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Why spelling and grammar matters for freelancers

Those of you who know what a spelling nerd I am won’t be suprirsed when I say: using proper spelling and grammar is just as important as the client work you do as a freelancer.

Yes, I may be biased, but I believe it’s true that if you don’t consider your spelling and grammar, the rest of your work will suffer. There’s one simple reason for that.

You will appear unprofessional and careless if your spelling is bad

I don’t mean the occasional mistake here and there (“Occasional” is one word I personally always mess up). I mean emails littered with spelling errors and grammatical mixups. Imagine you are the client and you email your freelancer a question about the project you’re working on. The email you get back is full of so many spelling mistakes and poorly-constructed sentences that you have to read it twice to understand. How would your opinion of the freelancer change?

Take your time with every email

Emails and instant messages are immediate forms of communication, but take a couple of minutes to review every message before you hit Send. It’s been my experience that really badly-constructed emails and letters are a result of the writer rushing through it. Read over your email or message and make sure that all the client’s questions are answered and your relevant points have been made. Read it out loud to make sure it flows well. Look for obvious errors, but also watch out for spelling mistakes that spell checker programs might not catch because, technically, they’re not spelled wrong. These include they’re/their/there and you’re/your mixups – and my personal favourite: it’s/its. Someone I know reads each word backwards – she says that it helps misspellings jump out at her.

Nobody’s expecting perfection

Everyone makes spelling and grammar mistakes, and your client will understand that. The important thing is to just take care with the things you write. It’s one of the most important things you can do to improve your reputation and put forth an image that is just as professional as the work you do.

I wrote an article on Suite 101 called Communications Skills for the Self-Employed for anyone who might be interested to learn more.

Image courtesy of stock.xchng user dotlizard.

August 18, 2009 | 0 comments | View Post

Three ways my mother can help you be a better freelancer

My mother was never overbearing or naggy when I was growing up, but she often gave me advice about things. There are three pieces of advice she’s given me that I value the most, and today I actually found myself experiencing them one by one during my work day. She’ll be pleased to know that her random bits of life advice can actually help me be a better freelancer!

1) “Messy house, messy mind” – Organize your home work area

Pretty much the only piece of advice my mom delivers in catchphrase form, this one was my great epiphany for today. I spent the day working on a project, referring to notes I’d taken when I’d met with the client. Near the end of the day, I was running out of steam and sitting in a pile of my own papery mess. I decided I needed a break and got up to do something that wasn’t writing-related, but I ended up wandering into my home office, getting a file folder, writing my client’s name on it, and putting all those papers in that file folder. It’s hardly the kind of revelation that will blow your hair back, but getting my papers so organized really did make a difference in how well I worked afterwards.

2) Don’t work in your pyjamas

Growing up, if I was feeling truly ill or merely struck with a teenage disgust for living, my mom would advise me to at least change out of my pyjamas. She’s a sneaky and smart lady, because it worked every time. Working in your pyjamas always seems appealing to freelancers – I mean, there’s a reason it’s kind of the hallmark of a scam work from home opportunity – but it rarely lends itself to feelings of productivity. I believe there really is a connection your brain makes when you wake up in the morning and get dressed. It sounds vaguely cheesy, but changing out of the clothes you’ve slept in is a signal that it’s time to move from sleep to activity.

3) “Be systematic” – Develop a routine in your work day

She first said this one as instruction for the best way to sweep the floor when I was a kid. At the time, systematically sweeping the floor made no sense to me and I said so, turning “be systematic” into yet another family joke (I know it’s not funny to you, but family jokes are like that). However, I find this one to be the most beneficial to my freelancing work days. Sticking to some kind of schedule is so important for people working from home. How else can I avoid distractions in the form of Facebook Scrabble and experimenting with the manual features on my camera? Each day is usually different – some can be more writing-focused and some can be more business development-focused, but developing a schedule for your work day is critical if you are self employed.

June 19, 2009 | 0 comments | View Post

What is Wordscience?

This is Wordscience, and welcome to it!

Since I began freelancing full-time (well, I have a two-day-a-week writing job now but, still), I have been planning a revamped website and blog for web writing and writing in general – and here we are! I’m really pleased with it and I hope you get something out of it. I’m always open to suggestions so feel free to get in touch!

What does the name mean, you ask? Well, nothing. And lots of things. Years ago, after an overheard snippet of conversation, I took to the phrase “new science.” Something about the sound of it appealed to me and maybe a bit of what the effects a “new science” could have. The name “Wordscience” is partly an extension of that, just a phrase I liked the sound of. It also makes me think of the effect of words. Not that I believe words follow an actual science (though that’s kind of a trip to think about). I just like using them and thinking about how they work, and will tend to write about that here.

Plus, if you mispronounce it it sounds like “wordsy-ence,” which is a pretty fun nonexistent word too. I can exhibit symptoms of wordsy-ence sometimes. Like right now.

Anyway, I hope other web writers out there enjoy it here, and maybe even web readers too!

June 13, 2009 | 0 comments | View Post