CFWN’s Top Tools & Tips (continued)

a collaboration by EPA freelancers

If you missed it, click here to see Part 1.

What are your favorite tools or resources as a freelance writer?

Lori Arnold: Otter AI transcription service has cut my transcription time by at least half. It’s pretty accurate for a multi-voice recognition system. You can also search keywords in the transcript. They offer a free basic package for individuals just starting out.

Akosua Frempong: My favorite tip came from Joyce Ellis during one of the EPA Freelancer Zoom calls and was  confirmed during another meeting by Jeff Friend. Joyce mentioned the Christian Writers’ Market Guide. I decided to subscribe to it and, through it, I got my first professional break in Christian freelance writing, writing for Peer! The guide provides essential information on the publications, including pay and, as Jeff mentioned, tips on how to get the editors’ attention. For me, as a freelance journalist and more specifically a Christian one, it’s been a beneficial tool.  

Stephen Clark: After trying and rejecting several journaling tools, I stumbled onto The Journal by DavidRM Software. This software offers much more than just journaling and is loaded with useful features that are intuitive and easy to use. You can create unlimited dated journals that allow you to create one entry per day. You can also create undated loose-leaf notebooks where each entry is just like adding a page to a binder. The notebook feature is great for organizing projects. For example, you can create a notebook titled “Articles” with each entry an article in progress. Navigating the journals and notebooks is very easy by way of tabs and file trees. You can rename the tabs at any time. Each notebook and journal can be set up with their own default font, color scheme, and passwords. Entries use formatting features similar to what you will find in Word as well as spell check, thesaurus, and auto-replace. You can cut and paste or insert text and graphics from other sources. You can search a single notebook or every journal and notebook for a word or phrase, and you can export the text (individual entries or batches) as RTF files.

Ann-Margret Hovsepian: These are my top three suggestions:

1. The Print Friendly browser extension button is the best and fastest way to print out (or save as a PDF) a web page in a readable format. You can click on any images or text you don’t want in your print-out.

2. The “Save” feature of Facebook is something I use a lot. If I see a link, quote, or idea that I want to hang on to for a future project, or just for my personal use, I save it. You can create “Collections” to organize the posts into categories.

3. I highly recommend signing up for Jane Friedman’s Electric Speed newsletter, which features helpful tools and resources and is sent out twice a month.

What is the best advice you would give other freelancer writers?

Jeff Friend: Never, never, never miss a deadline.

Ann Byle: I’ve learned these things along the Freelance Way:

1. Walk through the doors God opens. Whether the project works out or not, the exercise of moving forward without fear (or with a little bit of fear) is worth the effort.

2. Trust the process. We want the right lede, the right ending, the best story RIGHT NOW, but sometimes it takes a bit for those things to come. But they will come if you do your research, give yourself time to think, and relax. This also applies to starting a freelance writing career; you have to do your due diligence—put in the time and effort—to get started. 

3. Don’t hold things too tightly. Which is to say, your stories will be edited and the projects will go to someone else. Disappointing at times, but it’s part of the gig. 

Ann-Margret Hovsepian: Check out the five tips I shared last summer in this post: Freelancing 101. Also, here is my list of 4 Essential Qualities for Writers.

CFWN’s Top Tools & Tips

a collaboration by EPA freelancers

After a little break, we’re back! We asked several associate members of the Evangelical Press Association, some of whom are on our team of blog contributors, to share their best tips for successful freelancing. We got such great responses, we’re sharing the wealth in two separate posts. Here’s the first part, which is all about getting organized.

How do you keep track of deadlines and juggle multiple projects at the same time?

Randy Petersen: I have a calendar on my wall for deadlines and meetings. And I make a list every morning of my work for that day. I try to break big deadlines into shorter ones (e.g. one-third of the project by April 1.)

Ann-Margret Hovsepian: I use a large hard-bound spiral agenda (sorry, that’s Canadian for “planner”) with two-page monthly and weekly spreads and write down every deadline and task, adding sticky-notes in bright colors for anything I want to make sure I don’t forget. I’ve also been using Google Calendar to immediately block in appointments and meetings. I like that I can quickly access it on my phone to make sure I don’t double-book, and that I can use different colors for different types of commitments (e.g. red for professional meetings, dark blue for medical appointments, etc.)

Stephen Clark: There are three things I’ve used for years to manage my work:

1. Simple wall calendars. I always have two hanging side by side show the current month and the next month.

2. A small notebook. I make lists, write down ideas, take notes at meetings, and basically keep everything in the notebooks.

3. Technology. I use Google Calendar on the phone to manage deadlines and stay in synch with other devices.

How do you organize your ideas (and material) for future projects?

Stephen Clark: I always carry 3 x 5 cards to jot notes and collect them to scan later. Using the The Journal by DavidRM Software, I create tabs and files and add notes from time to time on various topics, and even paste in URLs to articles and other sources. And there’s always tabbed manila files neatly labelled and stored away in a file cabinet. I have sometimes maintained several files, each on a different topic, to collect clippings and notes on specific topics to pull from later. I’ve also kept one folder just for stuff that I found interesting. When I needed a fresh idea, I’d pull out this folder and just browse through it.

Ann-Margret Hovsepian: I used Evernote for a while and it’s got great features for organizing notes and saving online information (whether it’s an entire web page or just the bit you’ve highlighted on that page), with the ability to use keyword tags and much more. . . but I eventually felt overwhelmed by the task of creating folders and coming up with keywords and keeping everything organized, not to mention remembering to refer back to my notes. I find it much easier to keep a basket with colorful labeled file folders next to my desk and throwing bits of paper in there that I don’t have to hunt around for when I need them. (I’m intrigued by Stephen’s suggestion, though, and will be checking it out!)

How do you deal with information overload / digital clutter?

Randy Petersen: In research, I try not to find more than I need.When beginning a project, I may do a lot of background reading to learn about the subject. From that, I’ll develop my structure for the piece. Then I’ll have a sense of how many quotes I might need, and I find them. There’s considerable flexibility in this. Sometimes I find a quote that’s so good, it forces me to change my outline.

Stephen Clark: Ignore it. It will always be there. I use what I need and walk away from the rest. If it’s something on the internet, I can Google it later if I need it. If I can’t find a specific article or other piece of information I once read, I can always find newer resources that serve just as well. Even on my PC, it’s easy to search on files using remembered keywords and phrases. I’ll squirrel stuff away in various folders and then ignore it until I need it.

Watch for Part 2 on November 15. We’ll be telling you about our favourite tools and resources, as well as our best tips for freelancing.

2021 Christmas Gift Guide

For those of you starting to panic because Christmas is just a few weeks away and you don’t have all your shopping done yet, here’s some help. Three of our CFWN team members have compiled a list of great books to check out, including one each of their own. We hope at least a couple of these will end up in your shopping cart—whether as gifts for loved ones or a treat for yourself!

Books We Loved

Stephen: For me a favorite book is memorable, leaving a deep impression. Both content and the quality of writing are important. A Carnival of Losses: Notes on Nearing Ninety by Donald Hall checks all the boxes. It’s a companion to his book Essays After Eighty. Hall was a poet, but in his later years poetry did not come easily to him, so he pivoted to the essay. His essays are poignant and the writing is lyrical. As a writer, you will be exposed to the topic of aging from a unique perspective, and you will experience stunningly good writing.

Randy: This year I got hooked on a series of murder mysteries by my friend John Duckworth. Some of you may know him from his years as an editor at Focus on the Family and David C. Cook. He has always been the funniest person on the planet, and now he has brought his misanthropic wit to a new genre. In Murder Most Annoying, his crime-solver is Carolyn Neville, a book editor who has a knack for getting in the middle of murder investigations. She struggles with her faith, her weight, and her attitude. But with a quirky sidekick (a junior editor), a vain boss, and an assortment of suspects, she always gets to the truth.

Ann-Margret: Sometimes I buy books that interest me and then they sit on a shelf for years. One book that took me a long time to finally pick up was Jesus—Safe, Tender, Extreme by Adrian Plass. As I read it, I knew that I was reading it just when I needed to. It’s a beautiful, poignant, intimate book about knowing Jesus. Plass shares with honesty and humor his own imperfect journey of faith, which is so much more effective than an expertly crafted sermon.

Books for Writers

Stephen: There are endless books on the craft of writing. Most of us probably own the better ones. But there’s one you may have missed since it has “Catholic” in the title and focuses on that least favored genre, poetry. It’s The Catholic Writer Today & Other Essays by Dana Giaoa, a poet, critic, and essayist. He’s best known for his 1991 Atlantic Monthly essay “Can Poetry Matter?” In this book he writes about beauty, faith, art, and writing as worship. You will encounter fascinating bios of a handful of poets and others, and learn about the craft of poetry as you learn of their lives. A favorite quote is, “We necessarily bring the whole of our hairy and heavy humanity to worship.” Isn’t the same true for writers and their writing?

Randy: A deep-thinking Christian, Martin Schleske is a best-selling author in Germany, and his prose translates splendidly into English. He’s also a professional violin maker. Luthier is the proper term for that—one of many things I’ve learned in his book The Sound of Life’s Unspeakable Beauty. Schleske takes us to a forest where he finds the ideal wood for a new instrument. He describes the painstaking process of carving, treating, and assembling the wood into a violin that’s beautiful to see and hear. He weaves in personal stories as well. And all along the way, he finds spiritual insights in his work. Deservedly, this book was honored in Christianity Today’s Book of the Year Awards. Besides its unique subject and profound observations, the book is a lovely artifact, beautifully designed and printed. Artistic thoughts about the artistic creation of an artistic instrument, presented in an artistic form. A great gift for a creative writer you know.

Ann-Margret: I’m an illustrator as well as a writer, and I have many other creative hobbies. I suspect most writers express their creativity in more than one way, whether that’s through music, photography, sewing, woodworking, or some other craft. A Book That Takes Its Time: An Unhurried Adventure in Creative Mindfulness by Irene Smit and Astrid van der Hulst, the editors of Flow magazine, is the perfect gift for the creative person on your gift list. It’s packed with interesting insights, cheerful art in full color, pull-out activities, and more.

Books by Us

Stephen: Fading is my third and best collection of poetry. A memoir of sorts, the style is in the vein of Billy Collins and Luci Shaw with a dash of Rod McKuen’s best stuff. One reviewer wrote, “Imbued with the wisdom and patience of age, [this] is a tender reflection on the strange wonders and sadness of life. Overall, the emotional breadth of these poems is impressive.” Another said, “The mix of whimsical and profound subjects causes the reader to be amused some times and to be provoked other times.” I promise you will laugh, you will cry, you will understand every poem, and see yourself in many.

Randy: The One Year Book of Women in Christian History (with Robin Shreeves). Have you ever written a year-long, page-a-day book? Writing 365 of anything is a challenge. Add historical research and the need for a devotional touch, and—let’s just say we earned every penny on this one. And I’m biased, but I think it’s good. Here you’ll meet hundreds of women who changed the history of the church and the world. You’ll read their stories, within the context of their times, and you’ll note how God has worked with all sorts of people—and still does. I’m tempted to say this is a great gift for any Christian woman, but I believe men benefit from it, too. I know I have. And we tried hard to avoid churchy language, so I imagine a non-Christian history buff would learn a lot as well.

Ann-Margret: Having the opportunity to illustrate and write a devotional coloring book, possibly the first book on the market to combine those two genres, was a surprise in itself. Having it then sit on the Christian bestsellers list for three consecutive months confirmed for me that Restore My Soul: A Coloring Book Devotional Journey makes an excellent gift for just about anyone. Forty devotions are accompanied by detailed full-page illustrations that readers can color in while meditating on the text.

If you buy any of these books, please remember to write reviews for the authors, especially if you liked the books!