lwidmer | Words on the Page

Writers Worth Tip #3 – Walking Away

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You put that query together and attached your URL samples or clips, and you got a response. Great! But there’s something amiss – the client is saying “I need this yesterday, and I’m going to pay you $20 for 1,000 words.” No he’s not. Okay, so you’re sitting there idle thanks to a lousy job…

Writers Worth Tip #2 – Spotting a Raw Deal

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Regular visitors, you know how I feel about job boards. In general, they’re a waste of time. Yes, you can find lucrative work there. No, you don’t find it there regularly. More often, you find vaguely worded ads that hint at either “ground floor opportunities” or “free exposure.” Once you’ve been burned by a few…

Writer’s Worth Tip #1 – Beware the Bargain Shopper

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We’re counting down to the homestretch – the Second Annual Writers Worth Day is May 15th, and I’m asking all of you to spread the word today, tomorrow, May 15th, May 16th, August 2nd…. you get the idea. Find some way – your way – to make this your day to educate our masses. In…

Do You Kiss Your Mother With That Mouth?

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Question: When is it ever acceptable to be nasty to another person?Answer: Never. Another question: When do you have to accept nastiness from a client or a writer?Answer: Never. We’ve all run into one or two people in our lives who just can’t be nice when facing some sort of roadblock or disagreement. When it’s…

Your Writing Peeves

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We all have them – those things we hate to do, hear, or deal with. One of my writing friends loathes hearing a PR person ask for a copy of the published article, mostly because it requires her to get in touch with the editor, trace it back to the issue it appeared in, and…

Monthly Assessment – April

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Yes, once again it’s time to bare our souls – or rather, our careers – to see how we’re doing on our way to freelance success. Like always, I’ll throw myself under the bus first in hopes you’ll follow. 😉 April – what can I say? Taxes had me crippled the first week and a…

Adding Value You Didn’t Know Existed

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If spending just a few hours researching could net you more value to your clients, and perhaps a little more money, would you do it? Sure you would, especially if there was a little more money involved. You’re a business person. Business people don’t walk away from cash, especially when it could be easier to…

Fighting Words

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From now on I’m taking Eileen’s approach to job listings – I’m not going there. For here’s what happened last week when I did. The ad was for a business article writer. The poster did write back. Let’s just say for once, price wasn’t the major issue. Here’s the response: “In most cases, you’d need…

A Dose of Reality, Please

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With the Second Annual Writers Worth Day coming up on May 15th, I’m looking for ways to introduce a little reality into the heads of writers who think $1 an article is a great wage. I saw the other side of the spectrum over the weekend when I saw State of Play with Russell Crowe…

Where Have You Been?

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Writing chum Anne Wayman had a fun post up last week on her blog about the jobs we writers have had over the years before this one. Since I’m trying to get a ton of work done before noon so I can enjoy maybe an hour of this fantastic weather, I’m going to shamelessly lift…

Devon Ellington

I’ve been writing since I was six years old; was first published when I was eight. Wrote for the local paper in high school.

I’ve worked professionally in the tech end of theatre, film, and television since I was eighteen. Alongside that, I often took temp jobs.

I spent three years (while still working in theatre) working for an art book publisher.

For ten years, I worked simultaneously fulltime in theatre and as a writer.

Now I’m writing fulltime, but still have to feed the theatre addiction with occasional returns backstage.

Worst temp jobs: One was typing insurance policies for jewelry, my first temp job at 16. They brought them to me on a handtruck. The other was stamping numbers on policies for Avon — 8 hours per day.

Best job: Working on MISS SAIGON on Broadway for 5 years.

I’ve been a freelancer my entire professional life.

Devon Ellington

Oh, and I was a part-time administrator for an arts foundation for five years.

Other Favorite temp jobs: working for the Guggenheim Museum and working for the Neuberger Museum.

Krista

Mine’s a little shorter 🙂

Bachelor of science
Bachelor of education
Teaching high school (HATE, HATE, HATE)
Working with the government scanning deeds, wills, etc. (Good money, but boring)
Freelancing

Gabriella F.

Here’s mine:

Waitress in training for HoJo’s–Crazy, but had to quit within weeks because the high school swim team had practices that conflicted with the work schedule.

Interpreter (read: tour guide) at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village throughout college.–Idiotic management, but great co-workers, so we had lots of fun (but got into much trouble). Tourists could be dopey. Exceptionally.

Editor at national trade pub–not bad; really liked the place and people

Lawyer–HATED, HATED, HATED the people and the way the profession operates; practicing law was at times fascinating, at times tedius.

Freelancing–Ahhh, what a life. Hard work, no doubt. But today I’ll be meeting friends for lunch, doing grocery shopping (when few others are in the store!), and then taking the pooch to the beach in 80-degree weather. I’ll make up for the lost time by doing some weekend work, but the fact that I have the choice to do it suits me so well!

Lori

You know, Gabriella, my sister worked as an attorney in a corporate law office and she said the same thing – the way those people operate was shameful. She said the partners were hauling in millions of bucks per, but gave the admin staff a $30 a month raise and had to justify it because the price of cafeteria food went up. Cheap!

Devon, I want your career path. 🙂 Much more interesting than mine!

Krista, you haven’t known hatred until you’ve taught at an inner-city charter school. That was my sister’s last job – and she would rather live in her car than take that salary again! (Sister has two degrees – one teaching and one legal)

Krista

Lori,

I think teaching is one of those jobs that looks great on the outside, but your idealism soon disappears when you are faced with so much criticism and feel that nobody appreciates what you do. Honestly, I only lasted a year. Everyone thought I was a complete idiot to spend six! years in school and then leave so quickly, but I really felt like I was on the fast track towards a nervous breakdown before age 30. Freelancing is just as stressful, but in a different way…one I can (usually) handle. I still have the occasional meltdown 🙂

Now, I do a lot of educational writing, including standardized tests and reading passages, so I am still using my degree to a point, which is a bit of a consolation.

Amie

I too have a fairly short list:
-Grocery store check-out girl (1-2 years, met my hubby there)
-Mower for city recreation and parks department (2 summers, before my allergies got really bad)
-Video store clerk (6 months, HATED! It's still not clear to me whether I quit or got fired)
-Kid's book store clerk (a few years, LOVED!)
-Admin. Assistant->Office Coordinator (first "real" job after college, stayed there 5 years)
-Marketing Coordinator->Supervisor, Marketing Services (6.5 years)
-Freelancer (almost 2 years, and loving every minute of it)

Katharine Swan

1. Like Devon, writing since I was a kid, but without the publishing credits.
2. Preschool/after school program teacher from the time I was 16 until I was 23, with a few short breaks.
3. Shortest ever career at a circuit board manufacturing company. (Less than a month on one of those breaks from childcare.)
4. One year working in auto parts sales (for those of you who don’t know, I’m a bit of a grease monkey). That was another break from childcare.
5. Part-time nanny and babysitter during the last year or two of my undergrad. Still babysit for one family regularly.
6. Technical writer for the boss from he!l.
7. Freelance writer.

Before the adults and their advice got to me in high school, I always knew I wanted to be a writer. It took a while to come full circle, but I eventually came full circle. :o)

Lori

Katharine, me too! I’ve always wanted to restore a car. LOVE changing oil, tires, diagnosing car problems…. Hubby’s restoring his dad’s car. It’s been such fun for me, too. How many women can say they’ve spent quality time mulling over how to get a bolt off the drive shaft lying on the workbench? 🙂

wunderbug

as someone who hasn't reached the freelance part of my life yet, it's really great to see people who have such a diverse array of jobs before getting where they wanted to be.

each job i've had has contributed to my abilities in a different way, though, so here we go:

1) retail salesperson
2) undergrad student
3) tour guide in Quebec City
4) academic & career advisor for a large canadian university
5) recruitment officer for said university
5) orientation programming coordinator for the same university
6) leadership programs coordinator for (you guessed it) that same university.

as i go, i'm incorporating more and more professional writing into my portfolio, but i haven't quite reached my goal yet.

Angie Ledbetter

Steak House grunt 🙁
Student Worker 🙁
Caterer Assistant 🙁
Cooking from home 🙂
Nursery School Teacher 🙂
State Legal Secretary :/
Parish Atty’s Office :/
Cleaning Biz Owner 🙂
Freelance writer/editor 🙂
Special Ed Teacher 🙂

Lori

You guys have been in some great jobs! I mean, look at the stories you can tell everyone!

I’d love working in a bookstore too, Amie. 🙂

wunderbug, what fun to work as a tour guide!

Angie, you a steakhouse grunt? I’d think given your culinary tendencies, you could have your OWN restaurant!