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Put your heart into your work. That's my primary advice for anyone wanting to be successful as a freelance writer. Whether you are working on your masterpiece novel or preparing sparkling prose for a sales letter, you need to put a piece of yourself into everything you write.

Most books and articles on freelance writing will tell you to focus on the audience. Write what the editor wants. Write what the business client wants. This is good advice, but it's only a small part of the whole recipe for freelance success.

The truth is, there are thousands of writers out there who are every bit as good at writing as you are. Maybe they're not all competing for the same jobs, but sometimes you may feel as if you're one very small speck in the world of freelance writing.

You have no control over your competition or the editors or the business owners seeking help on writing projects. What you can control is your approach to every project. Pour your heart into everything you write, starting with your project proposal or query letter. Choose projects that inspire you, rather than focusing on the ultimate paycheck. The more you care about a topic or project, the better you will write. And the better you write, the higher the pay rate you'll be able to demand.

Breaking into print (or the Web) can be a long, slow process. Freelance writing for businesses and Web sites is one way to break in and hone your craft. Yes, the process will take time, maybe a few years, before you are able to sustain yourself solely on your freelance income.

Be prepared to put in long hours looking for work, and long hours writing. Even when you don't have a new project lined up, you can play around with ideas, write query letters, or read samples of the kind of work you'd like to do.

Set aside regular time for your writing, whether it's an hour every morning, or one afternoon a week. The more time you set aside, and the more writing you do, the better you get at writing. Natalie Goldberg's advice in Writing Down the Bones is to write every day, no matter what happens, and to set a goal to fill a notebook each month with your daily writing practice. Practice really does make perfect, or as close to perfection as we mortals can achieve.

In the end, you are the key ingredient to a successful writing recipe.

Learn more about this author, Roxianne Moore.
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