Angela Booth’s Life Stream

In next week's ezine, our theme is the best money-making writing tips.

Here's an excerpt from the Editorial:

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Although it's very easy to make money writing online, for best results you need to challenge yourself. This is because you're working alone, you don't have anyone to push you. The more you write the more you earn, so get into the habit of challenging yourself.

Let's look at this simple method for doing this.

1. Set One Writing Goal

I like to challenge myself by creating goals, and achieving them. Tip: every goal you achieve gives you an instant boost of confidence.

Start by setting a simple goal. Perhaps you want to get more clients to buy your articles. So create that as a goal.

Write it down: "I will get five more clients this week".

2. Create a Plan to Achieve That Goal

The more simple you make your plan, the more likely it is that you will achieve it. Your plan can include various items, and you need to chunk that plan down into a list of daily tasks.

For example, your plan could include items like: bidding on writing jobs on the outsourcing sites, advertising, and staying in touch with clients by sending out regular mailings.

3. Create a List of Daily Tasks You Know You Can Achieve

From the list of items which will help you to achieve your goal, create a list of daily tasks. I like to keep all my tasks short, so that each takes no longer than half an hour. I find I'm more productive this way. There's no time to dither on a task when you know you have just 30 minutes to complete it.

How it works: if one of your items included advertising for example, then one of your tasks could be to create a couple of ads which you will post on one of the free classifieds sites. (The posting of the ads deserves its own task.)

4. Put on Blinkers: Be Single-Minded and Complete Your Tasks

Make a commitment to yourself to a complete every task on your daily task list, every day.

Making a commitment is freeing -- you know what you'll do, and you do it.

Tip: your commitments must mean something. Make a list of benefits to you in completing your daily task list. The benefits could include: being your own boss, tripling your income this year, and going on that European vacation you've planned.

You can make money writing, and your success is in your hands. Just reach out and grab it.

Image: Blackadder -- his best quote "I have a cunning plan..."

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Sit down and write -- research later

Write first, research later. This sounds counter-intuitive, but it helps you to write more and sell more. It's easy to get caught in the quagmire of research. You can collect so much material that you lose all enthusiasm for the project -- the more you collect, the more overwhelmed you feel.

For example, let's say you're writing a novel. Your hero is a cop. You don't need to know that much about his day to day working life. Write your story. Either research as you go, or research after you've written the first draft. 

If you're writing a magazine article about a topic you know nothing about, create an outline before you begin to research. Your outline can be as simple as: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. As you research, write a first draft of your article.

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Success or failure? It's all in your mindset

Your mindset will determine your success, or your failure in any activity. 

Many writers make writing too complicated. There's nothing complicated about writing – if you can talk, you can write, and if you can write a letter that gets a response, you can make money writing. 

The only thing that stops you is you. Here's how to develop a successful freelance writer's mindset:

1. Stay positive

Staying positive is all about where you put your attention. Everyone has problems. If you put your attention on your problems, you'll get more of them, and the problems you already have will get bigger.

Here's how to deal with problems. You're a writer, so this should be easy. Describe your problem in 25 words or less. 

Now make a list of solutions -- be creative here, make your list as long as possible. Now forget about the problem.

Tomorrow, you look at your list. Choose one solution and work out how you can put it into action -- then do it.

From now on, whenever you find yourself mentally occupied with any problem, start thinking about solutions.

Successful people have as many problems as you do. However instead of focusing on the problems, they focus on solutions, and only solutions.

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Photo

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For many years, one of my mantras was: create and promote. I wrote about it extensively in my marketing skills for writers book.

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