The Write Way to Earn : Why Some Freelancers Do Better Than Others

I make my living with words, and most of them are written in English. It is not my country's first language, but it has always been mine. While growing up there were a number of languages that bounced around me. English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, just to mention a few. Although I could understand what was being said to me in all of these languages, the responses I framed would be either in English or Hindi. And if I had to express myself in writing, English was definitely the language of choice. 

Perhaps it was to do with the fact that the devnagri script was too tough for me to handle, or the natural reluctance of most “educated” Indians to write in anything but the Queen’s English. I don’t know why, but English has been the medium of expression for me since childhood. I would read books in the language, watch movies and television series and even ensure that I had the latest Grammy award winning songs on my walkman. Yes, a walkman, I grew up in ancient times.

It is because of this consistent exposure to the English language in more areas than merely my school textbooks that I developed a love for it, and indeed excelled in it. Grammar was always my friend, and spellings would automatically look wrong on the page if I ever spelt a word incorrectly, without conscious thought. The dictionary was my constant companion and was instantly accessed whenever I came across a new word.

What I am trying to say is that I put in a lot of effort in learning the English language, without even realizing I did so because I enjoyed it. This stood me in good stead later on in life when I decided to make my living as a freelance writer. Needless to say the life experience that I had gained as a travel agent, an HR trainer, and a Spoken English teacher really came in handy in my new calling. Each time I crafted a proposal to take on a new project I was able to relate to the prospective employer in a better manner thanks to the fluency of my language and the grasp of their requirements.

I never thought that I was doing anything great till I had friends come over and ask me to teach them how to work from home. It was only after the sixth or seventh person I dealt with that I realized that not everyone is made to be a good writer. You may know the language and you could speak it beautifully well, but the art of written expression often eludes many.

The lack of a decent sized vocabulary, the inattention to spelling mistakes, the inability to string together a grammatically correct sentence, and a disdain for current affairs and global news, could all spell doom for a fledgling writing career. A conscientious writer ensures that the work that is submitted is timely and correct.

Missing deadlines is not a good idea when you are trying to make a reputation for yourself online, but at the same time neither is submitting shoddy work.

There are a number of tools available to help you ensure that you do not make grammatical errors, or spelling mistakes. Making sure that you submit good quality writing along with actually relevant information gives you a reputation that allows you to pick the projects you want to work on. In a recent study conducted by Grammarly, they have a number of tools that writers can use, it was discovered that freelance writers do better than many other freelancers. 

Here is an infographic of the study that they conducted on profiles on Elance, which is an online freelance marketplace. The team at Grammarly checked 400+ freelancer profiles from all eight categories of the Elance platform for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. To adjust for the quality of work, they only selected freelancers with an average rating of four stars or above. They then looked at the correlation between earnings and number of mistakes. Here is what they found.

 

If you are looking to kick start your career as a freelancer, this is the best advice you can follow. Write, read, edit, repeat. No matter how well you think you have written an article or a blog post, trust me, there is a way to edit it to make it read better. By the time you have refined it for the third of fourth time, you will have finally reached a level of perfection which the simple first draft would never have. And in case you are unsure of the correct spelling or grammar, use the online tools available to help you improve your writing. This really is the "Write Way" to Earn!

 

Reading : a Hobby

For the last decade or so I have always read two books at the same time. The practice began when I was still studying, because it helped me save time when I studied an easy subject like English Literature with a tougher one like Calculus. I would start out with the difficult one and when I could feel the mind closing and refusing to take in any new concepts, I would switch to the easier one.

Helped to keep me mentally agile and able to fill in a lot more stuff in the same time frame. Then exams became a thing of the past and I was free to pick and choose whatever I wanted to read. So I would again pick classics from Milton or Shakespeare and couple them with an Agatha Christie or a Sidney Sheldon. I also liked to read all the books of one author at a trot. The "Complete Works" series must have been made to order for me.

I love reading Omnibuses. Yes, I delight in going through all the stories with the same characters one after the other. Specially if the characters are Jeeves and Bertie. The fact that I sat down and read the full Jeeves series in the week before my tenth class boards, and still managed to score ninety out of hundred in English is one of my favourites.

I speed read and so don't usually get much beyond the basic plot and characterization in the first reading. In fact if I were to pick up a book I just finished reading today in a year's time, chances are that I would only realise that I have read it before after I am half way through, and then I will have to read it again as I most likely have forgotten the end.

The reason I am harping on and on about this reading habit of mine is that it is this one hobby that has helped me develop a great vocabulary. The more I read the better it gets. And given my current line of work, that is what is needed more than any other skill.

The Phonetic Alphabet

The Phonetic Alphabet was devised by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in the mid 1950s. it was based on earlier systems in use by the British and American Armed Forces. Approved by aviation and telecommunication bodies it is in widespread use in the English speaking world. Similar systems are used by speakers of other languages. Amateur radio users have devised other systems based on it as well.

Here they are:

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whisky, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

If you are contemplating a career in aviation or tourism you should memorize them.

Like Which Animal

When we want to express a certain animal quality in a word we use these. Very useful if you want to show off your superior vocabulary skills.

1 Like a Bee – Apian

2 Like a Bird – Avian

3 Like a Cow – Bovine

4 Like a Dog – Canine

5 Like a Horse – Equine

6 Like a Cat – Feline

7 Like a Lion – Leonine

8 Like a Wolf – Lupine

9 Like a Sheep - Ovine

10 Like a Pig – Porcine

11 Like a Ape or Monkey – Simian

12 Like a Fish - Piscine

13 Like a Bull - Taurine

14 Like a Bear - Ursine

15 Like a Fox - Vulpine

Answers to Quiz on Words of all Hues

1. Synonyms
2. Homonyms
3. Heteronyms
4. Acronyms
5. Antonyms
6. Palindromes
7. Doublets
8. Onomatopeic

Here is a Quiz on Words of all Hues

1. Words having the same meaning, very similar to that of another word. Eg Mix and Blend, Daunting and Intimidating

2. Words that sound alike but have no other connection either in spelling or meaning. Eg. Alter and Altar, Air and Heir

3. Words spelt alike but pronounced differently and having no connection whatever in meaning. Eg Bow (a nod and an instrument to shoot arrows.)

4. Sets of initials designed to be said as though they are words. Eg. NASA, AIDS, etc.

5. Words of opposite meanings. Eg. Allow – Forbid, Essential – Unnecessary.

6. Words that read the same backwards as well as forwards. Eg. Madam, Malayalam

7. These are pairs or sets of words which though apparently different oin form are from the same original root, with certain changes in spelling. Eg Arc-Arch, History – Story, Sequel – Sequence

8. Sound like the noise they describe. Eg. Crunch, Bang, Meow, Gasp

Plurals Galore

One of the most puzzling parts of English vocabulary is how to make plurals out of nouns. Here's a post to simplify that.

The English language has both regular and irregular plural forms of nouns.

Regular Nouns:

1. The most common case is when you need to add -s to the noun.
For example one car and two cars.

2. Other nouns that end with s, x, ch or sh, where you add es
For example one box, two boxes

3. Some nouns that end with consonant y, where you change the y to i and add -es
For example one enemy, two enemies

Irregular Nouns:

1. The nouns that end with o, where you add -es
For example one potato, two potatoes

2. The nouns ending with is, where you change -is to -es
For example one crisis, two crises

3. The nouns ending with f, where you change f to v and add –ves
For example one wolf, two wolves

4. The nouns ending with fe, where you change -f to -v and add -s
For example one life, two lives

5. The nouns ending with us, where you change -us to -i
For example one fungus, two fungi

6. The nouns that contain oo, change -oo to -ee
For example one foot, two feet

7. The nouns that end with on, where you change -on with –a
For example phenomenon, phenomena

8. The nouns that don’t change. In fact it is the content that decides if it is being used in the singular or plural form.
For example sheep, offspring, series

Once you master these simple rules you will drastically improve your English Writing Skills.

Here's a few Questions for Debate

Why does the sun lighten our hair, but darken our skin?
Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?
Why is abbreviated such a long word?
Why is a boxing ring square?
Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?
Why is it that doctors call what they do practice?
Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on Start?
Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the third hand on the watch called a second hand?
Why is the time of day when traffic is slowest called rush hour?
What do you call a male ladybug?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
Why don't they make the whole plane out of the same material that the indestructible black box is made of?
If a firefighter fights fire and a crime fighter fights crime, what does a freedom fighter fight?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the 'terminal'?
How is it possible to have a 'civil' war?
If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown too?
If you try to fail, and succeed, have you failed or succeeded?
Whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
Why do toasters always have a setting that burns toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would ever eat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!
What do you call male ballerinas?
Can blind people see their dreams?
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
If a word is mis - spelt in the dictionary, how would we ever know?
If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?
Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?
Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"?
Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?
Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites?
If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead?
Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them?
Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one?
Can you cry under water?
How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings & then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
How come we choose from just two people for Prime Minister and fifty for Miss India?

Teaching Spoken English

Hello All,
One of the reasons why I've created this blog is that I get to put things in perspective. When I first started teaching Spoken English I had no clue about the differences between written and oral skills. I learnt on the job and now I will attempt to tell you more about it.

Essentially there are Four Language Skills that one needs to master to learn a language. These may be categorised as listening, speaking, reading and writing. That's the way a newborn baby learns his first language. In India more often than not the baby is bombarded with at least two different languages at home. The regional language or mother tongue and Hindi. In urban areas there may be a smattering of babies who learn English at home as well.

However the majority of Indian's are more fluent with their Mother Tongue and Hindi and English is learnt in school. When you teach English in school you use the following Language Skills come into play; writing, reading, listening and speaking. The teachers are more interested in perfecting the written word for the exams and after the priliminary classes when orals are no longer part of the exams one hardly gets to prqactice the language at all.

This leads to a large population having learnt English with grammar and all in schools but with little confidence to speak the language. That's where Spoken English classes such as I teach come in. What I do is make them speak as much as they can in English. This is done using various techniques such as impromptu discussions, prepared speeches and presentations, dialogues between people, etc. This improves their confidence levels and Spoken English.

Keep a look out for my next post with more details on the same topic.