I’ve had this thought about a thousand times already. I love freelancing for what it teaches me on the job. In a given week, I learn about at least 3 new topics. Not to mention the various skills I keep learning!

I’ve started listing the new topics I learn about on a piece of paper. This week alone, I’ve learned about dogs and their various accessories, cloud computing and mobile/facebook applications development.

Needless to say, the diversity of the topics I can learn on a given day is exhilirating!

What topics/subjects have you learned about this week?

Technorati Tags: Freelance work, Freelancing, Writing

As writers, we have a lifelong affair with books. We read more than we write and secretly think anyone who doesn’t read voraciously isn’t worth spending time with.

I’ve read countless books. And along the way, I’ve amassed quite a few ‘reader secrets’. I’ve decided to spill the beans on my mostly normal, idiotic and mildly embarassing reader secrets.

The birth of a reader

1. I wasn’t interested in reading as a child and didn’t start reading my first book till I was 12.

2. It took me 2 years to complete that first book.

Growing pains

3. By the time I’d turned 15, I’d gone from reading Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, assorted kiddie romantic stuff like Sweet Dreams and Love Stories to Barbara Cartland, Jeffery Archer and Sidney Sheldon. 

4. The number of classics I’ve read can be counted on the fingers of one hand. It’s something I’ve never been able to rectify.

5.  Shakespearean English drives me insane. I avoided it in school and picked up my younger sister’s “Shakespeare for kids” to read it in plain, everyday English  just so I knew every play’s story.

6. The only reason I love Pride & Prejudice so much is because I read my sister’s copy which she was using for her English Literature class. All the difficult words had meanings written above them by her. I didn’t have to pick up the dictionary once. 

The blessings of reading

7. I never had to learn vocabulary because of my addiction to Harlequin historicals and Judith McNaught’s novels. The vocabulary used in romance novels is at the SAT and GMAT level. Even if I didn’t know the exact meaning, I knew the context they were to be used it. Piece of cake in a multiple choice question exam.

8. Enid Blyton’s ’St. Claire’s’ and ‘Mallory Towers’ series was the reason I loved school. Moreover, it was the reason I loved my all girl school.

9. I never studied for any of my English Literature exams and always scored high. My secret? The characters in the novel were my best friends. 

The curse of a voracious reader

10. I’ve read pretty much everywhere. Bathrooms, planes, trains, cars, cafes, weddings (mobile books rock!), in class, seminars – you name it.

11. Two months after reading a book, I forget it. It’s a blessing. I can read my favourite books again and again.

12. When Lord of the Rings came out, I read the entire unabridged novel and loved it.  I haven’t been able to bring myself to read it again. 

13. I couldn’t stop reading even during exams. It was standard practice for me to have a fiction book hidden inside my larger course book to fool my mum into thinking I was studying. Mum was of course, rarely fooled. 

The oddities

14. I love Harry Potter and hate the Twilight series.

15. I read romance novels. Trashy romance novels. It’s my choice of bed time reading.

16. I will probably never read Stephen King’s fiction books again.

17. My favourite thing to do at the dentist is to sit beside someone who’s reading and read from their book/magazine. I’ve mastered the art of reading off of other people’s books discretely while listening to music. 

Do you have any reader secrets? Care to share? Or am I the only freak in town?

Technorati Tags: Fiction, Reading, Writing

Seriously, are you? You know that you can make more money staff blogging than you will through adsense and ad blocks right? Unless of course you’re one of those unbelievably successful bloggers who do make money through adsense, ad blocks and what-not’s. In that case, please go away and give me back my soapbox – unless you’re going to be sharing some of your traffic with lesser known blogs.

No I haven’t lost my marbles. I’ve bought Ali Hale’s Staff Blogging Course. 

What is staff blogging?

Staff blogging is when you write for another blog and get paid for it. Either per month or per post. There’s no limit to the number of blogs you can be a staff blogger for nor is there a limitation to the number of posts you can do. It pays well and offers the opportunity to blog about a diverse range of topics.

It wasn’t until I read Ali’s interview on DailyBlogTips about her new Staff Blogging Course that I realized there was a specific term for blogging/writing for other blogs – and that I was already doing it! 

Now I have a word for something I’ve been thinking of as ‘freelance blogging’. Staff blogging. Has a pretty cool ring to it doesn’t it? Pays better too! You should totally try it if you haven’t already. 

So back to Ali’s interview. I was excited about her staff blogging course. A step by step of something that I stumbled into accidentally. Her table of content on her Staff Blogging Course page has detailed information on what topics she covers in the course. What I like best about it though is that Ali has given links to specific articles that will explain her point even better. There are also examples. She hasn’t confused the reader with extensive links. Just a select few that are packed with all you need to know about writing for another blog.

That sounds awesome but how much will it cost?

The Staff Blogging Course is priced at $19. That’s a great price for the information Ali has packed into her course. She’s even listed job boards where you can find staff blogging jobs and has included work sheets to get you started on the path of staff blogging. If you’re a DailyBlogTips reader, you can use the discount code that Ali’s been kind enough to offer its readers. That’s a $5 discount on a $19 product. That’s real value! 

Grab your copy of Staff Blogging Course today and reap the benefits of Ali’s experience and hard work. She offers a 90 day money back guarantee if you don’t find it helpful.

Ever been paid to blog? If you’d like to get started and earn decent pay blogging, don’t forget to purchase the Staff Blogging Course. 

Disclosure: The Staff Blogging Course links are affiliate links. If you’re going to buy the course, buy them through these links and help me make some money

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Freelancing, Staff Blogging, Writing

Omg! I'm an uplifting blogger!

…B J Keltz for giving me with the “Uplifting Blogger” award. I’d also like to thank -

*takes out a long list*

The bloggers who’ve inspired me ( I can’t think of any names at the moment ), the ones who’ve ignored the ghastly header and still come to read my post every time I publish something, I’d particularly like to thank my handful RSS subscribers for their loyalty and my parents. Mom, Dad – I love you!

Wait, my list isn’t done. I prepared for this moment you know!

*Takes a deep breath*… Gotcha!

Goofiness aside, I am truly flattered by the kind words BJ described me and my blogging with.

Samar is so kind and helpful.  Her post about her Zen seat just cracked me up.  She educates, enlightens, and encourages.

I couldn’t have asked for a better compliment than that. 

There are so many people I’d like to forward this to, but hardly anyone is the meme kinda person. So let me just list them and I’ll leave the decision to pass it on, to them.

Sal (Everyday Thoughts From Life) for always being there and helping me out. You got me my first regular gig and gave me my first guest post. Thank You.

Tony (Life With Tony) for being one of my first readers and letting me know that I wasn’t blogging in vain.

BJ (Enriched By Words) for the wonderful posts on writing and saturday morning posts – that have turned into a weekend post. And of course, for this award

Writer Dad - for his truly inspirational Mother’s Day Poem. I got my mum to read it and according to my sister she cooked some of my favourite foods that day. It’s what she does when she’s missing me. Now if only I could’ve been there to eat them.

James (MenwithPens) for being a sport about my ribbing and for having the most engaging blog posts I’ve come across in a long time.

Melinda (WAHMBizBuilder) for revealing the BS Funnel to me and making me realize how much time I spend in it.

All right, I’ll stop now or I’ll be spending the night awarding people (not that you don’t deserve it!)

Technorati Tags: Blogging

Admit it. Freelancing hasn’t done any favors to your health.

You’re working more hours than you were working in your 9-5 job. Worse, sometimes you don’t even realize that the weekend is here. There is no ‘off’ mode for you anymore and it’s all just a blur of assignments, pitches, and deadlines. 

Say what? It’s not all that bad? Dude, you’ve so got to read on!

Drinking countless cups of coffee

Let’s see if this sounds like you. The first thing you do is brew coffee and take a sip of it as you sit down to start work. You don’t wake up till your second cup of coffee kicks in, it doesn’t register how many cups you’ve drunk throughout the day and all you know is that lack of coffee makes you cranky. Does that sound like anyone you know? Yourself maybe? Wait, is that @menwithpens I see hiding in the back? 

Sleeping late

Ah, yes. The bane of most freelancers. It certainly is mine! Sleeping late means waking up late. No matter how much you deny it, your body needs certain hours of night time sleep to function properly. Sleeping during the day is just not as effective.

I’m a night owl – always have been. Apart from my bathroom brainstorming trips, I tend to focus best at night. The problem is that I’m also a morning person. I love sunrises- so much so that I sometimes go to bed after it

Eating meals while working

Pick up your keyboard and turn it upside down on a clean surface. Be prepared for an avalanche! All right, so I’m being a drama queen, but you can’t deny the fact that your keyboard is probably dirtier than your kitchen sink.

It’s just so easy to get into the habit of eating at your desk. Munching on your sandwich while you work, check email, tweet or browse. Break the habit and take a break for your meal. Relax and enjoy your food.

While we’re on the topic of meals, another bad habit that’s super easy to pick is of continuous snacking. Ditch the snacking habit and save yourself a few pounds worth of weight gain.

Excessive smoking

Granted, not all of us are smokers. Those who are find themselves smoking more and more while working. The closer their deadline comes, the more they puff. I’m not going to go into the health hazards of smoking because we all know them. The smokers among us also ignore them.

However, I will suggest different ways to not smoke so much while working. 

• Get rid of your ash tray. 
• Every time you feel like smoking, step out.
• Make sure your stash isn’t within your arm’s reach.

If you’re going to have to make an effort to light a smoke, or step out to do it, you might want to wait till you’re done with what you’re working on.

P.S: Just so we’re on the same page, I’m talking about smoking tobacco – not *insert substance of your choice here*.

ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder

Yes, it’s a disorder we can acquire. Constant browsing, emailing, and twittering leaves us with short attention spans. So even if we didn’t have clinically diagnosed attention problems before, we tend to get them after we start freelancing and spend most of our time online.

We need a response to everything. If I don’t get a reply to an email in a couple of hours I start fretting. God forbid if an entire 24 hours pass without a response, I’d worry if the other person was even alive!

Performing under pressure

Freelancing turns us into pressure junkies. It’s a deadly habit if you let it become so. We thrive best under the pressure of an approaching deadline and secretly love how creative we can be when we’re scrambling to meet a deadline. 

I’ve found two ways to deal with my pressure junkie ways.

First, the minute I get a project, I get done with all the research. Then I let it cook in my head for a while before getting started on it. I find writing much easier this way. 

Second, I’ve trained myself to set my personal deadline as 2 days before the actual one. I’m weird that way. My first thought on a deadline is the one I adhere to, no matter how much I try to work with another one.

So let’s have it. Do you agree? Disagree? Or got any more bad habits to confess to?

Technorati Tags: Clients, freelance business, Freelancing, Writing