August « 2008 « Leslie Lang, Hawaii Writer

Archive for August, 2008

Books on Writing

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Books, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Freelancing, Self-Employed, Writers, Writers' Tools, Writing on August 20, 2008 | 2 Comments »

I guess it’s no surprise there are so many books about writing. We writers need something to write about, and some of us write about writing. And then the rest of us read about it.
Writing is a craft that I continually work at. In college I majored in journalism, and since then I have continued [...]

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The Orwell Blog

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Authors, Blogging, Writers on August 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

I love that someone who’s been dead since 1950 is posting daily to a WordPress blog.
George Orwell (1903-1950) is not doing the posting himself, of course. It’s his diary entries that are being posted, one day at a time, exactly 70 years after they were written. What a neat idea.

From the blog: ‘When one reads any strongly [...]

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Advanced Freelance Writer Organizational System

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Freelancing, Organization on August 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

How do you keep papers organized when you’re working on 10 or 15 freelance jobs at the same time, or more, all at various stages?
I do it with file folders. That title above is tongue-in-cheek, of course. My system is pretty basic, but it truly helps me keep my head well above water.
Whether it’s a [...]

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Isabella Bird & Other Historical Non-Fiction to Read While Traveling

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Authors, Big Island, Books, Hawaii, Hilo, Hilo Travel, History, Writers, Writing on August 6, 2008 | 2 Comments »

I have a good friend coming to visit here on the Big Island next week, a history buff like me, and I’ll have to find out if she’s ever read Isabella Bird.
I love reading an interesting book about a place while exploring it, and I highly recommend Isabella Bird’s book if you’re planning to visit [...]

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I Married The Photographer

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Photography on August 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

I have an essay on the last page of Hawaii magazine’s August issue. It’s about living here in this beautiful place.
My husband Macario is a professional photographer who, among other jobs, shoots a lot of Big Island photos for the PacificBasin Communications magazines. So they called him to photograph me for the article. (How convenient is [...]

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Freelancing in a Poor Economy

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Freelancing, Writing on August 4, 2008 | 6 Comments »

Someone told me recently about her son, a graphic designer who works full time for an agency and does freelance jobs on the side. She said he has considered leaving his full time job to freelance full-time, but worries about doing that in this poor economy.
Here’s my response to that:
Especially in this poor economy, I [...]

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Hawaiian Style: Eating Poi

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged food, Freelance Writing, Hawaii, Hilo, Poi on August 3, 2008 | 7 Comments »

My husband Macario harvested some kalo (taro) and made some fresh, delicious poi today. Our 4-year-old couldn’t get enough. And then we had some more.
Here’s what kalo looks like before it’s turned into poi.

In the old days, poi was pounded with stone pounders, and Macario, who comes from a long line of kalo farmers, can [...]

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Writer/Editorial Consultant

These days it’s especially important that your business stands out. That it gets noticed. How do you make that happen?
We work together and make sure your potential clients know your story.
When there are two comparable brands of the same product available, which one do people buy? They buy from the company whose name they remember. The company they know something about.
• The one whose products win awards.
• The one whose president builds Habitat for Humanity homes on weekends.
• The one whose product came about because Grandma won a ribbon at the County Fair when she was a girl.
Let’s tell your story – in whatever way makes sense for your particular business. I can help you figure that out.
As a writer and editorial consultant, I help with your written communications.
I work with some clients occasionally, as needed for a specific project, and others on an ongoing basis.
My clients set the pace: Some know exactly what they want. With others, we brainstorm together to find the right mix of keeping their company name out there, showing their products in the best light and catching people’s attention.
Perhaps you haven’t been sending out press releases to announce new happenings with your products, your industry and your employees, and consequently your company name isn’t in the forefront of people’s minds as it could be.
I can help you clarify your message, figure out what needs to be written, as well as when and how, and get it done.
Maybe you want to resurrect or start up a newsletter in order to be in better touch with your clients. I can help with that. Do you need:
• Fresher website copy?
• A letter to go out to your customers/clients?
• A media kit?
• An employee manual?
• A blog?
May I ghostwrite a newspaper or trade magazine article for you and make sure it gets into the right editor’s hands?
• Need help crafting a speech?
• What about a brochure or some other written material?
Because I’ve been doing this for some years now, I have lots of ideas and a good sense of what works and how to do it.
In addition, one of my strengths is taking information and asking the right questions until the details and especially the significance – the importance – are clear to everybody else, too.
It means you may have to answer a lot of questions at first, but I am good at pinpointing the questions that need to be asked and won’t waste your time.
And as I get to know your company better over time, our work together will become even more powerful.
One of my long-time clients hired me as a result of Honolulu magazine assigning me to write about his business. After that article appeared, he called me and said that in all the articles that had been written about his business over the years, no one had ever gotten his story just right like I did.
Yet all I did was listen. I didn’t assume which were the important aspects of his story; I listened to what he told me was important, and I shaped the article around that.
I don’t write about his business for magazines anymore; now I write about his business for him. We’ve been working together now for years.
If you could use help with your business’s written materials – and telling your stories clearly and effectively – I’d be happy to discuss how we might work together.
Please call me at 808 964-1494, or email me at leslie AT leslielang.com.
Member of FBI (From Big Island) Blogs
Hawaii Freelance Writer

A long-time freelance writer, one of my specialties is writing about Hawaii and its people, places, business, culture and more.
My articles have been about everything from the tiny, endangered wekiu bug atop Mauna Kea to multi-million-dollar custom, luxury homes; from growing kalo and pounding poi to digitizing 19th-century Hawaiian language newspapers.
My Hawaii-related articles have appeared in many newspapers, magazines, books and on blogs. My personal essays about Hawaii have aired on NPR’s All Things Considered and elsewhere.
Coming myself from a part-Hawaiian family on the Big Island, I am tapped in to the people, places and things of these Hawaiian Islands. And even beyond that, I’ve studied Hawaiian cultural anthropology formally, earning a master’s degree from the University of Hawaii in that subject area, which nicely complements my journalism degree.
It’s tremendously satisfying to me that two of my strongest interests, Hawaii and writing, have come together so well.
I am currently accepting assignments for writing on Hawaii and other topics. You can reach me at 808 964-1494 or leslie AT leslielang.com.
Photography

The photo at top is of the volcano Halemaumau on the Big Island of Hawaii, copyright 2008 Macario.

Need photos for your article or project? Macario is an amazing photographer of all things Hawaii. www.macariohawaii.com
macario@macariohawaii.com
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Living The Good (Writer’s) Life in Hawaii

Archive for August, 2008

Writer/Editorial Consultant

Member of FBI (From Big Island) Blogs

Hawaii Freelance Writer

Photography

Recent Blog Posts

Subjects I’ve Blogged About

Archives

What’s She Up To Now?