Catching Up...

Hard to believe it's been almost a year since I last posted on this blog. As much as I have missed the interaction here, I had to take a break from blogging in order to meet all of my writing and translation deadlines. Alhumdulellah, my freelance business has really taken off over the past year. I have been doing a lot of translation work and have also been working on numerous projects that I find personally fulfilling. As I told my kids the other day, I hope never to retire from writing, editing, and translation. The feeling of accomplishment that comes from producing something creative is a feeling that is hard to beat.

Thank you to all my readers who kept this blog on the Writer's Digest list of the 101 Best Websites for Writers for the fifth year in a row. More that 4,000 websites and blogs were nominated in 2012, so it is a real honor to be included on this list.

I received a record-number of writing questions via e-mail this year. Due to serious time constraints, however, I was not able to answer more than a small handful. Insha'Allah I will do my best to sort through these in the near future.

One of the most common questions I receive is how one can earn a living writing. With this in mind, I have written a new e-book (my first, actually). 50 Markets that Pay Freelance Writers 10 Cents per Word is available via Amazon.com. Although it is a Kindle e-book, you do not actually have to own a Kindle device in order to download and read the book. You do, however, need a Kindle app, which can be downloaded for free. The free app will allow you to download and read Kindle e-books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer.

As the title implies, the e-book identifies 50 markets that pay freelance writers 10 cents per word. Included are guidelines and contact information for 50 magazines, newspapers, websites, and e-zines in a wide variety of genres - everything from sports, travel, and politics to parenting, frugal living, animals, green living, and more. Many of the editors of these publications have stated that they are open to working with new writers, and that they will even help writers polish their writing in some cases. So, if you want to earn money writing for magazines, my hope is that this guide will make a handy reference tool that will motivate you to send your stuff out and take risks with your writing. In my experience, 10 cents per word is a pretty good price-point at which to get started and very doable for new writers.

In future posts, I will explain more about the query process and what it generally takes to get an article accepted. To this end, you may wish to check out my new blog (Markets for Writers), which is intended for a general audience. I will, of course, continue to post here in order to discuss issues of relevance to Muslim writers.

By the way, I am still seeking stories of DUA that came true for publication in a book. Please read the guidelines, and send your stories to amel.abdullah{at}yahoo.com.

What have you been up to lately? Please leave a comment below.