July 26, 2022

 

 

Note From Rochelle

 

Dear Writers,

Happy Birthday to Mightier than The Sword! Tomorrow the book turns one—and what a year it has been. It’s won two awards and was named a finalist for a third:

• 2021 Cybils Award Winner for Middle Grade Nonfiction
• 2021 Council for Wisconsin Writers Tofte/Wright Children’s Literary Award
• 2021 Indie Book Awards Finalist Children’s Nonfiction

To celebrate the book’s first birthday, take time to request it from your local library or write a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

 

 

The weekend air show had my dogs (and me) in a tizzy. No matter what we did, we were repeatedly startled by the noise of planes zooming overhead. Yikes. It reminds me of how I feel when I check out social media. I’m cruising along, reading the feed, when BAM! I catch an angry post or bad news or just about anything that zaps me out of my zone. Because of this, I try to take a few breaks from social media during the year. My summer break starts today—so I’ll be offline and off work until August 7^th.

 

Today’s tip features a writer who taught me that getting paid for what we do is a good thing!

 

 

Happy writing,

Rochelle, the Write Now! Coach

What My Heroes Taught Me About Writing: Noah Webster

 

You deserve to be paid for your work. But the uncomfortable truth is this: it’s going to be very hard to make a living writing what you love.

 

When Noah Webster graduated from college, he wanted desperately to spend his days reading and writing. Webster tried teaching but disliked it. After he married and had children, Webster supported his family through various jobs including running a magazine, editing a newspaper, and serving at the Connecticut House of Representatives. But he didn’t give up on his writing dream. While he researched and wrote his dictionary, he started a funding campaign, asking professional friends and acquaintances to contribute money to his work in return for a copy of his dictionary. The first edition of the dictionary was published in two volumes in 1828 with 70,000 entries.

 

Your turn. Webster wasn’t the first to “crowdfund” his writing and wouldn’t be the last. How can you get paid to write? How else can you support your writing habit? One coach encourages her followers to list 100 ways to make money. Try it!