Cultivating your freelance writing career can be fun as well as profitable. As your career as a freelance writer is developing you improve your skills, target new markets, make contacts, get clients and assignments also your confidence and income will grow as long as you meet your deadlines. Deadlines are a challenge for many writers. Meeting deadlines is a challenge that must be overcome in order to find success as a freelance writer.
Your customers or clients depend upon you. If you are a writer for blog or website your audience, readers and even advertisers may depend upon you and meeting your deadlines is crucial. Writers that meet and beat deadlines will continually get the clients, work and income. A writer that doesn’t -will not.
These are four ways to help you meet your writing deadlines;
1. Free writing-an exercise in free thought
Page fright can sometimes occur with a new client. Free writing should be used whenever you land a new client or project. Free write on the subject and you will conquer your page fright.
Free write should be simply writing in general on the subject without constraining yourself to the specific project at hand. Page fright or anxiety over a project leads to procrastination which is the biggest reason a lot of freelance writers will miss a deadline
2. Use maps or list at the beginning of every project
Maps or lists are a way to create a strategy for meeting a deadline. Map out how to accomplish the project and what steps should be taken to make the end project happen or take place.
3. Research is not writing-avoid surfing the web when researching
Research may be necessary for some projects. However, make certain you are researching and not surfing the web. Researching should be gathering facts and getting the information you need. Write down your references. Get into the habit of documenting your discoveries. Writers that keep track of their references as they research are getting into a good habit. Besides it’s a wonderful way to stay on task instead of getting distracted and surfing the web.
If you write for magazines, fact checkers will love you and any inquiries will have excellent ammunition
4. Revise instead of tinkering with words
Never be afraid to exceed a word count in a first draft. It’s better to be over than under on your word count and first draft are set for revision anyway. You can cut back better than bulk up.
When it comes to revision, revise. Review what you have written with fresh eyes. What fits and what needs to go. When you revise don’t play a lot with choices of words unless you have one word used too many times within the text or content.
Some writers will read their material out loud to get a new feel for the writing
Note-reading out loud will catch awkward phrases or sounding content you may not catch when silently reading.
These are four great ways to meet your deadlines as a freelance writer.
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