Touring the Blogosphere, Jennifer Greenleaf takes a few moments to share her success secrets with Writer’s Round-About. This weekend she’s doing a special promotion.

How can you take part? “Each book has its own custom bookplate designed and signed by Jennifer Greenleaf. All customers have to do is forward their receipt to Jennifer once the purchase has been made, and then they will receive their signed bookplate. The email you need to use in order to receive your custom bookplate is jgbooksigning@aol.com“. So get yourself the book or books of your choice and get in touch with Jennifer. Meanwhile, enjoy a few words from Jennifer about making success happen.

Even though I’ve been writing professionally since 1999, I still feel I’m very wet behind the ears when it comes to career building. When I first started out, I felt I needed to depend on others in order to find success and make things happen. Here are a couple of areas where I went wrong:

• I thought if my target market approached me for work, I was successful. WRONG.
• I thought if I got my name “out there,” that would be all I had to do to obtain writing gigs and clients. WRONG.

Not only was I depending on people to contact me, but I was also depending on other people (like the places where I was published, for example) to get my name out there. Despite being a motivated self-starter, I wasn’t “making it happen.” It took me about three years to realize these mistakes, and I’ve been working on “in your face” type promotions for my freelance writing and books.

There are a number of ways YOU can make it happen. Here are a few:

1. Query often: querying has to be part of your regular routine if you want your freelance writing career to really work. This is, of course, unless you have already created a good stable of steady work. For those who are novice in the field, it’s essential to make this a fixture in your work schedule.
2. Blog regularly: Google is a tool your prospective gigs, clients, and editors will use to find out more about you. This is true even if you’ve already landed the job. If you’re blogging regularly about a topic your passionate about or your career, they’re able to see a consistent stream of writing samples regularly. They’ll also learn a bit about your style, maybe learn about some of your goals, and probably figure out what your favorite kind of ice cream is…wait…never mind….
3. Be reliable: if for some reason you’re unable to make a deadline, be known for good communication. Don’t be unreliable; otherwise you’ll quickly earn yourself a bad reputation. You’d be surprised who knows whom in which circles and, before you know it, you’ve earned yourself a bad name. I learned a trick when I was first starting out to write “dummy” deadlines on my calendar that was a few days prior to the real one. That way, I’m always early or right on time!

This is a New Year and good opportunity to dream big, and make your career exactly what you envision it to be. Follow other writers who are making it happen, learn the ropes of the business from writing websites (like this one, for example), and be realistic about what you can accomplish and when. You can make it happen!

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I would love to introduce you all to Jenny Greenleaf, a talented freelance writer and artist. She shares her writing knowledge and experience with us on her fabulous blog, Jenny Greenleaf: Working Writer. Please leave a comment after you read her brilliant post to welcome her as a guest poster at The Writer’s Round-About, and offer your own thoughts on the fabulous mantra, “Learn it, Live it, Write it!”.

This simple motto has been part of my mantra for nearly a decade, but it wasn’t until 2007 that I started vocalizing it regularly. The power of words is an amazing thing, but I didn’t realize this until I started really talking things up.

What I mean by talking things up is another simple thing: career talk. I took two different turns in 2007 that have had a very positive impact on my career as a result:

1. I started participating actively in a group through AbsoluteWrite.com called JHS. Networking, talking about the positives, wading through the negatives, and other career talk has kept my drive at a very healthy level.
2. I started blogging considerably at Jenny Greenleaf: Working Writer about my career, as well as offering resources to other artists and writers.

What did I find? I found the more I talked about writing and career, the more I wanted to write and build my career. I found that the more I delivered resources to others, the more I wanted to learn.

So, in a sense, for the first time I have been bringing my mantra to life . . . . I have been learning it, I have been living it, and (today is a good example) I have been writing it. The omission of negative self-talk has also played an integral (and positive) role throughout this career building effort, as well. I find that I can learn it, live it, and write it better when I’m positive about what I’m doing.

What are my future goals? There are many . . .

I’ve found something else very interesting unfolding in front of me lately, as well. Opportunities for the niche I’ve been interested in writing for over the past several years are popping up like blossoming flowers blooming in a field. It may be that I haven’t noticed them before because I kept my sites shrouded by negativity (an easy thing to do when too much focus is place in the wrong area). So, I’m going to be embracing these opportunities.

I have more plans for books, as well. As soon as I finish the one I’m working on now, I have three additional proposals to finish. Blogging throughout the process will not only help me achieve those goals, but I’m hoping it’ll help other writers do the same. I have three separate publishers waiting for these proposals, so I’m hoping this niche will continue to unfold as it has been.

Now, ask yourself these questions:

• What turn can you take to re-awaken your snoozing career?
• What can you do to propel your career in the direction it wants to go?
• If you feel you’re in a rut, what can you do to either dig yourself out or shake yourself up?
• Are you working on projects that have become stale?
• Do you need to find a new niche?

Think about it, talk about it, reach out to social networks, and then write it all out (in a paper journal, in a blog, in a forum, or anywhere else you feel comfortable). Then, you will also be learning it, living it and writing it!

Join the conversation and share your comments on Learn it, Live it, Write it!. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

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