154 Articles in 148 Days: Striving to Become a Better Writer at Triond

As of this date I have published 154 articles in the 148 days since joining Triond (in addition to 34 pictures, for a total of 188 submissions), and though I won’t claim to be an expert in how this all really fits together, I have a few observations to make, and it is my hope that these reflections will be useful to new writers who are considering joining Triond (or any other freelance writing site, for that matter).

Before I continue, please understand that I too am trying to improve in all these areas.  I am not saying, “Do what I do.”  I am saying, “Here are things I’m working on, and I think these are things all of us should consider.”

Focus on Quality

The first thing I learned was that each author needs to sincerely focus on the quality of his or her writing.  Whether you are writing for your own sheer enjoyment or to make some money, if the quality is not there you are going to end up frustrated with it or (at the very least) not getting many “natural readers.”  Who is a natural reader in this context?  A natural reader is one who reads your work because he wants to, even to the point of seeking you out of the list of that day’s published works.  Conversely, a reader who gives you a page hit because your work was thrust upon him (e.g., through Stumbleupon (aka “Thrustupon”)) is not a natural reader.

How do you focus on quality, and what do you do with it?  First of all, find those writers to whose works people seem to be gravitating.  Seek those individuals whose writing always makes you feel like saying, “Wow that was great, or man I wish I could write like that.”  There are many excellent writers on Triond, authors who not only know how to spell and punctuate and use correct English, but who also know how to carefully choose words to create just the right imagery.  This is not a complete list by any means, but just a small sampling of what I mean by quality writers comprises some of the following: Fegger, Kate Smedley, Rask Balavoine, Debra Mann, BullwinkleMuse, Glynis Smy, Louie Jerome, Alina Beck, Rutherfranc, Joni Keith, Sarah Elizabeth Hume, Melinda McQueen, Bren Parks, Liane Schmidt, and Darren Goad. 

Read their stuff.  These are works that you could find in a magazine and you wouldn’t be surprised at all. 

Read the works of the masters.  It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare (but it could be).  Read Ray Bradbury, read C.S. Lewis, read Charles Dickens, read Carl Sandburg, read William F. Buckley; but most of all, read!  And when you’re reading, be thinking not only about the content, but about sentence structure, punctuation, vocabulary, and all that stuff.

One of the fastest ways to turn readers away from your writing is to publish a piece that is full of grammatical mistakes.  An occasional slip here or there will happen, but when it’s happening frequently, readers will stop reading your work.

Another thing you can do to bolster your grammatical skills is to read Strunk and White’s classic, The Elements of Style.  I know that sounds mundane, but it is an excellent book.  There are other good grammar books out there as well.

Think of it like this.  Would you continue going to a restaurant if the chef had burned your dessert the previous five times?  Certainly not.  Would you expect readers to keep coming back to your writing if you continually demonstrate carelessness?  Of course not.

Would you go to the chef and offer suggestions for improvement?  Perhaps.  And if you were the chef, wouldn’t you be interested in ideas to salvage your restaurant?  Of course.

If your writing is getting “burned” and people come to you with ideas on how to improve it, set your pride aside and listen to the suggestions.

Proofread your work!  Do not ever write something and send it out for publication without reading through it several times.  Read it aloud if you can.  If you suspect that your grammar or punctuation may not be correct, ask somebody.  Take notes.  Do anything you can to improve your grammar.  Remember, this thing you’ve written is going out there on the Internet and it will be around a long time.  Do you really want your name attached to something that could cause you embarrassment because it’s written sloppily or has unworthy content?

Now, all that being said, I do realize that Triond has many writers for whom English is not the first language; Triond also has writers who were not able to get a high school education.  If you’re in either of those categories, I take my hat off to you.  I admire your efforts.  Keep writing, and keep trying to learn. 

Okay, enough said on that topic.

Focus on Quantity

Next to quality, I think it’s important to put a lot of stuff out there.  Why?  I believe that the more you write, the better your writing will get (content-wise and organizationally).  As you put together more articles; as you write more poems; as you start getting into a flow; you’ll find that your more recent stuff is far better than your earlier work.

Grammar issues aside, your writing will become more concise, clearer, and deeper.  Plus, the more you write, the more you’ll discover that you have even more article ideas in the back of your mind.

Not everything you write is going to be good.  Keep writing; write something every day if you can.  It doesn’t have to be a full article that you submit.  Write it in a standalone text editor; write it in Triond’s Submit editor; write it wherever; but write it.

People ask me where I come up with my ideas for stories and articles.  Most of the time, ideas just come along, or I’ll think back to childhood and remember funny stories.  All of us are capable of that.  Here’s what you need to do.  Keep a notebook and pen with you; when an idea pops up, write it down.  I’ve got four (4) pages of article ideas in a small notebook that I keep nearby.

Social Etiquette

The surest way to get people to read your works is for you to read their works.  You don’t necessarily have to read a new work the instant it comes out, but chances are good that if you read their stuff, they’ll turn around and read yours. 

With the advent of Stumbleupon, we now have a tool with which we can bombard unsuspecting readers with our articles.  There may be a fine line between this and spamming, or there may be no line at all.  I use Stumbleupon and I do value the exposure it provides for our articles. 

It’s my opinion, however, that there are Triond users who abuse the system.  Of course, there may be readers who think that I’m abusing the system too.  Some people send out one or two articles per week; others send out one or two per day.  I think either of those approaches is okay, as long as your subscriber list is tolerant.  Some people send out five or six or ten things per day, and several times I’ve almost found myself dropping those folks from my list.  Be sensitive to how much time you demand of others.

When you send an article through Stumbleupon, be polite.  Do not — I repeat, do not — say something like, “Stumble and Review.”  In other words, don’t get bossy.  If you are sending out a long story or long poem, please use the word “please” in your request, and also make it clear that reading it is optional.

I try to only send something through Stumbleupon that I think is good.  Your readers will appreciate that.  Of course, not everyone may think it is good; but if you don’t think that particular piece of yours is good, then there is an excellent chance that you are right, and you shouldn’t be sending it out in the first place.

I actually received a poem last week and the sender said something like, “I don’t think this is that good of a poem, but I’m sending it anyway.”  If you don’t think it’s good, then don’t send it.

Also, if you’re going to send some of your older work, read through and possibly edit it first.  Your writing has probably improved since the time you wrote that piece.  Don’t you want people to read you at your best?  Then make sure it’s really at its best.  Most of my work on Triond has not been sent out through Stumbleupon.  I want only the “really good stuff” to get that kind of attention.

In my SU profile, I have a sentence or two that indicates I like to write stories, and if you subscribe to me then you will be receiving articles.  That at least gives my subscribers the opportunity to back out and / or not subscribe in the first place.

Don’t abuse Stumbleupon.  You don’t want to lose those viewers.

Content

When I started at Triond, the bulk of what I wrote for the first two months was poetry.  I wrote a few other articles, but mostly I wrote poetry.  One thing I’ve learned is this: my poetry does not bring in residual page hits after it’s been published for a few days.  Well, one poem was an exception — The Man from Kadish has received more than 700 views, with a few trickling in every day.

I am not saying that you should stop writing poetry.  Please don’t stop.  I’m saying that my poetry is not at the point (yet) of being a big draw. I decided that I needed to focus in other areas.

Articles that have done well for me include travel articles, articles about yard, garden, and pets, fun fictional stories, and stories from my life experiences.  Some of those articles are drawing in 10 to 20 hits per day, every day, including articles such as Batman and a Winter Night in Schenectady (my most viewed article, with over 4600 hits) and Plastic Boy (4400 hits).

I encourage you to try a variety of kinds of articles.  More variety gives you a broader reach for potential residual dollars to flow your way.

Stick With It

There may be days when you find yourself struggling with a writing block; there may be days when no one is viewing your work; and there may be days where you get a strong negative comment about one of your articles; just keep going.  Keep writing, keep your chin up, and just brush off any negative comments.  Forget about them.

If you strive to improve your writing, it will indeed get better.  Good luck, keep striving, and keep writing!