Too Many Projects

Sometimes, it gets a little hard trying to sort it all out when you suddenly get a HUGE flood of ideas. Here are my main projects right now.

Screenplays
1) Muse: A Japanese rock star travels to Seattle in a desperate bid to find her lost inspiration and save her band.
2) For the Love of Death: A teenage love story of life, high school, love...and death.
3) The Grey Butterfly: A cyborg assassin finds love and betrayal in the cold city streets of a colony world in the far future.
4) Dark Tamsyn: A sociopathic detective battles mobsters and crooked cops in the dark streets of Moonlight City.

Short Stories
1) The Only Book You'll Ever Read: A scientist creates the perfect book; a smart book that can read your mind and alter its pages to show you the perfect book. It seems ideal...except the book itself is smart, and has plans. For you.
2) Don't Call Me Basketcase: A young boy meets a schizophrenic girl and attempts to solve her mystery while dealing with his mother in the asylum.
3) Cold Fusion Graveyard: Two treasure hunters attempt to eke out ancient knowledge from the wreckage of a world that was destroyed by cold fusion technology.
4) Universal Asset Management Disaster Report 402A: A celestial accountant is assigned to tabulate the exploits of the galaxy's most disaster-prone man.

Must...concentrate...on....one...or two...projects...

Diversify Yourself

You never know when something will come in handy. When I first graduated from college, I didn't expect my degree in Game Design to get me anywhere; I was just expecting it to give me what I needed to publish my own games. But lo and behold, it got me my first freelance job writing game guides. Come to think of it, my degree probably had a strong hand in acquiring all my other freelance jobs related to games.

As if that weren't enough, some of my recreational interests have also started to turn an unexpected profit recently. I am a long-standing sketch artist with an extremely bipolar relationship to the subject (love-hate, you know how that goes.) This affinity for analog art has landed me not one but two gigs, designing both a movie poster and doing storyboards for another friend's film.

I also have a long-standing interest in wargaming. I've painted and collected several different armies over the last twelve years, including:
-Dark Angels (my first)
-Imperial Guard (I had a tank division with more tanks than infantry)
-Grey Knights (one of my favorites, especially with the new models)
-Sisters of Battle
I've also painted orks, elder and chaos models when my brother was unwilling or unable to paint his own models. This interest in Warhammer 40k has attracted the notice of one of my customers at my p/t job, who recently contracted me to paint his models.

While all of these don't really add up to a full-time job, let this be a lesson to you: if you're good at something, there's always a way to turn a profit with it. It may just take you a long time to find it.

Getting Back on Track

It's funny how things turn out. I know I say that a lot, but as time goes on, the more and more I think about just how strange it all is. Just as I was ready to shelve my script, I hear a little voice in my head that says "well you spent the time and money to print the damn thing, you may as well read it."

So I do. I sit down, I put on My Bloody Valentine (the band, not the 3D horror film) and I start reading. And it all comes back. I relive the drama, the burgeoning love, the heartache...and in a heartbeat, it hits me like a breaking wave. I remember why I wrote the script, why I created these characters. I wanted to feel life through their eyes, to see things as they saw. I lost that for a while, and I felt the loss as surely as if I had lost my own sight. But things change, and I found my muse.

Go out and find yours.

Shelf It

Part of being a competent writer is knowing when something isn't working. While Writer's Block can play a part in things, there may come a time when a particular project hits a brick wall and you, in turn, need to take a break from it. It's not easy, and may be one of the most painful experiences of your life. But if nothing is happening and not because of Writer's Block, it may be time to put the project on the shelf for a little while. And I'm not talking "20 years" kind of "a little while."

Three to six months on the shelf can help you gather perspective on a project. You needn't ponder it every waking moment, or even think about it on a daily basis. Just keep it on the back burner, give it the occasional thought and come back to it when you feel ready to work on it (or when six months has passed, whichever comes first.) Putting something away for a little bit can give you a much-needed rest and prevent you from getting burnt out on something that has promise.

Let me reiterate: this process can and probably will be quite painful for projects you really care about. But as with so many things, you can prove your love for it by letting it go for a little while.

Keeping Sane

As with so many things, my fiance pointed out to me yesterday that there may be something of a flaw in my logic. Normally, I pride myself on writing every day and doing things I find inspirational in order to fuel my work. My recent/ongoing bout with Writer's Block has forced me to reconsider this perspective and consider the possibility that by doing so, I may have inadvertantly burned myself out.

I'm sure some people can write every single day and not burn themselves out, but it seems that I'm not one of them. It took quite a while for me to figure this out, but I suppose it's better than I learn the lesson now and not when I'm in the midst of a mid-life crisis.

That being said, consider some new words of wisdom. If you find writing every day to be tiresome, don't. Write three times a week, every other day, every second day; whatever you find works for you. Try to find a balance of maintaining your creative steam and keeping your sanity intact.

My fiance was also kind enough to point out that perhaps I should enjoy the things I find inspiring simply for the sake of enjoyment. I had completely lost sight of the fact that I was using things I loved (not people, mind you) for inspiration, but wasn't actually stopping to enjoy them for what they were. Not everything needs to be a font of inspiration; it really is ok to just sit back and enjoy some things.

Death

I recently read Neil Gaiman's "Absolute Sandman, Volume 2", which I procured from the local library. While the Sandman himself (the Lord of Dreams) is the focus of the story, I found myself rather more interested in his sister, Death (call me crazy, but I thought Sandman came off as a bit of a prick here and there.) Death is a rather interesting character. We all know what Death does, but Sandman put a different spin on Death that was radically different from the traditional skeleton in a black robe with a scythe.

I began to toy around with the idea of Death personified, and came up with some interesting results. Incidentally, shortly after reading Sandman, my fiance and I started watching a show called "Dead Like Me" on Netflix, in which the main character George dies and is brought back as a Grim Reaper. It's a really great show and is worth a rental if you like a good story with some comedy and drama mixed in.

I took a film course in college, the theme of which was Death and Dying in Film (I don't recall the exact title of the class.) We saw lots of movies which are now endeared to me. Harold and Maude, Death in Venice, and a few others. I seem to have developed something of a fascination with Death recently. Not in a morbid way, just a curiosity of sorts. It's funny what we find inspiring sometimes.

The Worst Thing

There's nothing worse than feeling like you're in a rut. The thing you've done for years that feels as natural as breathing, now takes a monumental effort. You do what you normally do to get your creative juices flowing. You watch your favorite movie (Lost in Translation) and you barely make it through half. You put on your favorite album (The Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy, in 12'' Vinyl) and listen to one of your favorite songs: "Just Like Honey." It should move you. You should feel like everything will be all right, like you can get through anything, like every other time you've listened to the song. But you don't feel all right. All you feel is numb.

It's like grieving. Part of you is dead (at least temporarily,) and like death and grief, you go through distinct phases.

Phase 1: Denial. No, it can't be. It just can't. It came so easily before, it's just a little...hiccup.
Phase 2: Anger. Dammit all! Of all the fucking bad luck, why me? It's not fucking fair! You're right. It's not. Some people go their whole lives without facing what you're dealing with, and they will sell more books than you ever will. It's just not fair.
Phase 3: Bargaining. Well what if I allot myself a little time? Call in sick to work for a couple days, get things going again? That's what I need; time. If only I had more time, I could get things back on track.
Phase 4: Acceptance. When you've gone through all the shit and you come to the cold, hard truth of the matter. It hurts, more than almost anything else in your life. You've heard enough about it, heard lots of writers speak of it, but you've never experienced it before. Now you're in it, and it burns like hellfire.

Think of it this way: a star quarterback breaks their leg the night before a big game; a painter gets their hand crushed. It is the most awful feeling in the world, to know that it will take all you've got to now do what used to be the easiest thing in the world. You've got to soldier forth, rally all you've got and get back in the game (metaphorically speaking; playing football with a broken leg is just stupid.)

It'll take a mighty hard kick in the ass to get yourself going again, but it has to be done. And chances are. nobody can do it but you. You want to cry, and maybe you do. Maybe it'll help, maybe it won't. In the end, it won't change the truth at the heart of the matter: you have writer's block.

Another Piece of Good Advice

I read this many years ago, in a book on screenwriting. It's great advice though, and can apply to any piece of writing you wish to invest yourself in. The advice is this: treat your script (manuscript or whatever) as if it were your significant other. Now this doesn't mean literally; you needn't sleep with your script in your bed. What this means is that in order to condition yourself to make time for your script and to treat it like the fantastic work of literary greatness that it is, you need to personify it a bit.

Think of it this way: if you run out on a date, your date gets pissed and will treat you like crap for treating them like crap. The same will be true of your script. If you neglect it, you will find it very hard to come back to after a long hiatus. If you care for it, tend to it's needs (and believe me, they have needs) and work on it when you're supposed to, it will treat you much better.

I know this may sound a bit strange, but think of it this way: our writing is the embodiment of ourselves, of our wishes, hopes and dreams. If we don't care about them, why should anyone else? If we work hard to make them a reality, our efforts will be repaid many times over.

Think about that the next time you decide to blow off working on your project in favor of something else. While you needn't spend every waking moment with your project, it deserves some attention.

Why We Write

It can't have escaped any chronic writer that their motivation for writing is rather unique. There are a million different reasons people write. To make money, to persuade, to inform, to entertain, to terrorize, to enthrall, to tell the story that hasn't been written (and I don't believe for a second that every story has been told already.) One of the more interesting reasons I heard a friend and fellow writer give for his motivation for writing was this: "my head will explode if I don't." My sentiments were similar. I too have felt a strange compulsion to write and a curious sense of disappointment with myself when I don't.

My own motivation for writing is a bit metaphysical, but is one I'm sure many writers can relate to. As I continued to write more and more, I found that my head was becoming cluttered with hundreds of people: the characters I had been creating. Each one was, at least in some small way, a reflection of myself. Some looked like me, some acted like me, many of them talked like me (which, for those of you who know me, makes for a unique and..."colorful" character) but all of them had at least some small part of me in them.

On the days when I don't write, I can almost hear them talking to me, asking, begging, pleading to be let out. I don't do this by dressing up in a costume or pretending I'm somebody I'm not; I do this through my writing. When a character speaks on the page, that dialog is a reflection of what the character is saying in my head. Crazy no?

I believe that finding the motivation behind your drive to write is important. It's not of paramount importance, but knowing why you do something is almost as important as doing it. We all know that we'll go crazy or die if we don't eat or sleep. Me? I'll go crazy if I don't write. There are a myriad of people who make up the person I am. They are the mental manifestations of my hopes, wishes, dreams and nightmares, and they help make up the person I am as a whole. I can't ignore them, for to ignore them is to ignore myself.

This is why I write: to give voice to the parts of me that are not normally seen. Why do you write?

Some Good Advice

I've read a lot of writing books, some with advice more valuable than others. I have yet to read a book that I felt was a waste of my time. Some have simply been more valuable than others. Incidentally, one of the most valuable pieces of advice I ever gleaned from a book, I can't remember where I read it. Go figure.

The advice was simple: write every day. Even if you just sit in front of MS Word and type "I can't think of anything" a few hundred times, at least you're in the mindset to get things going. That's really important for all creative people, but especially important for professional writers. I've had more than a few days when I woke up and the last thing I felt like doing was writing. It takes a monumental effort on some days just to get your ass in gear and turn the computer (or typewriter) on and do anything even remotely productive with it.

It's equally difficult to find the time to write when you're writing both for business and pleasure. When you've spent a whole day working on a freelance project, one of the last things you'll feel like doing is writing some more, even if it is for yourself. But you've got to.

This is the best advice I can give to any aspiring writer: write ever single day. It doesn't matter what you write, so long as you sit down for at least an hour or two and write.

Pick your first job carefully...

It has not escaped my attention that finding a job these days is tough for just about everyone save those who don't really need jobs except to make payments on their third house (and if you're saying to yourself "Ha! That's me!", then send me a grant. I take cash, check, money orders and Paypal.) For the rest of us, we'll take work where we can get it. I would advise caution to the young people (read: high schoolers.) Be careful where you get your first job.

I'm not that old; I'll be 26 this year. I'm old enough to know how the job market works and young enough to remember my first job quite vividly. I worked at a local drug store in Sammamish, WA. It was a pretty good job, as far as first jobs go. I wouldn't want to do it forever, but I don't regret the time I spent there. HOWEVER...having a first job in retail has had repercussions for me.

The economy was in the shitter as I was exiting college (even before people were throwing the word "recession" around, we had a feeling of what was on the horizon,) and I found myself unable to get a decent job. I went to the career center at the university and asked for help. I met with a recruiter for a job who's description was horribly convoluted, then the career counselor happened upon my retail experience. This led to a phone call, an interview, and my first stint at a prominent office supply store, which lasted 14 months, until I moved down to California.

Two and a half years later, I have been compelled to return to the same office supply chain (albeit a different store) for financial reasons. I still maintain my status as a freelance writer, but I'll be honest and say I'd rather be doing something else. And it wasn't for lack of trying. I had applied for hundreds, perhaps even thousands (I shit you not) of jobs before I put my application back into the retail market. I got next to no callbacks in hundreds of applications and eight months of job hunting. Not a week after I put my app in at the store, I get a call. I go in for an interview and a fortnight later, I have a job.

Now don't get me wrong; I do not begrudge my job, and I fully intend to keep doing it until something better comes along. I do not resent my return to retail: I do what I must to feed my family. What I am pointing out here is that I have observed a strong correlation between the first job you get and a lot of future jobs you will have. I know most young people don't have a clear idea of what they want to do after high school (I know I sure didn't) but I strongly urge you to at least consider a job that you would find enjoyable BEFORE you leave high school. Even if you don't start down that career path, at least shadow someone in your industry of interest or take part in an internship.

This phenomenon has also made it's way into my freelancing life. My first gig was writing game guides. I still do this today and the majority of my writing work (read: all of it) has been of a very similar nature to the guides I began writing. I pride myself on being able to write anything, given a style guide and a deadline. I needn't limit myself to writing about video games and as a matter of fact, at this point, I'd prefer not to. But that's all the work I can seem to get. Why? Because that's where my experience lies. It doesn't seem to matter that I have a BA with an emphasis in other fields and that I can provide samples that prove my ability to write something other than a video game strategy guide. All that seems to matter is experience.

That's why, young people, you should think long and hard about your first job before you automatically start working. Sure, it'll pay for your car insurance, your new iPhone or whatever it is you're after. But believe me when I say that your first job may well stay with you a lot longer than you intend it to.

Take it with a Grain of Salt

When you tell someone you're a writer, a screenwriter or nearly any other profession that involves creating something, almost invariably, you will hear the phrase "Have you seen/read/heard (insert media here.)" In order to maintain your sanity in the face of this constant bombardment, it is imperative that you learn to take these comments with a grain of salt.

I initially went to college thinking I was going to study film and become a professional screenwriter. While that goal hasn't changed, it did take a significant sidetrack (long story.) Whenever I told someone I was a film student, I almost always heard the dreaded "Have you seen (movie that speaker believes to be the best movie ever)?" At first I let it go, but it started to grate on me after a while. Something akin to "who the f*beep* do you think you are, telling me what movies to see? Like you know everything there is to know about film criticism!" It drove me nuts.

But as with most things, you do wise up as you get older. The questions stopped coming when I got defensive, but after a while, I came to realize that when people ask you something like that, they're usually not trying to tell you your business. Rather, they're simply trying to connect with you in some kind of meaningful way, as is human nature to do. Let's face it, not everyone is content with small talk ALL of the time. It gets us by, but eventually we want to get to know someone better, and I like to think I'm the kind of person who merits more than a few words with.

That being the case, just try and remember that people who ask you if you've encountered something are not trying to be mean; they're simply trying to learn more about you and your experiences. And while you will probably be bombarded with these questions at family reunions and other gatherings which involve more than three people, just remember to take them all with a grain of salt.

Of course, if someone comes up to you and proceeds to rant and rave that "you've just got to see In the Army Now, it's the best movie EVAR," you can tell them what they can do with that.

Tips for Successful Freelancing #13: Music

Many artists have commented that music is a huge part of their lives. I recently flipped through a collection of artwork by Keith Parkinson called Knightsbridge (an excellent book, full of really cool art and amusing commentary by a commercial artist.) At the end, he has a Q&A in which he is asked if he listens to music while he works; he does, and his taste is quite varied. It runs from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Metallica, to classic and books on tape. Quite a variety.

Several people have asked me what I listen to while I work. It's hard to say; I tailor my playlist to the task at hand. When I'm doing "work work", I generally prefer something upbeat to keep me going. Dance and 80's work well for this. When I'm working on a script or a story, one of the first things I do is sit down and decide on a playlist. Music has a tremendous effect on me and holds a lot of power to make me feel one way or the other.

For example: if I listen to Orbital - Halcyon+on+on, I'll feel like everything is right with the world. If I put on The Boomtang Boys - Pictures, I'll feel like I'm in high school again. If I put on Talking Heads - (Nothing But) Flowers, I'll feel like it's time to go to work (thank you Kevin Smith.)

With that in mind, my taste in music is extremely varied. I could say "I like everything but rap and country," but that's the half-assed generic way of saying "I am agreeable to most any musical selection that does not originate in the American southwest or the contemporary American urban landscape." But again, my musical selection varies depending on what I'm going to do.

When I'm working on a noir story, I listen to predominantly Jazz. I like anything that has a sax and a piano, I don't care who plays it. Yoko Kanno did some great jazz for the animes "Macross Plus" and "Cowboy Bebop."
When I'm working on an action story, I like to have battle music from video games; the Final Fantasy series works well (specifically, FFVII: Advent Children.) Paul Oakenfold and the animes "Fullmetal Alchemist," "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" and "Otogizoushi" all have excellent battle music.
For my current project, Muse, I have quite an interesting selection. Because the story has an undercurrent of "East meets west" and "Japanese punk rock meets Seattle Grunge", I have both grunge and J-punk. Malfunkshun, Pearl Jam, 7 Year Bitch, Hi-Standard, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The SS, The Stalin and Soundgarden. For variety, I like to throw a little Shoegazer in too, mostly The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine (funny, I seem to have a thing for picking up trends about 20 years too late...oh well.) Yeah, I did my homework.

Bottom line: don't take what I listen to as "inspirational music" to be the definitive soundtrack of inspiration. While I may find A Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Story to be inspirational, you may not. You may think "shit dude, what's with the 80's kick? Didn't Mike Score's hair go out of style like 20 years ago?" While I could counter with "at least A Flock of Seagulls has garnered critical acclaim in the last twenty years. How many of your teeny-bopper-wanna-be-rock-star bands will still be talked about twenty years from now?" that would be missing the point entirely.

The point is this: find the music that inspires you and play it as often as you need to. If Gwar gets your creative juices going, then go find some Gwar albums (just remember that you have neighbors when you play it and they probably know the landlord's phone number.) Don't let anyone tell you that something is the best music out there for inspiration. As much as I'm going to get blasted for this, not all of us find The Beatles to be inspiring. And on that note, bring on the flames.

The Right Film at the Right Time

For better or worse, the movies I watch irrevocably shape who I am. Ever since E.T. scared the crap out of me as a kid, I've had a phobia of aliens (with no small irony that the Aliens series is one of my favorites.) Ever since I first saw The X-Files, I've been paranoid about being along in a house at night. When I first laid eyes on Macross for the first time, I fell in love with giant robots. Now one might make the argument that not all the things I just mentioned were feature films, but that's beside the point. The point is that the right film at the right time can change your life and who we are is indellibly altered by the most meaningful films we see.

For example: I recently saw Almost Famous again, and was utterly delighted. I love it for it's story, it's humor, it's drama and the music. But more than anything else, I love it because it defies boundaries. It does not follow the typical "boy meets girl..." formula. At first, this was a big turn-off for me. I remember seeing the film a long time ago (presumably around the time of it's release) and being really pissed off that William didn't wind up with Penny. But when I watched it recently, I realized that he didn't have to; that's not the kind of story it was. And that was ok. Not every story needs to end with the hero and the love interest walking off into the sunset together.

One of the most influential films I have ever seen only walked into my life in the last year: Lost in Translation. I had meant to see it when it first came out, since I've always been a fan of Bill Murray films, but for whatever reason, I didn't get round to it. In hindsight, if ever there was an event that proved the existence of God for me, this was it. Me not seeing this movie when I intended to turned out to be one of the greatest events of my life.

Fast forward to mid 2008. I've got a full Netflix queue and somehow, Lost in Translation slips in under the guise of "movies I meant to see but didn't." It arrives, I watch it, and to quote another one of my favorites, "the cosmic tumblers click into place and the universe opens for just a minute to show you what's possible" (five points if you can tell me what that's from. Hint: it has something to do with a corn field and a major American sport.) I was inspired, more so than I have ever been, and I've had some pretty inspirational moments. I decide in a heartbeat that I want to get back into screenwriting, after a four year hiatus. I sit down and eleven days later, I have a complete draft of a 117-page screenplay in front of me.

For me, Lost in Translation was, in every way, the right film at the right time. It has taken it's place beside Blade Runner as my favorite movie of all-time (and those of you who know me know I'm a HARDCORE Blade Runner fan.) If I had seen it earlier in my life, I honestly don't think I would've "gotten it." It isn't a film that appeals to all, and it takes a certain kind of person to enjoy it. While the hooker falling over Bob is raucously funny ("Please! Don't lip my stockings, Mr. Bob Harris!") it gives way to a much more serious story about two people who are utterly alienated by their home situations and have been throw together in very strange circumstances, but somehow find that they are the missing piece in each other's lives. The best part is that their relationship isn't wholly romantic. If I'd have seen that earlier in my life, I wouldn't have understood.

Bottom line: keep an open mind. You never know when something is going to click into place for you.

Business Cards

I decided to make some new business cards. They're handy to have, and the old ones needed some updates.

Here's the front.

And the back.

Let me know what you think! I'm thinking of offering some small-scale desktop publishing services. If this is something you're interested in, drop me a line. You've got my card!

Tips for Successful Freelancing #12: Tax Season

Many people will tell you to wait until the last possible moment to file your taxes so that you can hold onto your money as long as possible. Me? I like to get them done and out of the way as soon as possible so I don't have to worry about them and I don't have to shit bricks come April.

I have received requests for tax software recommendations. I personally use H&R Block: TaxCut, on recommendation from a friend. I have used it for two years without incident, and find it to be relatively painless to use. The version I use, Basic+State (I need the State because I live in California,) costs me around $37, but considering I only need it once a year, this suits me just fine. It is user-friendly, can be used from year to year (provided you remember your password or have the foresight to write it down) and makes e-filing a snap.

Remember that as a freelancer, you are considered self-employed. As such, you can write off a bunch more on your taxes in the form of business expenses. Take a look here for a good list of Deductions and Credits you may be able to claim this year. The TaxCut software I use is also able to determine the appropriate deductions and credits; doesn't get much easier.

http://taxes.about.com/od/deductionscredits/Deductions_Credits.htm

CACPs and You

While I was on my way to work today, I hit a little traffic and had a Douglas Adams moment. Allow me to explain.

There are times when, in moderate to heavy traffic, the jam will, for no discernable explanation, clear as suddenly as it started. I have dubbed these points where traffic seems to return to normal, "CACPs" or "Completely Arbitrary Choke Points." They are points where, for no visible reason at all, traffic goes from very slow to normal. They only occur in random places, and never near on-ramps, off-ramps, landmarks, accidents or indeed anything notable at all. The reason for their existence is unknown, but is possibly linked to a prominent SEP (Somebody Else's Problem) source in the local area.

Tips for Successful Freelancing #11: Picking and Choosing

Depending on where you work, there may come a time when you find the need to seek some different clients. A lot of new media (most notably websites) offer a good work package for part-timers and people who are just looking for supplemental income. They offer flexibility in assignments (most let you choose your own topics), quick turnaround time and a monthly paycheck. The downside is that their rate per word is, in a word, terrible. While you might consider the work decent for the time involved and the other benefits (the aforementioned flexibility in assignments, quick turnaround time and the guaranteed monthly paycheck), these types of clients are usually unviable as a source of primary income.

Consider this: you write 500-word articles for a website. Your payment is $10 each (fairly standard), you can write about 50 of them in a month (some people can write more, but this is a good ballpark) and it takes you a grand total of around 60 hours/month. Per hour, that's around $8.33; a pretty bad wage. Considering the low rate per article and the number of articles you can crank out in a month (and many of these clients will either have a limited number of articles you can write or dole out topics based on a calendar system, which does not guarantee you any articles in a given month), you're pretty much better off with your day job, even if you work retail (minimum wage in California is $8/hour. Less per hour, but consider that even if you work part-time, you will still make more money per month.) Consider that $10 for a 500-word article equals 2 cents/word. That SUCKS unless you're getting paid by the word an are writing a document longer than 200,000 words. And if you write >500 words/article, the rate gets even worse!

Should you find yourself relying on quick-content clients for a primary source of income, it's time to seek other employment. Now, I'm not telling you to avoid these clients; far from it. They are an excellent source of quick income and in the world of freelance writing, a monthly paycheck is a wonderful thing indeed. I'm just saying that they are not the best source of income for the full-time freelancer. If you can afford to freelance full-time, you can afford to find a better gig that pays a lot more per word.

Tips for Successful Freelancing #10: Balance

Working as a freelance writer does not mean that you must be pounding a keyboard all day. There are other essential tasks which being a freelancer necessitates, not all of which require a keyboard. Of particular import to writing, is editing. Many writers believe that their status as writer absolves them of the responsibility of editing their material. They are sorely mistaken.

For starters, not all freelancing gigs come with an editor. If you've got one, count yourself lucky. Editors perform the vital service of informing you that your writing is not perfect and how you can go about improving it. Without an editor, you'd better get damn good at editing your own work. Handing in an unedited work brands you as unreliable, and can adversly affect your reputation as a freelancer.

You needn't go all out and rewrite a document 12 times before handing it in. Just give it a good once-over with spell-check and your own eyes. I say "and your own eyes" because if you don't already know, spell-check is not infallible. Print the document out if you need to. I strongly recommend doing this, particularly if it is a long document and you have no editor. Reading something on paper is very different from reading something on a screen. Most of us will catch things on the hard copy that will be missed on the screen copy. I know I always catch more when I'm reading a hard copy.

Think of writing and editing as Yin and Yang. One is light, the other dark; you cannot have one without the other; both are necessary to maintain harmony and balance. Even if you have an editor, you should still give your work a good look-over before handing it in. Make their life easier. If you find that yourself consistently handing work in unedited because of time constraints, either take a time management class, cut down on your workload, or both.

Lastly, remember that there are other things besides writing you must do to remain a successful freelancer. Doing your taxes, keeping your area clean and looking for new clients are all jobs that can be counted as "work" but do not require writing. Being a writer requires you to be more than just a writer.

Look Before you Leap

Despite the glib and hopeful tone of the last post, the jubiltion inherent in finding new work has been marred by recent events. I'm glad I thought twice about my day job, as it turns out that the new contracts I picked up have proven to be less than I hoped for. Don't get me wrong; they're still useful for some supplemental income, and I intend to do my work there to my fullest. It's just not all the pay I had hoped for.

It's not the client's fault: the pay is as-indicated in the postings to which i responded. It's just that one of the gigs pays over time and is a great long-term investment, and the other is currently unable to provide me with enough articles to make any decent money. So, what has become a previously hopeful outlook has faded to "ok honey, how quickly can we scramble out of this hole we've just fallen into?"

I'm trying not to assign blame, but it's hard. There are a lot of people who are indirectly responsible not only for our plight but for millions of people in California and the rest of the nation who are suffering similar budget woes. I won't name names, but those responsible: I hope you got coal in your stockings. No wait, strike that: coal is useful for generating power and making steel. I hope you got a bunch of past-due bills and bogus credit card offers in your stockings. HA!

Bottom line: Give it a little time before you take the plunge and ditch your day job. In today's next-worse-thing-to-the Great Depression economy, you can never be too sure of your financial fotting unless you're rich. And if you're rich, give me a grant.