A.L. Woods has been working as a freelance commercial writer since 1989. She is an author, editor, and lover of all things tech. When asked about her writing mantra, she states, "Building my own little corner of the world one word at a time."

Her writing interests include technology, health and fitness, medical, religion and spirituality, cars, Jeeps, Internet, digital and social media, and lifestyle.


Twitter: @writerangela
Pinterest: writerangela

"Wordsmithing is the spice of life." ~A.L. Woods

by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

Some people like to create plans and lists when it comes to the tasks related to web writing. While it may work for some, it actually hinders my personal writing process. Ditching plans and lists helps me get more done for many reasons.

Too much planning takes too much time. Most web writers who do this full time know that time is money. The longer you take to get each project or assignment done, the less you are making when calculated by the hour. Even if you’re not getting paid hourly, you should still calculate how much you will earn in an hour to determine which work is worth your time. The longer you take to plan, the less time you have to do the actual work. Some planning may be necessary but I find that for me it’s better to just do it.

Lists can be an unnecessary extra step. Since time can be of the essence, I like to get my work done as quickly as possible. This means that lists are often an unnecessary extra step. I already know what assignments I need to do. Taking time to make lists takes time away from the writing, research, editing, and other more important tasks that help me create quality work. I get the work done much faster if I skip writing a list of it and just dive right in. While lists may help some people stay organized, I’m better off skipping them and saving some time.

Organized email inboxes can create an automatic list and plan. By keeping my email inboxes sorted a certain way, lists and plans are obsolete.  My email inbox consists of folders for each client, folders for new/incomplete orders, folders for completed work, and so on. There is a folder for each instance that may come up. I also have filters that automatically sort incoming emails and the emails from my several email addresses all get auto-forwarded to one Yahoo! Mail Plus inbox. What’s not auto-sorted can easily be dragged into the correct folder when appropriate. Because my inbox is so elaborately maintained, creating extra plans and lists would be a waste of time. I can just look in my inbox if I forget what I need to do next.

Quality work is what’s most important. Lists and plans are very low on the importance list when it comes to the work I provide for clients. The more time that’s wasted on planning and listing things, the less time I can spend on producing standout material. Most likely, clients will care less about how I planned the work than they will about what the finished material is like. I’m not saying that thought shouldn’t be put into the work. However, writing out a bunch of plans is generally unnecessary for me and can be a time suck. Just jumping right into the actual work has always been more effective for me. This way, I can spend more time creating and refining my web writing projects.

Keep in mind that everyone is different and what works for me may not work for another web writer. Do you ditch the planning and lists or do you need them in order to produce quality web content?

*Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi

**I originally published this on Bubblews.com (no longer published there).

by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

All web writers should have at least two locations (if not more) where their work is saved. Your content can be repurposed. You might also need to reference it for a previous client in the future. Even if you never reuse your content, it’s always a good idea to have a back-up copy of everything. This can be used to prove you are the author, as writing samples for future work, and more. In my opinion, no writer should ever submit their content without having their own copy first. In fact, your content should be written and saved on your own device, then copied for the applicable submission process.

Use a Flash Drive

A flash drive is one of the most common ways to store written content. They’re small and can store a large number of files. Written content doesn’t take up as much space as pictures, video, and certain other file types. Flash drives are also easy to add files to, as it’s just drag and drop on most systems and the drive is easily recognized by plug and play technology via the USB port.

Upload Your Work to Your Smartphone

Depending on the type of phone you have and the amount of storage available, your phone can easily become a storage device. My current phone has 16GB of storage space. Even though I have a good number of apps installed that I use for business and personal reasons, this still leaves a large amount of storage space. Therefore, I often save my work to my phone as a back-up storage method. Some files aren’t compatible without downloading a new app. However, the phone will store non-compatible files as well that can easily be transferred to another device.

Use Cloud Storage

Cloud (online) storage is another popular way to save your web content. There are various cloud storage services, online file sharing sites, and online document storage and reading venues. Which one works best for each person will vary. Some of these are similar to a flash drive and may even be referred to as an online storage or flash drive. Some of them are drag and drop, while others require a single or multiple upload.

Save Your Content on Two Computers

If you have more than one system, saving your web writing on at least two can help prevent future data loss if something should happen to one of your machines. Have you ever lost content due to an error or other issue with your computer? Most of us can say yes to that question. Saving your work on multiple systems helps secure your work in such an event.

Use a Portable Hard Drive

This is getting be an outdated way to save files, since technology is advancing. However, if you don’t have any of the above options or just want an extra place to store all of your writing, this method still works well. The nice thing about a portable hard drive is that even though it is big, it is compatible with multiple systems. Most of them are plug and play via your system’s USB port.

*I originally published this elsewhere (no longer published there).

A.L. Woods has been working as a freelance commercial writer since 1989. She is an author, editor, and lover of all things tech. When asked about her writing mantra, she states, "Building my own little corner of the world one word at a time."

Her writing interests include technology, health and fitness, medical, religion and spirituality, cars, Jeeps, Internet, digital and social media, and lifestyle.

Twitter: @writerangela
Pinterest: writerangela

"Wordsmithing is the spice of life." ~A.L. Woods

"Followed. Follow back, please." I and other fellow writers are probably just as sick of hearing those words as you are of typing them. Seriously. It's time for a new strategy because all that one does is make me NOT connect with you. Harsh? Possibly. Necessary? Yes.

Don't Make Demands or Expectations
If I see words of expectations or demands in comments on my profile or content, I ignore those users. To me, if you are the type of person that expects or demands things from people, you aren't my kind of people. Therefore, there's no need to check out your work. You'll have much better luck by leaving comments on my work or that of someone I read. I thoroughly enjoy seeking out and connecting with new members. However, if I am expected to or someone tries to force me to, it'll never happen.

Do Show Me Your Awesomeness
If you want me to check out your work, give me a good reason to instead of demanding or expecting that I follow back. Write good content that people will want to check out. The thing is, I am not going to connect with you just because you connected with me. That would be too many notifications to handle in a day, not to mention the fact that some would likely be spammers. No thanks. I connect back when I like the content or the person behind the content -- or both. Show me I should connect with you simply by doing what we writers do best.

Don't Connect With Me Just So I'll Do The Same
It's very obvious when people do this. Unless you actually have the intention of reading my work and aren't just seeking a follow back, don't bother connecting with me. A connection is worth nothing if you never intend to read the content posted by that member. I repeat, if you are only hitting that follow button just to see if I'll do the same, go away. Please. Umm, now. On the other hand, if you actually want to read my work, I'd love to have you around, of course. Just don't ever ask me to follow back. If you're any good, I'll likely do so naturally without the demand.

Just be you.
This goes back to showing me your awesomeness. I don't want to see you using techniques to get a reciprocal follow from me. I just want to see you. The uniqueness of each writer is what gets me to connect with them. A connect back request will prevent me from seeing that awesomeness because from that point on, you are invisible to me. But unique content, thoughtful comments, and a respectful attitude toward fellow members is very likely to win me over. Just be you and I just might connect back.

*I originally published this elsewhere (no longer published there).