Leveled Up My Writing Game For Work & Fun! ๐
One of the many types of Geek is the literary geek who's all about books, writing and literature and along with many other types of geek, I also happen to fall under this category. ๐ค Last year around November, I decided to use my "skill points" to level up my writing skills not only as a professional but also as a casual blog writer on the side. โ
In an effort to increase my chances of getting more clients (I work from home), I enrolled in a content & copy writing workshop organized by Negros Online Workers (N.O.W.) in which I'm a member - we're a local community of online freelancers based in Negros Island, Philippines. ๐จโ๐ป๐ฉโ๐ป
Heading the workshop was Mea Pabiona; a professional writer, entrepreneur and prolific blogger who owns the blog Mea In Bacolod. ๐ She writes articles for businesses in the U.S. And Europe and is highly rated in the writing platforms she's in.
The workshop started with an overview of content & copy writing and how it's a viable and sustainable way of earning online. ๐ Business owners, consultants, dentists, life coaches, doctors, fitness experts, authors and a whole list of other professionals always need someone to write articles for them to highlight their services and build authority to entice people to go to them for their particular wants & needs. ๐
There's no shortage of work for content & copy writers as shown by job listings always filled with posts looking for people to create writeups for various things such as events, product launches, speeches, journals, ghost writing and what not. ๐ช
Assisting in the event was Ma. Clarice Lao, The Purple Secretary and founder of N.O.W, seen below in her signature purple looking at the camera. ๐
Clarice gave us tips & tricks in writing and the one I valued the most was if you have a hard time trying to write, use bullet points! ๐ก Enumerate the ideas you want to get across to your audience and order them according to importance. You can then build your writing around the points you listed. It's like building the structure first before filling it out and adding the decorations. ๐
Our workshop's venue was the Bacolod House of Cashews , a cozy diner & health food store that serves Filipino food. Now how can we absorb all the knowledge being shared if we're bothered by hungry stomachs? And what's a N.O.W. workshop without some *Chibog?? ๐
We were treated to a delightful spread that filled not only our bellies but also our souls. The lumpia was simply divine! ๐
Right before the lovely meal, we were given a practical test to write a 250 word article about freelancing in the Philippines. So after the break, we dived into the world of content writing and wrote our angles on the topic. The first one to finish was going to win a prize! ๐ Mea then checked our articles and gave feedback on how to improve.
I tried to be the first but I really wanted to make a good article so it took me time to google and do a little research. The winner was Dan, the guy across me and the prize was a goodie bag of soft ube bread with ube halaya filling. We had some earlier and it was yummy! ๐
The content & copywriting workshop was the N.O.W. community's last upskill training for 2019. This was the fourth workshop I attended last year to update my knowledge and skills not only to improve writing about the geeky stuff I love but also to remain competitive in the online work scene & after receiving feedback from Mea that my article was "perfect" and should be added to my writing portfolio, I guess I can say that I'm on the right track. ๐
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How about you guys, what new skills do you want to learn this year?
Share your thoughts ๐
*chibog - "grub"; slang for food