As a added value, you might offer to rehearse speech with client and offer tips for effective delivery. Plan on at least one "tweaking" after client has read speech to correct areas where client stumbles during reading.

Charge $15-20 per typewritten, double-spaced, 10-12 point type page, and $25-30 an hour for any research you need to do in addition to initial interview. Do your first two or three speeches free, or better yet, do them in exchange for a testimonial and an agreement to refer prospective clients.

A great way to learn more about this moonlighting gig (and speech communication in general) is to sit in on a local Toastmaster International meeting. Ask a few questions; make a few friends. Visit Toastmasters website to find a public meeting in your area.

Web Links: Dave's Guide to Speechwriting http://davegustafson.com/speech/

SpeechTips.com http://www.speechtips.com/

Speechwriting Books at Amazon.com http://bisoncreek.com/link/SpeechwritingBooks.html

Eye halve a spelling chequer It came with my pea sea. It plainly marcs four my revue Miss steaks eye kin Knot Sea. Eye strikes a key And type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows me strait a weigh. As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long And eye can put error rite Its rare lea ever wrong. Eye has run this poem threw it I am shore your pleased two no Its letter perfect awl weigh My checker tolled me sew.

(borrowed from www.virginiawater.co.uk/webnews/webnewsapr00.html Thanks.)

Make your writing concise. No one has time or desire to read a novel about your topic. "Just facts, Ma'am." That's what's needed. Quality, not quantity, is best. Winston Churchill is reported to have said to an aide placing a three-inch-high report on his desk, "That report, by its very size, demands that it will never be read." Be sure to read what you write before you send it. No one needs an exercise in endurance to capture your point.

Take every opportunity to put positive information in writing. Thank and congratulate folks. Report on all successes, major and minor. Recommend solutions. Provide updates. When you've got something good to say, Harry Chambers says: "Insure accuracy, provide proof when available or necessary, and distribute communication as widely as possible." Being author of good news can put your name in a positive light when promotion time arrives, too! This has got to be good!

Write as you speak and speak thoughtfully. This is best guideline for written communication at work.