I’m thankful for our  gym membership (nice hot showers) and Bad Ass Coffee  shop (yes, that’s the name of the coffee shop). Not only do they have great coffee but they have a comfortable couch for me to sink into as I sit with my netbook and portable keyboard to reconnect with the outer world (The reggae music here aint so bad either).

When my power company sees fit to restore my power, things will get back to normal. In the meanwhile, we are operating in survival mode.

High Tech and Low Cost

I went to the local craft store and bought a 100-sheet pad of large paper. The paper is 18″ x 24″. When I brainstorm I go through lots of paper.

I also bought a couple of sets of multicolored markers. They’re really supposed to be used on the white board but I’ve long since abandoned the whiteboard when brainstorming because I can only fit so much on a whiteboard. When you brainstorm, your writing space must not be limited.

The Pace Factor

True brainstorming requires excessive pacing. I pace around quite a bit, talk to myself and allow the brain to flow. Because of the pacing, I find it useful to tape a sheet of large paper every wooden door in the house. I choose doors because I don’t want to ruin the paint or wallpaper when I pull the tape down.

The color pens scattered throughout the house (and I also keep a few in my pocket or behind my ear if I’m wearing sweats). You always want to be prepared to jot something down when the idea hits.

Once a sheet of paper is filled I take it down and put up another one. At the end of my brainstorming session I take all the sheets of paper and I lay them out. The next step is organizing them and then typing them up on a smaller more manageable piece of paper.

Get the Kids Involved

My kids are older and they’re used to me having brainstorming sessions. If you have young children and wish to get them involved, tape sheets of paper on the lower part of the doors for them (or you can assign designated doors).

Make sure to set the brainstorming boundaries. Walls, floors, doors or anything else that doesn’t have a sheet of brainstorming paper is off limits. As you buzz around jotting ideas, your child can buzz around the house and brainstorm too.

Having your children join in a brainstorming session helps them to think out-of-the-box and come up with ideas that they might not have come up with using the traditional sit down and think it out method.

I find brainstorming to be a time of high energy. It’s a time of a lot of pacing, talking, thinking, jotting, drawing and charting. I’ve come up with some of my best ideas during brainstorming sessions. These sessions should be fun.

Take Action

At the end of the brainstorming session, sort out the ideas determine which ideas make the most sense and then take action. Brainstorming is great, but what use are great ideas if there’s no action behind them. Capitalize on your brainstorming energy and put something in motion.

Wait a minute. Let me ask you this. When was the last time you had a talk to yourself, pace around the house, let the world think your crazy brain storming session?  If you haven’t had one in a while, don’t you think it’s time? That Panda will be back. Don’t you want to be prepared the next time it shows up?

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I’ve always had a preference for heat as opposed to cold. The only time the heat really bothered me was when I would sit shoulder to shoulder or stand nose to nose with my fellow commuters on IRT subway train. The goal was to show up at the office looking fresh and unaffected by the weather.

Things have Changed

Now my heat wave work attire is much less formal ranging from PJs to a bathing suit. When you don’t have the pressure of commuting and appearing fresh after being stalled in a subway tunnel for 30 minutes with no air conditioning, intense heat waves really aren’t so bad.

When it comes to work and weather conditions, my biggest concerns are severe thunderstorms and power outages. Heck, even if a power outage does occur, there is always McDonald’s, the library or Barnes & Noble with their readily accessible Wi-Fi. Although, power outages have helped me to reconnect with my earlier writing tools, pen and paper.

Writing Tenacity

As writers we are fortunate in that there is very little to stop us from accomplishing what we set out to do. The true writing obstacles are self inflicted. They’re called burn out and writer’s block. Writing too much leads to burnout (especially if you’re not writing about something you enjoy) and forced writing causes writer’s block.

As long as we can keep ourselves out of our own way, no outside force can stop a freelance writer from writing. I love my job!

Speaking Out of the Box/Office

Rather than rushing home from my walk, I decided to bring my tools with me. No, I’m not walking around the lake with a computer; I’ve decided to make my digital voice recorder and headset as part of my daily walk. This way, when ideas hit, all I have to do is speak them. As a matter of fact, I dictated this post during my morning walk. I was able to kill three birds with one stone; clear my brain, dictate my post and get a bit of exercise. As far as I’m concerned, online writing doesn’t get any better than that.

Come Along on my Walk

From here on out this post is a mish mosh of self-talk. As I was walking and avoiding ice patches I got to thinking about how great it is to earn money online with little to no upfront expense. Think about it for a minute. It is possible to earn lots of money without spending a dime (you’ve got to spend time, but no money).

With so many businesses requiring an initial up-front financial and time investment, online writing is a steal. As an online writer all you need is an idea and access to the Internet. If you don’t have a computer, but are fortunate enough to live in an area where the library system is equipped with public computers and internet access, you have everything you need to get started.

After you’ve earned a few bucks, you can then purchase a computer, fund your Internet connection and who knows, even by an online product or two. If it weren’t for the money I earned by writing on line, I would not have purchased my digital voice recorder or my voice recognition software (or the oven I purchased last year ). There does come a time when reinvesting in your writing career makes sense.

End of My Walk

As I come to the end of my walk, I’ll also come to the end of this post. I managed to make it safely home without slipping on ice. I also managed to dictate two articles that will be posted somewhere in cyberspace.

This morning’s walk taught me that I have to mold and shape my writing career to suit my desires and lifestyle. In other words, I get to set the rules. Personally, I want to spend less time on the computer and more time outdoors. Fortunately, today’s technology makes it easier to work anywhere.

With the New Year right around the corner, take some time (and a walk) to figure out where you want to take your career.

In addition to the food I provide the necessary plates, spoons forks, dishes, napkins, cups and beverage. My guests are free to enjoy and eat as much as their stomachs can hold. The one thing I will not do, however, is cut their meat and spoon feed them.

Getting to the Point

As a freelance writer, we have to learn to learn. We learn by example, we learn through mentors, and most of all, we learn by mistakes (plenty of mistakes). If you are considering writing as a full-time occupation you must resolve yourself to the fact you will make mistakes as you learn new skills, methods and even new content sites.

Here at NJFM I try to make that journey a little easier by sharing my experience, both successes and mistakes. I also started out wet behind the ears, but I spent quite a bit of time researching, learning, taking risk and making lots of mistakes.

Silence is Golden

I find that I’m getting an ever increasing number of e-mails from newbie freelance writers asking questions that only they themselves should answer. I get a lot of questions asking things like:

• Should I have a blog?
• What should I write about?
• What’s the fastest way to improve my writing speed?
• What are the most lucrative subjects to write on?
• Is it okay if…?
• (Oh, and the kicker…I know you wrote about it on your blog, but I didn’t feel like taking the time to go through it. I thought it would be quicker if I asked you directly…hint: My time is just as valuable as yours)

I’ve changed my approach on how I respond to such e-mails. In the past I used to take the time to individually respond to each one. Sometimes, because I get the same questions so frequently, I would write a blog post about it. I no longer do that because I’ve covered the topic already. This blog would become mighty boring if I continually wrote the same post over and over again.

Time to Walk Away

I don’t want newbies to feel discouraged but sometimes a little tough love is better than too much love (and spoon feeding). Let me tell you a little story that happened in my life (dim the lights and queue the music).

Once Upon a time…

Prior to the birth of our first child, my husband had never changed a diaper. Back when our son was first born I felt I had to be super mommy. I had to feed, bathe, change and meet my baby’s every need so the fact that my husband didn’t change diapers didn’t bother me.

One day the Come-to-Your-Senses Fairy stopped by and whacked me upside the head and said, “Girlfriend, what are you doing? Don’t you know the way you begin is the same way you’ll end?” I rubbed the quickly forming lump on my head and realized this ornery little fairy was right. Today it’s diapers, a few years from now its soccer practice. And,  what happens if we have several children? Whoa, time to switch gears.

The next time when my husband brought our son to me for a diaper change, I realized it was the perfect time for me to spend a couple hours shopping. I said to him, “I’ve got a few things to do. You change his diaper.”

He looked at me stunned and said, “I’ve never changed a diaper before.” I smiled at him and said, “I’ll give you a hint. If the baby’s face is covered you did it wrong.” With that, I walked out the door.

Father and Son Bonding

When I came back a few hours later, I found them both sound asleep on the couch. I checked my son’s diaper and it was clean and properly changed. I found that my husband was very capable of changing a diaper. I also realized that if I were around to instruct him on how “I” changed our son’s diaper, I was setting him up for failure (no two people accomplish one task the same way).

That day my husband proudly joined the ranks of dads who can change their child’s diapers.

Back to Freelance Writing

For those individuals who sent e-mails to me and have not had a response, what are you doing now? If you are sitting in a holding pattern paralyzed because I have not responded or given permission for you to take the next step, my suggestion to you is to find a traditional job to pay the bills while you work on building your confidence and decision making skills.

For those of you who have sent e-mails and decided to take the next step anyway even though you have not received a response from me, I applaud you. You have successfully passed my lesson in tough love. Your taking the next step (without permission) will carry you a lot further than if I had spoon fed the information to you.

Becoming a successful online freelance writer is all about reading, learning, making decisions and taking action (right or wrong).

More than One Way to Skin a Cat

Getting back to the diaper situation, one day when I was “napping,” my husband had to change our son’s diaper. I opened one eye to watch the process in action.

I stifled a giggle as I saw him grab the my son’s left ankle and lift 95% of the baby’s little body in air in order to place a clean diaper underneath him. Our son apparently thoroughly enjoyed the upside down vertical suspension. He cooed and giggled and smiled through the entire process.

That showed me that not only is there more than one way of changing a diaper, but my son also learned the difference in diaper changing styles. There’s Mommy’s gentle way and Dad’s toss me in the air and land solidly on a clean diaper method. My son is now over 6’3” and a strapping young man, so I guess Dad’s diapering didn’t hurt him one bit.

Similarly, when it comes to freelance writing, there is more than one way to become a success. I only share the journey I took; hopefully you will learn from my journey and blaze your own path.

Happy eating!