What is Your Theme Word? Mine is Prepare.

Freelancer Office – Panoramic (Photo credit: lastonein)

Recently, I was reading a post from Christine Gallagher over on she’sgotclients! The post, Refine: My Theme Word for 2013, got me thinking about what my own theme word should be.

I have decided that my theme word will be Prepare.

Why Prepare?

2012 was a difficult year for me:

1. I was still getting used to working at the inn while trying to build my freelance business, and I did not have internet access at home.
2. Also, winter starts out slow at the inn, and I was not ready for the busy season there as far as the writing business went. I accomplished almost nothing for my business during this period.
3. For 2012, I earned significantly less than what I was used to earning with the freelance work.

Very disappointing, indeed.

My 2013 theme word is Prepare because:

1. I need to be prepared for the busy season at the inn.
2. I need to begin preparing by making my freelancing plans for 2013 now.
3. I need to continue preparing by writing blog posts ahead of time (during the slow season at the inn) and scheduling them to post later (during the busy season).
4. I will also write articles ahead of time for my channels (Bangor Easy Meals, Bangor Single Moms and Bangor Frugal Living) and schedule them to post later.
5. I will even continue to learn more about marketing, and to put many of the new marketing tips that I  learned in 2012 into practice during 2013.
6. This blog, as my freelance base, will also be updated.

There are other things I can do to help me to Prepare as well, I am sure, and I will be writing about all of this here on my blog, as well as continuing to offer my  regular posts.

What is your 2013 theme word? Think about it. Act on it.

Shannon L. Buck

Schedule Time for Marketing and Promotion

Marketing communications planning framework (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of my goals for Year 4 is to learn more about marketing and promotion. As a writer, I prefer the act of writing. I do not generally even like to think about M or P. Seriously. The whole thing seems too much like work to me

At any rate, I am learning. I am making the time to learn what I can about marketing and promoting, and I am trying to figure out how much time I will spend on these tasks. One the one hand, I do not want to take away too much time from the actual writing. On the other, I want to make sure my work gets recognized.

So, how am I going about this? I am scheduling time at least twice a month (at this point) for M and P. It has to be done if I expect to be successful. As I learn more about these tasks, I will likely increase these tasks.

Expect to see at least a few blog posts this year about how to market and promote your work and yourself.

Shannon L. Buck

Related articles

• Welcome to Year 4! (howtolivethefreelancelife.wordpress.com)

Welcome to Year 4!

Last year was a big year for me, in many ways. I am very pleased with my accomplishments, that have set me up for a great Year 4

This year I start off being used to working with the two factors listed in the Year 3 Wrap Up

“Writing”, 22 November 2008 (Photo credit: dr_ed_needs_a_bicycle)

post, so I have a (somewhat) schedule and will be able to schedule more time for the writing of articles. Most of these will be written ahead of time, so they are ready when the time comes to publish them. For example, Halloween articles will be written in September and Thanksgiving ones in October. This puts me a little ahead of the game.

Most of my freelance income will likely come from revenue share opportunities around the web, starting with the many, many articles that have already been published. I will also add to the growing number of these articles each month.

I am looking to expand my opportunities for writing articles, and possibly eBooks, for others.

I want to concentrate on getting that first book of short stories published, as well as resume work on the next two books, and to look into what it takes to sell photographs online. I have much to do for both ventures, and am very excited.

A marketing/promotional plan for the first book of short stories (finished last year) will also be necessary, so I will be doing more research in how to go about those tasks. I am getting more and more excited for this, the more I learn.

This blog is another aspect of my freelance career that I will be working on. I am planning more eBooks, etc., as well as posts and challenges. I hope you will all enjoy what I put into it.

Have a great freelance year, no matter what it is that you do! I know I will

Shannon L. Buck

Related articles

• eBook: Greening Your Freelance Business (howtolivethefreelancelife.wordpress.com)
• May Starts Year 4 (howtolivethefreelancelife.wordpress.com)

Year 3 Wrap Up

Writing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wow. This past year brought many accomplishments. I am pretty pleased by this. I worked hard, even though I have had to work around not having home internet, and around working a ‘day job’. The list is a good one

• I created new blogs.

• I expanded on and updated existing blogs.

• I finished my first book of short stories.

• I published quite a few short stories online.

• I started my second and third books of short stories, as well as a few nonfiction ones.

• I have come up with a list, and descriptions, for quite a few new short stories.

• I have come up with a few story lines for novels, and am getting the outlines done.

• I have learned new marketing and promotion skills, though I still have a long way to go with this.

• I have researched traditional/online book publishing.

• I am still writing blog posts for Frugal Recipes: Spending Less to Eat Healthy and Living the Low-Income Life, Keeping in contact with fans, and trying to help as many people as I can both on the blogs and through email.

• I have fans

• I acquired a couple more channels to write for on Examiner.com, bringing me to three: Bangor Single Mom, Bangor Easy Cooking and Bangor Frugal Living. All of which are useful to those outside the Bangor area, as well as within.

• Etc., Etc.

My income from writing has gone down some due to two factors:

1. Having the day job. During mid spring to the beginning of winter, this job takes up a whole lot of time. However, winter and early spring brings me a little extra time off.

2. No at-home access to the internet. I have to work around the hours of two different libraries.

As for freelance writing… I am keeping up with this, but I also want to concentrate on fiction writing. I love writing stories.

And photography… still taking photos and planning to share some of them with you all this year.

All-in-all, I am pleased with my progress over the past year. Are you pleased with yours?

Shannon L. Buck