Some people say that I have it all &ndash I disagree. I constantly have to struggle with this love-hate relationship I have with writing. I love reading, that’s for sure. And I love to write….about myself as and when I want to. But when I am required to write about something like….say….how to change the black oil in a car or how to pick the right motherboard for your computer….I have to literally drag myself to the computer and prompt my fingers to move.

This is the relationship I have with writing. It’s because I make a living out of churning out articles after articles…sometimes completing up to 30 articles a day face to face with a deadly deadline….it is not such a heavenly life after all.

It’s ironic that I spent a large part of my life looking for the right thing to do. Something that excites me and challenges me. Something that I WANT to do instead of being FORCED TO do. I hate being forced into doing something but this is sometimes called the ‘REAL WORLD’. Even when you love doing something and you start having people telling you HOW to write your articles, or books, it begins to lose its initial appeal.

And yet, despite turning into a drudgery of kind, I continue to write. Writing is what I do best. Because my husband would turn to me in the dead of night, awakened by some kind of swearing and the tap-tap-tap of my keyboard, he shakes his head and says, “Gosh, you’re still writing? Why?”

I hiss back. “Because I am paid to do this. Because I LOVE this. It’s my job. It’s my life. This is what I am being paid to do, you moron!”

With a chuckle, knowing me, he turns his back on me and goes back to sleep. Smart ass!

While over the years, many other opportunities came a-knocking on my door and I wondered if I would do better if I did something else. Oh, I would still write but I will write my own stuff. My own novel. My own articles. My own blog. Whatever…my own diary. But no one else will ever get the chance to tell me how to write the things I write &ndash NEVER!!!

And yet, surprisingly, I turn my back on those opportunities because I know I love to write. Like I said. I write for a living and secretly love it. If I started selling insurance or doing real estate, it would be like…so superficial. So temporary. But when I write…I write well and I do it quickly, fast and very efficiently. And I sometimes feel proud of myself…although my fingers and eyes were throbbing like an earthquake waiting to happen.

Writing is a passion. If you have a passion for writing, you’ll start writing passionately and whatever comes out is a masterpiece in its own right. Every single article that I’ve ever written, I am proud of them. I treat them like my little babies. I’ve lost count of the number of ‘babies’ I have today but all those articles that I have written, they are a part of me.

And I have learnt how to write efficiently and quickly without sounding like a train running out of steam. Get going, get going, get going. Come on, go on with it, write, write, write. And then after you’ve completed the article, go back and dissect them and inject some botox into them. If you stick around the first few sentences and try to get it perfect right from the start, you’ll never complete the article.

And with this secret (which is not a really a secret to begin with), I am now making my life as a writer.

Do I still love writing after spending the last 7 years writing on topics that are completely dry and arid to me? Well….I love to hate it …and sometimes I hate to love it.

I believe I will continue writing until I am lying on my deathbed….breathing my last few breaths….I can imagine myself saying, “Honey, get me my keyboard…I want to be buried with it.”

Once a writer, always a writer.

Evidence: I took a total of 3 mins 22 seconds to write this whole article.

I admit that the internet is definitely for the “here and now.” Always changing, what may be popular one day may be irrelevant the next. A den of “fast track fads” is what the internet has become. Still, if you are an article writer, you know that the web content you provide for your customers today must have an extended shelf life with it, otherwise your customers lose out and your reputation sinks. You can write relevant and persuasive content that doesn’t lose its sheen with time; read on and I will show you how.

It is a given that if you write seasonal articles these very same articles will quickly lose their appeal once the season is over. Few people are interested in Valentine’s Day pitches outside of January and February, but you can keep their interest strong year round by not directly focusing on products, but on the history of the holiday. I have discovered that my seasonal articles are likely to get read “out of season” if they deal more with something beyond an overt sales pitch. Give readers something to digest other than talking about chocolates and flowers; you can discuss “love” a timeless subject with universal appeal!

In addition, stay away from explicit dates. If you mention something to the effect, “here in December 2005…” you will quickly age your article in no time. This can be difficult to do if you are mentioning something like current mortgage trends or recent world events. All of those hurricane articles you read just a few months ago seem distant and certain to be ignored by readers who are focusing on current events [however, they may become valuable again when the next hurricane season rolls around]. It is okay to write current event articles, but expect them to quickly fade into oblivion once the event has passed.

Typically, the subject of “shelf life” does not come up with my customers. If I am asked, I mention that each article should have at least one year’s appeal before an update might be necessary. This is reasonable length of time given the fast paced changes on the web. Naturally, if the customer wants me to do the update, they will be charged the same rate as a fresh article: in reality I provide to my customers a new article, not some cut and paste update.

Finally, I never give explicit guarantees for an article’s effectiveness because once it leaves my hands, I seldom know exactly what a customer will do with it [i.e., place it in a newsletter, turn around and sell it, put it on their web site, etc.]. My customers know that what I write for them can be effective, but its ultimate impact is only as good as what they choose to do with it.

I admit that the internet is definitely for the “here and now.” Always changing, what may be popular one day may be irrelevant the next. A den of “fast track fads” is what the internet has become. Still, if you are an article writer, you know that the web content you provide for your customers today must have an extended shelf life with it, otherwise your customers lose out and your reputation sinks. You can write relevant and persuasive content that doesn’t lose its sheen with time; read on and I will show you how.

It is a given that if you write seasonal articles these very same articles will quickly lose their appeal once the season is over. Few people are interested in Valentine’s Day pitches outside of January and February, but you can keep their interest strong year round by not directly focusing on products, but on the history of the holiday. I have discovered that my seasonal articles are likely to get read “out of season” if they deal more with something beyond an overt sales pitch. Give readers something to digest other than talking about chocolates and flowers; you can discuss “love” a timeless subject with universal appeal!

In addition, stay away from explicit dates. If you mention something to the effect, “here in December 2005…” you will quickly age your article in no time. This can be difficult to do if you are mentioning something like current mortgage trends or recent world events. All of those hurricane articles you read just a few months ago seem distant and certain to be ignored by readers who are focusing on current events [however, they may become valuable again when the next hurricane season rolls around]. It is okay to write current event articles, but expect them to quickly fade into oblivion once the event has passed.

Typically, the subject of “shelf life” does not come up with my customers. If I am asked, I mention that each article should have at least one year’s appeal before an update might be necessary. This is reasonable length of time given the fast paced changes on the web. Naturally, if the customer wants me to do the update, they will be charged the same rate as a fresh article: in reality I provide to my customers a new article, not some cut and paste update.

Finally, I never give explicit guarantees for an article’s effectiveness because once it leaves my hands, I seldom know exactly what a customer will do with it [i.e., place it in a newsletter, turn around and sell it, put it on their web site, etc.]. My customers know that what I write for them can be effective, but its ultimate impact is only as good as what they choose to do with it.