Photo by skynesher on iStock By Elaine Klonicki Triangle Association of Freelancers, Inc. (TAF) is proud to announce Write Now! 2024, TAF’s 14th freelance writers conference on April 27. The annual spring writing symposium will be held at the McKimmon Conference & Training Center at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. This year’s offerings include something for everyone, and not one but two keynotes! AMY JONES is the editor-in-chief for Writer’s Digest. Prior to [...]
Photo by Nina Strehl on Unsplash By Elaine Klonicki, www.TheAuthenticLane.com Happy Freelance Writers Appreciation Week! Recently we had an interesting thread going on in our TAF Google group about some of the benefits of freelancing. In particular, the ways in which it allows us to do meaningful work, often by highlighting the good others are doing in our communities. Whether it’s a straight nonfiction article or blog, or a profile of a person or organization, we are writing [...]
“So good you’ll be tempted to leave everything and jump into writing fulltime.”~Ana Shapkaliska, Cary “The energy in a room full of writers and book people is exhilarating!”~Arlene S. Bice, South Hill, Virginia “Every year I come away inspired and more knowledgeable about my craft.”~Mandy Howard, Raleigh These are some of the comments from previous Write Now! attendees. If you’ve ever thought about attending a conference to meet other writers and learn more [...]
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash The Case for Being a Plotterby Deanna Martinez-Bey I went back and forth with what I wanted to title this blog post. Unfortunately, Plotter vs. Pantser has been used to oblivion. But, in reality, that is what we will discuss. Let's start this subject off with a bang and look at the difference between a plotter and a pantser. Plotter: A writer who plans out their story before they begin writing. Pantser: A writer who prefers writing by the seat of[...]
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash By Don Vaughan and Maya Spikes A message from TAF Founder Don Vaughan: Every year, the President reports on the State of the Union. With 2021 in the rear-view mirror, we wanted to do the same regarding Triangle Association of Freelancers. Despite the pandemic, 2021 was a very good year for TAF. Our membership continued to grow, and we now have nearly 170 registered members. Pivoting to Zoom for our monthly meetings and TAF Talks allowed members from[...]
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash By Maya Spikes, http://mayaspikes.com/ So, this year has been ... different. There probably aren’t many people rushing to take a look back at this crazy year. I get that. But our group, Triangle Association of Freelancers (TAF), had some great moments in 2020 despite dealing with a global pandemic, a crazy election, and drastic changes to our daily routines. I wanted to share with you some of TAF’s highlights for 2020, as we approach the [...]
MAKE MONEY OFF SPECIAL EVENTS Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash By Don Vaughan, http://www.donaldvaughan.com/ Over the years, I have received numerous assignments from magazines large and small pegged on special anniversaries. They’re fun to research and write, and can be quite lucrative. The key is to uncover events that other writers may not be privy to, and have something fresh to say about them. Here are additional tips to help you cash in on your calendar: Know what’s [...]
Photo by Egor Lyfar on Unsplash By Elaine Klonicki, www.TheAuthenticLane.com I don’t know a single writer who doesn’t have a lot of ideas. It’s one of the reasons I love hanging out with people in Triangle Association of Freelancers—there’s never any shortage of topics to discuss. Having such diverse interests, we learn all kinds of weird and kooky facts from each other. Although each of us has a particular focus or two for our own writing, we’re generally curious people, [...]
Photo by Wade Austin Ellis on Unsplash By Edward Wills, https://www.clippings.me/wordmonarch Rebooting myself as a writer has been an adventure. After a career in journalism in the 1970s and 1980s, I questioned whether I still had the skills? Was my voice still relevant? Would anyone buy what I wrote? It has been nearly 40 years—and several careers—since I earned my last regular paycheck as a reporter (The South Bend Tribune, The Toledo Blade and The Indianapolis Star) or [...]
By Don Vaughan, http://www.donaldvaughan.com/ I have written professionally for 43 years, almost all of it nonfiction. Though I love fiction and dreamed of trying my hand at it, I learned early in my career that nonfiction was easier to sell and more lucrative than fiction, so that became my path. And I loved every minute of it. Through it all, though, the desire to write fiction continued to nag at my soul. In 2012, I was inspired to write a horror novel. The title and general [...]