lwidmer | Words on the Page

Launching Your Freelance Idea

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What I’m reading: To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey What I’m listening to: No Hard Feelings by The Avett Brothers Wow. January just slid right by there, didn’t it? I spent it working remotely and spending time with my ailing father. He’s so ill he probably doesn’t know I was there…

Marketing Monday: Getting Reacquainted

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What I’m listening to: Get Out Of Your Own Way by U2 It’s Monday. Time to market. To me, every day is a good day to market. I built a pretty nice business out of that daily marketing. Now that I’m in my final years of freelance writing, I’m coasting a bit, but only because…

Marketing Monday: Showcasing Your Creativity

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What I’m listening to: Every Part of Me by Steve Earle A relative came to me recently asking how to get into freelancing. A designer, he was looking to supplement the income while working at home, and he had no idea how to start. Who does, really? That’s one of the reasons I’ve devoted every…

Free Advice Friday: The Freelance (Under)Sell

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What I’m listening to: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean It’s a Robert Burns kind of weekend — time for poems written by the bard, whisky tasting, and haggis. (Take my advice — skip the haggis.) Hence the link to the song by Dougie MacLean, who was homesick for his native “Caledonia” when he wrote what has…

Tuesday Take: Channeling ADHD and Getting Shit Done

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What I’m listening to: How Long by Charlie Puth Note to all who are wondering why the blog feed says “Writer Wednesday.” I screwed up. It’s Tuesday. End of story. 🙂 I’ve been known to be a tad spontaneous. Okay, more than a tad. More like a tad plus a truckload. In the past, I’ve…

Marketing Monday: Your Freelance Value, Marketed

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What I’m listening to: The Sky is Crying by Stevie Ray Vaughan January is nearing a close, but that doesn’t mean your chance to redeem a failing freelance writing career is over. In fact, every day you wake up is another chance to get it right, to plan it out, to start on a different…

Free Advice Friday: Your Streamlined Writing Life

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What I’m listening to: Zombie by The Cranberries (RIP Delores O’Riordan) This is the year I get my shit together. That’s what I vow every year. Every year, I’m going to make that one change that pushes me into a new category of productivity. I’m going to streamline the hell out of my freelance writing habits, and it’s…

January Redo: Your Freelance Time, Wasted

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What I’m listening to: Runaways by The Killers Midweek already? It was a good week so far. As expected, client projects are rolling in, and I’m back in my office, so the routine is coming easier than when I was working remotely at my parents’ house. That’s a condition I’ll be returning to quite soon,…

Marketing Monday: The Non-Clients

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What I’m reading: The Illustrated Mahabharata What I’m listening to: You’re the Best Thing About Me by U2 At this writing, I’m back at my desk and trying to get client work finished. I intend to head back to my parents’ house next week. My father has stabilized (remarkably), so I felt it safe to…

Free Advice Friday: Converting the Nonbelievers

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A late post is better than no post, I say. I’m back home for a short spell, fully expecting to head back to my parents’ house in a week or less. But for now, I’m checking in. You should’ve seen the look. My mom introduced me to someone recently and announced proudly “She’s a…

Paula Hendrickson

The reaction I get tends to be more of, “Oh, then you have lots of free time.”

No. I work regular business hours like anyone else. And this times when I take a day or part of a day off mid-week? I tend to make up for those by working on weekends to make sure I don’t get behind.

The funny thing was two people seemed to think writing about the TV industry meant I was paid like someone who works in it. I wish! Who wouldn’t love a multi-million dollar contract?

Enjoy your time at home, however brief it may be. You could probably use the normalcy.

1. lwidmer
  
  Oh, the free-time myth! Isn’t that one cute? I’d love to have the free time I’m assumed to have. I can take off, but I have to make it up. What they don’t see is how we bust our butts to get work in ahead of time and done (and hopefully paid for) before any vacation happens. It’s either that or we’re toting tablets or laptops on vacation — no thank you.
Anne Wayman

I generally get either a shrug and an ‘oh that’s nice’ or something which I just smile at, or genuine interest. Real interest seems to happen most.

I have been known to say something like ‘yeah, I love it. I make a nice income and have real control over my time.’

1. lwidmer
  
  I like that response, Anne. It’s more affirming than to challenge them to a duel using bank statements. 😉
  
  I had a relative at a party once say “So I hear you write books.” He’d heard it secondhand. When I told him what I actually did, he was even more impressed — he worked in finance, so he “got” my specialty. That made for a really nice conversation as I got what he did, too.
  
  Sometimes the conversation just goes in nice places, so I think we’re smart not to assume too much by one question.
2. Paula Hendrickson
  
  Oh! I’m sure you guys get this one, too: “You’re a writer? I am, too!” Only they’ve never been published or sold a thing, and probably haven’t even written more than a title page.
Krista

I live in a somewhat rural area where basically nobody writes for a living, so when I tell people what I do I’d say 99% of them treat me as though I’m earning a bit of spare change while my mechanic husband supports us. (Note: For the past three years I’ve made more than him.) I have a three-year-old and work 25 hours a week on average, but my three work days start at 5 a.m. By the time most people are getting to the office I have half an eight-hour day clocked in. Sooooo I find it very annoying when people say it’s good he goes to a babysitter for part of the week because it gives him some socialization and gives me “a break.” LOL I guess it’s just mainly that people don’t get it, but it is very insulting. After almost 11 years I’m (almost) used to it and trying my best not to care. The worst case: someone telling me what “a waste” it was that I was doing this instead of using my education degree–ouch!

1. lwidmer
  
  A waste? Are they serious? Seems to me the degree gave you the background to do what you’re doing, Krista. I might have responded “Yes, on the surface that may seem to be the case. But I earn a full-time salary working part time, so I’m okay with that misconception.”
  
  In your case (as in mine — used to live in a rural setting), it is mostly that they don’t get it. The tradition is you left the house to work. It’s a perception issue more than anything. Few people intend to be insulting — they’re just not used to it.
  
  Truth is it’s not much different here in the suburbs. I had a man — a working writer, no less — who’d been on TV a number of times — nearly drop over when he learned my hourly rate.
  
  I think you’re right — not caring is the better approach. 🙂
2. Krista
  
  Yes, almost all of my work is related to educational assessment. You need a BEd to even be considered in most cases. I love that response! I feel like I get so flustered when people ask what I do that I rarely think of anything that good!
3. Krista
  
  And I agree that most people probably aren’t trying to be insulting! Enjoy your time back in your own home.