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Diversity is Strength
by C. Hope Clark

Diversity is a household word today. Our unique qualities can combine for a stronger community, nation and world. We may not be quite there yet theoretically, but we are much closer than we were even ten or twenty years ago.

Your writing income can generate strength through diversity as well. In that statement, I mean that writers can improve their careers financially by utilizing several means to generate income rather than sticking to just one.

Each FundsforWriters newsletter lists contests, freelance markets, jobs, grants, and publishers/agents. Most writers have their favorite section. But some restrict themselves to one section and overlook opportunity by not thinking about diversifying their writing.

Contests

Every writer can enter a competition. Whether you call yourself a poet, tech writer, or screenwriter, contests exist with your name on them. If you write, you should compete. Don't believe in entry fees? You do limit yourself in the contest arena but you can find a freebie once in a while. Even if it's once a year, though, enter a competition - even with an entry fee.

However, FundsforWriters recently listed an ebook on its website entitled THE NO FEE CONTEST BOOK that gives 100+ contests requiring no entry fee. And all of these contests are repeaters meaning they have successfully run their contest in the past and keep coming back for more. No flash in the pan. Contest clips look great in a portfolio. Land one for yours.

Grants

Every writer can submit a grant. Grants come in different flavors giving each writer some chance to tap free money. Grants don't charge entry fees. And you can ask for grant money to research a historical novel, attend a conference, or fill a fellowship position to write your novel and mentor students.

You can ask for funds to host an educational program, or propose a publication to raise funds for charity. Grants also carry a sense of award with them. Mention you won a grant to research your novel or complete your chapbook, and watch the admiration in another's eyes. That's why FundsforWriters offers grants in each newsletter and now offers GRANTS FOR THE SERIOUS WRITER: 2nd EDITION with over 300 grant opportunities.

Freelance Markets

Freelance markets. Freelancing is just that...selling your own writing to a market. You work for yourself. Freelancing is the bread and butter for writers. Even those working 9 to 5 jobs can freelance. And you don't just have to write mag articles. Write business newsletters, poetry, tech reports, whatever. Don't confine your talents to one small area - especially if you need the income.

Jobs

Many writers don't want a day job. But the truth is that writing is a seriously competitive field in a strictly freelance sense. Unless you have some excellent experience, superb publishing credits, or good connections, you need another source of income. Working a job isn't a bad idea. Just make sure you find one in writing to keep you on your toes. Even part-time can be beneficial to you in many ways.

Bureaucracy isn't fun for anyone, but having the bills paid is a nice sense of accomplishment - especially when it gives you personal time to write on your off days without the wolf barking at your door. Plus, a job gives you people contacts, information for your writing, and such necessities as health insurance, life insurance and maybe even a retirement package. A job isn't a bad thing.

Summation

Your writing is a talent. If you don't use it, if you don't live from it, if you don't impact others with it, what good is it? Make the most of that talent by diversifying what you do with it. Attend some seminars (grant); submit an essay you wouldn't ordinarily submit to a market (contest); create a chapbook (contest); write a how-to book (publisher/agent); send coverage of a local community event to a national publication (freelance); or write a press release for the paper (job).

Simply, don't discard other means to write. Just because you've written poetry for years, doesn't mean you can't write a creative nonfiction piece for a literary journal. Because you're a commercial writer doesn't mean you can't get a grant to mentor students in writing. Think across the lines and outside the boxes. You might find a venue that suits your fancy more than the one you practice now. And use all the means available to you to do what you've always dreamed of doing - making a living as a writer.

Copyright © 2003 C. Hope Clark

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