Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became a coach?

It was pretty natural for me to begin working with writers. When I got trained as a Life Coach I had the opportunity to think through the kinds of people and the kinds of challenges I wanted to work with. I’m trained as a writer; I have an MFA in creative writing with a specialty in poetry, and I’ve worked writing press releases, profiles, and grants for arts and nonprofit organizations.

I felt like writers are the people that I understood. I really know on a heart level what it’s like to struggle with productivity, life balance and entrepreneurial challenges too.

After graduate school, I worked for a while with at-risk youths. I loved the job and it was very meaningful to me, but I knew I needed to move on and I realized that the skill set I was using was coaching more than educating and teaching. So that’s what made me decide to be a Life Coach. When I got started I just put the word out to folks in freelance writing communities and things have been going great ever since. It feels good to be doing work I love.

What do you think is the biggest thing getting in the way of success for aspiring writers?

There are two mindset pieces that I think people overlook the importance of. One is making a very clear decision to be successful. I’m not trying to come off like a Tony Robbins, but we really do have to think about our mindset when we start a project.

And part of what gets in the way for aspiring writers is that we also have to believe in ourselves and give ourselves permission to envision ourselves as successful. So you need to be able to make a clear decision: “I am going for this. This is meaningful. It’s worth it to me. I will find the help I need to get there.” You need to believe that it’s possible and worthy and you need to give yourself permission to step into that bigger vision of yourself.

On top of that, it can be hard as a freelancer to find time to do the big picture business-building or portfolio-building activities because you are a professional responder to the market. You’re trying to figure out how you can fit into the needs of the marketplace, and to really be successful you also have to learn how to be self-directing.

How can writers change their mindset?

Many people thrive by working with a private coach. So I just plugged my business! It’s a great way to get custom tailored help. It’s like having a personalized self-help book or someone to really help see your particular challenges and help you rewrite your narrative in your mind.

Also, accountability can be really helpful. If you have a group of peers who are striving for the same thing, and you think they’re positive people who will support you and challenge you in a good way, that’s another way to support yourself. Also, journaling, self-reflection, and affirmations can be helpful. There’s a whole host of tools for changing your mindset.

Many newer writers are overwhelmed by all the possible niches, all the markets, and all the marketing activities that could be doing. How can they overcome that?

That gets back to this idea of clarity and strategy and decision-making. There are many types of writing and the people that I work with and talk to are multi-talented. They could easily write everything from profiles to in-depth reporting pieces. So I think that to make things simple, it’s important to set yourself short-term goals and to allow yourself to focus on just one type of writing. If you’re aware of other specialties or other genres that appeal to you, make note of that but give yourself a clear space — a month, three months — to do just one or two things.

It’s really important to keep things simple. It’s important to organize your time as well — to not just do the next thing that’s in front of you, but have your big picture career strategy in your mind. And to get that you have to know the importance of setting aside time to think about the big picture.

How important is your environment to reaching your writing goals?

Environment is super important. In my Two Days to Write intensive, I coach people to really take a look at their environment and make small tweaks in the course of a week to help them feel better about their space, whether it’s to get more organized or to make it more appealing to their senses. Your writing environment can also help you see yourself in a professional way, so posting magazine covers from markets you’re aspiring to write for can be helpful. Use your environment proactively so that it works for you.

Is support important for reaching your writing goals?

I think support is incredibly important, and there are lots of ways to get it — but as I mentioned earlier, one of the things that writers tend to overlook is being choosy about their support. You want to hang out with people who are really modelling what you’re going for. It’s very easy to find people to commiserate with or to feel stressed out with, but it’s much more helpful to find a coach, a mentor, or a group of colleagues who are actively pursuing their dreams and their goals.

And how do you find this support?

We have so many options now in the Internet age. Check out some of the freelance writing boards that are popular — Freelance Success comes to mind. I’m sure there are many other online communities. [Ed: Like the Freelance Writers Den!]

How can busy freelance writers find the time to market?

My recommendations to people depend on their goals. If you’re in a situation where you need assignments now, my suggestion to you is to do a marketing push. You really want to do everything you can to set aside dedicated time with a specific goal, like getting more queries or letters of introduction out there or prospecting for new copywriting clients.

If you’re someone who just wants to maintain your business or maybe catch a new market here and there, a great way to do that is through a sustainable writing routine — finding time in your week that is dedicated to big picture thinking, to brainstorming new markets, and to actually writing and sending out queries. If you really want to jump into making more time to write queries, the best way is to do the marketing push first, and then ride that momentum with a more sustainable practice that you can fit into your regular work life.

Can you tell us more about the marketing push?

Absolutely. The best way to do it is to set aside some time, and then the important thing — and this is something that most people overlook — is the pre-planning phase. It’s great to take some time to really set up your environment so that it supports you. It’s also incredibly important to clarify your goals for your time and set some benchmarks. Support is also very helpful, so see if you can line up another person to do it with or join a challenge.

Do you have an example of a writer who did a successful marketing push?

One woman I coached wanted to start over in a new niche. She was an established health writer and wanted to pursue something completely different. One of the ways she did that during her marketing push was to use her time to generate, generate, generate — new blog posts, new work. She cleared the space and gave herself permission to just spew out text, and also to shape it — and by the time she finished, just a day-and-a-quarter later, she had come out with three regular blog posts and two guest posts. So she used her time to build her visibility in the blogosphere.

Do you have any other tips for freelance writers?

November is the perfect time to make a clear decision to go for it. You still have time to take action and get some queries and letters of introduction out there, and do whatever you need to do to make connections with new markets or new clients. I’d suggest you set yourself a goal that by January 2012 you’ll have what you need in place so you can step into the new year with confidence.

Most freelance writers spend countless hours on Facebook and Twitter. But if you want to connect with decision-makers and build your professional network, then LinkedIn is where it’s at. With over 100 million users in over 200 countries, the networking site offers lots of useful features for freelances. Here are five that you may not know about.

1. Follow the News

With news aggregators, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and Google +, there are lots of ways to current on the topics you cover, but it’s tough to sift through it all and decide what’s important. LinkedIn Today does the work for you. You can choose which topics or news sources you’d like to follow, and it shows you what articles have been shared most often on LinkedIn. No time to skim the headlines on your computer or smartphone? Listen to headlines on the go with SpeechIn.

2. See Who’s Viewed You

Depending on your privacy settings and the settings of the person who’s viewed your profile, you can sometimes see who’s viewed your profile. I know writers who send InMail (using LinkedIn’s own messaging system) introducing themselves to people who’ve viewed their profile and might be in the market for a freelance writer. It’s so unexpected that it sometimes works! Basic accounts get a small number of InMails but if you send an InMail and the person doesn’t respond within seven days, you get an InMail credit so you can contact someone else.

3. Organize Your Connections

Profile Organizer is only available to LinkedIn Pro account-holders, but there are a few workarounds for organizing your contacts with a free account. LinkedIn’s Profile Organizer lets you set up folders for different types of contacts (ala Google +). For instance, you could create folders for current clients, editors you’d like to work with, or possible interview sources. If you don’t have a paid account, you could save people’s profiles using an external bookmarking tool like Google Bookmarks or diigo.

4. Follow Companies

Now that LinkedIn has a “follow companies” feature, you can follow companies in the industries you cover or that you’d like work with. For instance, if you cover ecommerce and notice that Amazon has just hired a slew of new developers, that could tip you off that they’re planning an expansion or new features that may not have been officially announced yet. Or if you follow companies you’re hoping to write for (say, a hospital or a university) and you notice they’ve hired a new director of communications, you could drop the new person a note congratulating them on their new job and introducing yourself in case they need a copywriter.

5. Show Off Your Work

If you write graphics-heavy pieces like infographics or online slide shows, Behance’s Creative Portfolio Display could help you display your work. It’s one of several applications to jazz up your profile. You can also share what books you’re reading on Amazon, post SlideShare presentations, or list upcoming events or conferences you’re planning to attend to see if anyone in your network wants to meet up.

These are just a few of the ways writers and other freelancers can boost their profile and build their network. Is there another feature or strategy you use? Leave a comment and let us know!

***

Susan Johnston has written for dozens of print and online publications including The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, Parade, Self, and US News & World Report. She’s the blogger behind The Urban Muse and author of LinkedIn and Lovin’ It (Rockable Press), a guide to LinkedIn for freelancers and other creative professionals.

I’ve had various mentoring clients tell me that they feel like they have ADD — or that they actually do. This makes it hard for them to focus on sustained business tasks like marketing or writing an article.

When I was around seven, I was diagnosed with “hyperactivity disorder,” which today would probably be called ADHD. The treatment at the time, if you didn’t want to put your kid on medication, was a no-sugar diet, including such tasty products as sugar-free peanut butter and sugar-free toothpaste (yes, toothpaste!). (Strangely, despite the hyperactivity I was gifted in school — I just got in trouble a lot!)

About a year ago, I was diagnosed (re-diagnosed?) with ADD. I have trouble concentrating on anything for more than a few minutes at a time. Writing a whole article is like torture, and I click away from the article after every paragraph or two to do something else.

Believe it or not, I consider my constantly distracted state one of my assets in this business. That’s because whenever I feel distracted, I don’t head for the TV or the fridge or the phone — I do some tiny task that will bring me closer to my business goals. I might search for a new trade magazine and send a letter of introduction. Or I’ll look through old Freelance Success newsletters to see if there are any magazines I’d be interested in writing for. Or, I might follow up on a query or send a query to a new market. Then I’ll get back to my article for a few minutes. I’ve gotten very good at this: I can write an article in an hour or two (depending on length), even with these disruptions.

Not sure what to do when you’re having one of those distracted moments? Check out Allyson Lewis’s 100 Micro-Actions for Work, which is 100 tasks you can do in less than seven minutes.

In addition, I’ve set up processes that help me organize and manage my time and materials. People with ADD are notoriously disorganized, so I think it helps to have systems in place. I use Getting Things Done to keep my “next actions” in order, and I keep alphabetical files in my filing cabinet to stash contracts and clips. Paper charts, e-mail folders, Excel files, and FileMaker Pro databases organize my finances, queries, and clients. Every morning, I write down the top four tasks I need to get done that day, which helps me bring my focus to important tasks instead of getting caught up in a cycle of check-email-surf-the-web all day. And once a week, I go through my physical in-box to take action on or toss the contracts, magazines, letters, and other to-dos that I’ve stacked there.

Finally, I find it helpful to stick to a loose schedule. I’ve been getting up at 7-8 am, doing some yoga, eating breakfast, going to the gym, and taking a shower — then getting to work on my top four tasks. This helps build momentum into my day and makes it easier to focus.

Distracted writers, what are your secrets to focusing and getting through the workday? Please post your experience and advice in the Comments below. [lf]

It may sound like a high-class problem to have, but if you haven’t experienced a crazy-busy time in your writing career yet, you probably will soon. Freelancing is a notoriously feast or famine business, meaning some months you’re looking at an empty bank account while others are so full of assignments that you don’t have time to think.

And because the checks from the feast times need to carry you through the famines, it can be hard to turn down work even when you’re already busy — so you take on every assignment that comes your way.

So what can you do to make it through a hectic period without losing your mind? Here are some tips:

Track Your Assignments

When I have a lot of assignments at different stages of completion, to put the kibosh on confusion, I like to create a single Word document that contains all the notes I need for each one: a brief description of the article, the word count and due date, a list of the sources and their contact info, and which sources I have heard back from and which ones I need to follow up with. I arrange the assignments in the order of their due dates, with the ones that are due sooner closer to the top. Then, every day I can scan the document to get an idea of what actions I should take next: “Hmm, the deadline for this WebMD article is approaching and I haven’t heard back from source X — I should follow up with her today. And I have only two sources lined up for that Writer’s Digest article — I better get on the ball and research a few more potential interviews.” And so on. You may find that another system is better for you, but that’s what works for me.

Hire Help

Transcribing your own interviews is a huge time suck. Even if you don’t normally use a transcriptionist, it may be a good idea to do so during your busy times. Say every interview took you an hour to transcribe and you conducted three per article. If you had five articles due in one week (it happened to me twice recently), that’s 15 hours of transcribing alone. Imagine what you could do with 15 hours! My interviews generally last 20 minutes to half an hour, and I pay about 90 cents per audio minute for transcription services. For one article I may pay around $75 in transcription fees, but I earn from $500 to $1,200 and up. $75 is a small price to pay to get that article off my plate much faster.

Cut Down on Surfing

Another time-suck: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, writer’s forums…you get the idea. When I’m really busy, I like to use Freedom, a “simple productivity application that locks you away from the internet on Mac or Windows computers for up to eight hours at a time,” according to their website. It costs $10 — a small price to pay — and you can also download a free trial. I like to set it for 30 minutes and race to see how much of an article I can get done in that time.

Log Your Zs

When it’s crunch time, you may be tempted to skimp on sleep to get your assignments done. Don’t do it! Our ability to juggle tasks, think strategically, and be creative is diminished when we’re tired, and stress ratchets up when we’re short on sleep. If you get your full 8 hours (or whatever you need to be your best), you’ll find that you can get your assignments done more quickly and with less angst than when you’re dog tired.

Get Organized

If you’re not organized, you can waste precious minutes compiling source lists, tracking interviews, searching for documents that are hidden on your hard drive, and trolling through the thousands of messages in your in-box for that one important communication from an editor. There are tons of organizational systems like Getting Things Done (here’s an interview I did with the author), but you need to find the one that works for you. For example, you may like to stick to a prepackaged organization system, or you may want to create a fusion of different techniques that you like (which is what I do). I share my own organizational tactics in the e-book Get Unstuck! For Freelancers: A 6-Week Course to Boost Your Motivation, Organization, and Productivity—So You Can Do More Work in Less Time, Make More Money, and Enjoy the Freelance Lifestyle.

Keep Marketing

One thing that can drive you nuts during a feast time is knowing that it will soon end, and you’ll be left staring at a completely empty schedule once again. That’s why you need to send out queries and letters of introduction, and follow up on communications with editors and clients, even when you’re super busy. (Hey, if you hire a transcriptionist, you’ll have much more time to do the marketing that will bring in more work.) It may help to set aside a certain amount of time every week just for marketing — and be sure to put it on your calendar.

If you’d like to buy a copy of this 64-page e-book, please order it from the e-book page. When I get your payment, I’ll send you the e-book via e-mail. I’m not using an automated shopping cart right now, as I want to make sure I’ll be selling enough copies to make it worth the expense! So please bear with my old-fashioned delivery system for now.

Working Your Work

When you’re working on several projects at once, as most of us writers do, the result can be a typhoon of information. On any given day, you may create interview sound files, receive contracts, gather research for your novel, receive rejections (or acceptances!) on queries you sent six months ago, follow up on queries and proposals, send e-mails to editors and agents…okay, I’ll stop there because I’m going a little crazy just thinking about it.

Luckily, if you have systems in place that work for you, you can streamline how you handle and store these bits of information. Let’s get started!

An Overview

Curious about how setting up systems can help a project flow from acceptance to payment? Let’s say I get a new article assignment. Here’s how I organize it. (And keep in mind that this is what works for me. You may find that software like Evernote or some other system works better for you.) I:

1. Enter the assignment due date into my iCal calendar and mark it blue (to separate it from interviews, which are red).

2. Enter the name of the assignment, the magazine name, the amount due, and the due date for payment into my Excel income spreadsheet. This spreadsheet tells me how much I have coming in, how much I’ve already been paid, and what’s overdue.

3. Create a folder on my hard drive called NameofMagazine-NameofArticle, and move it to my “Articles in Progress” folder.

4. Create a Word file called NameofMagazine-NameOfArticle-NOTES and store it in the project folder I just created on my hard drive. This is where I’ll put the assignment specs (word count, instructions from the editor), enter in contact info of potential sources, and dump any bits of research I come across online.

5. Create a Label with the name of the magazine an article in Gmail so I have a place to store e-mails related to the article.

6. Start finding sources and trying to set interviews right away. This is the one part of the process you can’t control, so it pays to start early in case you have trouble nailing people down for interviews. Whenever I call or e-mail a potential source, I enter the information into the NOTES file I created. I go over the file every day so I know who I need to follow up with.

7. Enter interviews into my iCal calendar. I include the name of the interviewee, the name of the magazine, and the source’s phone number so I don’t have to look it up come interview time.

8. When I do an interview, name the sound file NameofSource-Interview-Date and save it to the article project folder. I then send the file to my transcriptionist. When I get back the transcription, I name it NameofSource-Transcription-Date and save it to the same folder.

9. Write the article! There’s much more on this in the lesson on researching and writing faster. I name the article NameofMagazine-NameofArticle-Formichelli and save it to the project folder.

10. Send the article (attached and in the body of the e-mail) and immediately send an invoice. (I say immediately because otherwise I forget.) I give the invoice a number and name it Number-NameofMagazine.

11. Enter the invoice number into the Excel spreadsheet with the rest of the assignment information for easier tracking if I have to follow up on an overdue payment.

12. Move the article project folder from the Articles in Progress folder to a folder titled Articles Completed. That way, when I open up the Articles in Progress folder I’m looking only at current projects and am not distracted by old assignments.

13. Wait for payment. Every once in a while, I go through the Excel spreadsheet to see which invoices I need to follow up on. When the payment comes, I enter it into the spreadsheet by moving the amount from the Owed column to the Paid column.

14. Party!

By now this routine is so ingrained that it’s second nature. I don’t have to think about what to do next—I already know what to do. I’d use a similar system if I were writing a book.

And I repeat that this system is what works for me. Another writer I know swears by the much more streamlined Evernote (or OneNote) software. I tried it and just couldn’t get into it, but you may find that this (or another system) works better for you. The point is just to have a system.

My querying system is a bit less organized, but still workable: I save queries to a folder on my hard drive called (duh) Queries, and also create a Word document to drop in notes, contact info for potential sources, etc. I handle query interviews the same way as I do for an article assignment, which I discussed above. When I e-mail a query to an editor, I title the e-mail something like Query from Writer: Name of Article: Linda Formichelli and save it to an e-mail folder called Follow-Up. I may also enter the follow-up date into my iCal calendar.

Now on to the nitty-gritty of how you can create systems that work for your needs.

Ideas

As a writer, a major part of your job is generating ideas. But how often have you come up with a great idea in the car or in the shower, had no place to write it down, and then forgotten about it?

I always have a notebook and pen next to the bed to jot down my fabulous ideas, and I also carry a small notebook and pen in my bag. My Renegade Writer co-author, Diana, keeps a voice recorder in her car so she can simply record her brainstorms and listen to them later. As for the shower, try using kids’ tub crayons to scribble your ideas on the wall. If you have glass doors on your shower or tub, you can use dry erase markers on a part of the door that doesn’t get wet.

When you’re out and about, don’t forget that your PDA will let you take notes, and your phone may, too (my iPhone has an app that came with it called Notes).

Oh, and when I’m actually in the office and come up with a super idea? I have a Word file on my computer desktop called Ideas.doc that I can just open whenever I need to record a flash of inspiration.

Wherever you come up with your ideas, you need to consolidate them so you can actually use them. Your wonderful brainstorms do no good if they’re scattered in your shower, in your car, on your PDA, and in various notebooks. This is where the Ideas.doc file comes in handy—you can transfer all your ideas there, and whenever you’re ready to write a query or a proposal, you can go over the file and pick the best ideas.

Queries and Proposals

As I mentioned above, after I e-mail a query to an editor, I save it to an e-mail folder called Follow-Up. I save the Word document to a folder on my hard drive called Queries. (If I were a little more organized with my queries, I would divide up this folder up into subfolders sorted by magazine.) I may then enter the follow-up date into my iCal calendar if it’s something I really want to be on top of; normally, I simply go through the Follow-Up folder every few weeks and, well, follow up on old queries.

You can track queries and responses by creating an Excel spreadsheet, developing a template in a contact management software program, or even using ye olde hard copy form. What’s important is that you’re able to track where you sent each query, the date you sent it to each magazine, the response you received, and any follow-ups.

Whatever method you choose, be sure to enter the info as soon as you send a query so you won’t forget.

Research

You need a consistent way to store your research so you know how to find it when you need it. Whenever you start a query or proposal, create a Word file where you can drop in bits of information, URLs, and so on when you find them. (Or, if you prefer, do it in OneNote or Evernote.)

Follow-Ups

Then there are the follow-ups. Whether you send a query to an editor or a proposal to an agent or publisher, you may want to schedule follow-ups so they don’t fall by the wayside. One magazine writer I interviewed for another project told me that 90 percent of her acceptances come after following up!

But maybe you want more of a nudge than a plain-Jane calendar entry can offer. In that case, you can set your calendar to sound an alarm when it’s follow-up time. If your calendar doesn’t have that option, try signing up for Google Calendar (www.google.com/calendar), which lets you schedule a pop-up or an e-mail before any event you create. You can also try something completely different: MemoToMe.com (www.memotome.com), a free reminder service that’s meant to let you know that Mom’s birthday is coming up, but that you can also use to get reminders of anything you want in your e-mail or on your mobile phone. I’ve been using this service for birthday reminders for several years and it’s never failed me.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to schedule your follow-ups for two weeks (or whatever) to the day. To stay organized and in the flow, it may work better for you to batch all your follow ups on one day of the week.

Articles and Books

Most of the techniques I use to organize articles are outlined in An Overview above. It’s pretty detailed, so I won’t rehash it here. The important thing is to tweak the system so it works for you.

If you’re more of a paper person, you can create a form in Word that you print out and fill in with every article. The form should include space for the assignment specs, and then blanks for entering information on your sources: their contact info, the dates you contacted them, and the interview dates and times.

Interviews

The day or so before an interview, I create a Word document with the source’s contact information and the interview questions. When I do the interview, I double-check the spelling of the source’s name and ask for any information I’m missing, such as the source’s mailing address.

Again, details on how I organize interviews are in An Overview above. To recap, I enter interviews into my calendar along with the phone number so I don’t have to dig it up. I give all sound files standardized names and e-mail them to my transcriptionist, and store the sound files and transcriptions in the article project folder. (The same process applies if you transcribe your own interviews.)

Sources

One client of mine told me that she wanted to send thank you notes to the sources of a particular article, but it took her twenty minutes just to pull together their contact information. Doesn’t really put one in a thankful mood, does it?

There are a couple of ways you can organize your source info. One is to use contact management software such as Filemaker or ACT. When you create the layout for your sources file, you can include fields or checkboxes to indicate the sources’ specialties, so when you’re looking for, say, a podiatrist for an article or an archery expert for your novel, you can search on those parameters and all the appropriate experts will pop up.

You can also opt for an old-school Rolodex, which is something I’ve done in the past. Instead of categorizing your sources by name, sort them by expertise.

Finally, an editor at a national general interest magazine once complained to me that most writers don’t include source info with their articles. Always collect your sources’ contact info (including mailing address) wherever you store your article notes, and if any of the information is incomplete, ask for it during the interview. You can include the source list at the end of the article under the header SOURCES, or create a separate file to send along with your article. This is convenient not only for the editor, but also for you if you’re the type of writer who lets sources know when an article in on the stands or online (which I do). [lf]