New here and a writer

[UpAndAtEm]

Hi everyone!

I'm Kim Hillman. I just joined the forums yesterday. It's wonderful to find such a community of other like-minded moms!

I'm not exactly a freelance writer in the typical sense, although it's always nice to get paid. I write booklets. I've written two titles and am currently working on my third. I sell my booklets to individuals who are interested in them, but the real bread and butter is in selling the booklets in larger quantities to other businesses who use them to promote their products and services as well as their business.

In addition to writing I also help other authors write booklets of their own, and I help businesses write booklets or I do the writing for them.

There's much more to what I do, but that's the writing side of things.

On the mom side of things I have three children. My oldest is 15 and has a disability you've probably never heard of, called Cornelia DeLang Syndrome (CdLS). The syndrome affects every area of his development, but in spite of that he's a happy guy most of the time and very lovable.

I also have two daughters, age 11 and 4. I've been homeschooling the 11 year old since she was in kindergarten, and I'll start homeschooling the 4 year old this fall. As you can imagine, my son, homeschooling and my business keep me very busy! But, I love it all and consider myself lucky to have the best of both worlds....work and home.

I look forward to sharing more with all of you!

[Audrey]

Do you home school your oldest son or is he in main stream school?

[UpAndAtEm]

Hello, Audrey.

I homeschooled my son for three years. Actually, he was the reason I began homeschooling. To make a long story short, things were not going well at his school and I felt he'd be better off at home.

Several months after I began homeschooling him, we moved into a brand new home. I homeschooled my son in our new home for over two years, but after that I really felt he needed to return to public school. He wasn't able to sit quietly while I worked with his sister, and he when he'd get bored he'd be constantly into things much a like an unattended toddler. I ended up cleaning up one mess after another and it took too much time away from my day. We were in a better school district, so I decided to give public school another chance.

As luck would have it, my son's new teacher grew up in the Alaska bush and had been homeschooled! She really liked my son and they got along quite well. Now, he's moved on to Jr. High, but he's still doing great and really enjoys school. I wish I could keep him home, but this was what was in the best interest of our family and my son.

[judilynn]

New here also. I have a question for you. Are your booklets ebooks or hard copies? I write articles for my personal site and for AC but wondered about writing ebooks.

[UpAndAtEm]

Hi, Judilynn. Welcome to the forum! I'm finding that this is a wonderful group of ladies who are very friendly.

My booklets are currently ebooklets, and I'll be printing hard copies next month. The ebooklets are great to sell from my website, but I need the hard copies for offline presentations.

What are you thinking of writing an ebook about? You know, with your aromatherapy experience and making soaps and lotions, you could write a whole series of booklets and it would be much more profitable for you than writing a book. Just something to consider.

I don't know if you do any traveling, but if you happen to be in Seattle between September 13 and 20th I'll be presenting two workshops you might be interested in attending. I realize you may not be in the area then, but thought I'd let you know about it. Here are the links, and you can see my photo there too.

The Marketing Magic Of Booklets: http://www.discoveru.org/Class.aspx?ClassID=2642

Become A Published Author: http://www.discoveru.org/Class.aspx?ClassID=2643

Also, you can take a look at my website. It's growing all the time as I'm always adding new content to help other booklet authors and businesses.

If you have any questions, I'll help you any way I can. Just let me know!

Nice to meet you and I look forward to getting to know you better.

[sarathy]

Nice to hear from u. Welcome to the forum. Tell us how u manage both work and home? How do your family members help u with your work?

[Audrey]

I wonder if I might offer a suggestion? I have folks ask me for referrals for resume writing from time to time.

I just noticed your signature says you write resumes, but your posts say "u" instead of you.

You might want to consider using a more professional style when writing posts, if you hope to get referrals from your posts.

[judilynn]

I have considered writing an ebook. But to be honest the task seems so large and almost a bit daunting. Maybe I will sit down and actually do it and find it isn't really that bad after all.

Would love to attend a class, but I am on the other coast. If you ever do one online, let me know. I find conferences, both on and offline, are so motivating!

I have to find ways to reach out to my target market too. Working on it though :) And if I had nice little ebooks to give out that would be a great idea imho.

Thanks for any suggestions and help. I am really enjoying this board and glad I found it!
Judi

Hi, Judilynn. Welcome to the forum! I'm finding that this is a wonderful group of ladies who are very friendly.

My booklets are currently ebooklets, and I'll be printing hard copies next month. The ebooklets are great to sell from my website, but I need the hard copies for offline presentations.

What are you thinking of writing an ebook about? You know, with your aromatherapy experience and making soaps and lotions, you could write a whole series of booklets and it would be much more profitable for you than writing a book. Just something to consider.

I don't know if you do any traveling, but if you happen to be in Seattle between September 13 and 20th I'll be presenting two workshops you might be interested in attending. I realize you may not be in the area then, but thought I'd let you know about it. Here are the links, and you can see my photo there too.

The Marketing Magic Of Booklets: http://www.discoveru.org/Class.aspx?ClassID=2642

Become A Published Author: http://www.discoveru.org/Class.aspx?ClassID=2643

Also, you can take a look at my website. It's growing all the time as I'm always adding new content to help other booklet authors and businesses.

If you have any questions, I'll help you any way I can. Just let me know!

Nice to meet you and I look forward to getting to know you better.

[judilynn]

I work from home and homeschool my kids. I have 4, only 3 are at home right now. They are a great help though. They are great marketing tools. I sometimes have a hard time marketing myself and my soaps. Not so for my kids. I can't tell you how many times my kids have said, "My mom makes and sells soaps, you should try some!" They are a great asset. Would love for them to learn the entrupenur life style! ( know I must have spelled that wrong, sorry)

My daughters are 10 and 11 my youngest son is 17 and we all have certain chores around the house. They help out a lot, sometimes I feel spoiled. My son does the dishes, garbage and vacuuming. oldest daughter does the outside work, like sweeping, weeding, watering, and the youngest daughter does the inside sweeping and straightening up. Sometimes things don't get done. But then we make up for it the next day. They know to keep mom home and homeschooling I need the help.

Nice to hear from u. Welcome to the forum. Tell us how u manage both work and home? How do your family members help u with your work?

[UpAndAtEm]

Sarathy,

I do my best to balance home and work, but it isn't always smooth or easy. There are times when I'm more needed in one area than the other, but much of the time I'm needed in both areas and that is when it gets interesting!

My son is 15 and has a disability called Cornelia deLang Syndrome. He goes to public school during the day, and when he gets home I have a caregiver who comes in to help with him. He's working on his life skills, and as part of that he has chores to do. The caregiver helps him with the chores, which helps keep my house clean. They sweep, vaccuum, clean his room, and even clean the bathrooms for me! These skills will help my son when he is no longer living at home.

I also have two daughters, ages 4 and 11. I've homeschooled my 11 year old since she began kindergarten, and I'll be starting my 4 year old in kindergarten at home this year as well. Homeschooling is a full time job in itself, but I've found a way to make it work.

My older daughter is reading and can do much of her work on her own. She gets a checklist from me each day and goes off and does her assignments and checks them off as she goes. If she has questions or is learning new material, she comes to me. I've switched some of her curriculum for this coming fall to something that I think will fit better into my busy schedule, and I'm hoping that will help things to run smoothly this year.

My younger daughter is very eager to start kindergarten. Teaching her won't require too much time for me, as my older daughter wants very much to help. I can easily make up a check list for my younger daughter, and then my older daughter and I can check items off as they get done, depending on which of us is teaching her. Kindergarten only takes a couple hours a day at most, unless we're doing some huge project which rarely happens.

One thing that has really helped me get the homeschooling organized and allow me more time to oversee my business is a software program that keeps track of assignments and grades. I can't imagine not having this tool to help me. I started using it last fall and it has saved me tons of time trying to plan and figure out grades. It's my secret weapon when it comes to homeschooling AND working!

I think the key is to try and do what needs to be done most. For me, sometimes it's something on the homeschooling side, and sometimes it's something on the business side. And if both sides need me at the same time, I just have to make a decision as to where the greater need is.

[missyh]

home schooling is the best

[UpAndAtEm]

Judilynn,

Forget the ebook. Too long. Too time consuming. Not enough return for your effort. Think ebooklet. Much shorter. Much faster and easier to write. Much more profitable!

My company offers several writing services that can help you if you don't want to do the writing yourself. Also, I'm working on an e-course that will teach you how to do it yourself, fast and affordably. I hope to have the e-course completed early this fall, and it will be available through my website.

I'd be more than happy to discuss how an ebooklet can help you grow your business and your profits. I'm not kidding when I say it's amazing how much a booklet can do for you. I started with one booklet, and my company grew out of that. I didn't have another business when I wrote my first booklet. I was just going to be a booklet author, but things just blossomed and snowballed and here I am! If one booklet can do this for me as an individual who wanted to be an author, imagine what it could do for you as a business owner!

Feel free to pm me here if you want to talk more, or you can fill out the contact form on my site and it will send me an email from you. I don't give my email address on forums because I don't like being inundated with spam.

By the way, I see you homeschool too. That's great! I was beginning to think I was the only one on the planet who homeschools and works! It's not easy to do, but it's so worth it.

I'm so glad you signed up!

[UpAndAtEm]

missyh,

Do you homeschool too? How many children do you homeschool? How do you balance homeschooling and work? Nice to meet you, by the way!

[smbwallace]

Hello writers! It's great to have you all here! :work:

[UpAndAtEm]

SMBWallace - Are you a writer too?

[smbwallace]

SMBWallace - Are you a writer too?

Yes! I've been in newspaper writing and editing 19 years and freelancing the past 3½! Actually I started writing as a very young child but then most people (writers) do! :thumb:

BTW, I'm also a mod on this forum! ;) I haven't been around much lately, though, since my two-month-old son keeps me extremely busy! Besides him I have two daughters, 8 (next week) and 5½! :triplets: *whew*

[UpAndAtEm]

I know what you mean about writing as a child. I did too. I remember writing stories and poems as early as second or third grade. I got my first letter to the editor published in our local paper when I was 11.

Congratulations on the birth of your son! I also have three children. I miss their babyhoods. They are babies for such a short time, so I hope you are doing your best to enjoy it.

With three young children you ARE busy! Mine are almost 16, 11, and 4. My oldest is disabled and requires constant attention, which makes it difficult sometimes for me to get anything done. I have a caregiver who comes in a couple hours a day, four days a week, so that helps a little. But, now that school is out the caregiving isn't enough. So, once again, this year, my son is going to day camp! Thank goodness for camp!

My 11 and 4 year olds are my girls. They're homeschooled (I'm starting my 4 year old in kindergarten this fall) which also takes alot of my time. But, I wouldn't have it any other way.

[smbwallace]

I know what you mean about writing as a child. I did too. I remember writing stories and poems as early as second or third grade. I got my first letter to the editor published in our local paper when I was 11.

*whoohoo* That's awesome! What was the letter to the editor about?

I used to write books when I was a kid. In the third grade we had an assignment to write a book. By then it was old hat for me and when I turned in mine my teacher had a fit and shared it with the whole third grade. I was so completely mortified. *blush*

[UpAndAtEm]

It's quite funny really. I was 11 years old and I wrote a letter which was more like an article - about paving roads! I couldn't even drive yet! The article focused on the number of roads in my area that had potholes in them and how bad it is for the vehicles who use those roads. I wrote it as a class project. Everyone in the class sent a letter to the editor. Mine was the only one that got published. A sure sign of a writer. I should have seen the handwriting on the wall, but I didn't. Not for a long time. :)

[judilynn]

at least yours was more than self published. I am pretty sure my first book effort is in my parents attic. Though I remember it distinctly. Nothing as controversial as pot holders. But how to raid a fridge at midnight. You don't even want to know what my Dad said to that one :)

[UpAndAtEm]

Hey, how to raid the fridge at midnight could be turned into a funny article for AC! You never know! By the way, I got an offer for my first article on AC today! It was only $4.00, but I made it non-exclusive so I can submit it other places too.

I'm so excited!!! I'm sending my booklet files to the printer today! I'll have printed copies by the end of the month! Whoo hoo!!! :hi: Of course, my online download sales will continue, but now I'll have hard copies I can take with me and actually SHOW to people when I talk to them!

[pplprincess]

Ok, I currently work from home using the phone/ internet. I have a couple of things going for me at the moment. But, I would really like to expand into writing.

It's something I have always loved.

I was wondering if you gals would be able to give me some advice on where to go first to post some articles I have already written.

Any suggestions?

Liz~

[UpAndAtEm]

Hello, Liz.

Two great places to post articles are www.ezinearticles.com (http://www.ezinearticles.com) and www.associatedcontent.com (http://www.associatedcontent.com)

Ezine doesn't pay anything, but they will accept nearly everything you write. AC is a little more picky, but they do pay you a little bit for your trouble. I've submitted three articles to them over the past month. Two were accepted and I received $4.00 each. Not much, but I don't write articles for the money. I write them for the publicity.

If you really want to break into writing and make some money with it, consider writing a booklet. Booklets are fast to write and affordable to produce, and they will establish you as an author and expert. Booklets have many uses and can be formatted many ways, making them a highly marketable product.

I've personally published two booklets and I'm now going for my third. My booklets have been formatted six different ways, making six different products to reach six different markets, all from the same two booklets.

I'm going to pm you with my email address so you can contact me if you would like to discuss this further. You don't need tons of experience to write a booklet, and it will pay off for you much faster and much greater than articles will. I would love to talk with you more about your writing and the possibility of helping you break into print with a booklet.

[pplprincess]

I am just settling in for the night but, I wanted to let you know that I will be in touch.

Thanks for all the help so far.

Liz

[UpAndAtEm]

You're welcome, Liz. Have a wonderful evening and I look forward to talking with you more!