Freelance whirlwind of advice on twitter and more

@HeideWrite in #clarkclass. Photo by @Adamropp

@okieprof
#clarkclass, my two-week intersession class on twitter for professionals, has concluded another session. It's a highlight of my teaching because I  bring in a bunch of successful professionals to share their experience and advice.
Students love it because it's practical and relevant, and the speakers are younger and bring fresh ideas.
After each session we debrief, all students recount something that impressed them, that they learned. Then we post them on the class blog, #clarkclassUCO. You can see all those briefings there if you wish.
But one speaker I must share here is my former student Heide Brandes, @HeideWrite, who charges into a classroom--a whirlwind full of caffeine, energy and advice--about much more than twitter.
Twitter has been huge in this UCO grad's success as a freelance writer, but most of her comments to #clarkclass were more about living and writing. 
Still, she told the class that her goal was to " to travel for free, make a ridiculous amount of money to do it, and I will use Twitter to do it." Someone tweeted that, and before the day was out she tweeted that the universe opened with a glorious opportunity, just from that tweet.
Before taking the risk to live on freelance writing, she has worked in PR and in newspapers considering community journalism the best there is.  Now going on three years as a freelancer, she has a retainer from Reuters, and has been on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for covering the Moore tornado. Most of her work though is smaller and she said last year she wrote about 500 articles. Hard work in addition to all her other activity, including running a belly dancing school.
Here are the class debriefing remarks, recorded by @SydOKC: 

•  “She has got over 100 jobs from tweeting.” 
•  “Talent is as common as raindrops so you have to beat out the other competition through hard work.”
• “Interesting that she uses twitter to connect with people.”
• “You have to start today. One day will never come."
• " You cannot wait for things to come to you.”
• “When you have to succeed you will. She seemed driven.”
• “We spend a lot of time thinking about what others think. Do not waste your time. Be yourself.”
• “Don’t be someone’s bitch.”
•  “As a writer, you need to be reliable.”
• “She had a balance between business with social and fun side with belly dancing.”
• “In regards to being personal, tone down, but stay genuine.”
•  “Don’t let fear stop you.”
•  “Have value in yourself. Don’t cut yourself short.”
•  “Beat the deadline.”
•  “Don’t settle with just meeting deadline.”
•   “In general, she inspired us to go on.”
• “People's opinion doesn’t count unless it pays your electric bill.”
• “Don’t meet the deadline, beat the deadline.
• “Be confident in what you do with your work.”
•  “Don’t write for free unless it helps you."
  

@okieprof tweets:

• "I discovered that twitter could change my life.
• "I'm no longer in twitter high school or twitter college."

Energetic advice on twitter, life for #clarkclass

Heide Brandes @HeideWrite kept the class laughing and learning with her boundless energy, frank advice and many "unquoteable" quotes in twitter for journalists #clarkclass today. She was talking about far more than just twitter, but also about freelance writing, belly dancing, the sex life of possums, and other topics. She left us a list of 12 tips for twitter, which sounded more like life advice (one of them--"be nice").
For the record, this UCO grad worked for newspapers in Madill, Duncan and Moore, before working in public relations for the Salvation Army. Then a year and a half ago she quit to follow a dream and freelance full time. That's a huge risk, and she's been more than successful. Why? She is a very good writer, she has boundless energy and a great attitude.
After she left,  we debriefed with each student chiming in. Here's a summary, compiled by #clarkclass student @JenniferHasel:

• She is hilarious, loved her and how she embraces herself and doesn’t care what other people think
• Inspiring, lots of fun, and lots of energy
• Failure is important--learn from it
• Her quirkiness helps her in her work
• “You will regret the things you didn't do, not the things you did do”
• She has passion and energy 
• Twitter is a microscopic view of life 
• Twitter belongs to the people--it is defined by the users
• You can get three stories from every subject
• Everything she does she relates to her work, even vacations or visiting people and places.
• Twitter is your portfolio- use it to market yourself
• She doesn't have to sell herself--work finds her
• Help other people--it’s not just about yourself
• Use the last four words of the what the person said with a question mark at the end to generate more discussion
• She has a passionate personality and positive attitude 
• Everyone has a story and it’s an important story to tell, but it's your job to make their story heard and interesting
• She uses Twitter to network and promote links to her work
• Be comfortable in your own skin--don’t be shy about asking
• She's been successful yet kept her code of ethics 
• Follow people you admire or want to connect with
• She's genuine and stands up for herself 
• Attitude is everything--if you expect life to suck, it will, if you expect it to be great, it will
• She makes everything a story
• She opened up a new idea for me to consider, brought me a new perspective on journalism
• The way she talks reflects the way she writes-she doesn't follow a script
• She knows how to tell a story
• Be part of your community-if you’re not being yourself in your community then you're really not part of your community all
• People can tell if you're not being genuine-you're better at being you than anyone else
• “Be positive- nobody wants to hear a Debbie downer or an Eyore”
• Use Twitter to have other people market you
• She markets herself solely through social media, using Twitter to post links to clips that are parked on her website
• “Be nice-don't be the guy that hides behind the Internet”
• Listen-it's our job to listen
• Be flexible to let the story become what it is, not what you want it to be
• If you try to force it, it’s not going to be a great story 
• Be visible, be heard, be obvious
• “Make somebody’s day”
• “Be likeable”
• “Make a difference”
• Tell them why you're on Twitter through your bio 
• Twitter can make you a better writer--it helps you be concise
• Don't compromise yourself--it’s more important to be able to sleep at night 
• Have your career but don't give up your passion
  

Comparison with @MikeSherman

• They both have the same philosophy on attitude 
• They both told us to be genuine and be yourself
• They both use Twitter as a tool for life
• They both said to be a human being before being a journalist
• Both believe you should have a footprint on twitter and use it to post about your work
• They both said to own up to mistakes, apologize, learn and move on

Today's "quirky" #clarkclass speaker, a success

Today's speaker in #clarkclass, Twitter for Journalists, is a favorite ex-student and friend, Heide Brandes, @HeideWrite.
She is one of the few people I know who lives her life without worrying what others may think of her, and her home twitter page describes her accurately, as "quirky chick." You can see that in a tweet she sent to #clarkclass yesterday asking what to talk about, "freelancing, belly dancing, or the sex life of possums."
She has had, and has, a varied career  that's exciting. Just over a year ago, she quit a full time PR job to go into business full-time freelancing as a journalist, and she's been successful, something that is very hard to do. So her story is one of hard work, passion, continual energy, and lots more.

I was honored recently when on her recommendation, we were featured in an ad campaign for UCO about mentoring. The beauty of UCO is, with class sizes and emphasis on teaching, especially when you've been here as long as I have, that many of our ex-students become good friends and colleagues. She is one of those.