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Write From Home
Kim Wilson
P.O. Box 4145
Hamilton, NJ 08610
Tel: (609) 888-1683
E-mail:
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Off
the Page...
May 2003 Column
$$
For Little or No Money, You Can Be
E-Accessible
by
Tama Westman
Are you
as e-accessible as you can be? More and more, we are electronically
connected through e-machines, e-mail, e-newsletters and e-groups. When editors
go looking for a qualified writer, here’s how to make sure you get noticed:
No E-xcuse E-mail
Today’s editor needs to be
able to send and receive assignments instantly – and e-mail is the answer.
Whether you pay for service or use one of the many free providers, such as MSN’s
Hotmail or
Yahoo, you absolutely must have an e-mail account. What are you waiting for?
Do make sure your e-mail address is one that looks professional, however,
sexkitten69@whatever.com won’t exactly instill confidence with potential
editors. Be sure to tag your correspondence, e-mail and query letters with a
signature line that contains your Web site address, contact information and your
theme or book titles, so people get the message.
E-xamine Web
Hosting
Days spent pouring over
dusty volumes of business listings at the library are no more. Editors can find
you faster when you host a personal Web site that showcases your talent and
abilities – an electronic résumé and portfolio. To create your own Web site, you
can buy a designated domain and host through an inexpensive company such as
bluedominoe.com. Or you might make use of a myriad of major Internet
providers and organizations, like
Earthlink,
Angelfire or
AOL that provide free homepages and basic Web site space. Being a computer
wizard or knowing HTML is not necessary. With the use of simple templates
provided by many companies, you can fill-in-the-blanks and be on the Web today.
Alternatively, free downloads of Web authoring shareware are available on the
Web, a reliable, popular company offering such services is
Coffeecup.
E-levate Your Writing
Experience
Post your writing experience
on Internet message boards, like
freelancewriting.com and with job search engines such as
monster.com or
elance.com. Take out an inexpensive ad with writer’s networks such as
writersweekly.com advertising your writing services. Any number of
opportunities may come your way as you list your copywriting, editing, and
proofreading skills. Informing others of your availability as a freelancer is
smart use of the Internet and reaps great rewards.
Incorporate tips and untapped resources to make your writing stronger and be the
first to learn of submission call-outs and new contests as you connect with
other writers, editors and publishers across the country. Even marketing gurus
and business icons give advice through e-newsletters; check out
Yudkin.com.
E-xpand Your Base
By joining writers'
groups and guilds, you connect with others who love to write. Writers' groups
not only create a commiserate channel when rejection seems rampant, but contain
your best cheerleaders. Critique groups, chat sessions, contests and open
markets are among the benefits of joining. The best advantage, however, are the
friendships you forge with other writers who encourage and support your efforts.
Momwriters.com and
Writing-world.com are two great e-newsletters that provide posted writing
opportunities. Check out online critique groups offered from
momwriters.com via their yahoo listserve. Go global – by connecting with
writers across the world, one feature-fantastic site in Great Britain is
writelink.co.uk.
E-njoy
E-success
Enlarging your possible
writing territory to the global market of the Internet will ensure greater
success in your writing efforts. Engaging the Internet and becoming e-accessible
means that editors and publishers will not only notice you, but be able to reach
you too. E-mail, homepages, Web sites, newsletters, online groups and message
boards create a web of e-connectablility, for little or no money at all, that
helps you succeed as a writer.
Tama Westman writes the Off the Page column for Write
From Home. As a correspondent and columnist, she publishes news articles,
feature stories and her column, Cuppa Thoughts, regularly with her local
paper, the Chaska Herald. She has served as the editor of the
award-winning literary and arts magazine, Haute Dish. As a freelancer,
her articles appear in several local newspapers and, nationally in The
Gathering and Light & Life Magazine.
She teaches creative writing and
poetry classes with the AHEAD program (Achieving Higher Education and Dreams) at
Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, MN, mentors high school journalism
students and helps to edit the column of her 18-year old, British-bred cat on
coolpetsites.com, Purrfect Gypsy – The Cat’s Eye View. She is married with two
college-enrolled children, and keeps her balance with a cup of tea taken in the
afternoon in her English garden. Her published clips can be viewed via her
Web site,
http://www.tamawestman.com/
and she can be reached at
tamajoy@earthlink.net.
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