The good news: it’s not game over. It’s what I like to think of as the "start up" game. Here are the rules.

1. Things are changing. Ten years ago,nobody knew what an iPhone app was because nobody had an iPhone. Look around. Every big change puts somebody out of a job–and opens a big door of opportunity to somebody else.
2. Don’t be afraid to give up. The old notion of persistence just doesn’t hold up to a culture where technological advances occur almost hourly. If something is not working for you, ask yourself why–and if it’s because things have changed, give up. Freelancing for newspapers used to be a viable way to make a living. It isn’t anymore, so if that’s your gig and you’re starving, give up.
3. Be bold. The other day I talked to a guy about search engine optimization. His company marketed itself as an SEO provider. I knew more than he did. But shame on me, I’m not out there selling my expertise because I’ve only been doing SEO for a few years. Guess what? In this environment, a few years experience makes you a veteran. Nobody has been in Internet marketing for 20 years.
4. Look for opportunity. A lot of us look backward at old models of how to earn our livings as writers and then try to shoe-horn our way in. Instead of that, we should be looking at the world we live in and see where writers and things writerly are needed–and try to offer those services. It’s a variation of the old adage, "find a need and fill it." To do that, you need to go out and look for what people need, not for what you want to provide.

Is this a good time to be a writer? Well, if your goal is to sit around a hotel and get drunk every lunch, like Dorothy Parker, and toss off a few bon mots for glossy New-York-based magazines … that train has left the station. Nobody gets to be that kind of writer any more.

But if you want to earn a living by using your way with words, the Internet and new technology has opened up some new opportunities. Here are some ideas.

• You can sell content to websites. Most writers bemoan this because many websites pay starvation wages. But not all do! You can get $1 a word for online content if you know the right sites and have the right expertise and some killer clips.
• You can market yourself as an SEO, pay-per-click, or online marketing person. You need to get some expertise but it’s not that hard and writing is a crucial skill in this stuff. And remember, nobody has been in this racket for 20 years.
• Since websites are such good business, why not develop one of your own to sell a product (could be a book) or advertising?
• Most business clients do not understand social media, public relations, and online marketing. You can package your services in that vein. You and I know that you’ll be writing for them, but the client will be purchasing "PR and social media" expertise.

The world is full of all kinds of new stuff. iPhone apps, software program, online magazines.

I started a business in communications seven years ago. When we started, we did a lot of promotional writing, invitations, and printing. We hardly do any of that anymore. Our clients have migrated to electronic formats and tend to keep that work in house. We are doing more article writing and website stuff than ever before. But our writing is much more subject-matter intensive than ever before. We don’t write much fluff, but we write and edit a lot more "expert" level type materials.

A viable writing career these days is going to have a lot of starts and stops. Just re-start. Keep going. Look back at careers 20 or 30 years ago and notice that so many of them have totally disappeared. That cycle has vastly accelerated, particularly in the realm of communications.

Change and prosper.

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There is a tendency among non-writers to think that writing is easy. Furthermore, there is a perverse streak among the non-writing that seeks to educate writers.

If you write for businesses, you will be revised. Sometimes these revisions are whimsical and capricious. Sometimes they are mean-spirited and are accompanied by personal attacks on your intellect. Sometimes they introduce errors into the text.

And sometimes they improve it.

The point is, when you get revisions, you just don’t know what you’re going to get. Work long enough as a writer and you will get every variety of revision going. Your job as a writer is to take all revisions seriously. I generally say, "Thank you for your valuable input" the same way we Texans say, "Well, bless his heart," when we mean, what a bonehead or the way we use "darlin’" as a euphemism for "moron."

But there is some value in revisions, even the cruel and capricious variety. As a young writer, I used to hate revisions because–to be very frank–I took them personally. I don’t know too many professions where a person is subjected to the constant, non-stop criticism as writing. I mean, are lawyers critiqued every time they write a letter as somebody scrutinizes it line by line? Are teachers critiqued for every word that comes out of their mouth? Are waiters discussed by groups of men in suits in paneled rooms who dissect every word out of their mouths? No, but we writers are.

The reason for that is there is a sense that people have that written words are more important than spoken words and that what you are creating is important. Some people will critique your writing just to be part of the project which is more interesting than anything on their own desk. Some people make revisions to be helpful, others to show they’re awake, and still others to sabotage the project.

But nobody really makes revisions to annoy the writer (although that is a happy byproduct for certain ill-intentioned folks).

Dealing with revisions can mean the difference between being a successful writer without ulcers and a drinking problem and failing in some measure at your chosen profession.

How do you deal with revisions?

1. First of all, take all revisions seriously at least at first. If somebody makes a comment that seems silly, think about it with objectivity. If one person in your revision group misunderstood a sentence or thought the title sounded silly, that means that probably a lot of other people will, too.

2. Recognize that not all revisions are worth making. Some introduce errors. Some are made arbitrarily. Sometimes you get two reviewers whose input contradicts each other. So sort through the revisions carefully, recognizing that not every revision will necessarily be made. (You would think this would panic reviewers, but it never does.)

3. Pick your battles. Even if a revision seems ridiculous, superfluous, or annoying, if you can make it with no damage to the text, you should make it. The point is, you need "cooperative equity." That’s the notion from the group of reviewers that you are accommodating and will heed their valuable input. Sometimes you won’t, so you need to build up all the equity you can while you can.

4. Think of revisions in the "spirit of the change" rather than the letter of the change. Some revisions will be made that include typos, grammatical errors, and other problems. Don’t take it verbatim but try to figure out what the reviewers’ point was and accommodate that.

5. Improve on revisions, if you can. If one reviewer makes a suggestion, you may be able to kick it up a notch and make that change plus a bit more. If that improves the text, that is a good example of a positive, powerful revision.

6. When you get contradictory input, you must recognize that it is not your job to be the group psychiatrist. It’s your job to be the negotiator. You "control" the text. If reviewer A wants to say this and reviewer B wants to say that, you need to get them in the same room (or on the same phone line) and hammer out the issue. On the other hand, if you know that A is right and B is wrong, then you may be able to diplomatically state that. It is very tempting at this point to speculate on people’s intelligence, degree of competence, product knowledge, or intentions, but that’s a rabbit trail. It wastes time. The key is to negotiate a swift resolution.

7. Be patient. A lot of time, revisions help improve the final text.

So what happens if you get a harpoon and a personal attack? The best way to deal with this is to act like you don’t get it. Just sort of look befuddled and ask, "Excuse me, I don’t understand what you mean." That works pretty well in the group face-to-face setting. If you have obnoxious clients, remember, you can fire them.

But it’s a lot better business to learn to deal with them. In my experience, very few revisions come loaded with barbs. And if they are a bit toxic, just refuse to swallow the poison.

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Is your writing on life support? It happens to the best of us. It usually occurs when you’ve written too much, too fast. But don’t worry, you can get your writing and your writing career back into the pink quickly.

Here are 10 tips to get your writing back on track.

1. Take a day off, if you haven’t had one in a while, but don’t stay away too long. And if you’ve had some time off recently, start to come to work early. Just shake up your schedule.

2. Write something not-for-publication. Go crazy. Write something wild or incendiary or highly opinionated. Stay away from documents that could get you in serious trouble, but try to be goofy or bold or feisty. This will help you start to use different writing muscles.

3. Go back and review some of your old writing. It’s best if this is old stuff you mostly forgot. You may be mildly amused (and vastly relieved) at how incredibly insightful and clever you were.

4. Set a schedule and write. Generally, a two-hour block of time is most practical and efficient. Just sit down and make yourself write. You don’t have to write well, but you have to write something.

5. Surf the Internet and read some sites that you normally would never visit. Stay in the G-rated zone but try to find out about organic gardening or camping or baking cookies or clean water programs for the Third World. Most people derail their writing because they are bored; get un-bored by expanding your mind.

6. Read a really great novel, you know, the kind that makes you wish you wrote it.

7. Get some exercise. A lot of bad writing comes from unhealthy writers. Writing is an inherently dangerous profession: too much sitting, opportunities for bad posture, risk of carpal tunnel, and diabetes (from eating all that sugar to wash down your daily caffeine). So fight that risk by going out for a walk or a swim. More workouts will at least improve your circulation and that has to help your brain.

8. Call up your funniest friend(s) and have a few good laughs. It does not matter what you laugh about as long as you get beyond your doldrums.

9. Pick some writing that you’re unhappy with and polish it. Just sit down and work like a diamond-cutter. A diamond cutter does not get to pick the stones; he has to work with the rocks that nature provides. The trick is in his skill at polishing. Think of yourself that way and repair some of your last writings.

10. Read the want ads. It will make you realize you have a pretty great gig.

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Education is pretty expensive, but it’s cheaper than the price of ignorance.

A lot of writers hate to pay money for training, courses, classes, books, how-to things, conferences, and other items. But the fact is in writing, like most other markets, the best information (or at least the most conveniently packaged and carefully designed) is going to cost money.

I think writers who try to learn everything they need to be profitable freelancers without spending a nickel on training or education are setting themselves up for a pretty formidable challenge. I think it’s possible–you can probably find out what you need to know from free sources and talking to writers who’ll talk to you, but you’re going to get a hodge-podge of information that can take years to gather and more years to really sort out and organize.

Which brings me to doctors. By the time a person has gotten an M.D. in the United States and enters Fellowship (a period of training leading to specialization, for instance, as a cardiologist or an oncologist), that person has spend hundreds of thousands on education–college, university, courses, books, lab fees, and so on. Not to mention the fact that a person in medical school cannot work full-time or work in any meaningful way. Thus, a person in medical school is earning next to nothing and paying top dollar to get an education.

In Fellowship, a doctor will earn a salary, but it is not much. I’m not sure many people are aware of how low pay for a Fellow really is. I bet there are nurses that earn more than a Fellow, and Fellows are often expected to put in grueling hours, be near-constantly on call, and generally be treated with disdain by all of the “real” doctors around them.

So now the doctor has stopped spending money, but he or she is forced to put in a year — or two or three — working very hard for a very modest salary.

Lots of folks don’t have much sympathy for these new doctors because if they do well … after medical school, exams, fellowship, and board exams … they are poised to earn an outstanding living for the rest of their life. Doctors not only have good earning potential, they are more or less guaranteed to be able to work for the rest of their lives. Doctors also enjoy considerable social prestige and make a real contribution to society. So most people figure, “Hey, they’re going to do well for the majority of the years they work, so it’s no big deal that they have to pay so much for their education or put in some tough months or years in training.”

But why do writers feel differently? Writers often hesitate to invest in education and I’ve met writers who don’t want to get by-lines or write unless they’re getting paid well. But what if you thought of your writing career the way a physician thinks of his or her career?

• It costs to get training, whether it’s online, conferences, books, classes, or whatever.
• You sometimes have to work for no money or nominal money to get experience.
• Sometimes it’s worth it to work for nothing or nominal pay to get training or other perks.
• Nobody who has to learn a great deal of information to practice a profession can get there without having to spend some money.

I say all this because I’m listening to an Internet guru right now. It’s one of those courses about online marketing. It’s a great course, actually, absolutely excellent, but it wasn’t free. I’m not sure many writers would invest in themselves this way, but it’s important to be a lifelong learner to be the kind of writer who thrives in a changing (and often challenging) economy.

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