The Renegade Writer

From PubMed to Published: How to Use PubMed to Generate Ideas, Find Sources & More

JimSchmidtStickFigure-doctorwriter

By Jim Schmidt

By day, I am a research scientist for a biotech company; but by night (and by lunch!), I’m a freelance writer. During the day, I often need to consult scientific and medical literature databases to support my research, but I also use them to support my writing — for idea generation, securing interviews, …… Click here to keep reading…

Continue reading...

May 21, 2013 Ideas, Sources

Why You Should Do a Kick-Ass Job — Even When You’re Being Paid a Penny a Word

photo

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of stuff like this:

“I accepted this assignment at a low rate thinking I could whip it out in an hour or so. Is it okay if I just quote from other articles instead of interviewing sources?”

No. No. No, no, no!

No matter how much you’re being paid, if you accept …… Click here to keep reading…

Continue reading...

May 13, 2013 Advice, Money, Motivation, Rants

Trouble Paying Your Bills? 4 Ways to Make Your Freelance Writing Career More Secure

Dawn Witzke-Cry

By Lisa Evans

Is freelancing more secure than traditional employment? That was the question asked by a 2012 survey from the MBO Partners State of Independence.

The result: 39% of respondents said independent work is more secure than traditional employment. This is up from 33% from 2011 and 15% before the recession.

The primary reason for …… Click here to keep reading…

Continue reading...

May 9, 2013 Advice, Money

How Mastering the Query Letter Will Change Your Life — and 6 Steps to Doing It

Dawn Witzke-checkmark

By Susan Finch

I’ve been writing query letters since I was 19, when I sent out pitches to the likes of Penguin Press, assuming they would immediately buy my novel and scribble out a check for an enormous advance. I’m sure you know how that turned out. A tiny rejection slip of paper appeared in my …… Click here to keep reading…

Continue reading...

May 6, 2013 Advice, Query letters

Why You Shouldn’t Create Your Own Writing Samples–And What You Can Do to Get REAL Clips Instead

copymachine-stick-Eric

By Carol Tice

It’s hard to get an assignment from a magazine when you have no previously published articles to show the editor.

And it’s hard to get any article clips if you can’t get an assignment.

Often, when I meet writers like this, they’ll tell me they’ve got an idea on how to break out of this …… Click here to keep reading…

Continue reading...

May 1, 2013 Advice, Marketing, Writing

RW Topics