www.inkthinkerblog.com — Patricia says…

I’m in the process of developing my business web site and YEEHAW! as a result of one of my first queries this month, I’ve been hired to revamp and write a blog for a local entrepreneur. I’m excited to put to use all that I’ve been learning about business/professional blogging. The query challenge kicked me in the seat of the pants and I’m excited to have two jobs and two nibbles out of my first, albeit most promising, queries.

I’m just developing my freelance business after retireing from teaching college English for 25 years. This is a personal rather than a business blog and my webpage is still in the design stage. But it seemed smart to accept the Query Challenge as a mean to get the ball rolling. As these post relates, there were a few missing steps in my business development or to use a cliche: I put the cart before the horse by sending out the first three queries, but I’m not sorry. Thanks for kindly shove to get going. I have my next three queires lined up and ready to send out on Monday

Woohoo! Patricia posted about her exciting query successes at her Twilight Me blog. Check it out!

Do you have a success story to share? E-mail Kristen!

Tags: freelance writing, freelance writing blog, inkthinker query challenge, query challenge success story, inspiration for writers, query letters, patricia harrelson, inkthinker, kristen king

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — I owe you some major posting, but I wanted to toss this out while it’s still relevant!

I was recently interviewed by networking expert and speaking partner Gabe Goldberg for an article on, you guessed it, networking. It appears on the front page of today’s Washington Post Jobs section, and can be found online right here.

Gabe and I will be speaking on networking in at the DC chapter of 40plus on Monday, January 28, 2008. Here’s the info.

Tags: kristen king, gabe goldberg, networking, 40plus, washington post, freelance writing

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Part of my plan to make $100,000 in 2008 is to work more efficiently. I waste a lot of time each day by jumping around from project to project. I call it “multitasking,” but let’s call a spade a spade: I’m procrastinating.

In an effort to be more aware of “where the time goes,” which I wonder every day around 5 p.m. as I look at my barely dented to-do list, I’ve downloaded a handy-dandy piece of time-tracking software, imaginatively called Time Tracker.

The idea originally came to me from Anne Wayman, freelance writer extraordinare and host of both The Golden Pencil and About Freelance Writing, who posted about tracking your time in March 2006 and also during her 31 days to better freelance writing this past summer.

I must confess, it’s taking some getting used to. For instance, I forgot to turn it on to see how long I’ve spent on Inkthinker tonight. But so far I’ve been doing well with it, especially for daily work like the many resumes I write.

Knowing the timer is running keeps me focused, particularly as I try to beat my time for various tasks. It’s like a little game! But I need to be more consistent with it and make starting the clock as much a part of working as opening a Word document.

Once I know how much time I’m actually putting in each day, I can work on streamlining it. My goal? Four hours of actual and one hour each of marketing and bookkeeping each day, with the rest of the day open for my projects or just living life. And by the end of this year, I want to be there. Let’s see how it goes…

Resources for tracking your time:

• The PC Timer
• SimpleTaskTimer
• ActiveTimer
• actiTIME

There are lots of others, of course. Search for your platform (ie, PC or Mac) plus “time tracking software” or something similar and poke around to see what feels right to you. With so many free options available, I don’t recommend spending money on this (even thought it would be a writeoff).

How do you keep track of your hours? Leave a comment!

Tags: freelance writing, time management, time tracker, time tracking software

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — The Challenge officially launched on Monday, but because of my ongoing intermittent Internet problems, I haven’t been able to do an official WOO-HOO post about it. So since I already missed the WOO-HOO moment, here’s an update of where were are right now:

• We have 56 officially registered participants so far.
• Due to popular demand, I have expanded the registration form to include optional fields for folks to share their URL and get some extra traffic as a result of participating in the Challenge. Once I get responses from the folks already signed up, I’ll post the list.
• The rules and regulations are here. I have added clarifications based on last year’s frequently asked questions.

Now, get to work! Send those queries. And if you’re not signed up yet, what are you waiting for? The form is right at the top of the page.

Tags: freelance writing, queries, inkthinker query challenge, kristen king

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King