Be interested

I aspire to be a fiction writer, yet I haven't written a lick of fiction in the past three months. You might think that's not a way to move toward my goal, and you might be right. It's not that I'm not writing, it's just that I'm not writing fiction right now.

A number of things have transpired that have broadened my horizons and shot my discipline to a tattered remnant of what it once was. In November, I went to the Florida Writers Association's conference, where I found out about the world of social networking. A woman named Penny Sansevieri told me about how her business, Author Marketing Expert, used online tools to help writers sell their books. She introduced me to Twitter and made me reconsider Facebook and dust off my LinkedIn profile.

Then, in early December, the government announced that 533,000 people lost their jobs in November. Another 692,000 followed suit in December. My employer is actively looking to outsource everything it can. In short, I need a network.

What I found was a blessing. In the short amount of time I've been active on Twitter, I've "met" a lot of interesting people and learned a lot of new things. XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) will soon be the required format for financial reports in the United States. I learned that from a woman named Francine McKenna, who has a blog called Re: The Auditors. I learned that there are a boatload of website where you can submit press releases for free, from Dana Willhoit of The Press Release site. I've learned a little bit about PR from a woman named Lizz Harmon. Every Sunday night, I make a note to watch Business Owners Online TV, where Aaron Foster provides a great forum for anyone who wants to learn about making money online.

The point is, we live in a world that has more opportunities and possibilities than you can imagine. And dipping your toe into that world and finding out about the possibilities broadens your writing base, which can make you more versatile. And the more you can help people, the more you can get paid for what you write.