The Amazon Author's Page of W. George Elliott featuring all published eBook titles to date.
It occurred to me this morning that writing has been a constant factor in my life – even through several transitions. From writing news and ad copy in radio to the newspaper and through to my current freelance career I have never stopped writing. I think that is why I find so much comfort in the work I am doing in my home office these days. Writing just seems to come easy to me and when an idea pops into my head, I can usually just run with it.
This past week was a milestone of sorts. It was a year ago when we published the first issue of our newspaper that announced we were going to close the operation eight weeks later. I remember it as if it were yesterday and as I write about it I can feel the combination of fear and relief I was feeling at the time. There was a lot of uncertainty coming from making this giant move. We were suffering and had to bring it to an end before it got any worse.
I knew at the time that writing was going to be my life preserver. I had taken on a great deal of the editorial content in our weekly newspaper by this point writing close to half of what appeared in each issue. I had a great deal of help from a couple of ‘stringers’ and regular contributors but I was still doing a lot of writing. I had also started a small freelance business on the side to help generate some cash flow when the paper was doing poorly.
It was actually through the encouragement of one of my writers, Spencer, that I branched out from the newspaper business. He had suggested I write eBooks and build up a library of titles online. I thought at first it was a real difficult task to publish online but he got me interested enough to do some research. It wasn’t long after that when I published my first eBook – on August 16, 2015 – on a subject I had some knowledge about: freelance writing.
I had been freelance writing part-time for 18-months at the time and it turned out to be easier than I thought to get a title online. In fact, in the following two months I added two more titles. To date I have six eBooks online and available to purchase through Amazon. My Amazon Author Page has all the details. However, back when I published my first eBook I had no idea that a year later we would be shutting down the newspaper I had owned for over a decade.
I also had no idea that I would eventually be able to turn to writing to become a full-time gig. It has been an interesting trip from editorials to eBooks, which are projects I work on in my spare time along with the weekly podcasts and all my personal website and blogging chores. The rest of the time I spend writing is for several freelance clients, including two marketing companies I am a staff writer for. I am still writing a lot of volume and I still love it and that’s the key to any success I’ve had. I’m doing something I truly enjoy.
This past week was a milestone of sorts. It was a year ago when we published the first issue of our newspaper that announced we were going to close the operation eight weeks later. I remember it as if it were yesterday and as I write about it I can feel the combination of fear and relief I was feeling at the time. There was a lot of uncertainty coming from making this giant move. We were suffering and had to bring it to an end before it got any worse.
I knew at the time that writing was going to be my life preserver. I had taken on a great deal of the editorial content in our weekly newspaper by this point writing close to half of what appeared in each issue. I had a great deal of help from a couple of ‘stringers’ and regular contributors but I was still doing a lot of writing. I had also started a small freelance business on the side to help generate some cash flow when the paper was doing poorly.
It was actually through the encouragement of one of my writers, Spencer, that I branched out from the newspaper business. He had suggested I write eBooks and build up a library of titles online. I thought at first it was a real difficult task to publish online but he got me interested enough to do some research. It wasn’t long after that when I published my first eBook – on August 16, 2015 – on a subject I had some knowledge about: freelance writing.
I had been freelance writing part-time for 18-months at the time and it turned out to be easier than I thought to get a title online. In fact, in the following two months I added two more titles. To date I have six eBooks online and available to purchase through Amazon. My Amazon Author Page has all the details. However, back when I published my first eBook I had no idea that a year later we would be shutting down the newspaper I had owned for over a decade.
I also had no idea that I would eventually be able to turn to writing to become a full-time gig. It has been an interesting trip from editorials to eBooks, which are projects I work on in my spare time along with the weekly podcasts and all my personal website and blogging chores. The rest of the time I spend writing is for several freelance clients, including two marketing companies I am a staff writer for. I am still writing a lot of volume and I still love it and that’s the key to any success I’ve had. I’m doing something I truly enjoy.
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