It Ain't All Just Storytelling...

[lagilman]

Ah, the life of a freelance writer. You do all sorts of strange and wonderful projects...



Yes, that is mine.

Stop snickering, damn it. I did too know what I was writing about.


Now, if they'd asked me to write it for, oh, ninth graders, then we might have had some problems. But I'm still a couple of steps ahead, comprehension-wise, of the average ten-year-old (and most adults, sadly).

Comments

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

I think it's neat!

[shadowhelm.livejournal.com]

I wrote an article on flatulence in dogs. How's that for a topic? Yes, the wonderful things we writers must do to pay bills.

PS: I'm now writing about constipation and diarrhea in cats.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

ooh, Shadowhelm, a real winner.

No, Laura, I am not surprised.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Finally! Didn't you write that book, like, a thousand years ago?

[lagilman]

Do NOT get me started on that. Really. Oy.

[peggin.livejournal.com]

Who's snickering? I totally believe you wrote it. I think that's great!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Hey! It pays the bills! ;^)

[lagilman]

Ironically, it pays the bills late (this was the project from hell, in many ways -- a year after I handed it in, they got back to me with revision notes -- but not the payment that was supposed to go with the notes. And therein started the fun. But it's all better now.)

Which brings up another one of those fun freelancer balancing act things again. The publisher comes up with some fun projects. But they're disorganized and often just downright annoying to work with. So... do you take the project and know the agita will be considerable? Or do you tell them to take it elsewhere, and rue the loss of income?

It all depends on how your feet are placed on that dual high-wire of fiscal security and managable workload....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Yes, I struggled to get into non-fiction magazines, and I just couldn't make the jump at that time, despite coming up with what I thought would be interesting topics and people. PfH are only worthwhile in the long run if they not only pay up, but you get more work or contacts out of it. Hope so for you.

One writer I know went in to a review with the IRS armed with charts showing contracts signed, payments, deliveries, more payments etc. to explain why her income fluctuated so much. It worked--the auditor was impressed, and sympathetic. (This was before her stuff hit the big time. Maybe not so sympathetic now?)