I get that every so often. I usually reply with something like “Thankfully, yes. I’d hate to have to go corporate.”

Ha! That’s almost as bad as the time I was negotiating with the public library to host a freelance writing workshop. For free. They sent me a liability waiver – I could check a box saying I had $1 million (or was it $2 million?) in liability insurance OR a box saying I would assume all liability for all injuries, accidents, and damage (“including normal wear and tear”) to the facility for the day of the workshop.

What? I asked a local poet who does frequent readings and workshops at the library, and she had never once been asked to sign a waiver. I wrote to the library’s board and our then-Mayor, since the city funds the library about it, explaining why it was unacceptable – no definition of “facility” – just the workshop room? the whole building? the entire library system? It covered the full day. And everything in it should be covered by the library’s own insurance. I even said that as a tax payer, I was appalled to think the library I help fund might not be properly insured, LOL.

Also the most recent ghost client also had me sign an NDA.

I have run into it, though not a lot. And I won’t agree to it, either. It’s a client trying to pass the risk on to you, which isn’t the way it’s supposed to work. I get why they do it — they would for any construction contractor, for instance, where they’re onsite or making changes that could impact health and safety. But not for writers. Please.

They have approval responsibility. If they approve that job, that’s on them. It should never be on you unless you’ve done something so heinous — fraudulent quotes, plagiarism, etc. — that it really is your fault.

They have errors and omissions insurance, or they should. That would cover it. And I know some insurers do press their customers to reduce as much risk as possible by transferring it to their contractors. But again, writers?

Apparently not. I get asked that too. And maybe I’m over sensitive, but I always feel like there is another part of the question that is left unspoken: “…or did you find an actual job?”

I get the “are you still freelancing?” question a lot. I think after 17 years of full-time freelancing, they can kind of stop asking, right?

I think the part that gets me most is that they had to know you spent time prepping for a completely different meeting than the one they planned (as you point out). It is crazy the extremes of how writers are perceived – either wannabe artists or special geniuses. It really can be a skill. : )

Really said that, Gina! Crazy, since we never talked about that. At. All.