The Renegade Writer Blog

My new office doesn’t have phone service (because I’m too cheap to buy it), so I’ve been looking for ways to record interviews with my iPhone. The solutions I’ve read about sound not-quite-reliable to me — also, I have the cheapest iPhone plan, meaning I don’t have many minutes.
My writing buddy and fellow FLXer Elaine [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

A lot of new writers ask me what supplies and equipment you need to get started as a freelance writer. Here’s my list for the first-timer:
A laptop. You want to live the freelancing lifestyle, working wherever you happen to be? You’ll need a laptop, preferably with wireless Internet access. I have a MacBook, which I [...]

(Back in 2006, Linda wrote a post about health and the freelancer. These odds & ends are a continuation.)
Watch your butt
This is an indelicate subject, but I’m an indelicate person, so here goes.
The more successful you are as a freelancer, the more you sit on your ass. Sitting for hours a day at a keyboard [...]

The second edition of Kelly James-Enger’s fabulous book Ready, Aim, Specialize was just released by Marion Street press, publisher of The Renegade Writer and other writing books. Here’s the scoop:
When you develop a writing specialty, you set yourself apart from other freelancers, save time researching and writing articles and command higher fees for your work.
Contrary [...]

We just wanted to remind everyone about our new Renegade Writer e-Books store, where we offer e-books about freelancing. The books available there so far are:
Editors Unleashed: Magazine editors growl about their writer peeves: For this e-book, Linda interviewed ten (anonymous) editors of national and trade magazines about what writers do that ticks them off. [...]

Check it out! We just opened our Renegade Writer e-Books store, where we share important career information in e-book format. We did all the work—all you have to do is break out the PayPal! The books available there so far are:
Editors Unleashed: Magazine editors growl about their writer peeves: For this e-book, Linda interviewed ten [...]

I wrote this article a few years ago as part of a book proposal that never flew; I hated to see it sitting on my hard drive unused and unloved, so I breathed new life into an old article by updating it for 2007. [lf]
A potential client asks for your card. What do you do?
A. [...]