Write what you know and how I had

If you start reading various sites that are designed to help writers, sooner or later all of them will mention one thing.

That you should write what you know.

Which is also exactly what I tell people when they are looking for inspiration for an article or a blog post (If they need help with fiction, I send them to the Almost Totally Random Prompt Generator). And I also followed that advice, always picking the article topics I knew something about. Mostly because it required less research from me, and we all know time is money.

After I gave it some thought, at the very beginning of my freelance adventure, I decided to write about something I know and what other people are no doubt interested in. Writing.

You can see my interest in that topic from the numerous posts at Scribophile (when I was still writing for them) and from my various articles at Helium and AssociatedContent.

But recently I decided to start sharing my knowledge about another topic I'm quite familiar with. Studying Abroad.
Apart from being a freelancer, I have a full time job at the University where I work with international students and help students of our University apply for different student exchange programs. That means I not only have the know-how, but I also know quite well what the students are most interested in.

So just to see what would happen, I wrote the first article in December (How important is studying abroad for your career?). I was surprised to see it become one of my top earning articles. So to continue with the experiment, I wrote three more articles (yes, an article a day. It happened without me realizing it):

Determining if studying abroad is right for you
Advice to people thinking of studying abroad
Studying abroad without blowing your budget

Each of them turned out to be among my most popular articles. I am THRILLED.

And just because I didn't want to slow down when I'm on the roll, I did something about one of my New Year's Resolutions and I created a Helium Zone connected to, you guessed right, studying abroad.

You can easily say that three days into the 2010 I'm rediscovering how awesome it is to track my statistics.

So when next time you read how you should write what you know, BELIEVE IT.

Projects worth considering

Let's start with the obvious one, at least for those of you who write stories and novels or really want to.

It's October, and therefore it's time to sign up to NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is an annual online event. Every year since 1999, November become the month when all over the world, people are writing their novels.

I haven't participated in the event since 2007 and I decided that since 2009 is a year of great changes in my life, with the job, with finishing a bigger story for the first time and with my first actual income from my writing; it might as well be the first year when I manage to write 50 000 words in a month. I did a little math, it means writing 1670 words a day. Do you think you can pull this off? I suggest you at least check out the main NaNo website, and the forums.

I already signed up and if you want to add me to your buddy list, just leave me a comment with your ID at NaNo and I'll add you.

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Another project I decided to take on is the new contest over at Writer's Digest. I have never entered in a competition before but I think I could actually pull this off. Even in a recession, $15 entry fee doesn't seem like much. And hell, from where I'm standing it's going to be not only a good writing experience, but also a great adventure.

So if you don't plan on entering, keep your fingers crossed for me.
And if you do enter. Good luck!

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I think taht's all when it comes to an update on me and my writing projects. Other than the fact that ReviewStream finally set up a Control Panel for its writers and I can finally track my submissions. If you write for them, it's definitely worth checking out.

Rediscovering the Internet

So it's been some time since I actually wrote something for the Internet and got paid for it. Or, to be honest, since I wrote something. Period. Editing of the big fiction piece is taking up all my time and there are exams that I need to pass.

Though I really want to start writing short articles again. I have some started, and I even wrote a review, but I think it's going to be at least two more weeks before I can say I'm back in business.

My very own journey of coming back to writing is pretty inspiring, and I'll probably be commiting few articles analyzing that. After all, your own experience is usually the best source for your articles.

In other news:

I had to give up my writing gig at Scribophile. This doesn't mean the site doesn't rock and you shouldn't check it out. To the contrary. People there are amazing and I wouldn't exchange them for any other social site. So if you're a writer, Scribophile should be one of your stops.

People connected to the site are also publishing their very own online magazine full of really great stories. Ruthless Peoples Magazine is made by people who are very passionate about their writing. AND. They are accepting submissions, so it's worth checking out. I encurage you to check their submission guidelines and submit something. Not only you'll be able to add it to your CV, but they will pay you for your story.

Writing challenge to help with your muse

This week (From Monday to Thursday), I'll be a guest host at Comment Fic. I'll be throwing themes at people, and other people will be leaving prompts in hopes of getting a flash fic in return. It's a very popular community, and even though it's mostly fandom related, I'm sure it still can help you with finding some inspiration.

If you write anything for the comment fic while I"m guest hosting, please let me know, I'd love to read it.