Unlimited Or Pragmatic Thinking For Writers

Unlimited Or Pragmatic Thinking For Freelance Writers? Do you ever ask yourself why you chose to become a writer? When someone once told me I should express my 'original voice', they obviously had not heard of house styles. Idiosyncracy has to be mulched to suit media musts if you want to eat and have a roof over your head. Or does it? Any romantic dreams we might nurture about writing soon get demolished when the mortgage needs to be paid. But do they have to? The freedom to freelance often comes with the price tags of discipline and compromise. But, paradoxically, they can also be excellent aids in building a reputation and setting a value on our worth. They enable us to focus effort and energy yet still enjoy variety, choice and control. Anne Hogben of the Writers' Guild believes that most writers are driven by the need to self-express, maybe even vanity. But not money. Tell that to the bank manager. To paraphrase Cyril Connolly, every writer should know how much they need to live on. To that, they should add a mental picture of what they believe their words are worth. Money is not 'filthy lucre'. It is a means of exchange. We are exchanging our way with words for an accepted currency. Despite the potential magic of metaphysics (my niche subject), editors, as a rule, do not operate through telepathy. Editors want expert knowledge and they generally want a track record. It makes their life easier. However, exceptional intuition apart, we should help them by predicting market needs. Discipline means proactively providing articles that showcase our writing talents, expert knowledge and ability to predict future trends. In addition to creating a bank of articles, we get the added bonus of self-motivation and confidence in our niche areas. If you do not have a niche strength, create one. Knowledge is power as they say. Research focuses the mind, and with a focused mind comes added motivation. With sufficient, self-generated, incentive and belief, time has an uncanny elasticity. Freelancing allows us to play with time, but that does not mean wasting it. Having the confidence to be a freelancer is one of the best ways to find out whether you really believe in yourself. If you do not, then why should editors and publishers? In my sales career, I had products and services as a prop. It externalised my efforts. With writing, we are selling a bit of ourselves. Even if we tailor our expressiveness to the publication's house style, our personality and maybe even soul will flicker through. Are you bold enough to ask for work? What, you're a writer, not a salesperson? Everyone sells something to someone. As a writer, you are selling: yourself, your perspective, your style, your professionalism, reliability, flexibility and your self-motivation - with words as your tools. It means recognising your uniqueness - because the first person you are selling to is yourself. If there is a disconnection, you need to reassess why you have chosen to write. If you have not already, start now by writing your own press release - retrospectively. Use a role model if your mind has gone blank. Make it your plan of action, till you find, and trust, your original voice. Rejection is par for the course in most industries. But it can be harder to handle in areas of self-expression. To avoid any debilitating reactions to rejection, it is important to maintain that sense of worth through other means. If words really are the route to your bliss, then, as Joseph Campbell stated, "if you... don't get any money, you still have your bliss." Rather more prosaically, it means having what I call a shelf-stacking option to ensure regularity of income, while still writing every day. Besides, slights are much easier to accept when there is money in the bank! Visualising and affirming are key tasks in unlimited thinking. While they are a conscious act in disciplining unruly minds, they also allow fantasy to sneak in, keeping the dream alive. Goals are a fact of life if we are to achieve success. To act 'as if' is an accepted practice in creative thinking. Mind dynamics, such as visualising and affirming, need to be directed by goals. To mentally see a desired result not only helps to keep motivated, it focuses attention, rather like a route map. Writing success is a journey, based on a number of rather pragmatic elements. These include discipline, time management, setting - and keeping - goals, and mind dynamics. Virtual support groups can ease the loneliness that is inherent in writing. Ultimately though, we alone are responsible. Paradoxically, in accepting responsibility, comes the magic of unlimited possibility. Euphrosene Labon is the author of several books including Profit >From Unlimited Thinking. She teaches about pragmatic metaphysics through floreo NEWS, her monthly ezine, and through corporate workshops. Her ezine and personal blog can be found at www.floreo.org.