Writer-Entrepreneur: Your Mission Statement

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Jason Brick

You’ve heard of mission statements. Most of you know what they are. In case you don’t, Entrepreneur.com’s Business Encyclopedia does:

A mission statement defines what an organization is, why it exists, its reason for being.

Though this is what a mission statement should be, most businesses actually draft a mission statement that consists of meaningless marketing tripe.

Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.

Pizza Hut: We take pride in making a perfect pizza and providing courteous and helpful service on time all the time. Every customer says, “I’ll be back!”

Apple: Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Every business needs a mission statement — including your business as a freelance writer. But please, please, please, don’t make your mission statement a list of marketing hype and impossible promises. “Perfect pizza?” “Innovation in every athlete?” Impossible dreams are nice for singing about, but make bad business plans.

Instead, your mission statement should be a brief and inspiring reminder of why you’re writing instead of watching movies on Netflix or working at the local high school. It should be concrete, simple, and powerful for pushing your personal motivational buttons.

For what it’s worth, here’s mine:

To afford what my family needs and serve my personal values while working from home with abundant time for my wife, children and friends.

Nothing impossible in there. Nothing meaningless, or intended to trick consumers or customers into liking me better. Just honest words about what’s important to me, and why freelance writing helps me achieve those important things.

So what’s your mission statement? If you don’t have one, what would it be? Leave comments. I’m eager to hear.

Friday Fun: American Entropy

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Jason Brick

From 1997 to 2000, I worked as a phone monkey and content writer for America Online. You can say what you want about AOL (and I’ll agree with some of it), but it was exciting to work for that company as the world really discovered the Internet.

One problem of that job was the boredom. You can only say “have you tried turning it off, then back on” so many times before you start surfing the net while making calls. My surfing eventually brought me to Dark Lord Rob — an old-school hippie and writer who posted his work online before authors started doing that.

His work is psychedelic, sensual and creepy. It reminds me of the best of Ray Bradbury, Jack Kerouac and Stephen King. He kept me entertained and inspired when I was first getting published myownself.

More than 10 years later, his site has evolved into American Entropy. His body of work has expanded, and his presentation is easy to use and full of his personality. Check it out. I especially recommend his Lovecraft-meets-Iron Butterfly novel The Miskatonic Acid Test.

Inspiration

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Jason Brick

“Where do you come up with your ideas?”

Harlan Ellison says he tells people that he subscribes to an idea service that mails him prompts every week.

Ray Bradbury advises writing down word-association exercises and using the results. (I tried this one year and came up with a dozen fair to fantastic short stories).

Here’s what I recommend..

What excites you? Who inspires you? What are you afraid of?

Why are you pissed off right now?

If you had the best idea ever conceived, what would it be?

What’s the worst thing you can imagine? The best?

What made you laugh today? What made you cry this year?

Write about your passions, your terrors…the things that make your mind go “bump” in the night. Every book on writing — from the half-baked to the masterful — tells you to “write from the heart.” This is what they mean.

Capture the most powerful emotions you feel. Write them down. It’s the connection between reader and writer than makes for excellent prose. Make them feel what you feel, and understand why you fell that way.

Thanks for listening.

Now go write something.

Friday Fun: Writing Comedy

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Jason Brick

This interview is almost three years old, but it’s a great — and itself funny — discussion of how to make writing funny.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111456667

I think my writing’s funny, but it’s often a frontal assault kind of humor. Like my idols Joe Lansdale and Christopher Moore, I hit readers over the head with something gross, vulgar or ridiculous. They laugh out of self-defense.

For example, check out my story “Waiting for Venito”, up at my fiction site. Safe for work, but not safe for kids.

http://www.aniceplacetovisit.com/?p=22

Friday Fun: Roundup

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Jason Brick

Since it’s January, many bloggers are posting their “Best of 2011” roundups at the same time they’re putting up their “What I Want for 2012”

The blog/newsletter for MakeALivingWriting.com has one of the best for freelancers. Check it out….

…Here

And stick around for other great advice and news for freelancers. I subscribe to their newsletter. If you’re serious about going it as a freelance writer, so should you.