Will Kelly

Do I miss Freelance Writing?

I was talking with an old colleague the other night and they wondered if I missed freelance writing. In some ways, I really do miss freelancing but considering where the economy is going it looks like I need to diversify my income again.

Freelance writing was such a rich educational experience for me and contributed to the professional I am today. While freelancing, I was exposed to leading edge technologies and got to interview some really smart people. Writing articles did wonders for honing my writing and analytical skills.

Windows Live Writer

While I've been setting up my new desktop PC as I prepare to move back into my home office after 11 months on a client site,  I decided to check out Windows Live Writer.

As a TypePad user, I've grown comfortable with their editing tools and user interface but started to resort to Writely for composing blog postings that took longer to percolate. However, Writely does have some limitations especially when it comes to assigning categories.

Composing blog entries with Windows Live Writer was a bit awkward at first because it really doesn't layout the text in the blog entry correctly. In some ways it looks like I am writing in the left margin of the page like so:

Cubicle life

This is a test of TypePad Mobile from my Treo 650

Blog Hindsight: At least I still have time

I originally started this site as a creative outlet and a way to catalog some of my online research. Thus, I neglected the following:

• A style guide for the site to ensure some consistency in major site elements like headlines, grammar, and other nitpicky items.
• Substantative and analytical postings (to the most degree) but I've been working on resolving in my last batch of postings.

Look for a site revamp in the upcoming weeks.

Dupont Circle Metro

I went downtown today to a freelance writer's workshop sponsored by Washington Independent Writers.

Going downtown meant I had to ride metro. The trip was slow due to some construction on a new station. My Dell MP3 Player crashed so I couldn't drown out the droan of the screaming kids and the man behind me who was talking and singing to himself.

The workshop did help me learn more about writing effective query letters. I picked up what I had been doing wrong, and plan to put what I learned today into practice in my next round of queries.

Here is a few of going up the escalator in the Dupont Circle Metro station. It's the longest escalator in the entire system.  
 

Plaid Suit (from willkelly.org archives)

I was very creative before technical writing sucked the creativity out of me. This story won an award for me when I was an undergraduate.