“Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book, If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.” - Alice Walker

Alice Walker was, probably best known for her book, “The Color Purple”, which was eventually turned into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey. In high school, I did a report on Alice Walker and learned quite a bit about her.

I chose this quote because it’s important to remember who you are when you are a writer. It is important to stay true to yourself and be the best person, not just the best writer, that you can be. I have this quote on a bulletin board that I use in my writing area.

A good person, makes a good writer. A bad person, well I’m not saying that you cannot be a good writer, but I don’t think God will bless you like He would if you were busy trying to be good.

Just a thought to consider….

Honestly this quote was an easy choice. First, I love Mr. Emerson’s work. Second, the thoughts behind this particular quote beg to question who you really are.

Today’s quote:

“Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

So who are you? Define who you are. Talent does not make you a writer, but knowing who you are, what makes you, you. Those things define you. Those tell if you are a writer or not.

Talent helps too.

Ok, in the previous article Beginning a Writer’s Resume - Part One, we took a look at the first three sections of your writer’s resume. Now we need to go past that.

WORK HISTORY:

Your work history might have absolutely nothing to do with the job you are seeking or with your writing at all. You still need to include it. It’s important for a potential employer to see that you have had some type of employment and that you are dependable, reliable and well….”employable”.

So you are probably wondering how this differs from a regular resume with job history listings. After all, didn’t I tell you before that this is a skills based writers resume? Yes, I did. And this is how they differ in this section.

First, these need to be quick little tid bits from each job. You are not looking to list everything you would in a normal job history. You need to include your job title, the dates you were with the company, where it’s located and a contact number. You should include your duties but summarize - try to keep it below 2 to 3 lines.

For most writer’s they have been self-employed as a freelance writer for some period of time. This needs to be the very first listing in this section. This will also help to explain any gaps in your employment history.

Here is an example of this section:

Freelance Writer - March 1998 to present
St. Louis, Missouri
Senior Blogger at Families.com for scrapbooking and frugal living articles, guest spot articles on adoption, food, single parenting and travel. Content Producer at Associated Content (see attachments for website information), published eight articles in Scrapbooker America, regular article contributor to Frugal Living Sunshine Publication. (see attachments for copies).

Office Manager - September 2004 to May 2006
Technical Ultrasound
St. Louis, Missouri; Jason Fellows - (555)123-4567
Processed all client paperwork, established and organized complete filing system, created and maintained employer website, increased client base by more than 75% in five months, created and marketed advertising media

Preschool Director - January 2000 to September 2004
The Hillside Academy
St. Louis, Missouri; Stephanie Huewitt - (555)123-4567
Created, Coordinated and Established developmental programs appropriate for preschool age children, maintained constant state ratio, processed all paperwork, designed full curriculum, created and maintained employer website, created and marketed advertising media

I think it goes without saying, that if you can find any duty you were required to do in any job that you have held that relates to your writing, by all means LIST IT! Even if it is something as simple as writing up a monthly newsletter, or contributing to one. 

*Do not list reasons for leaving prior jobs. And do not include any other negative information, about yourself or the employers. This sends a less than desireable message to potential employers.

EDUCATION: 

Next step to include is education. Basically this is the same as a regular resume, and should look no different on your writer’s resume, with the exception that this is a good location to include any extra trainings such as vocational training, on-the-job training, online courses that are relevant to the job you are seeking, workshops, classes, etc.

If you have spent any time at all perusing the writing and editorial jobs in your local paper, you will probably notice that many of them ask for a degree in writing (e.g., journalism, English, etc.).

This is not the time to give up. So maybe you don’t have one. A lot of companies are more than happy accept experience in lieu of formal education, especially when it’s a large amount of experience. So by all means, quit panicking and apply anyway. You didn’t have the job before, so what do you have to lose?

AWARDS AND MEMBERSHIPS

You may be brand new to the whole field of writing, so perhaps you have nothing to include under this section. Leave it off the writers resume. However, this section is benificial to anyone who has received any awards relating to writing and editing.  If you are a member of any writing or editorial societies, guilds or organizations, list those as well. 

Well, you are done! If you have any other tips and suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments field Thanks!

Related Articles:

Writer’s Resume

Help! I Need a Writer’s Resume

Beginning a Writers Resume Part One

Beginning a Writers Resume Part Two

Ok,  I have spent the past couple of days researching the heck out of writer’s resumes and trying to figure out how to create mine. So I thought I would walk you all through the steps. Maybe it will help someone who doesn’t know what they are doing either.

CREDENTIALS:
It’s always best to start with your credentials. Why? Because a writers resume lists skills rather than a job history. Instead of listing jobs that you have had, you are going to be listing your skills and qualifications. So you will begin with something simple:

Name, address, telephone, fax, e-mail, URL

Something like this:

Nicole Humphrey
123 Writers Road. · Hometown, MO 12345
(555) 123-4567 · (555) 123-4568 (fax) · youremail@yourisp.net
My Writing Website· http://www.scribblesnscraps.com/

If you are placing this on a website, having your name in big letters isn’t as important as when you are using a printed resume. When you use a printed writers resume, you will want to center the entire thing, place your name in a larger font size, with the rest of the information about a font size or two smaller.

OBJECTIVES:

The next section you will begin working on, is actually optional. If you want to list your objectives, that’s fine but it needs to stay at only two lines or less. You don’t want to overwhelm anyone, and typically someone looking at a writers resume is not looking at your objectives like they would if this was a job history based job. So, for anyone curious, I chose to leave off the objectives on my printed writers resume.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Here is the most important part of the entire writers resume. Your qualifications. You may wish to call this section Qualifications, or change it to something else, perhaps Writing Experience, or if you do copyrighting or editing, perhaps Editing Experience or Copyright Experience, etc.

So what exactly do you list here? Great question. In this section you will want to list each type of skill that is relevant to your writing experience and relevant to the job you desire. 

Here are several examples I found while researching:

Writing: Professional writer for 6 years, with experience in content writing, newspaper, small publication and business writing. Author of 208 published articles in 26 national publications; co-author of two books; author of three book chapters. Winner of the 2003 “best article” award from the Good Authors’ Association. (See attached publications list for details.)

Editing: Editor of three electronic newsletters, various corporate and business materials (including reports, white papers, and brochures) and one organizational newsletter. Experienced in copyediting, content editing, and proofreading.

Business and Corporate Writing: Developer, writer, editor and designer of a wide range of business materials, including brochures, newsletters, and annual reports. Clients include… (list all clients here)

Internet, HTML, and Desktop Publishing: Webmaster for Scribbles N Scraps website(http://www.scribblesnscraps.com). Familiar with HTML, VTML, and java. Familiar with several desktop publishing programs for both electronic and print publishing, including (list all programs you are familiar with).

You can also include anything else you might feel is relevant. Including attachments and samples, is almost a given for a writer’s resume, so do not hesitate to include them. 

 Part Two of this article can be found……here.

Related Articles:

Writer’s Resume

Help! I Need a Writer’s Resume

Beginning a Writers Resume Part One

Beginning a Writers Resume Part Two

When faced with the challenge of creating my own personal writer’s resume, I panicked a little. In fact, I probably panicked a lot.

Sure, I have a regular resume. In fact, I have two. One for any administrative positions I apply for, because I have experience as an Office Manager and one for a teaching position, as I was a preschool teacher for over ten years of my life.

But my current dilemma was as a freelance writer. I’m not looking for a “day job” but I am looking for more writing jobs or possibly a position in the writing or publishing business.

If you’re a freelancer, chances are that you
(a) work from home, and
(b) your employment history (current or former) may have little relationship to your writing skills.

So what do you do about that?

When you know you have the skills to handle a regular writing or editorial position, it becomes a challenge to prove it. So how do you convince an employer?

In a typical freelance writing situation, you will want to consider developing a “skills” resume instead.

A Skills resume is a perfectly acceptable alternative to the chronological resume, enabling you to focus on the skills and experience that are directly relevant to the job for which you’re applying.

Next entry…getting started.

Related Articles:

Writer’s Resume

Help! I Need a Writer’s Resume

Beginning a Writers Resume Part One

Beginning a Writers Resume Part Two

Hey happy writer’s - I stumbled across a thought today.
I don’t have a writer’s resume - do you?
If you do, what the heck do you put on it? I did extensive research on the whole thing trying to figure out how to list the articles I’ve written.
I’ve also ghost written several things - where someone else bought the full rights. I do however, still have the originals. Can we use those? And if we do, do we just make a separate section for “ghost written” material?

I am going to continue to do research and create a writer’s resume. I will detail my findings here and hopefully you will find it useful.

And hey, if you do have one - tell me you have on in the comments field, so we can chat back and forth. I’d love to see yours.

The start of mine (with absolutely nothing there yet) is here:
http://www.geocities.com/simplywriting/

Related Articles:

Writer’s Resume

Help! I Need a Writer’s Resume

Beginning a Writers Resume Part One

Beginning a Writers Resume Part Two

So I go to the door to see Vanessa, age 11 coming at the sliding glass door nearly full force. She’s got a panicked look on her face and is moving fast. I look out over her and see nothing but brown. There was dust everywhere. I couldn’t imagine what it was, but then I see the tree’s bending. Nearly to the ground.

The wind is ferocious and the kids are actually having trouble getting into the house. The chairs on our patio are flying across the  yard. My neighbors Little Tykes Pirate Ship comes flying at our yard from underneath their deck! Towels are flying into other people’s yard, and I’m oblivious to it all because my greatest concern at that moment was making sure I had five children safe and sound in the house.

My son and I got all of the patio chairs secured up against the house, and the BBQ pit moved. We put the lighter fold up chairs in the kitchen along with our portable pool ladder. Yes, it looks just great.

I close and lock the door and go to the front of the house. Our trash can is in our neighbors yard, another patio chair is up here and knocked over and I nearly kill myself coming out of the house because of the number of branches everywhere. I can’t see a thing because my hair is blowing everywhere and dust and dirty are flying. I can’t hear any of my neighbors because the sound of the wind was so high.

We lost two tree branches - one large one in the backyard that crashed into the ground, and one on the side of our house that I swear if it was another inch or two over would have broken the bedroom windows.

Within a half hour we are listening to hard rain drops and pieces of hail hitting our sky lights. It took two of us to get the front door shut at one point because the wind was so strong.

It was absolutely the worst storm I’ve ever been in, in this particular area.

Thankfully, it’s 10:00 and my five are calm and asleep, three of which start school tomorrow.

But two hours ago, we were treated to a most beautiful and rare sight. Our sky was red. I’ve never seen a red sky in person before so I grabbed my camera. It was breathtaking. You can see the photographs here and here.

There are even better ones, here and here.

I can now look at these pictures and see the beauty in the eye of the storm.

I’m going to bed now! LOL

See you on the blogs tomorrow.

My idol. My Hero.

Mr. Albert Einstein is everything I wish I could be. Yes, even the crazy, eccentric side of him. He had a no holds barred outlook on life and it was beautiful. The man was brilliant. He was a genius. And he was the coolest guy to ever live.

Today’s quote:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” - Albert Einstein

I have spent a great deal preaching about reasearch and education. About knowing what you are speaking of. About knowledge. However, if you don’t have imagination to go with it, what you are writing is simply non-fiction. It is nothing more or less.

Imagine what your brain can do if you let it.

Imagine what Albert Einstein’s imagination was like. Wow.

My idol. My Hero.

My friend Cyndi, much like myself, does not really believe in forwards. It is quite rare that I ever forward any (delete key anyone?) but every once in awhile I will find one I have to share. Same with her. Well today she sent me this one and I almost deleted it before actually reading it (sorry Cyn). Something compelled me not to and I’m glad I didn’t. I’m going to share it with you all.

Get ready to laugh!

Dear Friends,

Thank You!
I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.

Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa’s novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car so a serial killer won’t crawl in my back seat when I’m pumping gas.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can’t boil a cup water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my fac … disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don’t support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica , Uganda , Singapore , and Uzbekistan .

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thank you too for all the endless advice Andy Rooney has given us. I can live a better life now because he’s told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to your great advice, I can’t ever pick up $5.00 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

I can no longer drive my car because I can’t buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don’t send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of mine next door neighbor’s ex-mother-in-law’s second husband’s cousin’s beautician… Have a wonderful day….