Freelance Writing Skills: 7 Habits that will Make a Big Difference

Do you love cooking new dishes?

Don’t worry! I won’t make you cook something.

But just like you need a recipe to cook, you also need a recipe of habits to improve your freelance writing skills.

As writers, we all face loads of obstacles to keep up with our day-to-day writing tasks. On the top, if you are a freelance writer, the struggle is a real nightmare.

Solution?

Today, I will talk about the 7 habits every freelance writer must have. They will help you in improving your freelance writing skills.

Let’s kick things off with the first habit.

7 Habits to Improve Freelance Writing Skills

1.Empathise with your audience

Ever visited a doctor who didn’t listen to your problem with patience? You felt hurried away by the doctor?

What will be your opinion about him?

Rude, careless, unempathetic….and so on!

Same holds true with freelance writing. If you don’t take time to understand your audience and their problems, to empathise with them, you can’t deliver them the right solution through your writing.

Moral of the story?

2.Write as much as you can daily

A blunt knife becomes sharp when polished rigorously. Same goes for your freelance writing skills.

If you don’t have a freelance writing assignment now, practice writing in your diary. Even a paragraph or two in a day are enough.

At the end of the day, what matters is how well you can use your words to portray a situation or convey your message to the readers.

Few things to keep in mind while improving your freelance writing skills are grammar, vocabulary, and spellings.

Writing on different topics is a good exercise to boost your confidence and gain knowledge.

Last but not the least; don’t forget to read books of your interest. Books are a great source of inspiration to write daily.

Also Read: Bonus Tips on How to Improve Writing Skills

3.Proofread and edit without mercy

Yes, I am asking you to be merciless while editing your write-up.

Be the critic of your work.

Most of the times we tend to repeat the same idea unconsciously. To avoid this, it is important to edit your work thoroughly. Whatever you write is will always have a loophole. Instead of turning a blind eye to it, fix it.

Editing helps you to connect your ideas easily. It gives you a scope to double check your writing. So make sure your editing is to the point. Use one word substitution instead of many words.

Proofreading acts like a magnifying glass which points out your grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. No one likes to be called out for these small mistakes, so it’s better to take care of them beforehand.

Read these quick content editing tips

4. Focus on research

However, many of us, including me would be guilty of ignoring this important step. At least, in the beginning of our freelance writing career.

To meet the pressuring deadlines of our freelance writing assignments, we don’t research deeply on the given topic. Consequently, our write-up has a hurried and improperly crafted look.

And therefore, we get called out by our clients to improve the writing over and over again.

Bottom line?

Don’t avoid researching on a topic before writing; you may not know what new facts will show up.

Research; research thoroughly before you write.

The internet is a vast space and rich in knowledge. Yet, it’s sometimes misleading and exaggerating.

So you should practice your discretion to take the information which is helpful and leave the rest.

Further, books are your ultimate companion. The amount of knowledge and information books hold is unimaginable. Use them liberally.

5. The title matters

Title or heading is like the garnishing on the top of your write-up.

You must use a captivating title to compel people to read your post. The title should also have some emotional value to it.

Besides, keep your title short, crisp and to the point. Make it easy for the readers to remember.

Usually the things related to our day-to-day life are used in the title. The psychology behind doing so is very simple, as the title then becomes easy to recall and connect with.

6. Let the visuals talk

Even if you wrote the best article, it would still lack something without the visuals. Add relevant visuals to grab your reader’s attention.

A write-up with visuals is more appealing and easy to understand. Visuals are easy to grasp and have a memorization value.

Give a good amount of thought on the visuals which you want to pair with the write-up. Avoid low resolution and blurry images.

7. Keep it sweet, simple, and catchy

You don’t have to use all the possible words available in the Thesaurus to make your write-up stand out.

The success of your write-up simply depends whether people are able to grasp the message or not.

Always remember that you are writing the article for your audience and not for yourself.

Your audience may vary from a school teacher to a banker. But your message might be the same for both. Make sure your write-up is customized enough to cater to your audience.

Conclusion

You express through your words. And your words tell a story through your write-up.

However, you write-up does not have to be fancy and decorative. It has to be understandable.

Hopefully, these 7 little habits will help you spice-up your freelance writing skills and deliver a lovely article to your readers.

So, which habit are you picking up first?