Dare to improve – Move forward with your writing

Never be afraid to pack it up, fix it and move on! (public domain)

Do you dare to improve your online article writing skills and effort? With the recent closing of YCN, I've been going through my old work for republishing on other sites and blogs. It's surprising just how much editing I have to do. That led me to wonder if I'm truly doing my best work. 

I have no desire to go back to the "career" I was pursuing prior to writing online. Just the thought has inspired me to step up my game. The fact that I can follow through with that tells me my effort was indeed lacking. Are you doing your best work? Why not step up your game with me? Make some positive changes. Move forward!

Keeping a schedule.

A regular job is eight hours or more a day with no choice about the matter. Part of the reason we become online article writers is for the flexibility. Unfortunately, the temptation to take advantage of this is strong. Now I know that to improve my work, I need to take this seriously, or not do it at all. Even without the frequent breaks, I love writing online. I don't want to be forced into a J.O.B. for lack of effort.

Distractions are many in the world of online writing.

I'm frequently dragged away by this distraction or that. Whether it's Craigslist free items, Facebook, Twitter or the occasional snack, I can't seem to stay on task. Before I know it, my writing day is over. That's why I've decided to eliminate the fun until the work is done. I'm going back to the work before play policy I was forced into at my regular job.

How many articles can you write in one day?

When I first started doing this my goal was to write ten or more articles a day. It wasn't all that difficult, as I recall. While I do this occasionally now, it's not every single day anymore. I've been using the excuse that it's harder to write higher quality articles. Still, my page views have taken a nose dive, just like everyone elses. I think it's time to not only do my best work, but pump up the volume as well.

How can I justify myself to the naysayers?

We online article writers are always complaining that other people don't see this as a regular job. While our points are mostly valid, I have to say, sometimes I don't blame them. While they are busy every minute of the work day, we are free to do as we please. We do have periods of nose to the grindstone effort. Still, we have a lot more fun during our workday than is conducive to productivity.

Are we fooling ourselves about the importance of social networking?

Most of us spend just as much or more time social networking as we do writing. True, networking is vital, but playing games and chatting isn't. Some writers belong to (or manage) several Facebook groups as well as participating actively in forums. Part of what we do there is essential to our work. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder if our quality of work would improve with a little less socialization and a little more writing.

Portions of this post were previously published by this author on a closed Yahoo! Property.