Lessons I've Learned In Writing.

When you embark on the journey to become a writer, you learn a ton of lessons that both humble you, and help you to grow a thicker skin. In terms of humbling, you may write a piece that is absolutely amazing and reaches thousands of people, all of whom like it. They tell you that they are thankful that you shared something so personal and amazing. It gives you a great feeling inside.
Just like anything else in life, you do come across some rough times on your journey to being a writer. You may have a period of time where things you write aren't connecting, and you lose the reader's interest. Or, you could be plagued with writer's block (dun dun DUNNN). Do not lose hope. One thing that I have learned on this wonderfully crazy journey, is that you keep going no matter what.
A few weeks ago, as I was wandering Barnes and Noble bookstore with my Cafe Americano in hand, I came across the writing/publishing section. I was dealing with severe writers block, and was hoping that someone had written a book that will have interesting writing prompts. Lo and behold, I found such a book(series). "The Pocket Muse," by Monica Wood is amazing! It has helped me fill my journals with pages of writing material. It has also inspired ideas for stories based on some of my life experiences. I highly recommend, to any writer, that you have this series in your library. You never know when you may need a little boost to let your creative juices flow.
Back to the purpose of the blog: Lessons.
Patience. Patience is a huge part of being a freelance writer. If you are looking for assignments on an assignment desk, such as the desks on Yahoo and Helium, and nothing sparks your interest, you may have to either come up with an amazing idea, or wait longer. The best title prompts that I have found are on Helium, but, the higher upfront pay comes from Yahoo.
On yahoo, sometimes you luck out and they target an assignment to you. That happened to me a few weeks ago. I suffer from bipolar disorder, and I was targeted to write about my experience with bipolar disorder, since the new edition of the DSM is coming out this month. I wrote my experience in less than 45 mins, exactly 400 words. It was picked up, published, and I was $15 richer(still earning residual payment as well-flirting with the $5 mark). Not only that, I had several thousand page views in under a week, people and non-profit organizations were sharing my story to their Twitter followers. I was shocked, and humbled. I actually tweeted them a thank you for sharing my story. My hopes for that article piece was to reach those like me and tell them that they are not alone. Also, I wanted the public to know that, not all of us are psycho monsters. Those of us who are taking medication, and in therapy, live normal lives. You would not be able to tell that anything was wrong with us. The people that give bipolar disorder a bad rap are the ones who don't seek treatment.

The point of my ramblings: Don't give up on writing if things do not immediately take off for you. Keep doing writing exercises, write for Yahoo Voices, Helium, or blog with Bubblews. You will meet incredible fellow writers that will give you hints on how to be successful, and they will support you along your journey.