One of the most successful careers available, if you want to work from home, is becoming a freelance writer. All you need is a computer with Internet access, a desk and a chair, and bingo, you have it in you to become the next Ernest Hemingway.

But while you’re waiting for that big publishing deal to come through, you can pay your bills by taking on other forms of writing work, which may be less interesting but still brings in cold hard cash to put food on the table and pay for your Internet connection. Plus, it fattens up your resume a bit, which is always a good thing.

Here are some work from home ideas that you can do to keep your writing skills sharpened and your bank account looking rosy.

1. Write for blogs – When you read your favourite sites in the morning, do you ever ponder for a moment how those blogs are written and put together? No, the words didn’t magically fly onto the page - they were written by a hard working team of writers – and that writing team may have an open vacancy that could be just perfect for you. So go to your favourite sites, find a “contact us” or “write for us” link and see if anything is available. Or advertise on your Twitter stream or Facebook account that you are looking for work. Someone somewhere may see it and offer you something.

2. Start your own blog - If no-one offers you any blogging work, then start your own blog. Monetize it with Google Adsense and sell advertising space in the sidebar. However, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme as it will take quite some time for you to find your article niche, establish a reliable base of readers and then start building some income. However, it’s still worth doing because writing your own blog is a good way to put your name out there where potential employers will see it. Plus it keeps your writing skills honed.

3. Start a writing service – Do you pride yourself that you can write on any topic? Do you pride yourself even more that you can turn out high quality work very quickly? Then you may be just the person to start an online writing service. You can offer to write anything such as blog articles, contracts, business correspondence, wedding toasts, speeches and much more. However, there are lots of unreliable and unprofessional writing companies out there, so you need to work hard to make yourself rise to the top in terms of quality product, reliability and competitive pricing. But it can be done!

4. Writing fiction articles – This is the hardest option as it is the hardest form of writing and then, when you have something ready to submit, the competition is so fierce, you will be wallpapering your house with rejection slips before something gets accepted. Nevertheless, it is a real money earner if you have the talent to write fiction and the determination to keep submitting to place after place until someone finally takes it. Two places that accept crime fiction (my favourite genre) is Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen.

5. Writing non-fiction articles for print publications – Print publications? What’s that, I hear you say. Yes, we do still have print publications, despite the spread and influence of the Internet. And those newspapers and magazines still need good writers to write for them, even though the Internet is forcing print publications to cut back on how much they spend on freelance contributions. So go to your local newsagent, pick up a pile of your favourite publications and see what columns you could potentially contribute to. One business magazine who I wrote for paid $500 for an article that took me 30 minutes to write. Not a bad hourly rate!

One website I strongly recommend you visit is Funds For Writers, which puts out a weekly email containing writing opportunities and writing grants available. Its owner, Hope Clark, is also on Twitter, has her own blog, and answers all her own email. She is a very nice, very accessible lady and is always willing to help with writing-related questions.

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Mark O’Neill is a freelance writer of 20 years experience, and also the managing editor of MakeUseOf.com, since August 2007. You can see his personal website at markoneill.org Mark has 6 post(s) at Free Writing Center