every day or so for updates, and I’ll let you know as soon as we can solve the problem.  Oh, and if anyone has any ideas on what could be causing the problem (I’m using Feedburner) they would be greatly appreciated!  Many thanks.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Hang on a minute – have I strayed into computer lessons here?

Well I suppose I have in a way, but this has every relevance to your writing, so bear with me!  It just occurred to me that this is a little memory trick I use to make sure I check out certain websites every day, so I thought I would share it with you to kick off a whole new week.

If you come across a website or page you like, you can save it as a bookmark, right?  Okay, well you can also save it on your bookmarks toolbar.  And this is a very good thing to do with writing websites that regularly feature new jobs for writers.  I’ve got the Firefox browser which I would thoroughly recommend, but you should be able to do this whatever browser you use.

Are you making the most of your browser?

Let’s say you try and remember to check sites like Elance, Get A Freelancer and even Craigslist for writing jobs each and every day.  It’s not always easy though is it?  I mean let’s face it, we all have regular lives and sometimes our writing can get pushed to the back and forgotten.

Enter your bookmark toolbar!  Make sure that every site you check regularly (or keep meaning to check regularly…) for new online writing jobs is saved to your toolbar.  That way you will see them every day and check on them without having to write yourself notes to try and remember to do so.

It’s a very simple thing to do, and you only need to bookmark them once.  But once you have, you will remember to check them regularly.  And that could make all the difference between getting those writing jobs and missing out.

Why not go and bookmark some sites now?

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Ah now hang on a minute – I bet you’re wondering how on earth this can be a brand new blog when it has blog posts on it that are quite a few months old.  Well here is the answer…

My writing blog started life about a year ago on Windows Live Spaces.  This was a free blog that got me started and gave me the chance to get my teeth into blogging.

A new start for my writing blog

But what I always wanted to do was to get my own domain and hosting, and have my own proper writing blog on which I could do anything I wanted.  And finally, here it is.  That’s why this is the first NEW blog post on this blog.

From now on I shall be adding all my new blog posts about writing to this blog.  I’m planning on keeping my old Live Spaces blog up and running for the time being at least, but all the old blog posts there will be migrated across to this blog and then deleted off the old one.

Needless to say I will be blogging a lot more often now I have my very own ‘self owned’ blog, and I plan to develop the various sections as well as adding new ones in the weeks and months to come.

So if there is anything you want to know about what it’s like to write for a living online, let me know!  Hopefully I can give you an insight into my own writing life, and I shall certainly reveal some secrets and some great places to go to get work.

All that and more is still to come…  I look forward to welcoming you back soon.  Oh, and don’t worry if there are quite a few changes and alterations to the blog in the next few weeks.  We’ll be tweaking it from time to time as we get everything just right.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Yes it’s been a crazy week.  I’ve had to take on a bit less writing work than I would normally because of all the stock that is waiting to go into our eBay shop.  But the bulk is now on and I am hoping that I can now get back into writing a bit more and simply sell, sell, sell as far as eBay is concerned!

It’s definitely picking up, but November is traditionally when it really gets going.  We’ll see how far this credit crunch affects us this year – although so far we haven’t noticed any difference at all.

We're selling and panicking - but in a good way!

I’m on the home straight with an eBook I’m writing for a client that is due by the end of the month, so that’s good news – and possibly the fastest I’ve written one as well. I think writing is all about finding new ways of working that get more done in less time, and I’ve certainly found that getting a bit more time to yourself instead of working ALL the time pays off in the end.

Why?  Simply because you get time to recharge your batteries.  I didn’t set my alarm for the first time since being on holiday this morning, and I’m definitely writing faster and better because I had that lie in.

Have you tried it lately?  Sometimes less really is more!  Let me know how you write at your best, and when.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

It’s been the most manic of times since I arrived back from holiday.  You see, not only does this time of year bring with it lots of writing work, it also brings lots of ordering of Christmas products too.

And not just for Christmas shopping purposes either.  My partner and I run our own eBay shop, and that means this is our busiest time of year.  So I am writing this whilst sitting knee deep in fake snow and all kinds of other things, and it brings with it a whole different branch of writing too.

Busy times for all at Christmas

Those eBay listings are wonderful to write as you are really limited when it comes to the title.  If you’ve tried Twitter and you think that is hard to write for with limited space, try filling 55 characters or less with all the info you need to sell your product with!  It’s great fun though, and very much an exercise to strengthen that writing muscle.

And the sales are coming in, so something must be going right.

So forgive me if the entries to my blog are a little erratic – if I remember rightly from last year, this is the calm before the storm.  November went bonkers and I juggled writing duties with trips to and from the post office to mail out bags full of parcels.  Mind you, it does give me some much needed fresh air and a break from writing.  I have always found a quick trip out during the afternoon helps to break that slump you always get after lunch…

Anyway, it’s off to bed now – I’m actually ahead for the day and have done more writing than I planned to.  That means my schedule for tomorrow has a little more free time than I thought it would have – and that means time for more listings!  Oh but it’s all such good fun…

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Well hello all – I am back from holiday and sitting in my writer’s chair once again!  And you know, although it’s always sad to finish a holiday and come back home to normality (especially after the great time we had), I’m ready and raring to go and it was good to start writing again.

Stacks of work to get going on today...

I had two big projects to come back to which have a lot of work tied up in them, so I decided to reign myself in on accepting a lot of new work – partly so I could focus on getting big chunks of these two projects done, and also so I could ease myself back in.  I don’t know about you, but I have always found that if I haven’t been writing anything for a week or so I am really rusty and slow when I start back.  This time seemed different though as I got a heck of a lot done on my first day back – more than I expected to in fact.  Let that be a lesson to me!

So this week is a week to ease myself back in, and then next week we start back in earnest with more writing projects.  We also run an eBay business here which I may have mentioned before – you can find us at Shop Smoo on eBay – so being as it is now October we are fully into the run up to Christmas.  All that and we need to fit in our own Christmas shopping as well – eek!

It might seem a little early to be thinking about that but I have learned from previous experience that if I don’t start now it just doesn’t get done, and there is nothing worse than having to squeeze in an urgent shopping trip in around deadlines and trips to the post office to send out orders.  So I have my practical head on now, and writing needs to be expertly fitted in around everything else that is going on.

How do you do it?  Do you manage to organise your days efficiently or do you struggle?  Let me know – it’s a great subject to get talking about and I love to hear your comments.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

I have just eight articles left to do in that batch of seventy!  I had an extension until tomorrow so I’ve been steadily working my way through them in between other work (hence no blogging for a few days!).

But I’ve now got another 38 web pages to do for the same client so they must be happy.  It seems like putting in that extra effort to write those articles (on a subject I’m not familiar with) has paid off…

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

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