Five Freelance Writing Mistakes That Can Do You In
If you’ve ever sought work on job boards like “Elance”, you might have noticed a strange phenomenon: there are people on those job boards pretending to be writers! And getting away with it!
Ok…we can’t stop clients from buying articles from providers who willingly charge $1 for 500 words. But there are plenty of things we can do to improve our own writing.
These five points are so obvious, they’ll make you cringe. But I’ve seen writers make these mistakes. Embarrassingly, I’ve actually made a few of them myself. They bear repeating.
1. Misspelling your own name
It happens. It’s just as bad when you misspell the customer’s or company’s names. Misspells send the message: “I’m sloppy. I lack attention to detail. I don’t care.”
2. Relying on SpellChecker
This handy tool is great, but not always. Use “too” instead of ‘to’ and spellchecker may not catch it. Miss a word that changes the entire meaning of the sentence and you might be in trouble. Spellchecker definitely won’t help you put together proper sentences. (Like this real headline: “Progress Slow in Beating Death.”) Little mistakes like these can add up and chase the customer away.
Not worried about losing one customer? How about the hundreds of potential referrals you might lose over the life of your career? There’s something to worry about.
3. The Use of Slang
Are you using slang without realizing it? Slang is part of our everyday culture, but slang is wrong for your client’s project. For example:
• They all agreed the movie was bad. (intense)
• The little town was the armpit of America. (undesirable)
• He was beat after working hard all day. (tired)
• She drove off the lot in a new Beemer. (BMW)
These slang terms are fine for a novel, but not appropriate for business writing.
4. The Beauty of Word Economy
“I think I’m qualified for this position because of the fact that I am able to write well.” Oy. Let’s apply a little word economy: “My advanced writing skills qualify me for this position.”
Dump phrases like “because of the fact”, “I am able to”, “in order to”, “in regards to”. Check, edit, check and edit again to ensure your document is tight. Get help from someone more experienced if necessary.
5. Sentences That Are So Long, the Reader Doesn’t Remember What You Were Talking About in the First Place, So They Just Skip Ahead to Something Else and, Before You Know It, You’re Scratching Your Head and Wondering Why Your Phone Isn’t Ringing.
Enough said.
Your thoughts?
11 Responses to “Five Freelance Writing Mistakes That Can Do You In”
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Nice post, Victoria!
When I read your title for it a couple times, I somehow thought, “Five Freelance Writing Mistakes That You Can Do In…” It actually took me the third time reading it to see the sequence of the words correctly as you have them: “Five Freelance Writing Mistakes That Can Do You In.” WOW! I guess this goes to show that, when I write, I typically don’t end a thought or sentence with a preposition!
Kennon
I really enjoyed this article. When I first started out, I had a lot to learn.
In my college composition class, they actually said that contractions were considered unprofessional. Considering that I’ve always used contractions, it made me very paranoid about my writing because the force of the habit is incredibly hard to resist! When I write, I try to make the words flow with a natural cadence, and occasionally do not simply doesn’t flow as well as ‘don’t.’
What are your thoughts on contractions?
Victoria,
I really had to laugh at your #5 because I copyedit weekly for a news-magazine columnist who does the super-long-sentence thing ALL THE TIME! Your long sentence didn’t even come *close* to what hers look like! You *truly* can’t tell by the end what she was intending to say at the beginning! They are often so convoluted. I think she just talks to herself as she writes, the way you’d talk to someone you were conversing casually with, and puts all her words down in the order they flow from her brain and mouth and never works to rearrange or tighten them! Drives me nuts!!
Thanks for your post! (I followed you here from the Writing and Editing Professionals Group on LinkedIn.)
Can I add one? In person (you know, that face to face thing we do from time to time!) I’ve heard people do more than one of these in one conversation!
Maybe they mis-remember my name, or say something “off color.” Perhaps they downplay (or overplay!) their experience…
Jodi (http://www.nomorenylons.com) talks about the three ways we market ourselves (in person, on line, in print) and all 5 of your keys above apply to all three of those scenarios!
Thanks, again, Victoria!
Thank you, Jason! I always appreciate your insights. And you are so right . To me, it just shows how awkward people can be. You know, many times I’ve introduced myself as Victoria and am immediately referred to as Vicki. Invariably, the person says something like, “Nice to meet you, Vicki. May I call you Vicki?” To which I always respond, with one eyebrow arched, “Only my mother calls me Vicki.”
Works every time!
Heidi, that is so funny! I was watching an old episode of West Wing. Rob Lowe was writing a speech, and some White House bigwig was looking over his shoulder, muttering approvals every few seconds. Then he leaned in and whispered in Lowe’s ear, “You are going to eventually use punctuation, right?” Even in the White House!
Brandon, the decision to use contractions relies mostly upon the style and tone of the piece. For dissertations or other academic writing styles, contractions are a no-no. For most business writing as well. Also, I believe contractions are not permissible when writing articles that will be posted in ezine directories.
However, in copywriting, one of the keys to success is writing in a way that sounds as if you’re having a cup of coffee with your reader…very personal, friendly, warm, non-clinical. Since most of us don’t speak conversationally as we might write academically, it would sound stilted to avoid contractions.
Which sentence sounds better to you?:
Susie, that is a very pretty dress you are wearing. Did it not once belong to your mother?
Susie, what a pretty dress! It used to belong to your Mom, right?
Sentence #2 is all wrong grammatically. But it’s how we talk.
Anyway, Brandon, use contractions wisely. You don’t want your document to end up sounding like a hip hop song! Simply write as you speak, then polish it up a bit. Regardless of whether you use contractions, always make sure your grammer, punctuation, etc. are perfect.
Hi Victoria, great post! (I found it on the LinkedIn Content Wrangler group).
Number #4 is my life! I believe people secretly equate their importance (or intelligence) with the number of words they put in a sentence. When it comes to business writing, you can achieve more with less.
Thanks again!
I agree Johanna. An economy of words is very necessary for succinct, compelling writing. Thanks for pointing this out! (And thanks for following me here from LI.)
Writing under the pressure of a deadline can get you focused or frustrated. If your focus is on finishing you may skip past the finer points of good writing to get the work done. If you are frustrated by a lack of focus you may tend to ramble and create a piece that is disjointed.
Years ago I took a course from a professional freelance article writer. This guy churned out articles by the hundreds, and was very much indemand by editors for both consumer and trade magazines.
In that course he stressed the need to write using consistent methods. Each time he started a new article he followed a formula. The essence of his formula was simply to follow a general outline.
In doing this it reduced the chances that he would get hung up in the middle of an assignment. Because he had a clear sense of the focus of his piece he could concentrate on the quality of the writing.
In addition he developed a style which was easy to read and easy to write. Short sentences and paragraphs with standard grammar and structure at about a grade 5 level. This he told is is the average reading level of most adults in North America.
This writer also kept to a writing schedule that helped ensure that he wrote while he was rested and mentally sharp. It helped him maintain a business like attitude to his writing. By writing in this way he also avoided writing in a panic.
Keeping himself on track and on time generally allowed him to edit and polish his work so he turned out pieces of a higher quality than if he’s just dashed them off.
Taking this course gave me a better of appreciation of writing as profession. It made me understand that writing can be an art, a craft and a business. He made me aware that, to write well, requires adopting certain practices and disciplines which are often not taught in schools.
If one is distracted by the rules of grammar getting ideas on paper can be arduous and the end result boring. On the the other hand, writing without a firm understanding of structure, grammar and spelling would be a disaster.
His advice to the class; understand the basics, write with focus and purpose, use a dictionary and a thesaurus. Write quickly without pretence and most of all practice.
Fantastic advice, Marvin! I think I know exactly the writer you mean
Thanks for sharing!