The Renegade Writer Blog

If you’re a productivity geek like me, you’ll love this article by Chris Hardwick on Wired.com. Hardwick test-drives three productivity books for two weeks each: Getting Things Done, Never Check E-mail in the Morning, and The 4-Hour Workweek. He concludes that The 4-Hour Workweek works best for freelancers. The article is interesting, useful — and [...]

Renegade Writer instructor Alison Stein Wellner and I have decided to out ourselves in 2009. No, not like that … like this:
We’re slobs! We decided that in 2009, we’re going to clean up our freelancing lives, and that starts with our offices. We’ll start by showing you photos of what we’re dealing with (believe us, [...]

Happy almost-New-Year!
Once the confetti is cleaned up and the hangover is over, it’s time to start thinking of your 2009 plans for freelance writing. The new year is a great time to clear space in your business life and get set for the next year. Here are some suggestions:
1. Buy holiday cards for Christmas 2009. [...]

If you sign up for Monica Bhide’s Introduction to Food Writing course by January 10, 2009, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a free half-hour phone mentoring session with Monica.
Here’s what one student has to say about Monica’s course:
“Monica Bhide’s foodwriting course is pure joy. Her love for the subject and enthusiasm comes [...]

On her WordCount blog, Michelle Rafter writes about the Top 10 Digital Media Trends of 2008, from the recession to Twitter. Each of Rafter’s trends comes with a helpful takeaway for writers. [lf]

If you liked the Morbid Major Magazine Song by Bill Dyszel, you’ll enjoy his Freelance National Anthem.

You can’t get your query out the door until it’s perfect — but it’s never perfect, so it sits in a drawer where it does no good at all. Or you try again and again to create just the right first line for your novel, and eventually give up in frustration. “Perfectionism keeps us from [...]

The Morbid Major Magazine Song: scary but funny!
[lf]

Monica Bhide is teaching our Food Writing course in January. Monica is a cookbook author, and her food writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Bon Appetit, Town and Country Travel, Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Coastal Living, Health, and Better Nutrition.
Monica wanted to post this [...]

Allyson Lewis is a motivational speaker, a business coach, and the author of The Seven Minute Difference: Small Steps to Big Changes, which tells readers how to change their lives using micro-actions.
The Renegade Writer: Since we’re all freelance writers, I think a lot of us are going to be interested in how you came up [...]