I’m not sure this is going to be a weekly thing, but we’ll ride this wave as far as it takes us. I typically visit a great deal of websites in the course of a day; some from dropping Entrecards (when I have the time) and sometimes when a Person of Interest uses Twitter to alert we tweeples to something cool, interesting or helpful.

So, for your pleasure, dear readers (I think there’s more than one, heh!) these are my favorites from the last week:

Writing News and Aids:

Web Writer Boot Camp: Paul Lalley serves up some excellent resources and advice to aspiring web writers. He’s not as bad as Harvey on Celebrity Fit Club, but he pulls no punches and offers no bullshit. Writers of all skill levels will learn something here.

The World in the Satin Bag: The blog and fiction of S.M. Duke. Mark this young man, because he’s going places in the speculative fiction field. Thirty-one chapters are posted online for your reading pleasure, and Shaun often posts provocative questions regarding the realm of science fiction and fantasy, plus cool book reviews.

Putting a friendly and funny face on the world of a publishing agent (not that she has a funny face physically, it’s a figure of speech) check out The Swivet. I read in her latest post about the lack of a roof, wrestling with a moldy futon mattress, and the Most Awesome Bartender in Queens, and it brought back fond memories of a few escapades of my misspent (but oh-so-fun!) youth. Heh.

Mike Geffner is a man with a mission and is bringing it on like Donkey Kong. He has a workshop and newsletter; a writing group on Facebook; he Twitters and he’s LinkedIn. An award winning sports journalist, he’s putting together an empire and has a lot to offer the up and coming.

If you’re looking for more free fiction to read online, I recommend The Lifting of the Veil by Chris Tejeda. So much great fiction online, if you only know where to look

One of the most helpful sites I’ve been to in awhile is Tim Beyers’s The Freelance Writer’s Helper. He lists out some really fabulous and informative sites for freelancers in a Google Notebook, which is something I haven’t seen before. He covers a lot of ground for freelancers so you don’t have to. Thanks, Tim!

The Cool:

You can’t miss Rizzo Tees. Seriously…BILF? I hate pants? This is some funny, funny shiz-niz, friends and neighbors, twisted and demented. I love it!

I am hooked on this song. Hooked, I tell you. I can’t play it enough. It’s my new addiction, I’m just glad it’s not Britney. Heh.

Hulu is an amazing site with TV shows and movies free to view online. There’s actually some decent films, and I was VERY excited to see episodes of American Gothic and I will be staying up way too late for many nights to come, I’m sure.

Are you willing to sacrifice 10 friends from Facebook for a free Whopper? Well, let me tell you, this temptation has been plaguing me and keeping me awake at night for the last several nights. Damn you, Burger King! Damn you to hell!!

I think that’s enough to keep you busy. Don’t forget to drop some comment love on those you visit. They work hard at putting out quality content, and it’s only right to say thanks.

As a freelancer and budding entrepreneur, it’s a fact that you have to multi-task and wear a lot of different hats. The tasks you have to accomplish in one day resembles a juggling act of Olympic proportions. The flexibility required is enormous, and if you can’t adapt, you’re likely to pull great swatches of greying hair from your head. As you become more successful, you can outsource some of these necessary evils, but in the meantime, you’re the one in charge. Scary, isn’t it?

These are just some of the duties you’ll be undertaking in the Wild World of Freelancing:

• Accountant: You work for yourself now, bub. Ain’t nobody keeping track of your income and expenses for the dreaded year-end tax accounting; this is something you have to do for yourself. It’s your responsibility to document each and every penny coming in and going out. There are a lot of good software programs to help you with this, but you have to learn them. Plan on spending a good chunk of time learning what you need to maintain the program you choose, but get an early start. If you leave this to too late in the year (or horrors! the very end!) those hours will triple or more and you’ll regret it.
• Webmaster: Whether you like it or not, you have to have some familiarity with the tools of the trade. If you don’t have a blog or webpage of your services yet, you should. That means learning basic HTML coding, how to get around your chosen platform, trouble shooting, how to code links, not to mention the basics of buying and maintaining a domain, hosting, and probably a million other things I’m forgetting. The learning curve is high, but if you take it in small steps, not impossible. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, my friends. One bite at a time. Take advantage of help forums, friends with tech knowledge, and take notes! Again, you can outsource a lot of this work, but knowing what you need and what to ask for really helps in the long run.
• Social Networker: Networking is a huge part of the freelance career. You sure can’t exisit in a vacuum, and the face of freelancing (as in publishing in general, but that’s a subject for another post) is changing daily. The best way to keep up is to network with your fellow freelancers. This means becoming educated about social networking sites and how to connect. Don’t spread yourself too thin; you need to evaluate each social site to determine what is best suited to you, what you expect to get out of it, and how much it costs you in time to maintain. Not all social sites are equal, and if you’re not comfortable there, you won’t spend the time needed. What you’re looking for is quality, not quantity. It is of no value to have umpteen contacts if 80% of them are spammers or entities just looking for a number.

I just want to say on this subject that you get what you give. When I started my writing career and all along the way, I’ve  met some very giving, generous and supportive people. I have never forgotten that and I try my best to pay it forward. Like all karma, it eventually comes back to you. Build your reputation carefully; no spamming, no scamming, and no bullshitting. Word gets around quicker than you can blink if you act in anything but an honorable way. Keep that in mind. Help people along, be kind, be an asset to your community or you’re going to wake up someday with nothing to show for all your hard work but a bad taste in your mouth.

• News Hound: As mentioned above, the face of freelancing and publishing is changing daily. You have to stay informed and on the cutting edge; scour the news for impending trends and information needed by the public in general and clients in particular; whatever is new,  interesting,  and relevant. Your mind must be a sponge.
• Internet marketer: Although it’s probably one of the least favorite of all chores (besides the accountant thing, gah) a writer really must promote themselves. You can’t just sit back and wait for jobs, opportunities or your big break to come to you; you have to go looking for them and you have to make it easy for them to find you. They don’t know how to find you until you get yourself out there. Maybe not all, but many IM  principles will help launch your career to the next level.
• Blog reader (and commentor): Again, this relates to being a good participant in community. You can learn a great deal from reading the sites of others not only in your profession or area of expertise, but in a host of others. Don’t set the circle so close; it pays to read a variety of different blogs. Internet marketers, journalists, mommy bloggers, accountants, webmasters — all the hats  you need to wear. Pay attention and keep a notebook handy for the tips and information that really speaks to you and your particular niche. Leave a thank-you comment if the article or blog has helped you. These people work hard too, and if something they’ve provided has helped, it’s only polite to say thanks.

It’s quite a list, isn’t it? By no means is it complete, or I’d be here all night, and I don’t know about you, but I have some hats to wear. Don’t be intimidated — one bite at a time. To build and sustain a successful freelance career takes time and commitment (no, not to a looney bin, although that’s an option) so don’t expect overnight success. However, keep plugging away and don’t give up.

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” ~ Richard Bach.

It’s a big transition from working for someone else to working for yourself. Not everyone is cut out for it; it takes discipline and Mad Organizational Skillz. A freelancer doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for the muse to hit. We all know she’s a tricky wench, and she’ll take a hike when you have most need of her. If you think freelancing is easy or doesn’t take a lot of time, think again.

Plan your day, but before you do that, determine which part of the day is most productive for you. Are you a morning person? Do you write better in the afternoon, or are you a night owl? It may take some time for you to figure out just what kind of a schedule works, but it’s imperative to recognize your work habits and utilize them to your best advantage.

Make a list. Try to do this the night before, and not the morning you start. Make a list of projects that have deadlines; these take priority. It’s a nail in your professional coffin to miss a vital deadline; so of course, these tasks go on the top of the list. Next come the other eggs in your basket, be it a content site like Constant Content, Helium, or another passive stream of income. Even if you post one article a week, that’s 52 articles per year. Those articles will earn for you long after you’ve posted them, so they are important.

Following projects with a deadline and your passive stream, another important part of freelancing is looking for new work. You can decide if this is a daily project or not, but keep in mind nothing is forever and gigs come and go. Keeping an eye on what’s out there is crucial to maintaining a steady flow of work. Sign up for the free newsletters like at The Core Creative Group or Chasing The Muse; I’ve never received spam from either of them, and they are a great resource for job searching.

Next comes networking. You never know from where your next fabulous contact will emerge; hopefully you have a blog or website to promote yourself (if not, what are you waiting for?) because that’s part of the freelance world. It’s difficult to get work if no one knows where or who you are. Choose your contacts carefully. Use Twitter, Blog Catalog, Facebook, MySpace, Entrecard – the list of social networks is endless. Put your website address in your email signature. Reach out to other freelancers, interact with people – it’s true a lot of writers are introverts, and working from home can be lonely with no other adult interaction. We’re writers and we need human contact, otherwise, who are you writing for? Get involved, and give back to the writing community. I promise it will come back to you.

In between all of this, you must write, write, write. Need inspiration? Check out this post on blogging and SEO from Cute Writing for how pro bloggers work it, and tweak it out so it suits you. Again, interact with other people; find out what they need, what they’re talking about. Read current events, check out new gadgets, new sites, or even old ones…there’s a whole world of inspiration out there, but you have to get out there to see it.

Keep flexibility in mind when you plan your day. It won’t always go smoothly. Events and emergencies will happen, and flexibility is one of the main perks of a freelancing career. Don’t forget to schedule down time for yourself, time to take care of business and household chores, spending time with loved ones and just getting out of the house. Have some damned fun once in awhile! Don’t schedule yourself so tight that you feel strangled – that goes against the fun of freelancing.

First things first; one step at a time. Make a list, and go from there. Before you know it, you’ll have everything under some kind of control, and you’ll get more done than you thought you could.

Now, if I could only get twelve more hours added to the clock….heh!