Write Your Passion and the Money Will Follow

The Hub I wrote about the 12 universal laws in a nutshell became very popular. It has inspired me to devote a whole blog/site to the subject so that I can delve into the universal laws in-depth.

It is a subject I am knowledgeable and passionate about and I believe it is a way for me to further use my writing/creativity to help others. For anyone interested the link is: Universal Laws Explained.

The main reason I am writing this post however is not for shameless self promotion ;), but to share my theory on why it is important to write about what you LOVE - and do it regularly.

As a writer - writing your passions is the best way to start. I read once that writers should take time to write what they would also love to read. If you spend all of your working time writing things that are purely for money or don't really interest you - your writing will lose that "spark" that special something that gets people to take notice.

Have you ever noticed that you can completely disagree with someone's opinion, but if they are an engaging and passionate writer you will still want to hear what they have to say? Why? Because we "feel" the person who is writing and we long to understand their passion and experience. That passion is what brings a whole new level to the words on the page. Words can be "just words" or "just info" or they can be moving and thought provoking.

Writing your passion, even if not for profit directly, (like sharing on a blog) gives you exposure - which in time can lead to great paying opportunities. It may even lead to paying opportunities writing about your passion - even better right?

Write what you know, write what is in your heart and share that knowledge. It's a gift to others that will return to you.

Don't have a blog? Share writing on HubPages - my Hubs in one short month have been visited and read over 2000 times! Why? because writers there are passionate about writing. They read, they share, the encourage and they help you. I wrote engaging hubs to help others and they have been recognized. Just yesterday the Hub newsletter went out and my Hub 101 Free Tools Every Freelance Writer, Web Designer, and Graphic Artist Needs was featured.

Today, I found out that I have had many new visitors and from the comments people have left they truly appreciate that I took the time/effort to create a resource that is valuable and useful. I am getting exposure as a writer and freelancer because that hub links to my portfolio as well. I did something that helped others, and it also provides reciprocal benefits.

From a business perspective, Hubs are also a great way to generate back links to your own websites and blogs which will help improve your search engine rankings as well. Ad Sense can be used to monetize your Hubs for residual income.

On a personal note, I take pride in knowing something I created is giving benefits to others. I believe that what we put out is returned to us. Use this in your writing practice - do what you love - show your passion! It's that passion and drive that will ultimately sell you!

Query Letter Fatal Flaws & How to Avoid Them

If you're like me the art of querying hasn't been without it's bumps and bruises along the way. Pitching at the right time, to the right person in a manner that is engaging and gives a great hook can seem intimidating at first.

Over time, you kind of start to develop a system though and every rejection I have chosen to view as a lesson in tweaking my system.

Writing is a competitive field and there are many players so it is important to not only follow tips on "what to do" - but also what NOT to do and my hub today shares 9 "fatal flaws" that will kill any query letter and what to do to remedy or avoid them. Using these tips will help you to write good query letters that have a better chance of being accepted.

Learn more: 9 Fatal Query Letter Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Cheap or Free Ways to Market Yourself

My hub today talks about 25 ways to promote a business on the cheap. Many freelance writers don't consider themselves to be "a business" and this could be costing you a lot of potential customers.

As a writer, you can list yourself locally as a copywriter or as providing Editing services. this allows you to list yourself for free locally which can dramatically increase your viewership and customers.

Although my hub today is about "small business" in general, don't make the mistake of thinking solo work or freelancing work is not an "actual business". You can enjoy many of the same advertising perks that brick and mortar businesses do.

Learn more at my latest hub 25 Cheap or Free Ways to Market Your Small Business

Totem Wisdom - My Latest Creative "baby"

I have been meaning to do a website on animal totems for as long as I can remember. I love animals, always have. I also believe that humans have revered the animals throughout time because they truly do show us a lot about ourselves.

When I developed this website with Nick, our goal was to look at an animal, learn about it's habits, diet, where it lives, and it's most unique traits. We then blended those qualities into individual totem animal pages that show viewers how different animals carry lessons that they can use on their path.

Totem animals have often sparked my creativity and I had written about them before, but I wanted to create a place where I could use all of my skills - graphic design, web design, and writing all in one place to create something beautiful that others would enjoy as well.

This project was the funnest thing I have done in ages and I am going to keep expanding on it, adding more animals and custom art.

Please stop by and let me know what you think. Perhaps a free totem reading will spark your creativity today.

www.TotemWisdom.com

Self-Promotion - The Importance of Backlinks in Marketing Your Work

As you may have noticed lately, I have posted links to articles I have written on HubPages. There is a good reason to write content for a few larger websites. The revenue you earn on these sites is not very high, but what it does allow you to do is build "backlinks" to your primary websites and blogs. This increases your exposure to new readers, and brings traffic to your own websites or blogs where you can also share your expertise with others.

Backlinks help your website or blog to rank higher on search engines, particularly is your sites and articles are getting backlinks from well established websites. In my few weeks hubbing, I have met a lot of great writers and my website traffic to all of my sites has increased noticeably as has my AdSense revenue.

Writing well on other sites also helps you to establish your credibility in your area(s) of expertise and can be great to use as clips when you are looking for freelance writing jobs online or in print.

That being said, avoid websites that are merely link farms or that have tons of low quality content. You don't want your name associated with websites of poor quality. If anything and everything gets approved and there is no efforts in place to maintain quality standards, you want to stay away from them.

Another benefit to cross promotion and more exposure is the chance for things that you have written to "go viral" on social networks etc. The more something you have written is voted up, shared, etc. the higher it will climb in search engines.

If your content is useful and "evergreen" - meaning it is something people will value for a long time to come, residual income and future contacts will always flow your way from that work. Some people see a few cents a day on sites like Hubpages as not worth the effort, but they are not considering the larger picture. Don't be those people ;). Persistence and strong, evergreen content pays off for an unlimited time.

Be sure to visit my latest hubs for more great freelance resources for freelance creatives of all kinds!
http://hubpages.com/profile/ChristinS

101 Free Tools for Freelance Creatives

I did a contest entry hub for the HubPages share and share alike contest. The post I entered features 101 very carefully selected and reviewed links that are the best free resources around for freelance writers, freelance web designers and graphic artists.

It is my hope that this post will give freelancers some new tools and that you will find it useful and share it. There is something there for every freelance creative. I can't believe how much I learned simply compiling it. I brought together a lot of my current favorites and to flesh it out I researched even more resources. It has turned out to be an excellent compilation and I plan to bookmark and use it myself LOL.

Please view my Hub "Every Freelance Writer, Web Designer, and Graphic Artist Needs" Vote it up, ping it out to your friends on Facebook and Twitter and spread the word. I really appreciate it!

How to Write With More Purpose

I spent some time this morning on Hubpages sharing with other writer's a detailed explanation of how to do a Writer's Collage.

Although it can seem a bit daunting or like a lot of work at first, the benefits are so amazing.

It's ironic that pieces of my past writing were actually able to illuminate future goals for me that I hadn't considered. I learned so much about myself in the process of doing the exercise that it not only helped my writing, it proved to be quite cathartic to me personally as well.

I believe writing heals. It has worked for me since I was a child and I am always in awe of how it seems to show me new things even now. The more I write, the more I learn about myself and the more I am able to use my creativity to encourage and inspire others. Writing is the tool I use to realize my larger goal of helping others find their own inner light.

Visit my hub and learn how to do a Collage for yourself. This is a great exercise whether you are a new writer or a seasoned pro. You'll definitely gain something new from the process and I hope it will inspire you to write in new ways, with more purpose and meaning.