Playing the Client Shuffle – Happy New Year!

Image via WikipediaWhile many view New Year’s as a time to make resolutions and make changes, in the life of a freelance writer, every month can be a time of making changes. Projects end, clients come and go, pay rates abruptly change, and work opportunities are like hot dates – they come in cycles of feast and famine. It can be difficult to formulate a concrete work plan when so much can be up in the air – especially considering the U.S. economy as of late.

Something I do while playing the client shuffle is reassess where I am at in my writing career and what I want to accomplish. I want to work fewer hours for more pay. For me, that plan has been in progress for the past year and while it has not progressed as quickly as I would have liked, it has indeed progressed.

Another aspect of my plan is to only take the work I want and enjoy. No more tedium and endless articles on b-o-r-i-n-g topics that numb my brain while my eyes glaze over and I begin to drool. (Seriously – it is not pretty!)

I have had some ‘lucky breaks’ along the way, but I have also worked hard to increase my skills, pad my resume, and learn from the masters. I no longer feel like I need to take low paying gigs or tedious work in order to pay the bills. I have my financial house in order and I have worked my way up to much better pay than what I got when I started. I still have plenty of room for growth and improvement, but I have the time and the drive to get there.

When it comes to your freelance plan for the new year, what do you hope to accomplish?

Oprah and Others Deceived by Author: What Does this Mean for You?

Image via WikipediaIn the news is a story about an author who included very intentionally falsified facts in his upcoming book, which was to be published in February, and even touted by Oprah. Now that the secret is out, more than a few are upset with him.

What does this mean for writers? I hope that it will mean more careful checks across the board in the publishing world, though I doubt that will be the result. For the most part, it is now, and perhaps will always be, up to writers to check their facts thoroughly and to write with the highest standards of journalistic integrity in mind.

The other side of this is that as readers, we should approach any ‘news’ or ‘biography’ and the like with skepticism, realizing that many have not gone through any type of serious fact-checking, and some ‘fact’ is more ‘opinion and spin’ than actual factual accounting.

Sources:

News of Fabricated Holocaust Memoir Sparks Anger, Sadness
FoxNews.com/Associated Press. Monday, December 29, 2008.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473445,00.html

False Memoir of Holocaust is Canceled
Motoko Rich and Joseph Berger. New York Times (online). December 28, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/books/29hoax.html?_r=1&ref=us

The Freelance National Anthem - Everybody Sing Along

I'd like to give special thanks to Deb Ng at Freelance Writing Jobs for posting this great video. The song is played twice, with the second time accompanied by lyrics so all may sing along.

Please join me in singing The Freelance National Anthem:



Today's Question:
What do YOU love best about Freelancing?