Too Many Writing Projects, Too Little Time
What many of us neglect to add to our writing schedule are all the other things we do besides writing. Writing is only a small portion of what we do as “writers.”
There’s Always Research, a Little or a Lot
Writing takes a lot of effort. Before you can even begin to write, there is the research. You might spend twice as much time researching a subject as writing about it, depending on how much knowledge you have about the subject.
I usually read two or three articles about an issue before I write about it. Plus, if I take a direct quote from an item, I must provide credit, and you should too. Even when you use an image you created, you should write in the caption, photo by the author or whatever.
Writing, of course!
Then, depending on the requested length from the client, you begin writing. You could take an hour or so to write a 500-word article. Once you have finished your first draft, the real battles begin.
Images
You will need to decide on a featured image and other internal images if any. That will eat up some of your time as well. You should always include a featured image, but secondary images could be essential to brighten your piece as well.
Proofreading & Editing
Then, you’ll need to edit. I used to proofread right away, now I put it aside for a day before editing. I found that correcting it while it was fresh in my mind was counter-productive and a waste of time.
Now, after I let it simmer for a day, I catch a lot more of those little errors that should have been obvious, but because I knew the story, I just couldn’t see it.
Proofreading and editing can be a totally separate project if you have written a long essay or book. Then, proofreading is typically the last step before publication.
After the two or three rounds of editing, for your article (many more for a book) is complete (I use Grammarly as my last edit), it’s time to publish and start promoting, if you self-publish.
Publishing
On Medium, you must decide whether you will self-publish or send it to a publication. It won’t take much time either way, except that their editor will likely keep you waiting. But at least you can do other projects while you wait for their decision.
Promoting
Book or blog, it’s all the same. The process might be different, but both need to be promoted heavily. Just because you self-publish your prized book on Amazon, don’t expect them to give your book the loving care it deserves.
You’ve poured your heart into it for however long, you need to provide it with even more attention now that it is published. Likewise, that blog post needs attention too.
Don’t just publish it, and hope everybody sees it! You’ll need to let everyone know where to find it, and you can’t be shy! Now go forth, write, edit, publish, and promote your little babies!
Pitching
One of the things we tend to ignore when we figure how much time we spend doing our jobs as writers are the query letters we send to magazines or bids we make on various content mills such as Upwork, Squidoo, Freelancer, Guru, Scripted, and many more.
If you’re not sending queries, you could be missing out on a bunch of money. I set aside two hours a day, no matter how busy I am, to send queries and bids. If I get too busy, I can always subcontract some of these out.
In fact, one of my most consistent jobs for over five years has been a subcontract. They keep renewing, and I keep writing. What I like about bidding when I’m busy is I can charge more than my traditional amount, sometimes I get it.
P. S.
Yesterday was my first anniversary on Medium. I got up to $87.26 in October last year before the switch.
It’s not really about the money because I do very well writing website content and ghost blogs for others. Plus, I do affiliate marketing, e-commerce, and I have a couple of other sources of income, but it seems as though we always measure the value of what we do against how much we get paid for doing it.
However, after writing ten or more regular blog posts for a waste management site (their main income comes from sucking septic tanks), a ticket lawyer, or a dental site, I really enjoy the freedom of writing about whatever subject I desire!
Good luck to all of you. I would add, don’t quit because the money isn’t there yet, you are theoretically working for a residual income. And, any of your blogs could go viral and make you a few thousand (if money is your motivation), so bear down and keep with it.
More on Writing
Stephen Dalton is a retired US Army First Sergeant with a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and a Certified US English Chicago Manual of Style Editor. Top Writer in Fiction, Short Story, VR, Design, & Creativity. Editor of Pop Off, Top Dalton’s Blog, 100WordStory, B.O.S.S., and SportsShorts100WordsOnly
You can see his portfolio here. Email [email protected]
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