If you thought working from home was easy money – obviously, you thought wrong. Often, there are more working hours involved than there would have been while working in an office. And initially, the pay isn’t all that great either. It may take years to succeed as a freelance writer and even then, the sources of income through writing are not secure.

Remember: A regular client is not a permanent client.

2008 has been a nightmare for newspapers, magazines and other publications. The competition for online jobs is becoming fierce and there’s no guarantee that your primary clients won’t be affected by the recession. You may have a large client base and won’t be affected much if a couple of your clients stopped sending work your way. But what if that happened with most of them? Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’re safe just because you’re working with big names.

1. Diversify

To avoid feeling the pinch when or if your client base takes a hit, it is important to diversify your income stream. Know, that while you may be swamped with work at the moment it might not hold true in the future. Start getting prepared for it by looking into alternative sources. If you write primarily for newspapers or magazines (kudos to you if you’re still getting most of your work from them) then think about online publication. Keep an eye on the Mediabistro newsletter for publications that may be shutting down, going online completely or even doing well. Don’t let it depress you though.

2. Don’t look down on low paying jobs

This does not mean that you work for pennies. It simply means that you should think about setting aside 30 minutes to do something you wouldn’t normally think of taking up because the money doesn’t match what you’re making per hour or per project. If it doesn’t take much effort, consider taking the work and keep the money earned from it in an emergency or contingent fund.

3. Don’t let the word ‘recession’ bring you down

Recession is as much bad economy as it is a mind set. If you panic and start hyperventilating your freelancing business, you’re going to hit rocky ground. Keep your head cool, plan ahead of time and remember, there is always a way out of a bad situation. Oh, and be flexible!

How has the recession effected your freelance writing business?

Twitter is all the rage these days. Just like Facebook was before that, Myspace I believe still is. Or maybe I’ve just gotten the hang of it these past few days, but Twitter be cool – and I am addicted!

While its easier to figure out Facebook and Myspace; Twitter is a whole new concept. To put it simply, Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that asks “What are you doing?” and expects you to answer in 140 characters or less. Apart from that, Twitter is whatever you make it.

I found Twitteroid at Terry Whalin’s website. It doesn’t delve into the deeper uses of Twitter. It simply tells you how to set up your account and how to use it sensibly. It covers everything one will come across while using Twitter. Setting up an account, public timeline, twittering through instant messaging services and mobile phones, changing profile background image or colors etc are systematically explained.

Twitteroid is a good, practical read if you’re afraid of jumping into a new service that will take time away from your work. Of course if you’re Internet savvy, it’ll take you about 5 minutes to figure out twitter.

I use twitter in the most basic way. Simple updates with some links thrown in every now and then. I reply to other people’s tweets if I find I have some thing to add and DM (direct message) some times.

Beware: Twitter is highly addictive once you get the hang of it.

Do you Twitter? Follow me @samarowais. I’d love to hear from you! How fast did you catch the Twitter bug? Did you get addicted immediately or did it take you time?

It’s that time of the week again. I came across a few gems!

1. First up is Write to Done’s ‘10 Free Resources Every Writer Needs‘. While most of the resources don’t apply to me or interest me. This post made the top of the list because I found a link to a free copy of Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.
2. Freelance Switch listed ’9 Tips for Brand New Freelancers’. One, five and seven are areas I need to concentrate on.
3. Do you know how many Google Apps there are? Neither do I. But here are 50 Useful Google Apps for Writers. Some of these I know and use, others came as a surprise! I’m going to have fun trying them!
4. Robust Writing hands us a very effective ‘Key to Concise Writing‘.
5. Scribbizy had an excellent post on productivity. Since I have a real problem with focus these days, this post about ‘Ten Minute Online Productivity Strategies‘ is a god send. If you’re doubting the strategies – don’t. I successfully implemented them. My productivity in those 10 minutes was more than it would have been in 2 hours had I been left on my own.

There we have it. The five posts I found useful this week. I hope you do too. I’d love to hear about your favourite links of the week.

Till next week!

You know how the minute you tell a kid not to do something and they do it the minute you look the other way? I was never that kid. But apparently, I am that writer.

Every time I come across something about writing that I find I’m doing right and get smug about it – I end up making that very same mistake. My muse gets quite a kick out of it and doubles over laughing having the time of his life making an idiotic writer out of me.

If you’re the lucky ones and have no clue what I’m talking about then let me give you a few examples.

I was going through George Orwell’s ‘Politics and English Language’ and at the last page came across his five rules for better writing. The very first one states;

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

At this point I was thinking, “Hey avoiding metaphors is going to be a breeze! I only use them to add some flavour to my writing anyway. It’ll be fun to try and write with out them.” So what happens the next time I let my fingers loose on the keyboard? I come up with a paragraph that is so filled with metaphors, I can’t believe my eyes, brain or muse! Needless to say, the paragraph got deleted and since then I’ve been having trouble replacing metaphors.

Have you ever faced a problem with your writing? How did you get past it?

How cool is that?! All you have to do is subscribe to Yan Susanto’s Thou Shall Blog’s e-mail updates, blog about it and leave a comment letting them know you did. Of course the blog is worth subscribing to. I’ve been going through it for most of the afternoon and found quite a few gems. Love the lay out too by the way.

I have my eye on most of the stuff offered by the sponsors! Let’s see, there’s the Ipod Shuffle with free shipping anywhere in the world (yes, even to UAE!), Free domain and a 6 month free hosting (Me! Me! Meeeee!) a couple of WordPress themes, and a copy of Problogger book. Of course these are just the ones I liked. There are a few consultations up as well.

It was like I stumbled onto an early Christmas! All right, only if I win something but still! The idea is exciting! Still not convinced? Check out the top 10 reasons to subscribe to Thou Shall Blog.

Subscribe to Yan’s blog now and you might stand a chance to win some awesome Christmas goodies courtesy of Blog for Beginners, Become a Better Blogger, Blog Setup for Beginners, Blog Blazers, Internet Marketing with Joe, A Blogger Blog, Site Flip Remix, the Marketing Vision, How To Blog, Extreme Ezine and the Ultimate Blogging Theme.

Have you found other Christmas offers that made you rubs your hands in glee?