The Renegade Writer Blog

A couple of weeks ago, someone posted a comment on this blog saying that in dissing content mills like Associated Content we “just don’t get it,” and bragged that she earns $1,200 per month on her articles on Associated Content and similar sites. (When I checked, I saw that the writer had over 1,000 articles [...]

I’m loving offering these free teleclasses for writers! My first class, on querying with confidence, attracted over 80 writers and was such fun to do. The one I held last week, Breaking into Food Writing with Monica Bhide, was a huge success as well. So I’m excited to announce that I’ve already set up the [...]

My teleclass Break into Food Writing with Monica Bhide was a success! We had over 60 writers in attendance, and Monica gave some wonderful information on little-known food markets for writers (including how to create your own), the skills you need to break in, and how to use social media to boost your food writing [...]

Staying in touch works. Today, I followed up with an editor at a custom publishing company I write for (I’ve written for other editors there, not her). She quickly replied, “Thank you for e-mailing me now. What’s your schedule like for the next 10 days?” Ends up she had a big rush project in the [...]

Are you planning to attend the free teleclass Breaking into Food Writing with Monica Bhide on November 18 at 8:30 pm ET? If so, please download the handout from my Free Teleclasses for Writers page and be sure to read it through before the class.
If you’re interested in this teleclass and would like to [...]

In August, I vowed to never again take on an assignment that had red flags, such as low pay or an unreasonable deadline. I even promised to turn down assignments that simply gave me a bad feeling in my gut. I had had problems with accepting any old assignment that came my way, sometimes with [...]

In October 2008, I had the brilliant idea to market my writing services to universities because I had heard that education was one of the few industries that was not suffering in the down economy. I created a list of every university in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, and many of them in Massachusetts as [...]

My October teleclass on Querying with Confidence was a great success, and I’m excited to announce that this month we’ll have food writer extraordinaire Monica Bhide as a guest speaker on November 18. To get details and sign up, please visit my Free Teleclass Page. [lf]

This contest is being run by Amy Paturel, teacher of our class Essay Writing: How to Find the Story in You: And Sell It.
As some of you know, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I should probably write an essay about WHY turkey day makes me light up. But since I have enough on my [...]

Your key source is AWOL. Deadline day is tomorrow and you hate what you’ve written. You get a source on the line and he can’t answer any of your questions. The good news is that you can avoid freelance writing disasters like these. Here’s how.
The disaster: A key source blows off the interview.
How to head [...]