Welcome to a new economy and a new round of idiot job posters hoping to secure your writing talent for little-to-no money all by either sweet-talking you or convincing you you’re out of your mind to expect more than they’re offering. With our financial pictures fading to darkness nationally, don’t expect anything but an increase…
Why I Hate Vacation Time Off
Oh, how we all long for time off too, don’t we? But have you noticed the weird phenomenon that occurs when you go off on vacation – be it the Christmas holiday or the vacation-by-the-lake kind? The working world senses you’re about to leave and pounds you with projects. Then you come back to …….
Mixing It Up
I’m out of the office this week, but I left vapor trails for you. Being the duty-bound soul I am, I had to write some posts in advance so as not to lose any of you faithful followers. Yes, I have a sickness. It’s called punctuality. I can quit any time I want. Really. In…
Business Interruptions
It’s slow here right now, as I suspected. One client is sending work by the bucketload, but others are silent. I’m hoping it’s simply that it takes a week for them to get back into work mode and start aligning those projects again. It won’t matter. My mother informed me she’s coming to stay with…
Open Oven, Insert Head
It never fails – I’m riding the high of a great freelancing year and a nice holiday season when WHAMO! there’s that damned 1040 tome weighing down my mailbox. Each year I vow to get an accountant. Each year I don’t. Each year I do my own taxes. Each year I get a letter from…
If Your Paradigm Shifts, Will it Hurt?
I’m a jargon hater. Seriously. I can’t stand the use of five-dollar words when a ten-cent word will do. Yet without fail I see numerous business folks using words like “business critical function” (and where’s your hyphen, people?) and “paradigm shift” when they really mean “important” and “change in business focus.” It’s like an addiction…
Ethics and Common Sense
Writer friend and I were talking about journalistic ethics again. It’s a topic we bring up on occasion, and it’s one that leaves us both shaking our heads. We mainly lament the lack of ethics courses in various college journalism/media concentrations. We wonder out loud and to each other, where exactly do these new journalists…
If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit
Today’s the day I tell a prospective client that his project is not a good fit for me. It’s unfortunate as I think the guy’s nice, but I’ve asked repeatedly for and have not received the project outline or notes. What I have received are musings that are nowhere near related to the project as…
Happy New You
We were at the local coffee house open mic last night. One of the performers looked into the crowd and said, “Happy New You. I won’t say happy New Year because if you don’t change you, it’s going to be the same as last year, isn’t it?” Light bulb moment. We’re so busy looking at…
Resolving Not to Resolve
I hate resolutions. Never has there been any other form of self-promise and goal setting that was doomed to fail at the outset. We make them and instantly break them. Why? Because we aim too high, dream beyond our own abilities, bite off more than we can chew (or chew more than we should –…