May 17, 2012

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Guest Post: Creating Home Office Space that Works

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By Roxane B. Salonen

Though I’ve been working as a freelance writer for years now, this fall marked a change in how I do business, bringing it to a whole new level. The steps leading up to the change began six months ago. They included:

  • Upping my networking efforts
  • Choosing a new business name
  • Creating a mission statement
  • Hiring a designer to create business cards
  • Building a stronger Web presence
  • Re-creating my own office space

This last step was particularly important, perhaps to me more than anyone else. Since I typically meet my clients on their turf, it’s unlikely they’ll ever see my office. But I see it. And as a mother of five, I had let the area where I do most of my work slowly be taken over by children. I knew that with the impending launch of Beauclair Communications, I needed to reclaim my working space, and do it in a way that would encourage comfortable yet diligent work habits.

So, over the summer, with a general plan in hand, my husband and I worked to make this happen. We did some retouching of wall spots that had been damaged and re-organized my office area.


We cleared off an area that had become overtaken with piles and turned it into a spot for laptop work, complete with coffee maker and mini-fridge.

It might seem superfluous to have a coffee maker in both our kitchen and in my lower-level office, but I know the moment I step into the upstairs kitchen I’ll feel compelled to stay a while and clean. This arrangement has drawn an important line between business and domestic tasks during daytime working hours. It’s helped me combat some of the distractions that tug at me as I work in my at-home office.

My office and our laundry room abut, so for the first time since I’ve occupied this space, I’ve introduced a simple fabric separator that helps block out other distractions. When the curtains are drawn, I’m in working mode and less accessible. When office hours end, the curtains open again.

It’s not a perfect setup. I’m sure there will be revisions in the future. But I feel great about the chances I’ve been able to make, all well within my budget, as well as how things are going so far. I’m intent on producing quality work here and making this a place where dreams are realized.

I want to add that even those who lack ideal office space can be creative in their planning to make the best use of the space they do have. In his book On Writing, Stephen King described using a closet for his writing work. When he became rich and famous, he moved into a roomier office with a beautiful wooden desk, but he quickly realized that the work he produced there was lacking, so he returned to a more modest corner. Our working space need not be extravagant to be productive.

This is a space where I’m able to be productive. It’s a space that has little splashes from my past and present, along with some helpful prompts for the future.

Now that I’ve reclaimed this space for my business and re-created it to fit what I do, windows leading to new opportunities are beginning to come into view, and I’m ready.

What space have you carved out for yourself where you feel productive, energetic and alive?

Roxane B. Salonen’s new business, Beauclair Communications, is a culmination of her many years in the communications field. She’s an award-winning freelance writer, newspaper columnist and children’s author. She also hosts a radio program each month in her home of Fargo, North Dakota, and blogs at Peace Garden Writer.

Interested in contributing a guest blog post of your own? Check out the guest blogger guidelines.

Filed Under: guest post, workspace

Open Thread: Do You Have a Workday Playlist?

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One of the (many) wonderful things about working from home is the ability to listen to whatever music you want, even singing along or dancing if the mood strikes. Most days, I’ll play some show tunes in the background while I research a new client or craft a blog post (I was obsessed with the Glee soundtrack for quite a while, Audra McDonald is part of most work days, too). Or if I’m filing or cleaning out my email box, I might listen to a marketing podcast. Sometimes I’ll move my MacBook around with me while I clean house so I can keep listening to a podcast while I’m folding laundry or making the bed.

What about you? Do you listen to music or do you prefer the blissful sounds of silence? What’s in your iTunes these days?

Filed Under: music, open thread

5 Freelance Fears – And How to Conquer Them

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As Halloween approaches, we’re faced with scary images of ghosts, goblins, witches, and clowns (not everyone finds clowns scary, but I know plenty of people who do – hence the photo at left). Then there are other fears that eat away at us year round. Like the fear that we’ll never land another assignment again. Or the fear that readers won’t like our work.

Last year, I surveyed readers and discovered that their biggest freelance fear is going broke. But there are plenty of other worries that keep us up at night. (Is it just me or are a lot of freelancers raging insomniacs?)
Here are five freelance fears along with tips on how to deal with them.
Fear #1: What if there’s a mistake in my work?
Whether it’s a mistake you made or one that got inserted later, stuff happens. As I wrote in this post on about handling mistakes, the best thing you can do if it’s your mistake is to own up to it. Of course, there are plenty of things you can do to prevent errors from happening, including reading your copy out loud, enabling the forgotten attachment detector in Gmail, and more. Unless you make repeated mistakes or one huge gaffe, it shouldn’t haunt you later. Still, it’s best to avoid errors whenever possible.

Fear #2: What if readers leave nasty comments?
If you ever write anything slightly personal or controversial, then you’re bound to attract some haters. On the one hand, that’s how you know you’ve really struck a chord with people, but on the other hand those nasty comments or hate emails can really sting. It takes a lot more courage to write that personal essay or blog post under your real name than to leave some anonymous comment, so take heart in knowing that. Also know that editors like it when your content sparks intense debate, so they won’t hold it against you. And if that’s not enough, then simply STOP READING THE COMMENTS.
Fear #3: What if my editor or client wants tons of revisions?
It can be disheartening to have a document returned to you with loads of additions, subtractions, and other changes. But with some clients or editors, that’s simply the norm and it’s no reflection on your abilities as a writer or your worth as a human being (obviously). The real test is whether you land a repeat assignment. I try to study all the changes the client or editors makes to my piece so I can incorporate those stylistic changes myself and really nail their voice next time.
Fear #4: What if a client tries to stiff me? 
It’s an unfortunate reality that some clients, whether because of cash flow issues or actual malicious intent, avoid paying for your hard work. There are several strategies you can use to avoid being scammed, but if you’re already in that situation and a strongly worded letter, email, and/or phone call doesn’t work, consider reporting the client to Angela at WritersWeekly’s Whispers & Warnings or (if you’re a member) enlisting the help of ASJA‘s Grievance Committee.
Fear #5: What if all my clients leave me and I never get another freelance assignment ever again?
Clients come and go. That’s just the nature of the business. But if you’re good at what you do and diligent about marketing yourself, then you’ll find a way to fill that hole. (Plus, it’s unlikely that all your clients will leave you all at once unless you’ve grown reliant on only one or two clients for all your work.) In addition to marketing and networking, you can also boost your odds of maintaining a steady flow of work by constantly working to improve your craft. For instance, earlier this year, I earned a Certificate in Writing for Professional Communication. I’m usually reading at least one book related to writing or small businesses, and I read a ton of blogs of those topics to stay on top of my game.
What about you? Have you faced any of these freelance fears? Are there other concerns I’ve missed? Leave a comment and let us know!
Flickr photo courtesy of Nwardez
Filed Under: freelance advice

Guest Post: Keep Readers Hooked Past the First Paragraph

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By Angelita Williams

As a former newspaper reporter, I understand the importance of headlines and first paragraphs for hooking readers in to a hard news story. I accepted that the lion’s share of my readers wouldn’t make it past the first few sentences, and packed every ounce of my ingenuity into them. But when my career transitioned from writing practically to writing passionately, I decided that having readers absorb my first paragraph and nothing more just wasn’t good enough anymore. I needed to learn what it took to up my chances of a reader devouring the whole piece like a book they can’t put down.

Don’t get me wrong. A catchy first paragraph is key to getting two kinds of readers into your freelance writing: One, the lazy reader who skims for something that piques his wandering interest, and two, the fully involved reader who has so much exceptional reading material in his queue that he must have a good reason to drop that momentarily to read your work. The real challenge, however, is getting a reader to the end of your piece. Here’s what I’ve discovered.

  1. Don’t get lazy. We must be fully involved in our freelance work and believe every word we write. Like the poets, we must find ways to pack more meaning into fewer words, instead of letting lifeless qualifiers, passive voice and inefficient description run amok. To counter this, pick random sentences from the thick of your freelance piece and study them out of context. Are they all alive or do some of them fall flat?
  2. Collect honest eyes. When writing a lengthy freelance piece on a topic that’s not your passion, enlist a few colleagues to read it and circle any areas where they start to get bored. Do not confuse this process with peer proofreading or general editing. By doing this consistently, you learn where the meat of your writing begins to lose its flavor.
  3. Put your audience first. Think about who will be reading your piece and write for them, not for yourself. Answer any questions you believe they will have and guard against expounding on your own personal reactions to the topic. Good freelance writing is rarely self-serving.
  4. Kill cliches. Oh, how often we fall back on tired-and-trendy bits in the thick of our freelance writing! Part of the joy of what we do is finding new ways of looking at a topic instead of rehashing old thoughts. Make it your goal for a reader to say, “I’d never thought of it that way before” after reading your piece.
OK, readers. What do you think? What keeps you engaged past the first paragraph?

This guest post is contributed by Angelita Williams, who writes on the topics of online college courses. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: angelita.williams7 @gmail.com.


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Flickr photo courtesy of visualthinker
Filed Under: guest post, writing
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