I write technical stuff. Okay, stop that yawning right now. When I say technical, I’m not talking math or science or even computers. I’m talking stuff you use or come in contact with, like insurance (okay, go ahead and yawn, but just for a second!), risk management, healthcare, offshore investing, accounting, financial services, sales reps,…
Terror and Self Doubt
I’m facing a brand-new project area today. I will meet with the client and go over her plans as well as my outline of her project. It’s an area I’ve long wanted to expand into, and the outline’s been written for a year. And I’m terrified. With all this experience, with the skill set I…
The Absence of Copy Editors
You just have to read it to understand. This article appeared in The Washington Post last month. Hysterical!
Six Phrases That Mean “I’m Not Paying”
By now we can pretty much recite most of these, but just in case you’re new to writing, here are some sure signs the employer has no intention of paying you for your work. 1. “This is a labor of love for us.” Time and again, this has gone on to say “….and for that…
Defining Success
Saw an interesting post somewhere on the blogosphere about a writer whose friend looked down on her, took pity on her for not making the kind of money he does (that could be any number of blogs, eh?). Okay, that’s just wrong. Pitying someone for making less than you do? What the heck? One thing…
Curses!
On another site, I was reading correspondence between a deadbeat client and a writer demanding payment. As I read through the exchange, the question came up in my mind – when is it okay to drop your professional demeanor and just let them have it? My answer? Never. These are people looking for excuses to…
Time Machine
One more call yesterday, one more project. It’s great, but I need to find a way to get more time in my day. I bet you go through that too, don’t you? How can you possibly get it all done inside of 8 or 10 hours? Well guess what? You have plenty of time (so…
Seven Truths of Freelancing
1. The longer the list of requirements in a job listing, the less the employer intends to pay. Go on. Look. Test this one out. Nine times out of ten, it’s absolutely spot on. 2. The amount of work you’re about to get is equal or greater to the amount of time you have to…
Work is Happening
It’s happened – work has begun piling in right about the time I was thinking it would be nice to go fishing in Ontario. Yes, I just returned from a nice few days off. So what? I work my tail off the rest of the year and frankly, given my seniority at this job, I…
Random Friday Riff-Raff
On a short hiatus this week. I actually took off on Wednesday afternoon, but decided not to mention it until today. Surprise! It was a side trip to see his friends and to somehow celebrate my getting one more year older (like I care – just pretend I’m still in my 30s, okay?). On Wednesday…