Professional Resources for All Writers

Having resources to leverage your abilities can help you stand out as you either launch your professional writing career or foster a coordinated writing hobby.

By Jessica Dickenson — June 15, 2023

Tags: building a portfolio, career advice, design experience, freelance work, journalism jobs, photo editing, professional networking, professional resources, resume building, skill acquisition, skill building, specialization, writing, writing resources

The first step in becoming a writer is writing, writing, and more writing. If you are like many aspiring authors or journalists, you have already taken this advice to heart and written a lot of creative and professional pieces to showcase your abilities. Quality and quantity are your friends as you pave your way and stand apart from other authors.

But is writing enough to differentiate yourself professionally?

Having resources to leverage your abilities can help you stand out from the average Joe as you either launch your professional writing career or foster a coordinated writing hobby.

Grammarly

While no writer should solely depend on Grammarly or any other spell-checking device to catch all their mistakes, these resources should be on the frontline of your editing defense. You will make mistakes no matter how long you have been writing or how professional you are. Staring at something too long can make you oblivious to its flaws. Adding Grammarly to your desktop can bypass these simple mistakes and clean up your writing.

Grammarly offers premium subscriptions, but you can create a free account to catch incorrect grammar and unconventional phrases. Feel free to explore other editing software programs to help facilitate your writing process! You should never take Grammarly as gospel truth or the only means of proofing your writing, so be sure to do your due diligence and always make your own edits!

Make a Portfolio

You have probably already created a large content pool of your works. However, these pieces may not be organized or in one collected folder. No, Microsoft Word or Google Drive do not count. If you make writing a part of your professional experience, you should create a portfolio to showcase your work.

Creating a portfolio website is an excellent way to showcase all your writing in one unified place. In addition to having everything housed in one area, having a website makes it easy to literally share your work at any time at the click of a link. The bonus of having your own website is your ability to showcase your diverse talents. If you send your portfolio to a future employer, they will notice your writing and how you set up your website.

If setting up a website is outside of your purview, consider utilizing a platform like Muck Rack to house your portfolio. According to their website, Muck Rack helps writers showcase their best work with automatically updated portfolios, analyze news about any topic, and measure the impact of published stories.

Check SEO

Maybe you don't care about search engine optimization (SEO), but if you are a writer whose content is displayed online, chances are you should take SEO seriously. The simplistic overview of SEO is the study and use of keywords that make your written work more searchable on the internet. As you may guess, there are thousands of articles on any topic, so you want your piece to stand out. So how do you do that? SEO is the answer.

SEO is a beast for even the most talented SEO experts (yes, people like that exist), so there are sites like Content SEO Checker to help make your job a lot easier. Consider typing keywords or phrases into your blog to help it achieve a higher ranking on the almighty Google.

Picture This...

You are a writer, not a graphic designer, so why would you need any design experience? That is where you would be wrong. I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words." A perfectly timed picture or an appropriate graphic can be the clincher that solidifies whether someone is interested in reading a piece. It is an added resource for journalists and writers to have at least a basic knowledge of photography and photo editing.

Adobe Photoshop offers discounts for students and teachers to use their state-of-the-art photo editing software. While Photoshop is the gold standard for photo editing software, it could be more user-friendly, and even more financially practical. Unless you are truly dedicated to using the software regularly, it may be more advantageous for you to use free and comparable software like Pixlr. Pixlr is more user-friendly, and it comes with the added bonus of being free!

If you are more interested in graphic design compared to photo editing, Canva is an easy-to-use website with many pre-set designs for you to edit. The limits to Canva stretch only as far as your imagination. (Have I used Canva for work? Yes! Have I used it for fun? Yes, again. Did I use Canva for our wedding invitations? That would also be a yes!)

Looking For Writing Gigs?

Perhaps the most blatant and difficult task in becoming a writer is finding places to write for! Your community and personal website are always good places to start and can help you identify passion topics. Freelancing and writing for free are also some ways that you can diversify your writing and bolster your portfolio. However, writing for free is not a sustainable way to live.

There are numerous websites and freelance sites that host either permanent or temporary writing jobs for a variety of writers. Some will require more experience than others, but they are a helpful launching point for some people, for others, they are a sustainable way to continue their passions. Some sites include:

You should identify whether you want to be an expert in a specific topic area or if you want to cover a diverse variety of topics. Your preference can help create a trajectory for your professional writing career.

There are many nuances to professional writing, but it isn't all about research and professional experience. Never lose sight of your passion and excitement for writing since it is the quality that makes you stand out from all other writers. You are what makes your writing unique!

If you ever feel stuck, remember that it is okay to take a break and return to your projects. The beauty of writing is that it will always be there for you when you need it, so embrace your abilities and don't forget to employ these resources as they work best for you! Happy writing!

Jessica Dickenson

Jessica Dickenson graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran College with degrees in English and communication. She has applied her abilities working as a young marketing professional for a local university but works as a freelance writer and photographer in her spare time. She currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her husband.

View all posts by Jessica Dickenson