Important Message for 2007 Inkthinker Query Challenge Participants

www.inkthinkerblog.com

I just sent out an update to the folks I have registered on the mailing list for 2007 Inkthinker Query Challenge Participants. If you’ve accepted the query challenge but haven’t received the message by Wednesday morning, that means you’re not on my list. Please e-mail me right away so I can add you!

ALSO, if you find that you’re not on the list of participants, you need to let me know that, too.

The first random prize drawing will take place in March. If you’re a participant and you haven’t reported your totals for January and February (or just February if you started late), you won’t be eligible to win the prize. So, make sure you contact me right away if you missed the update message or if you’re not on the list of participants!

And last, but not least, if you have a success story from the challenge, please send it my way so we can celebrate with you.

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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5 Things I Learned Today

  1. (www.inkthinkerblog.com) The day after a major freak-out, you actually feel better and get stuff done.
  2. Sending invoices the day after a major freak-out isn’t actually that bad, especially when your client is awesome.
  3. Inkthinker readers rock the support like you wouldn’t believe.
  4. AIM Pro is fantastic for sending files to clients (assuming, of course, that they have AIM as well).
  5. Pickles cannot be trusted around fuzzy scarves.

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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A Note on Blowing Deadlines (or, how NOT to run your business)

www.inkthinkerblog.com

See all the blowing going on in that picture ? That doesn’t even compare to what went on last week when I completely blew my Thursday deadline. Consider this a post on what NOT to do, because I strongly advise against ever letting that happen.

First, I thought for some reason that the articles were due on Friday. I didn’t realize my error until my probably very confused contact had left the office for the day on Thursday. Awesome. But the thing is, I would have been late anyway, because I still had barely made any progress by the end of the day on Friday. In fact, I didn’t even finish until the end of the day TODAY. I don’t know what is wrong with me! I never move this slow, and when it comes to my business, I’m never this irresponsible (I have to admit, I do tend to let the laundry pile up at home).

I e-mailed my contact on Thursday night before I went to bed, after I sent two of the five articles that had been due that day, and let her know that (a) I was a moron, (b) I was sorry, and (c) I was trying to get the articles to her by COB Friday. No response. (And the Friday thing SO didn’t happen.) So of course I spent the whole weekend thinking, “Great, now she hates me, they’re so going to fire me, why am I such a dummy, etc., etc., etc.” And of course I continued to make no progress on the work. It was like pulling teeth.

Finally today I got them all in, but haven’t heard anything back. I’ve never returned anything to them LATE before, so I’m just dreading the response when she comes back in tomorrow and is ready to, gulp, deal with me. For the first time ever, I’m afraid to send my invoice. I’ve never been afraid to send my invoice before. I can’t tell if it’s me overreacting and projecting or me channeling the client…

In the scheme of things, it’s really not that big a deal. No one died. The building didn’t burn down. The press didn’t explode. I doubt it even made a dent in the production schedule since my stuff seldom gets processed until a week or so after I get it in. But I’m still freaking out. Rest assured, THAT will never happen again. This is the worst feeling! Don’t do it.

Save yourselves.

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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Best Unsolicited Mail Ever

www.inkthinkerblog.com

Time to ‘fess up, y’all. Who signed me up for Artificial Retina News, produced by the Artificial Retina Project?

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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Writers Work Together to Challenge One Another:Professional and Beginning Writers Face Off to Market their Businesses and Help Each Other Succeed

www.inkthinkerblog.com 

The Working Writer’s Coach is at it again. After issuing and facilitating a 40-article challenge to several freelance writers in the last quarter of 2006, Suzanne Lieurance has partnered in a strategic alliance with freelancer writer-editor Kristen King for a New Year’s Article Challenge.

Twenty-five writers have accepted the challenge and are competing for the finish line to reach the goal of writing 30 articles between February 1 and March 31, 2007.

Participants come from all over the world. So far, writers from across the USA, Canada, and even Australia have become part of those to accept the challenge. Some are professional freelance writers who have taken the challenge in spite of their schedules being filled with paying clients. Others are newbies who are writing for article directories for the first time.

Several writers have set up their own blogs and are on their way to becoming successful freelance writers as a result of the challenge. Kate Garvey has already written 10 articles and sent her first query letter to a magazine. Hal Manogue, author of ShortSleeves, started a blog for his poetry and has written more than ten articles for the article directory.

Lieurance and King know the marketing power and benefit of writing for free article directories. “It’s all about the resource box. If you have a good resource box that invites people to visit your Web site or blog, you become more visible not only to prospective clients, but also on search engines’ radar screens,” says Lieurance who currently has 63 articles posted at ezinearticles.com.

King has three articles at EzineArticles.com and is plugging away at building up her article marketing portfolio. “The article challenge is exciting for me because article marketing is something I’ve always wanted to do,” says King. “By teaming up with Suzanne and going through the process for the first time with the other participants, I’m hoping to show them that even if you’re not old hat at the articles marketing thing, you can still succeed and prosper because of it.”

Yvonne Perry, the winner of last year’s competition wrote 44 articles in less than three weeks. “I find this challenge is not only a lot of fun, but a great way to get more clicks to my Web site and more links from other sites to my blog,” Perry says. “I could win this challenge, but for me it’s more about seeing other writers succeed by making an effort they wouldn’t have made otherwise.”

To spark the competitive spirit of these writers, a progress report is given in weekly updates to everyone in the challenge as well as to those on King and Lieurance’s subscriber lists.

In order to boost the number of views the articles receive, the writers participating in the challenge “rank” and comment on one another’s articles at ezinearticles.com. Lieurance and King also offer a free 21-day mini-course called Tips for Effective Article Marketing to help writers complete the challenge. Anyone can subscribe to the mini-course at http://www.the-working-writers-coach.blogspot.com/ or http://www.inkthinker.blogspot.com/.

After the 2006 challenge, the writers who participated compiled an eBook of articles they wrote during the contest. Each writer is using that ebook as a marketing tool and as a gift to subscribers of his/her newsletter.

You have to wonder if this challenge is really a competition or collaboration. It’s intended to be both. For more information or to be notified of the next challenge date, please contact Kristen King or Suzanne Lieurance.

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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