Yes, sometimes journalism can still be fun

I took my first helicopter ride today. A commercial real estate developer flew me over the company's latest major project, an intermodal site in one of Chicago's suburbs. And, I can't lie, it was pretty neat.

I've flown in airplanes, of course, but taking off in a helicopter just has a different feeling. For one thing, you're surrounded by a lot of glass. You really feel the air rushing past you and the ground slipping away. I mean, when you're in an airplane you can imagine that you're merely in a really noisy house or apartment, long as you don't look out the window. In a helicopter? No way.

I even got to wear one of those cool headsets.

This is all just a reminder that sometimes working as a writer can still be fun. Yeah, I had to take notes during the flight. But I also spent much of it enjoying the view. That's not so bad.

Sometimes you have to slow it down

I'm a list person. I start each morning by jotting down the writing tasks I want to accomplish during the day. And because I get up at 5 a.m. most mornings -- Thanks, 2-year-old son! -- I have a lot of time to think about those things on my list.

Not only am I a list person, I'm also someone who really enjoys checking items off a list. It gives me great satisfaction to cross something off as done.

Problem is, sometimes I want to get things off my list -- which on some days stretches to nearly 30 items -- so badly, I'll half-ass some of my projects.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is showing. It's one thing to half-ass my content-writing duties. Even at 50-percent effort, I can still string together coherent sentences into coherent paragraphs. My content-writing clients still love me, as long as I turn my stuff in on time. Of course, sometimes I wonder if my content publishers even read what I send them before they slap the content on the Web.

But when it comes to pitching ideas to print-magazine clients, or when it's time to actually write a story for a newspaper or trade magazine, I have to force myself to slow down. Otherwise, the results are horrible.

This week, I wanted to pitch some real estate story ideas to the Washington Post. I'm working with a new editor at the paper -- the one I'd worked with for more then seven years retired from the paper earlier this year, and is now traveling around the world -- and am still working on establishing a good rapport with her. So instead of rushing through this item on my work checklist, I took a deep breath and ... it was painful, but necessary -- worked slowly.

I thought carefully about the real estate stories that the Post had run recently. I didn't want to duplicate them. I also considered what I could realistically cover for them; I don't live in the D.C. area, after all. It doesn't pay to shoot too high and then not be able to find all those "real people" sources the Post needs.

In all, it took me about an hour to come up with three good ideas, write coherent paragraphs pitching each one and send it to my editor. Normally, I'd try to do this job in about 20 minutes.

Fortunately, my slow-and-steady pace paid off. The editor accepted one of my ideas. I now have a new $500 assignment to show for my willingness to slow down.

It's easy to get overwhelmed with tasks that need to be completed, especially when you're working for yourself. But don't forget to slow down once in a while. There are certain projects you have to give 100-percent effort to.

Blogging for businesses: The most money I've made online

Last year, I began ghostwriting blog posts for a local real estate agent. The agent's a bit of a pain. He likes to make some fairly odd requests. Sometimes he gets on me for being too negative. Then next week, he'll wonder why I'm being overly positive when the housing market is in the toilet.

I sigh -- not when I'm talking to him by phone, of course, but after I hang up -- make his changes and send my posts back in.

Like I said, he's a bit of a pain. But he pays me $400 month to provide him with 12 blog posts of 200 to 300 words each. That comes out to about $33 a post. Not bad in the world of online content writing.

I also blog for an international real estate company that's trying to get a foothold in the U.S. market. That company pays me $12 a post in Euros to write about residential real estate. Thanks to the exchange rate, I usually make more like $18 or so in U.S. money for each post.

These are my two most lucrative online writing jobs right now. I also write for an insurance salesman who runs his own Web site. He pays me $105 a month. Not as good, but at least it's slow and steady.

I'm hoping to grow this portion of my business. That's why I'm in discussions now with a local community newspaper chain to blog for their online real estate section. (Real estate is a specialty of mine. And, yes, this was a better specialty to have about two years ago.) Blogging for businesses pays better than does writing for sites such as Associated Content or Suite 101 or blogging for networks such as b5 Media or Today.com.

I'd recommend that every freelance writer out there concentrate not only on the better known content sites such as Demand Studios and the like. Look at the businesses in your own communities. Many of them have blogs. And many have blogs that they're struggling to update and maintain. Approach them with a reasonable rate. Who knows what kind of business you might get out of them?