I'm working hard at getting back into the swing of writing for money again, but I already know it isn't going to be easy. First and foremost, I know that I'm pretty much going to have to start from square 1 and work my way back up again. I only hope it doesn't take me another 10 years to get to where I was when I took my break.
So here are a few of the things I plan on doing in order to get myself back to where I need to be:
1.) Pinterest
I'm quickly becoming a huge fan of Pinterest. My fiance' and I are getting ready to move out to his farm and I've been using Pinterest to find ideas on how to set up various flower and vegetable gardens. As I was going through the millions of pictures it dawned on me that many of them were giving me little hints of inspiration for stories and/or articles. So now I check out Pinterest each day and just type in a random word in the search box to see what comes up and catches my attention. I add at least 2 pictures to my new "Writing Ideas" board.
2.) Writing Prompts
The one thing I regret most about this past year is that I ended up losing all of my domain names for lack of funds. I couldn't afford to host them or even keep the names on hold so I had to give all of them up, including my very first blog ever, The Prompt Writer. I'd started that blog in 2003 and it had been my baby for a long time. The thing that really gets to me is that I can't even go back in and rebuy the name. It's gone....forever. However, that doesn't mean I can't keep doing what I was doing there. I can still sit back and try to come up with new prompts for myself and anyone else that might need a helping hand.
3.) Blogging Job Boards
As I said before, I know I can't just jump into the world of article writing again without finding my groove again. And I can guarantee that things have moved on in leaps and bounds in the past year. With that being said, there's nothing that can keep me from checking out the blogging job boards to see what people are looking for and practice on this site, or any other free site I create, just to give myself a little more practice before trying to land real jobs. Who knows, it may work in my favor and I'll make a little extra dough on my own sites.
4.) Networking
Ok, before I say to much on this let me just say this is NOT my strong suit. I've always had trouble connecting with like minded people that I don't talk to on a regular basis. I was lucky enough in the past to connect with a few individuals that did help me on my road to success, but I'm not sure I'll be able to have the same kind of luck. That being said, I am going to try and get into a few writing groups and see if I can't get caught up on some of the latest trends and find out where I need to go from here.
5.) Write!!!
I know it sounds redundant, but this is actually my biggest problem. I've got to get myself past this feeling that I just can't do it anymore and find the strength and will within myself to just do it. No matter what it's about, I just have to make myself write each day.
So there it is, my short term goal for getting back on the road to being a paid writer. I'm not sure how much luck I'll have but at least it's a start.
