Freelance writing was not Vonda Sines’ first priority.  ”Although I was formally trained to write, it always ended up way down the to-do list because of full-time job commitments,” says Sines. “Now it pays the electric and gas bills.”

Sines began her online writing career on the website AssociatedContent.com, inspired by the story of Kentucky Derby sensation Barbaro, whose triumph—and tragic demise—gripped the entire nation.  Barbaro’s treatment inspired her to write.

“I just could not take my eyes off that horse.  By the next day, I knew I had to write about him,” says Sines. “I placed several pieces on Associated Content about Barbaro, the “friends of Barbaro” and the unfortunate circumstances responsible for his euthanasia.  This was the start of my online writing career.”

Since penning her first article for AssociatedContent.com in 2006, she has transformed her passion for writing and animal mistreatment into a full-fledged writing career.  She was ranked as one of the top 1000 contributors on AssociatedContent.com in 2008 and also writes articles for Edubook.com and Helium.

Sines’ work on Barbaro also helped her become part of animal rescue activism.  Several horse rescue and volunteer groups have asked her to volunteer, and she was also involved in legislative efforts to outlaw horse slaughter for consumption overseas.

Freelance writing also helped Sines continue to make money from home.  A health condition keeps her mostly confined to her home, but freelance writing grants her the freedom to work in the comfort of her own home.  Better yet, she can fulfill her passion to write without being restricted to a full-time position.

Because of Sines previous experience as a technical writer, we had to know—did she have to learn new skills?  Is writing online any different than technical writing?  Let’s find out.

WJR: Did you have to learn any new skills when you first started writing online?

Sines: Oh, yes.  I had to learn the importance of SEO.  Often the terms a writer might suspect a search engine to pick up are overlooked.  I also had to learn a little HTML coding for some of the online sites to which I contribute.  And I had to constantly think of ad alignment when picking article topics.

WJR: Do you think your writing improved after beginning your online writing career?

Sines: I don’t know whether it really improved after so many years or just changed.  All fiction and most nonfiction writers have a particular pattern of words and syllables in the way they write.  I had to change mine in order to write online instead of in print.  Print looks for a “pretty” or unique style.  Online looks for marketability and keeping the reader’s attention. Therefore, that beautiful, stylistic lead so coveted in print publications isn’t all that useful for many online articles.  I write the most about medical and health topics, and my writing definitely became even tighter than it was before I started writing online.  ”The medication that he prescribed . . .” quickly became “The medication he prescribed. . .” and so on.

We also asked Sines if she had any advice for new writers.

WJR: If you could give people who are interested in becoming online writers one piece of advice, what would it be?

Sines: Forget about writing in the first person unless you’re writing an essay or an op ed piece.

With nearly 300,000 page views under her belt, Sines is definitely someone to take notice of in the competitive world of online writing.