First discussion

Christy Miles’ blog post about the same issue

Subsequent discussion

Right out of college I worked as a stringer for a local weekly newspaper. I was paid $.10/word, which was generous. I had a wonderful editor and learned a lot. I would have been willing to work for free — I just wanted writing samples I could use to apply for full-time writing gigs. Generally I’d spend half a day attending an event and interviewing people, then another several hours writing. I could expect to earn about $30 for what amounted to  roughly 8 hours of work.

The hourly pay rate was low, but I hope I provided quality copy for the year or so that I wrote for the paper. And I reaped the benefits: my clips helped me score a job as assistant editor of VMSD Magazine, which laid the groundwork for everything I’ve done since.

As I said on the LinkedIn thread in response to Christy’s post, I can’t begrudge fledgling writers their low rates. I hope some of them are learning a lot and providing high-quality copy, so they can eventually command higher rates and make a living, rather than just making a buck. Low rates won’t earn a writer repeat business or recommendations — only high-quality writing and a great customer experience will.

“Content mills” can inspire those of us who write for a living to make sure the quality and experience we provide our clients is worth what we charge. I want my clients to feel like they got a fantastic deal, even when my invoice arrives. We have to trust that our clients are savvy enough to understand that a 500-word article for $5 is going to be different than a 500-word article for which they pay $500.

As a mother of four little ones, and working from home, I find myself living in 15-minute blocks of Google Calendar time via my phone. If I’m organized, I’m a whirlwind of efficiency. If I’m flying by the seat of my pants, I feel low at the end of the day; discouraged by how little I’ve accomplished.

My mom’s family nickname is “the squirrel.” She is busy busy busy. When she came to stay with us after our twins were born, I noticed that she never sat down until very late in the evening, when every possible chore had already been done. In my sleep-deprived haze, I marveled at her productivity but couldn’t apply her methods to my own life.

Now it’s snapped into place. I am my mother’s daughter! If I sit down while supervising bath time, it takes a Herculean effort to get moving again. But if I spend that time putting away laundry, tidying bedrooms, cleaning the bathroom sink, organizing the linen closet, then once the kids are in bed I am ready to do some research, exercise, then get cranking on an article.

For me, organization leads to two things: motivation, and momentum. With this epiphany, I plan to make April ’10 my most productive month yet — and naturally I need to add to my organizational arsenal.

What are your favorite organizational tools?

Then last night, my laptop passed from this world into the next. I never even knew it was ailing. Fortunately I’ve learned from my previous computer crashes and now house everything online, so I only freaked out for a minute. Now I’m rockin’ a new and improved laptop and a sense of excitement about starting the next week and bulldozing over an enormous mountain of work.

My last big computer crash was in early 2009, and I lost a lot. But aside from the work-in-progress that disappeared, I lost the spreadsheet I’d been using to track my time. That was far more difficult to recreate than the research paper I’d been writing! Thanks to emails and Google Calendar I was able to piece it back together, but I probably cost myself a couple hundred dollars in hours I wasn’t confident billing, and in time recreating my time sheet.

That’s when I wised up and moved to Google docs.

Manually updating a spreadsheet, then transferring the hours to invoices, is a little clunky. Or a lot clunky. But so far it’s been a great system for me. I can update my time tracking spreadsheet from my mobile phone, and I don’t lose any information when my laptop inevitably dies. I’m on the hunt for a slick web-based time tracking tool with a mobile client, and stumbled on this list of 100 handy tools for freelancers. I’m giddy with excitement over checking out all those links!

Usually the wellness pieces I write give an informative overview of a health-related topic: some tips on prevention, interesting little “Did You Know…” nuggets, some statistics… my goals are to inspire readers to make healthy choices, and to show them a few easy ways to get the ball rolling.

When I write about a specific health problem, I aim for a sympathetic tone. For example, if I’m writing about quitting smoking, I don’t want to make the smoker feel bad about himself. After all, a lot of our lousy health choices are a result of feeling lousy about ourselves, right? And I don’t want to fuel a reader’s frustration with a loved one who smokes, either. I try for a tone of understanding and encouragement. I want my readers to feel good about themselves, so they care enough to actually do the things I’ve suggested. Go for a walk. Eat some broccoli. Go to bed earlier. Make that doctor appointment.

I like writing about wellness, because it inspires me to make better choices too. Not that I always follow through, but every time I manage to choose the healthier path is a small victory. I want my readers to see how their small victories add up.

So as much as I joke about my hypochondria, I’m glad about it. If I am obsessively checking for suspicious moles and stocking up on vitamin D, maybe my readers are too. If I don’t find myself moved to action, I probably haven’t pushed my readers either.

What I’m loving today… Freelance Folder: Turning around your freelance business with lead nurturing.

The more my business has grown, the more excited I’ve become. What began as a way to make a bit of extra money has grown into something that has the potential to support our entire family. I want to get better at writing, better at time management, better at marketing, and offer more to the clients I have.

My greatest challenge is that I work from home. This is less of an issue now than it has been in the past, but the kids are still learning to pretend I’m not home when I’m in my office with the door closed. And my husband and I are still learning to balance our time and responsibilities to maximize my productive hours and minimize interruptions. I work from 8-1:30, and then he leaves for work and I’m with the kids the rest of the day. I struggle to keep from checking email constantly — I need to focus more fully on them when I am with them, so I feel less guilty about turning them away when I’m working.

What I’m loving today… The Freelance Rant.