Words on the Page

Monday, Monday

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Untitled by Eminem Happy MLK Day. Honor the man who effected change via peaceful methods. Remember the past in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes. The weekend was busy and wonderful. We traveled back home to western PA for my daughter’s graduation party. The trip was blessedly dry – no…

Guest Post: Reason to Write

Posted on by lwidmer

Just a quick side note: I’m guest posting over on Steph Auteri’s blog today. Hop on over for a visit!

Writerly Misconceptions

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Peaceful, Easy Feeling by the Eagles Great day yesterday. I managed to get a ton of project work done on top of organizing a graduation party for my youngest. I can take one area of my life being stressed, but not two at the same time. But I’ve made enough progress…

The Freelance Nevers

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Better Life by Keith Urban Wow. The last few days I went from running in place (and all around) to a dead stop. Amen. I can take a lot of work at once, but I can’t take multiple interruptions that make it tough to get a single thing done. Such was…

Worthy Tip: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: Gilian the Dreamer by Neil MunroWhat’s on the iPod: After the Gold by Neil Young Before I forget, I have a post up over at About Freelance Writing. Give it a look. The snow has come. I felt it the day before. You can just tell. The air is more static and…

Guest Post: The Magalog Market

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Darlin’ Do Not Fear by Brett Dennen When Copywriting Queen (my term for her) Eileen Coale said something in a comment here about magalogs, little did she know she wasn’t escaping with just a mere comment. I asked for more – and like the pro she is, she delivered. Thank you,…

Endings, Beginnings, and Other Stuff

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Summer Nights by Rascal Flatts I’m hating Blogger at the moment. I just typed out a nice long post, clicked Publish, and watched it disappear into oblivion. For the first time in nearly a month, I am alone in the house. First his daughter/boyfriend combo arrived, then his vacation, then my…

The Big Question

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Magnificent by U2 Yesterday was a small part work and a large part distraction. After her 24-hour bout with the flu, daughter woke up and packed for her Disney trip. I dropped her and her boyfriend at the airport, then headed straight for 30th Street Station to pick up the stepson,…

Getting Back or Looking Back?

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Keeping Warm by We Were Promised Jetpacks I love the wisdom of the writing community. This little gem came from Chaos in the Country’s Nikki, who said about her career: ” In not wanting to look back, I realize that I do need to get back.” This from someone who found…

When the Rules Change

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Just Another Girl by Pete Yorn Interesting day yesterday. I had a conference call with my clients to clear up some projet inconsistencies, which went very well. I had just hung up the phone when an email came in on a project bid. The prospective client asked for an IM chat….

Devon Ellington

Contract, contract, contract. ESPECIALLY if it's a friend, family member, or someone referred by a family member, because they tend to think they should only pay if they happen to feel like it in the moment.

Cathy

I agree. I ALWAYS have a contract, no matter what-or-who.

Funny, I had a similar thing happen to me yesterday. Was there a full moon? But, mine worked out. There was a series of back and forth emails about the scope-the word count kept getting smaller. I finally advised that I wouldn't take on projects that were less than X dollars (I just don't find it productive to do a bunch of small "onesies" since the bulk of my work consists of larger projects).

They accepted that and I now have an ongoing monthly project at an acceptable rate.

Wendy

Man, do I hate it when unexpected things come up. My biggest headache would have to be the website owner who cotracts for a project, pays half upfront and then sells the site in the middle of me working on the material.

The new owner feels since they didn't contract for it, they can re-negotiate to what they would like. I'm all for negotiating, but not when the changes take it into an entirely different direction and I end up majorly short-changed for my time and effort.

In this case, since I knew the forums where the original owner hung out, I was able to get the remaining balance and they got the project as was contracted.

Ashley

I had a feeling I'd read something about this today! 🙂

Yes, contracts are definitely a butt-saver. But I'll admit, I'm horrible at using them. I trust too easily. (You can tell I haven't been burned yet.) The only time I actually put a contract together, I never heard from the client again. So I guess I actually saved myself a lot of time and frustration by NOT getting that client. He was a friend, too! Well, at least I thought he was. So that'll be my New Year resolution – get a contract every time.

And by the way, am I the only one who feels like IM is a waste of time? I type fast, but I talk faster, so phone calls can typically go more quickly. Or is it the written/logging aspect of the IM that's appealing?

Lori

Ashley, you're psychic. 🙂

I think IM is a waste. Yesterday's chat consisted of "Can you tell me about the job and the requirements?" and his "Can you do these things?" We still had to move it to email. Total waste of time. Just start and end in email. When negotiating with someone over price, I'd rather not do it over the phone (for the reasons shown in the post – the price always changes).

Devon, even my mother would have to sign a contract. 🙂

Cathy, there WAS a full moon! Glad you could work it out. I'm just not in the mood to negotiate with price changers. Word-count changers – in your case with the count decreasing, sure. But if I'm being paid $100 a post and the word count has gone from 500 to 1,500, forget it.

Paula

Am I being paranoid in thinking some people might insist on IM negotiations because they're hoping the person won't copy & paste or save the discussion so there's no (virtual) paper trail?

One friend used to IM me all the time. Someone with a "full time" on-site job, yet only IM'd during business hours. I usually said, "Sorry, I'm working. Can't chat." After a while I had to add, "I don't get paid just for showing up… if I don't finish my work I won't be paid." Now that her boss has left and there's a new micro-manager in town, no more IMs (just a couple of e-mails a day – often about how difficult it is dealing with the new micromanager).

It doesn't help that my IM is soooo slow. It can take 1-2 minutes for a short sentence I typed to show upon the screen. Not a fan.

Lori

I think that's a healthy paranoia to have, Paula. Luckily though, IM chats can be saved (apparently – I wouldn't know personally). I'm just a stickler for copying and pasting every last conversation having to do with work anyway.

I didn't get into IMs because they are such time sinks. I'm able to ignore emails until I'm able to answer – not so with chat.

Caroline Braeken - Tillieux

I find IMing, Facebook etc. annoying and ends up being a waste of time with too many people coming to have a chat and almost none business related!

If possible, I do everything I can to avoid using any of these options to communicate, getting side-tracked is just too easy. But that's just me…