How april ort Did This - How to Become a Freelance Writer

During one late night discussion with a professional journalist while I worked as a hotel desk clerk, the flame of passion was once again sparked to pursue my writing dream. The journalist encouraged me to move forward towards my desire to write. After she parted, I had a new found sense of urgency to finally begin my dream of a career in writing. I began my project with a simple phrase inserted into the "Google" search engine; "How to become a freelance writer?".

I clicked on a search result that led me to eHow.com. I read through the "Writer's Compensation Program" and signed up as an eHow member. That night I wrote five how-to articles.

I did not have high expectations for making any reasonable amount of money for my efforts, but I did feel a sense of accomplishment and felt as though I might truly call myself a writer now.

Over the next three months I changed jobs and my original writing efforts had moved to the back of my mind. In my new position I had access to the Internet and plentiful down time to surf the web. I decided to log into my eHow account and see how my articles were doing. The last time I checked I had made $4.00. This time, when I logged into my earnings, my payments had reached $50.00. My earnings had finally reached the pay out amount and I began receiving money for my writing.

This was all the motivation I needed and I began writing feverishly in my down time at work. Within a few short months my earnings had risen to nearly $300 a month. I was stunned that I could make residual income on something that took me less than an hour to write. One particular article's earnings had went from $10.00 to $125.00 in one day.

As my skill and confidence level as a writer rose, I began submitting my work to different outlets and working on my first novel. Occasionally, I would be consumed by other projects and I wouldn't have a published article on eHow for several weeks. The payments still came. I continued to make money every month, even when I didn't write.

It began with a handful of simple articles and a few dollars in earnings and today, I am still amazed at the course my freelance writing career has taken since that fateful late night discussion. Since then, I have been invited to participate in the first eHow User Event in Santa Monica and was able to network with a wonderful group of established and blooming writers. I continue to write for eHow and other Demand Studio web sites.

The process of becoming a freelance writer begins with one written word. You simply need to put ideas into a written form that is useful to readers. Consistency is the best advice I can offer to a beginning freelance writer. Make achievable goals for yourself and hold yourself accountable to a certain amount of writing time each week. Submit your work, on a regular basis, to various outlets. Learn how to market yourself and your writing and keep records of contacts in order to build a network within the writing community.