Should You Work For Free?…

 

Click the Picture

Get paid to write? Yes, please!

In a perfect world everyone would be paid for the work they did. Unfortunately however in many cases (mine being journalism for example) there are many arguments for working for free. There are also some stupid reasons, and the chart above might just help you filter out a few of them.

Jessica Hische has created a flow chart which might just guide you through the decision of whether you should accept the free work or expect payment for it. The chart seems to assume you are somewhat established so for all budding writers, you might find that it does not apply, but you can still use it as a simple guide or future advice.

If you’re already established and have jobs coming in from all directions, this chart is bound to help you in one way or another.

Saying no to people, particularly those in need and trying to hold promises that you just don’t have time for can be one of those bad habits that anyone can pick up, particularly when you’re used to saying yes to every job being offered,

This pretty flow chart will hopefully help those in need and for those that don’t find their solution in it, three questions you should ask yourself when asked to work for free.

1) Do you have the time?

2) Is it something you’re passionate about? e.g a band? a charity?

3) does it have the potential to help you get paid in the future?

You can see the flowchart in its entirety here

Home Made Christmas Gifts…

You Can’t Buy Happiness, Luckily You Can Make It.

Christmas is getting pretty close, even if it doesn’t feel like it, I’ve still yet to see the Coca Cola Christmas ad on TV. Who knew advertising was when so many would consider themselves in the season.

With what many would consider the most expensive time of year looming its pricey head again, and many of us running around with empty pockets for one reason or another, mine being I’m the broke out of work student with no paid writing work currently coming in, there is no better time of year to start learning the art of home made presents. And Luckily for many of us with no creative talent, there’s the internet, a wondrous host to all sorts of lovely personalised easy to make presents that show that extra special person you put thought into this “unique” gift.

One of the best if not the greatest websites online for how to guides on making anything is Instructables particularly when it comes to gift making, having a specially designated area for suggested Christmas gifts from the simplest of Book Bookshelves to the more elaborate home made clothes, regardless of experience this site had ideas for everyone from the clumsiest of handymen to home made aficionado.

Check out Instructables by clicking here, and in the coming days I'll gather some of the better and easier gift ideas and put them up. I’d personally love the speakers shown above.

“If it Won’t Fit on a Post-It, it Won’t Fit in Your day.”

 

“Because my day is a limited size, I figure it makes sense to limit the size of my to-do list.”

Post-its can be used to do some pretty amazing things, like above but many of us forget the every day use of a post-it, a simple small way to help you simplify and prioritise what needs to be done.

Its a simple practice really, when you get up in the morning, take up a post it and work out what’s the most important thing you need to do that day. Yes we all have never ending lists, but prioritise and work it around your schedule if you can.

Separate the post into four squares leaving the top left for the “Big task” of the day and then use the other three for things you would like to accomplish, whether they be unimportant or of lesser priority.

But never, Never, add to the post it note, that is today’s list, if it isn’t urgent to add, just do it tomorrow. If for every task you complete you add two more you will be get nothing done and in every sense of the word be going backwards.

The idea is counterintuitive, you get more done by making your to-do list shorter.

This isn't necessarily a replacement for the endless to-do list many of us have, but it's the little sheet that helps us tackle the major stuff we have to get done day-to-day.

You might find this works for you, I’m going to see how successful it is for me, and if I fail I might just get creative like in the photo above.

This idea is brought to you by Mark Forster, For more information: Click Here

Write a Book in a Month – NaNoWriMo…

 

 

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month and it falls upon us this November, meaning this post is two days late but also an interesting test on anyone that thinks they can meet a deadline.

The Goal? Writing one 50,000 word novel from scratch in a months time. Possible? Well plenty of people have done it before.

It’s not about quality, it’s not about writing that publishable novel, it’s more about throwing everything out the window and focusing on a single output. Complete abandon.

Why do it? The reasons are endless! Its a chance to take part in something so uniquely crazy it almost seems impossible. If for nothing else, bragging right over that writer who took 10 years to produce a book, when you took 30 days.

How do you participate? Just sign up online, its that simple, but to be added to the official list of winners your minimum 50,00 word novel must be online by midnight November 30th.

“Why 50,000 words? And how do you define "novel"?

• Novel-Writing Guidelines

Our experiences over the past nine years show that 50,000 is a difficult but doable goal, even for people with full-time jobs and children. The length makes it a short novel. We don't use the word "novella" because it doesn't seem to impress people the way "novel" does.

We define a novel as "a lengthy work of fiction." Beyond that, we let you decide whether what you're writing falls under the heading of "novel." In short: If you believe you're writing a novel, we believe you're writing a novel too.”

For the entire list of rules, just head over to the NaNoWriMo Website and start writing, right now, who knows, your novel could be the next Lord of the Rings, or it could amount to nothing. Either way, you wrote a novel if you reach the end of it.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

This is your chance to get in on 30 days and nights of literary abandon!

Read Articles Based on the Time you have…

You have 15 minutes to wait for your train not 25, you have a half hour on that train not 35 minutes. But you want something to occupy your time, that you won’t be forced to put down without finishing?

Longreads, an aggregator of great long-form writing that offers keyword search and a time/word count filter for your time-pressed reading.

To set yourself up properly you’ll want to be following Longreads on Twitter or via their RSS feed (and ideally you’ll have something Wi-fi or 3G access) you can find articles on anything in 15, 30, 45 or hour plus segments. Pulling from magazines, newspapers, longer blogs, and others web spaces, you can find fantastic links when you search.

Longreads is the perfect solution to short term reading but if you can find the time to get in the hour plus pieces, lucky for you.

Longreads