Last week I received an email from Neil Asher in which he included a link to a free Elance E-book. This free e-book has been written for people who want to outsource but it is also a good read for freelance writers who use Elance as a means of getting freelance writing jobs.  This e-book explains how buyers can use Elance which you probably won’t find interesting but it also goes on to explain how buyers should screen freelancers, what they should look for and how they should evaluate bids.  This is great for freelance writers as it will give you an insight into the mind of the buyer and what they are really looking for.

As you probably know I am a big advocate of Elance and I have been using this website to obtain freelance writing jobs since 2004.  I still use Elance and probably complete at least one writing assignment per month.  This free Elance e-book is great for all new freelance writers who are confused about finding jobs on Elance and it will explain what you need to include in both your portfolio and your bids.

This book is free so if you are in anyway curious be sure to download it and see what information you can take from it.

Until next time,

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A number of months ago I took part in an interview for the Write Out Loud website that was being carried out by Ami Spencer. I am delighted to announce that this interview is now live and if you would like to read it you can do do by visiting the Write Out Loud Website:

I always love taking part in interviews and being able to give any advice and help that I can.

Hope you enjoy the interview.

Until next time,

Keep writing

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I was sick the entire weekend which is what has sparked this post.  I have vertigo which meant that I spend my entire weekend lying on the couch.  This of course had an impact on my freelance writing work because I wasn’t able to do anything.  It was hard enough to keep my eyes focused let alone look at the laptop.  I have a client that I work with an my job involves posting on three different blogs on a daily basis.  One of these blogs has two posts per day so even at the weekend I have some work to do.  I had no choice this weekend but to inform my client that I was ill and lucky for me she said that I could post all the blogs when I was feeling up to it and just back date them.

Today as you can imagine was quite a hectic day for me because instead of four blog posts to complete I had twelve.  It got me thinking though….what do freelance writers do when they are ill?

When I worked in a 9 – 5 job it didn’t matter if I was ill because someone else would cover my job and complete my work for the days I was absent.  Not with freelancing though.  Do you have an illness plan?  What do you do when you are sick?

With a lot of freelance writing work there is a timeline so if you are ill for one or two days you can normally make the work back up.  What if you fall ill when you deadline is approaching though?

Being ill really did get me thinking and I have made a plan.  Now each week I write a detailed account in my work journal of the work I have for the coming week.  I put the clients name and email details along with the scope of their project.  Each day I update the journal entry and detail what I have completed, what is left and anything I have forwarded to this client.  This way if I do happen to become ill again I can get my husband to look in the journal and email the client if needs be.  I have also explained the work folder on my laptop to him so that if he needs to locate anything he will know where to find it.  This should hopefully work well for me.

I guess we never know when illness will strike.  If it was a case where you had to be hospitalised for a number of days would you be able to cope?  Do you have a backup plan?

I would love to know what everyone else does when they are ill so please share your tips and advice so we can all create the perfect illness plan.

Until next time,

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I like to keep up to date with what is happening online and yesterday the main story that caught my eye was the one where the FTC have updated their regulations. These new rules will come into effect on the 1st of December.

If you promote products on your blog or you write paid reviews you now have to disclose them. I’m not sure how this will effect everyone and I’m sure you will all have your views on this too. A Google search for blogger must disclose endorsement will bring up over 60,000 results so this is obviously causing quite a stir. Below is a list of some of the articles for those interested in reading more.

Cnet News
Lockergnome
Bizjournals
Fiercecio
NPR
Dmwmedia
PC World
MSNBC

How will these new regulations affect you and your blogging?

Unti next time,

Keep Writing

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Commas are the one thing that always confuses me.  Knowing exactly where to put them and where not to put them can be a little tricky.  Most comma situations are easy to use.  These include commas in numbers, after dates, and after geographical locations.  The tricky situations and errors arise out of the two main ways in which we use commas.  Today’s article will focus on these.

Commas Separate List Items

Commas are always used to separate items in a list.  These items can be real things, or places you go.  Below are some examples:

• I need some bread, sugar, milk, and eggs from the shop today.

• I have lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, and eye shadow in my handbag.

• Yesterday I went to school, played soccer, went to the park, and then went home for my dinner.

• I am going to spend my holiday relaxing at the pool, walking along the beach, and shopping.

When using commas in a list situation you need to make sure that you put and between the last two items.

Don’t use commas where a full stop could be used.  If the words can stand alone as a sentence then use a full stop or a joining word (and, but etc.).  An example of this would be:

• Yesterday I went to school, I played soccer, I went to the pool and I went to the park.

This is incorrect comma usage as they could all stand alone as proper sentences.  If you wanted to use commas you need to take the “I” out of these sentences.

Commas To Add More Information To A Sentence

If you are looking to add more information to a sentence you can use commas.  An example of this could be something like:

• The book, which was very old, was an excellent read.

There is a way that you can check if your commas are right.  You just check if the sentence makes sense without the words between the commas.

The book, which was very old, was an excellent read.  This sentence would still make sense if it was; the book was an excellent read.

There is a great quiz that I found when researching this post.  There are three levels to this quiz too.  If you would like to see how much you know about commas and test your skills, click on the link below.

Comma Quiz

Until next time,

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European Freelance Writing Jobs

September is almost at an end. I still can’t believe that my children have been back at school for a month now and my leisure Summer days seem so far away now. As you may recall I took most of the Summer off so that I could spend the time with my children so September for me has been my first real month back writing for a living and it has been a busy one too. I am averaging around 2 full hours of writing work each day and then another hour each evening catching up on reading and of course researching for this blog. The European Freelance Writing Jobs are going really well but if you would like to see anything more please don’t hesitate to let me know by adding it to the comments section.

Here are today’s jobs:

writer editor

WANTED A FREELANCE EDITOR FOR LITERARY FICTION (Homebased)

Information Researcher (part time) (London et al)

Writer/Photographer (SW London)

Writers needed! (Madrid)

Good luck to everyone today.

Until next time,

Keep writing

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European Freelance Writing Jobs

It’s Monday again and that means another week of great European freelance writing jobs.  There are a number of jobs for today and hopefully this will continue all week.  When it comes to European Freelance Writing jobs the list is not huge and most mornings when I check certain websites there is nothing listed.  I have discovered that if I leave it till later in the afternoon though the jobs seem to arrive.  This is the reason why these jobs posts are so late in the evening.

Here are today’s jobs:

Reviewers, bloggers and editors

Freelance Market Report Writers, Healthcare Publishing, Home Based, attractive rates

Need freelancer to start ASAP

Looking for several Article Writers

Editor of Russian pro-democracy website (Home)

Good luck to everyone who applies for these jobs.

Until next time

Keep writing

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European Freelance Writing Jobs

I still can’t believe that it’s Friday already. This week seems to have gone by so quickly. I have been really busy this week which is a good thing but I am looking forward to relaxing over the weekend and taking some time out. There were no freelance jobs to list yesterday but I do have a few to list today.

Here’s today’s European freelance writing jobs

Writers/Reviewers (London)

Intern Writers (London)

Intern Research Analysts (London)

Re-write and/or Translate

Good luck to everyone and enjoy your weekend.

Until next time,

Keep Writing

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European Freelance Writing Jobs

It’s Wednesday and you will be glad to hear that all the jobs listed today are from Europe.  That is that they were posted in different European countries on the Craigslist Website.  There are only four jobs listed today but they are quite good.  As always remember when you are replying to any of these jobs make sure that you are professional.  Don’t just send off a simple email, send a query letter in the body of an email.

Here’s today’s jobs:
Freelance Writer (Copenhagen)

Childrens Science Newsletter Writer (Web)

eHow.co.uk Editor (London)

Writer / Interviewer needed in London

Good luck everyone.

Until next time,

Keep writing

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For this week’s grammar tips I want to share with you 10 of the best English Grammar websites out there.  These websites all refer to UK English grammar so they might not be 100% correct for US readers.  Grammar is such a has such a broad spectrum of lessons that you can learn and these ten different websites are sure to have everything you could possible need.  There are even some really great grammar quizes that you can take.  Grammar quizes are a great way of assessing where you need to brush up your skills.  I hope you find these 10 websites as useful as I have.

Grammar Quiz – This website is packed full of great grammar stuff and once you have finished reading everything you can test your skills with their huge selection of grammar quizes.

Grammar Book - Great post about commonly misused and confused english words.

Speak Speak - Another excellent website with a full overview of every aspect of grammar.

Grammar Rules – What can I say, it’s another full grammar rules website.

Chomp Chomp – More grammar.

Creative Teaching Site – Humourous Grammar Tips

Junk Studies – 11 Rules of writing

The Owl At Purdue – Online grammar courses

Proofread Now – Proofread now Grammar Tip Archive

White Smoke – English lessons portal

There is hours of reading in these websites so the best advice that I can offer you is to go to the first website and take a look at the grammar quizes.  There are different quizes for every aspect of grammar so just choose a category and take a look at the questions.  If you can’t answer the questions or you are unsure of the answer then you will know exaclty what aspect of grammar you need to brush up on.

Until next time,

Keep Writing

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