BubbleNews: Fun Way To Hone Writing Skills

As a blogger, I want to blog when my mind works optimally. That means I am free from pressures and I have positive emotions. For writers, that is very important. Artist and writers have something called by my friend as "the stream of thought". It is like a trance state wherein when you are at that point in writing, you feel soothed and more alive.

I have been hearing about BubbleNews from my friend and heard that you can express yourself there through writing and earn at the same time. Well, sometimes a writer would be hesitant just to get a writing job and then paid less than expected. As in other profession, we also want some sense of fulfillment in what we are doing. I checked on BubbleNews and started to learn the workaround of the website. And do you know what I discovered. For bloggers and writers, it can be a place where we can hone our writing skills without the pressure of earning money. Yes, you heard it right. Sometimes money matters may pressure freelancers to work more and more. But with pressures, even doing the things you enjoy can be detoured to something that you hate. We surely do not want that.

Now, going back to BubbleNews. Joining the site is very easy. Just sign up, then you are ready to go. You can post wide range of content from personal, beauty tips, technology, news and so much more. The happy part about it, no one is going to dictate what you will post. There is just a simple rule that your post should not be less than 400 characters. For bloggers and writers like us, what is 400 characters? We exploit thousands of characters through chatting and text. That is not that laborious in my point of view. It will definitely free us the burden of targeting long posts and difficult to write content. So, it is writing for the sake of writing.

In BubbleNews, you can also build network of friends who can be participants in your posts. They can comment, like, and share your posts in social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. For every like, comment and share of your post you will earn a corresponding amount. There has been tons of BubbleNews users that has been paid for their quality posts.

Now, here is my tip for freelance writers. Do not write just because you want to earn money. You should write because you do what you love to do. Hone your writing skills and money comes next. It would be hard to hone yourself as a good writer if the pressure of earning money is torturing your creativity. But, just in case you will join BubbleNews or any writing related site, focus on making good content that people will appreciate. A good writer can connect with his readers. If you are successful in making that connection, they will surely comment, like or even share your posts.

5 Ways To Succeed as a Freelancer

There are so many freelance opportunities all over the web and it is something that we, as freelancers are looking for. It will not be surprising why websites like Odesk, Freelancer.com, E-lance and many more gained tons of users. They serve as an online market place for skilled writers, graphic artists, animators, programmers, web developers and huge number of people seeking for online opportunities. Day to day, clients are offering freelance jobs and if you are good enough they are very much willing to pay for the services that you can offer. For those who want to become freelancers like me, I have five tips that in my experience I find useful. Through this simple steps, you will have confidence to work as a freelancer and have the necessary preparations to pursue a freelance career. I have proven these pointers effective and probably this will be useful for you too.

image by bang2write.com

1. Start Right Now- Never be hesitant trying freelancing job and start right now. Others are hesitant because of the thought that their skills may not be enough to get clients and their efforts will just end up to failure and frustrations. Well, failures happen all the time. There are instances that a freelancer may not win a bid but it should not  frustrate him or discourage him. Remember, those are just initial steps. The more you try, the more you learn. 

2.Know your skills, talents and potentials - Ask yourself first, what can I do? That is the most basic question. Your dream freelance work depends on what you can do. As in my case I do graphic arts, animation, flash development and content writing. So, I should be looking  for freelance job postings that are related to my skills. Knowing what you can do gives you confidence when dealing with clients since your skills is something that they will hire you for. 

3.Build up a portfolio - It is a good practice to collect work samples as much as possible, either as part of one's hobby or completed freelance work. Honestly, it is something that I have not really done for so many years; to collect my work samples and place them in one archive that I can access later. Though, I have my recent works with me, I was not able to back up my old work samples which were included in the files erased when I reformatted my PC. That is such a huge regret in my part. It is a lesson learned. The portfolio will give idea to prospective clients what kind of work you can do as a freelancer; be a writer, graphic artist, musician, game developer so on and so forth.

4.Master your skills - I heard my friend once said, "Practice today, tomorrow you will be better." Up to this day, I am keeping those words  since I found them useful in my endeavors. Whatever be your talents, you still need to practice everyday. Hone your skills with passion. If you are proficient in what you love to do, it is a big factor that clients wanted. There are clients looking for entry level skilled freelancers, but it will always give you an edge when you have an expertise. It highlights your strengths and more likely, you will get a freelance job.

5.Be Positive - Last but not the least be POSITIVE! You have everything set. You work on your talent, you have your portfolio, you mastered your skills. Now, what you should do is raise the level of optimism in you. Visit freelancing sites and job postings and look for clients seeking for freelance services. By reading job postings, you will see the the requirements most clients want. Through that you can assess your level of expertise and work on the weak sides of your skills. Like in my case, at first, I am a Flash Illustrator. But then I found out that clients are also looking for Flash artists that can also handle Flash programming. So, that convinced me that I should also work on that side of my talent. I studied Action Script 3.0 and that worked on my favor. Remember, the more skills you learn, the more confident and positive you will be.

So, these are just simple tips that I can share to you base on my experience as a freelancer. I hope that this post will be helpful to everyone. I will be more than happy to hear about your experiences in freelancing as well. So, if you have something to share, let's discuss about it.

I Work At Home

Since 2005, I am a freelancer. I spent 9 years of my life working at the comfort of home. I enjoyed that nature of work because it does not give me the pressure of waking up early in the morning and join the waves of commuters rushing in bus and train stations. I can't imagine myself taking a bath so early in the morning, dressing up in office attire or maybe in smart casual clothes, working eight hours in the office without even having the chance to take my noon day nap. Then in the afternoon, I have to travel once again and will be compelled to join the waves of commuters rushing back home. Oh, it's horrifying. Not to mention that I have difficulty crossing the streets. So, in my point of view, why wouldn't I want doing a home base job when it gives me all the freedom I want, manage my own working hours, drink as much coffee as I want and spend more time with my wife and my family. 

So, how did my freelance career started. It was in 2005 when I worked as a freelance writer in an online academic-writing company. For me that experience was unforgettable. My clients were students from abroad who were looking for freelance writers that can work on their assignments and academic papers. The rate is a little bit low, but it is okay with me for as long as I can earn something while I do what I really enjoyed doing. It was an old professor who encouraged me to continue as a freelance writer. She always commended my writing skills. She did not say that I am a superb writer, but she always mention that I have the potential. I am grateful to her that she sees me as someone who can handle writing and that is something that makes me a little proud of what I can do right now.

Then after that, I fell in-love with Macromedia Flash(now Adobe Flash) and that was when my freelance career as a Flash Illustrator and animator begun. When I was a child, I would admit,  watching cartoons was my favorite. I could remember myself arguing with my mother when she was asking me to buy soy sauce or fetch water when I was watching my favorite cartoon shows. Well, now I am starting to realize that it's bad. I traded  obedience over watching cartoons. But I am positive that my mother has probably forgiven me of that childish attitude. And mind you, who among us would want to miss the climax of the story when the main character is starting his battle of a lifetime against the bad guys. We would always want to see how he defeated the annoying characters that causes troubles and chaos.

Going back to Flash, I admired how I Flash handled drawing and animation. For the first time, I have had the experience drawing my own character in the computer and make them move and interact to one another using flash drawing tools and key frames. I would not forget the first flash animation I have watched. That is "Maritess and the SuperFriends". The animation is not that great, but the presentation is so unique, the story line is funny, and it relates something about the experiences domestic helpers abroad in light and hilarious way. Well, this funny flash animation caught my interest and from there, I was motivated to learn flash animation more and more.

During those days, I spent almost everyday doing simple projects in flash. It was some sort of training for me to see the capabilities of flash in terms of handling animation. Everyday, I learned new things until one day I received an e-mail from a friend looking for someone who can do dress up games in Flash. It was something I have not done before, but I told him that I want to try. That was when my career in Flash as a freelance Flash artist commenced. The manager has been so friendly to me and guided me well to improve my work and learn more things about the application. She encouraged me learn programming in Flash and her motivation did bear good result. I got excited on the idea that I can build my own games, searched the internet for Flash programming tutorials and little by little have gone deeper to Action Script 3.0 programming. A lot of Flash users and developers post tutorials and source codes in the internet so, learning has not been that difficult for me.

As of today, I still work at home and I am always eager to learn new things that this kind of set up can teach me. I believe that every day is a new day and a day will not pass without teaching us something new. We should just be keen enough to observe and we will see the intellectual beauty of what we do. I personally don't encourage my readers to be like me, but I just want to share my experiences to everyone. I am proud to be called as "Taumbahay".