​It didn’t really occur to me until I was in the grocery store earlier this week. It was the first time I had been in there wandering around the produce section without a care in the world. Typically I can’t go shopping downtown without someone stopping me and getting me into a conversation about what’s been going on in our lives. Which I don’t mind at all.
 
For some reason I was able to make the trip from the parking lot to the stack of fruit and vegetables without a pause. I had been given a short list from home so I was searching uncharted territory for oranges and a lime. I even had written down tips to assist in getting the right ones. The words “thin skinned” appeared next to the listing of oranges.
 
I spied the oranges immediately and made a beeline to them. I admired the entire display for a moment noting that possibly the lighting made them all appear spectacular. It also occurred to me that someone had spent a lot of time stacking them just right. So I started looking for four “thin skinned” ones giving a few a gentle squeeze.
 
I was in the checkout line shortly after accomplishing my chores in the produce section. I had been inside the store for possibly a total of 2-minutes. 2:20 for argument sake. The teller asked what kind of oranges they were and indicated there were two different varieties and they looked very much alike but were very different. She led me back to the produce section.
 
It turns out I had the correct ones and as I made my way back to the checkout I recognized a former customer of ours. She used her shopping cart to block me and once she got my attention she blurted out, “I miss your paper!” It wasn’t the first time I had heard that. In fact, both my wife, Brenda and I get that kind of feedback weekly to this day.
 
The strange thing was that this week marks six months since our final issue had hit the street. It was a week filled with many highs and lows and in a way, this week was starting to be the same. Usually I take the opportunity to get into a long conversation about the interesting things we are now doing in this new chapter in our lives. Only this time I didn’t.
 
I looked the woman straight in the eye and said as sincerely as I possibly could, “Thank you.” Then I proceeded to the checkout, paid for the oranges and lime, walked to the car in the parking lot and drove home. I had not thought about it again until I shared the story twice afterwards in two different settings with two different sets of people.
 
While it was so nice to be reminded that our product is still missed, it also reminded me that half a year ago we shut the doors to our business. We have gone on to great things since then, but it still gnaws at me every so often that my business – something I was so very proud of – had come to an end and had to be laid to rest. Yet, I was not losing sleep over it, either.
 
I think maybe I was taken by the fact that six months have passed already. Surely it had only been two or three. Also, I think maybe I had hoped the six month mark would pass by quietly. What continues to surprise me is how others around us continue to be affected enough about the loss to remind us. Because of that, I say a sincere “thank you.”

​I spend a lot of time writing now that I’ve chosen to become a full-time freelance writer. I try to explain it to people who ask about what I do and I guess I’m either not doing a good enough job of describing my specific tasks or maybe it’s a job a lot of people don’t realize exists. I started out purely by accident in January 2014.
 
My first concern when I started bidding on writing contracts was whether or not I could provide the kind of high level writing that I thought was required. I mean, just by reading some of the preferred qualifications listed for most of the contracts I thought I was very much out of my league. As it turns out, I was wrong and discovered this early.
 
I approached my first series of bids as me flooding the market for work hoping that in the crowd of proposals I submitted there would be someone interested in my work. I did not consider myself a professional as I was actually a ‘newbie’ at freelance writing. By the time I started to pick up writing jobs I learned a few things.
 
1 – Write What You Know
 
I concentrated my high volume of bids on jobs that sounded like they were on subjects I either knew something about, or could learn about quickly and still sound somewhat knowledgeable. It was the most helpful step in the entire process for me.
 
2 – Bid A Bit Lower At First
 
As I was new to this whole bidding for writing jobs game I determined I needed to find a way to stand out from all the other bids. I chose to ‘low ball’ the numbers where I could so I could snag a few jobs. It worked for me almost instantly and earned me some work.
 
3 – Beat The Deadline
 
My final tip is to get the work done faster than expected. In addition to the ‘low ball’ bids, I was able to finish jobs often days before they were due. These two components worked together to build me a client base of regular customers which provided ongoing work.
 
These are really simple ways to get your foot in the door when it comes to freelance writing. They were not ideas I pulled from somewhere else, either. I tried a few different approaches and found the three listed here as my most successful. They may produce the same kind of results for you as well…but you won’t know unless you give them a try. Good luck!

​Well, we are already a few hours into the start of 2017. As you know, I don’t make resolutions and as a result I don’t spend a lot of time reviewing the past year and trying to find ways to improve on things that have happened in the past twelve months. However, I have sort of a plan for 2017 and it can be summed up in a simple phrase: Build on current successes.
 
There have been several good things to come out of the past year for both my wife, Brenda and I. If I choose to not dwell on the bad parts – and there always are negatives regardless of who you are – I can see a number of silver linings. Considering I am generally a positive person, this is very easy for me to do.
 
Two interesting developments came out of 2016 that I see us concentrating more on in the New Year. The success we experienced with the regular vending of the preserves Brenda makes under the JamBusters! home-canning banner was a huge boost to us. Not only did it generate a decent return on investment, it proved to be very popular wherever we set up to vend. It will continue to play a big part in our future.
 
The second one was my freelance writing. Although it was originally intended to be a casual pastime, it turned into a solid extra source of income with ongoing work through a stable of regular clients. In fact, it became promising enough to convince me to make it a full-time career since September of 2016. I see it growing even more in the New Year as well as my extra projects.
 
I currently have five personal website projects of my own I have been working on regularly trying to build them up. Of those, three are tied to eBooks I have written. Last year I published two and I see at least two more in the coming year. While they are not getting the kind of action I had hoped, copies do sell regularly and I’ll put some effort into focusing on that.
 
I also have a podcast channel I have been keeping fresh with new episodes weekly. They see a fair amount of action and I am happy with that but will also put more effort into building those into something better in 2017. As of this week, an episode will be featured Sundays on the internet radio station SoCountry, which is a project of a friend of mine. I am looking forward to the exposure that will bring to my overall ‘Looseink Freelance Ninja’ brand.
 
Closer to home, I have already started to get involved within my community…again. I chose to do so for various reasons with all of them centred on me being able to use personal skills to assist rather than anything that would be considered selfish. I am no longer tied down with a local storefront business so I can be a bit more active and I enjoy what has been done so far.
 
So, really, all I see myself doing in 2017 is exactly as I described: building on current successes. What are you going to do this year? Do you have a huge plan that may take off or are you hoping for something big to come your way? It doesn’t really matter what you do in 2017 as long as you do something you enjoy and if you can fit in some time to help others, it will bring you even more satisfaction. Good luck and Happy New Year!