The 5 Most Common Problems Freelance Writers Face

June 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

So. This virtual Networking for Word Nerds thing is now a… thing. Third Tuesday of every month. You can make it a recurring event on your calendar and shit. Its existence makes me feel… productive. And happy. Because I get the chance to meet new, fabulous freelance writers every time I sign on.

Anyway.

Every month, I’ll be writing a post over at Brazen Careerist in order to promote these events. Here’s my latest!

The life of a freelance writer is not an easy one. There’s the constant hustle. The pressure to come up with fresh ideas that are both newsy and original. The late paychecks from delinquent clients. The ways in which you open yourself up to public criticism from everyone, including anonymous commenters who seem hell bent on crushing your very soul.

I’ve experienced it all but, when I eventually launched my own business — coaching other word nerds — I was regularly surprised by the issues that were holding them back the most.

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Finding A Writing Partner Who Will Make Your Dreams Come True

May 23, 2011 by 4 Comments

This image is 100% about partners, and 0% about the huge crush I used to have on Burt Ward.

This is an excerpt from a post I wrote for Brazen Careerist. It was written both to promote my upcoming Networking for Word Nerds event (register here) and to sing the praises of having a good writing partner. (I love my writing partner to bits.)

Enjoy!

Several months ago, I wrote a blog post calling for a “writing partner who can kick my lazy, procrastinating writer’s ass.”

Now I have a writing partner I love, plus another partner I email my daily goals.

I’ve also left behind a low-paying permalance gig that had me feeling stuck. I’m well on my way to making more money this year than I’ve made previously, and I’m feeling more productive and successful than ever before.

Coincidence? I think not.

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Introducing A Monthly Word Nerd Networking Event

May 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Last month, I partnered up with Brazen Careerist to put together a virtual Word Nerd Networking event. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and some of you even asked to be alerted about future events.

Et voila!

I am now the official host of a monthly Networking for Word Nerds online event.

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Word Nerds: Join Me For Some (Virtual!) Speed Networking

April 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Writers. Bookworms. Editors. Publishing professionals. Word nerds all. We should totally hang out.

Back in November, I co-hosted a Word Nerd Networking event in NYC that attracted a whopping 75 people. It was pretty damn awesome, and I’d like to do more of those. It was great getting to meet so many of you IRL!

Alas, some of you missed out, because… well… not everyone lives in the Tri-state area.

Which is why I urge you to check out tonight’s event. It’s totally virtual.

Brazen Careerist approached me several weeks ago with the idea of hosting a virtual speed networking event on their site. As I’ve taken part in several of their Network Roulette events in the past, and thought they were pretty fantastic, I was excited at the prospect of putting together a similar event for word nerds.

Which brings us to tonight’s event: Networking for Word Nerds. Totally virtual, you could be wearing nothing but panties and striped knee highs and nobody would be the wiser. Meanwhile, you’ll get the chance to chat up peeps who have been published in numerous national publications, who have published books, who run online magazines, and who generally rock the word nerd house.

So yeah. Basically? You should register. It’s at 8 p.m. EST, and only one hour.

Related: How to Throw an Event That Rocks the House, How to Build Your Network Without Having a Panic Attack, Networking for People Who Hate Networking: Network Roulette

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Networking For People Who Hate Networking: Network Roulette

November 9, 2010 by 3 Comments

A few months ago, I read a piece over at Lemondrop on IRL Syndrome, and immediately diagnosed myself as a victim of the disability.

As I read through the piece, I nodded with dawning recognition at passages like these:

“When I email a gal, I’m imbued with all these crazy powers. Confidence! Wit! Charm! On my Powerbook or my iPhone, I’m George Clooney at a cocktail party. On a date, without my assorted Apple products, I become … the Mac guy.”

I knew of what he wrote. Because, you see, I’m better in writing, too.

It makes the prospect of building my professional network somewhat daunting. And while being an introvert doesn’t necessarily have to be a liability (as I’m coming to learn from reading books like Networking for People Who Hate Networking), social interactions don’t only drain me of energy. They also terrify me. Which means I have to ease myself in slowly.

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How To Avoid Social Media Fatigue in 5 Easy Steps

April 8, 2010 by 3 Comments

[Image via]

Oh my god, you guys. The other week, I asked for suggestions on what I should include in my Job Hopping for Word Nerds e-book. Heather of CraftLit provided me with a goldmine of great suggestions, some of which I deemed outside the scope of my book. Still, I thought they would make for some great blog post fodder. So today, I decided to address this one:

How can I use social media without being swallowed by it?

So I opened up my Freelancedom dashboard, typed in the title of this post, aaand… then proceeded to spend the next four hours on Twitter.

Oy.

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Link Love – December 18, 2009

December 18, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Hey there guys! Before I give you your link love for the week, I’d like to indulge in a little bit of self-promotion. I’m thrilled and honored to report that Brazen Careerist has named me as one of the nominees in their Top 50 Blog Posts of 2009/Blogger of the Year contest! There are a lot of great writers on the list, and it feels pretty darn good to be among them. If you find me worthy of top honors, however, I’d appreciate your vote! Instructions — and a link to the other nominees — are at the link above but, really, all you have to do is tweet the following:

I’m voting for @stephauteri’s post in the #Brazen Careerist #BestOf 2009 contest: http://bit.ly/UaRsw

Hashtags, URL, and all. (That link, by the way, leads to my winning blog post.) I’d appreciate any Twitter love you can give me! (Plus, your votes enter you for a chance to win a Starbucks gift card. Coffee = Major Win.)

And now that I’ve gotten that out of the way… [Read more…]

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Link Love: October 23

October 23, 2009 by 1 Comment

I broke my promise. One of my October goals was to post to Freelancedom at least three times a week. But this week turned out a little…crazy.

On the I’m-so-stressed end of things, I found blood in my cat’s urine, and had to take him on an emergency trip to the vet. Him: Not thrilled. Me: Freaking out. Vet: It’s no biggie. Whew! [Read more…]

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PSA: Bazen Careerist Kicks Ass in a Brand New Way

August 25, 2009 by 1 Comment

bclogo

Quite some time ago, I signed up for Brazen Careerist, a network for young professionals that allowed me to share my blog feed and connect with other awesome people like myself. (You may have noticed the little bookmarklet at the bottom righthand corner of my blog.)

Today, Brazen Careerist has launched itself in a whole new way.

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