patchworkbalkan.org http://www.patchworkbalkan.org Lucrative Remote Writing Jobs Thu, 08 Apr 2021 11:46:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.3 http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/742/2021/04/cropped-fav-32x32.png patchworkbalkan.org http://www.patchworkbalkan.org 32 32 Developing a Brilliant Writing Style http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/developing-a-brilliant-writing-style.html http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/developing-a-brilliant-writing-style.html#respond Thu, 08 Apr 2021 11:43:10 +0000 http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/?p=73 Are you still struggling to find a writing style that is your own? Do you feel as though your writing lacks character or is not compelling enough? If so, don’t worry — it’s all too common for writers to feel this way. You don’t need to be the next Shakespeare or Nabokov to have a terrific sense of prose and word choice. The following six tips should fill that void.

  1. Use Powerful Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe a noun or another adjective. If you struggle with adverbs, the following section might come in handy.  Strong adjectives are those that enhance meaning and give your writing personality, like these strong examples from Dostoevsky’s The Gambler: “He was tall, lean and dark, his eyes glittering beneath his brows with a cold light; there was something harsh and hard about his mouth. The face was not handsome, but it had a concentrated, almost fierce expression.” And these from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Gambler: “His thin lips were drawn together in an expression of infinite suffering. His pale grayish eyes shone with the light of despair.”

  1. Use Strong Verbs

Strong verbs are those that give power to your writing.  They work exceptionally well with strong adjectives that also describe a noun.  Besides, they are more likely to make readers start reading your writing right away. Consider this example from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick: “His was the front of a man walking toward the world and pitying it, but as he went along his heart grew harder and harder, and every year added to its armor of steel.”

  1. Use Active Verbs

Active verbs give your writing energy; it’s best to use them instead of passive.  Write as if you are taking action, rather than describing something as it happened passively. Consider these examples from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment: “I was at the window.” “He was lying in bed looking at me.”

  1. Use the Right Verb Tense

Though some writers indeed use the past tense only for emphasis (and it’s perfectly fine to do so), most readers expect the correct tense from you. If you’re unsure about something, ask yourself: Was it happening now? Or was it happening in the past? When possible, use the future tense in place of verbs with a passive voice.  Here are some examples of the correct tense:

“I am working.”  “He is eating breakfast.”  “We were walking home.”  “You are reading this essay.”  “My grandfather was once a king.”

  1. Use Strong Adjectives Over Stronger Adjectives

If you have ever written a book, you may be familiar with the idea of a sequel. When your book gets popular, there’s often pressure to publish a second one.  See that adjective “popular” in the previous sentence? It’s a strong adjective — one that describes the noun “book.”  Now, a sequel to your book may also become popular, but is it always going to be better than the first one? Probably not.  More popular doesn’t mean better. If you try to make it better, it might end up weaker. Adjectives are similar – you don’t want to “upgrade” them from strong adjectives to stronger adjectives.

In other words, your first adjective should be stronger than any adjective that follows it. Here’s an example of a weak sentence: “It was a hot day.”  “It was the hottest day of the year.”  “It was the hottest day of my life.”  You get the idea.

  1. Use Short Sentences

I once read a writing tip that suggested it’s best not to use more than three clauses in a sentence; most readers won’t be able to keep up with you.  Is it true? Yes, but only if you’re not going for dramatic effect. If you’ve ever read Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, you’ll recognize that it’s written in tercets – three-line stanzas. Many of the poems by William Blake also work in threes.  You don’t need to be so formal, but it helps when you’re trying to communicate a complex thought with only a handful of words.  Here’s another example of effective tercets: “Our future is within us; we have the power to create it.”

Conclusion

This list isn’t exhaustive, but it should help you develop a writing style that is individual and powerful.  Don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t write in the same manner as any other writer.  You don’t need to be great to produce a fine body of work – all you need is to finish what you start.  And remember: The best writing advice comes from your own experiences.  It’s best not to imitate another writer, no matter how good he or she may be.

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Freelance Ghostwriting Career Perspectives http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/freelance-ghostwriting-career-perspectives.html http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/freelance-ghostwriting-career-perspectives.html#respond Thu, 08 Apr 2021 10:42:51 +0000 http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/?p=70 If you love writing, then you most probably have come across the term ghostwriting. Ghostwriting implies writing for someone else for a fee and getting zero credit for your work. Similarly, a ghostwriter encompasses an individual who engages in ghostwriting. For most ghostwriting endeavors, two principle parties exist, and these often entail the author and the ghost. The author engages and hires the ghost to have their material ready for a fee while ghostwriting the material to the author’s satisfaction. Upon completion, the author takes full credit for all the work completed without recognizing the ghostwriter.

Why hiring a ghostwriter becomes crucial?

Ghostwriting entails a popular and common practice, as much as it never gets publicized.  For instance, when an individual wants to develop a website copy, a ghostwriter can get hired to rewrite the existing copy. Additionally, other similar jobs exist, and it includes a business copy or writing ad or the supply of new or rewritten content for professional or personal use. Therefore, a ghost gets hired to solely act as an expert writer in producing high-quality copies that have to read professionally. 

In most instances, you can only turn to an expert freelance writer for quality website copy content. Plenty of ghostwriters work as freelance or on-staff writers who get paid after completing a specific job. You can also get hired as a ghostwriter to do books. In such instances, you have to cede your copyrights to the employer (author). However, on some other special occasions, the client can elect to credit some of the work to you as the ghostwriter.

Can you rake in money through ghostwriting?

Most ghostwriters have hefty prices and would only work for an enormous amount of fee. However, with the recent increase in competition from countries such as China and India and bidding companies’ entrance, the scenario has changed considerably.  However, a ghostwriter can charge an approximate amount ranging from $10000 to about $25000 in producing an outstanding write-up in a period that ranges from three to about six months. 

Ghostwriters get hired for their quality work and hardly their name in the industry as excellent book writers. However, such ghosts can cut deals with the books’ authors to get fair deals, especially during the signing of the contract. For instance, as a ghostwriter, you can decide to take a relatively lower fee when you expect the book to sell well and widely. In such a case, you can accept a down payment of $10000, where it can get paid in part or entirely out of the book advance. After that, the ghostwriter can take about 10% or 20% of the gross profit earnings from the book’s sale over time. However, you can cap the ceiling when the book gets expected to sell for high profits once published.

Alternatively, a ghostwriter can accept a low fee whenever the author accepts to share the credits with the ghost. It can also only come to effect if the previous conditions of profitability get expected. However, it always becomes the author and the ghostwriter’s prerogative to deliberate and agree on the best way forward to take their professional agreement.

Ghostwriting can prove a worthwhile and lucrative venture. However, you have to possess lots of freelance writing experience to stand a chance of becoming well-paid. Here, you can demonstrate your experience by having plenty of books published in your name or demonstrating your writing experience doing website content or any other copywriting business.

Conclusion

The demand for freelance writers always exists, no matter how much the economy gets battered. Therefore, understand the ghostwriting ropes and position yourself to succeed when a professional deal comes. Remember, ghostwriting can prove a lucrative career, therefore, avoid taking it for granted.

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Must-Have Skills for Freelance Writers http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/must-have-freelance-writer-skills.html http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/must-have-freelance-writer-skills.html#respond Thu, 01 Apr 2021 06:18:32 +0000 http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/?p=26 To become a top-notch freelance writer, you require a bit more than just writing skills. It is like running a business. You have to do the writing, manage other aspects of your life, and engage in active networking and marketing. It may sound like it is overwhelming, but when you add a bit of experience and extra toil, you will be on your way to success.

These are the skills you should have to make your freelance gig a success.

  1. Business management and Accounting Skills

When we hear the word accounting, we get a string of fear in our hearts. As a freelancer, you should understand how to put and how to put your income in check and manage it. Get the nitty-gritty of how to grow your business too. For accounting, you should know how to:

  • Develop invoices.
  • Keep and maintain records
  • Calculate tax and understand it well

The recordkeeping skills will help you a long way in ensuring that your business gets well managed. The records will help you keep track of your progress and will further shed light on how you can transform your business well. Set goals that you can achieve and work towards them.

  1. Organizational and Time management skills

These are some of the vital skills you can and should have as a writer. When you are self-employed, it is up to you to get yourself organized and do your work efficiently. The following tools can help you manage your time well and get organized while in the process;

  • Calendar. You can have a physical or digital one. Get your deadlines transcribed and have it within your reach at all times.
  • To-do list. You can download apps or have a physical one to keep records of what you get set to do or the deadlines you are supposed to meet.
  • Filing system. It will help you keep both your physical and digital files for easier retrieval of documents.
  1. Editing skills

As a freelancer, you should be an all-rounder. Writing may be your greatest asset, but editing is like a pillar. With this skill, you will produce top-notch scripts. Your success in freelance goes hand in hand with exquisite editing. You should therefore develop your editing skills as early as you can to improve the quality of your work. You will get to attract new clients, and you will also retain the ones you have. You can also use these skills to help others edit their work and get a dime off that.

  1. Networking skills

The skill will take you out of your comfort zones. Most freelancers dread it, but it is one powerful tool that any freelancer needs to possess. Many freelancers work in enclosed structures, barely seeing the light of day and fail to connect with others.

It is one of the best ways to get to clients. Several people get work through recommendations and referrals, and the truth of the matter is, networking can go a long way to improve on just these two. You do not have to do it in person. You can do it when you attend conferences and create connections with like-minded individuals. You can also use social media to land jobs and connect with new clients.

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Academic Writing Standards for Effective Paragraphs http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/academic-writing-standards-for-paragraphs.html http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/academic-writing-standards-for-paragraphs.html#respond Thu, 01 Apr 2021 06:17:36 +0000 http://www.patchworkbalkan.org/?p=24 Any academic paper has paragraphs as its building blocks. As such, a student has to understand the best methods of constructing paragraphs for their academic writing to stand any chance of completing an influential academic paper. A paragraph implies the intellectual arguments or research blocks that bring together all the text. However, in academic writing, you have to adhere to specific writing rules where related ideas focus on one particular thought presented in a sentence sequence. The sequence often encompasses the topic sentence, body, token, besides the conclusion.   

Constituents of a Paragraph

  • Topic sentence. One key objective of your topic sentences entails opening the paragraph besides informing your readers concerning the principal focus besides the subject you cover in the section. As such, the signpost will let you offer a clue to the audience without any backward linking to materials already covered. Instead, you can link concepts with the assistance of the concluding sentences.  Additionally, try and become careful when using concluding sentences as the linking words have to demonstrate a smooth flow of ideas to ensure comprehension of your general argument. Therefore, ensure that your concepts or thoughts flow naturally with the specific prompts you provide to your readers. However, try and avoid a preview of the following paragraph.
  • Body sentence. It represents a vital component of a paragraph, and it aims at providing the crucial argument of the paragraph. For instance, when doing your research paper, try and ensure this section covers the needed results descriptions, reasoning, and the development of the implications. Additionally, it should present the theme elaboration, theoretical aspect explanations, besides formula elucidation. Such body sentences develop the core of the concepts stream. 
  • Token sentence. In most instances, you will find writers inserting tokens in their research to back their arguments up in a reasonable manner. Here, you do not have to put it in any particular spot or location and can instead scatter them between the paragraph’s body sentences. However, ensure that the area you decide to put them in provides the best value. So what do token sentences entail? Token sentences contain examples, references, quotations, and supporting statistics.
    Further, token sentences can serve as auxiliary attention points where you incorporate diagrams, tables, charts, corresponding analysis, etc. Such sentences come digressive as they have this inherent nature. For this reason, such sentences can lead your readers from your primary ideas contained in a specific paragraph. All these imply proper management of token sentence writing to ensure effectiveness, especially when you have multiple sentence sequences but without a body, sentence sandwiched in between.
  • Wrap sentence. It also gets referred to as the concluding sentence. It aims at uniting your argument within the paragraph. Such a sentence should incorporate considerable value to your view besides proving constructive. Avoid repetitions as much as the sentences develop links between paragraphs. 

A Reader’s Viewpoint of a Paragraphs

Most rational readers will view separate paragraphs differently.  Readers will want to understand the information contained within the paragraph as fast as possible. As such, they will endeavor to focus on aspects like wrap and topic sentences. After that, they will look at the body sentences before heading to the token sentences. It is from this point that the readers will return to other parts of the paragraph. 

You, therefore, have to ensure that you effectively develop your paragraph.  One of the popular pieces of advice you will get entails singling out the two sentences before matching them appropriately. It implies concentrating your efforts in developing the end and the beginning of the paragraphs to make them as effective as you can. Because of this, pay attention to aspects such as substantiality, the informative nature, potential improvements, and the overall flow.

Challenges in Developing an Operational Paragraph

  • The sentences from the onset of the paragraph lacking fresh ideas
  • The initial sentence in the paragraph is proving too formal, non-informative, unsubstantial, etc.

Conclusion

If you want to write effective paragraphs in your academic papers while in school, it would help if you considered the guidelines.

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