Writing

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

"I've always wanted to write, but I've never had the time." Sound familiar? Can writing really become a viable source of supplemental income in retirement, when you will have more time?
It might work for you if you can work it. If you love reading and writing and are willing to invest the time and disciplined effort needed to master the professional skills required.

Today opportunities to ‘get published’ are more available than ever before. Many online magazines offer opportunities. You can start your own blog or publish an eBook to sell online on your own or thru a vendor (iTunes for example.)

You could start writing now by becoming a regular contributor to the Letters to the Editor section of the local newspaper. Volunteer to become the publicity chairman of an organization or cause you are involved with. If they produce a newsletter, contribute to that. Save copies of all your published work, they will come in handy later when you are trying to impress an editor with your writing skills.

Then do the following:
1. Take a self-inventory of your current knowledge and interests. Determine the writing genre you wish to pursue. Do you want to write fiction -- mysteries, romance, fantasy, horror, children's stories? Or do you prefer non-fiction -- biography, magazine articles, newspaper columns, humor, how-to-do things you are expert on like raising tea roses?
2. Read and study examples by authors you wish to emulate. I heard of one lady determined to become a romance writer. She acquired 30 romances, read, analyzed and emulated their formula and now, after several years’ work, makes a good part-time income producing them herself. A man who analyzed the style of various how-to articles in a magazine, followed the pattern in writing his how-to article on building bird houses, and sold it to the same magazine.
2. Sign up for a creative writing class at your local college or adult education school. This will uncover your weaknesses and introduce you to those who share your interests. Then join or form a writing group.
3. Learn or polish your computer skills: keyboarding (touch typing), word processing and Internet researching techniques.
These skills will save you many hours and much postage, provide countless sources of free education in writing techniques, and help in finding markets for your work. Most editors accept queries and story submissions via e-mail.
4. Subscribe to several of the countless free newsletters for writers on the Internet. Start with www.writersweekly.com and go on from there. Each one will provide inspiration, markets, advice and links to still other helpful writing sources. Search Google for writing sites in your chosen genre.
5. Utilize your library, too. Make a friend of the reference librarian. Examine the current year's Writers Market in the reference section, and check out The Writer and Writers Digest from the magazine section.
Writing has its drawbacks. It is work. It is time consuming. You must be willing to forgo other activities, TV for example, to slave over a computer. The financial rewards are usually small. Your work is often rejected. The odds of creating a best seller, or even getting a book published, are akin to winning the lottery.
On the other hand, writing can become a part-time job that brings some monetary rewards and much satisfaction. It defies invalidism and motor or visual handicaps (there are special adaptive computer programs to assist), and old age. As long as you retain your wits, no editor cares how old a freelance writer is. You will be judged solely by your work. What more could you ask.