February 2000:
Am desperately sick of spending freezing weekends in dingy newsroom earning
$12.36 per hour as news editor. Too much time spent away from spouse and
children, and it’s minus 20 F. when I finish work. Want to resign from job
and freelance, and earn lots of money while ensconced in the warmth of my
home, with two daughters playing merrily near feet. Want a job that will
allow me to travel to visit family in Australia at least once a year —
preferably during Minnesotan winter.
Have ordered Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $85,000 a Year by
Robert W. Bly from Amazon.com. I believe I can live on this annual income
and support my travel habit.
March 2000:
Devour Bly’s book and believe all he says. Resign from job with spousal
approval, with enough money to cover bills for a couple of months.
Enthusiastically design and print all my own business cards, letterheads and
stationary. Buy thousands of stamps from post office for thousands of query
letters. Have noticed, however, that the minute I sit down to write a query
letter, something urgent, like changing baby’s diaper, needs utmost
attention. Organize myself by stacking newly printed stationary tidily into
filing cabinet. Spent time cleaning desk, and buying pens and paperclips.
Also buy tons of women’s magazines — official market research.
April 2000:
Decide I must get serious about writing career with no income gained in
March. Enthusiastically join hundreds of online writing lists. Become scared
with professionalism of some groups so spend hours and days in more social
groups. Feel panic-stricken at decreasing bank balance and spousal concern
at lack of writing work. Treble efforts patroling online job markets.
May 2000:
Hurrah! Success – respond to online job for writers and editors, pass
editing test and receive assignments: $ 700 per article and $30 per hour as
editor.
June 2000:
Hurrah! Defy query guidelines listed in Writer’s Market for regional
magazine such as querying by snail mail and waiting six weeks for response.
Send e-mail query to editor asking if she wants to see travel piece. Editor
replies immediately via e-mail. Sell article for for $400 first rights,
payment on acceptance.
July 2000:
Wait for checks to arrive in the mail having earned over $2,500 last month.
Wait some more and put account into overdraft, paying large sums in
overdraft fees. Learn that cash flow is very important to fledgling small
business. Also learn that it is very important to keep querying instead of
resting on laurels, admiring achievements.
August 2000:
Checks begin to dribble in slowly. Articles get published online. Feel
inspired to keep going, however no work. Children are home for the summer
and time is limited for writing. Head lice breaks out in house, efforts to
control infestation that will not quit consumes more time. Finally overcome
problem, and sell article on beating Nix-resistant nits. Decide life’s
little dramas are good writing fodder.
September 2000:
Children return to school, hurrah. House gets sold. No time to be a
freelance writer as we pack and try to find somewhere to live. Hurrah,
magazine with travel appears — my first “glossy”. Am immensely thrilled and
feel famous.
October 2000:
Settle into new abode — children are lice-free; toddler is at childcare,
recommence freelance writing career. Cold and flu season begins — children
take turns at being ill over three-week period. Just as they are well, I get
sick.
November 2000:
Hurrah! Magazine editor that published travel article calls and asks me to
write monthly articles — only small piece but feel like a very minor
celebrity, however a poor one.
December 2000:
No time for writing! Consumed with making arty-crafty gifts for arty-crafty
inlaws. Seriously weigh up if freelancing is viable venture. Feeling very
homesick and isolated as a work-at-home mother -- missing festive activities
of work life. Decide, however, that working fulltime, and coordinating
offspring between school and childcare, would be too difficult. Decide to
get REALLY serious about writing as soon as new year rolls around. Heartened
at year-end to discover I made a very small profit from writing endeavors.
January 2001:
Have lots and lots of ideas for queries and meticulously list them, research
them, but seem to have no time to write actual queries. Realize I spend far
too much time thinking about being a writer than actually writing. Realize
that motivation is the only way to achieve writing success. Realize at times
I am sadly lacking. However, do have regular magazine contribution and
editing work so at least feel like I’m achieving something.
February 2001:
Dot.com editing gig folds in current economic climate. Sigh! Back to the
resume, and trawling online job sites, and piles of query letters. Anxiously
checking mailbox each day for checks owing from aforementioned dot.com to
appear.
Realize I will have to work a lot harder if I want to travel to Australia
this year. However, at least freezing cold nights are spent at home with
offspring safely ensconced at feet.
Decide to make last-ditch attempt at writing. Set achievable goals — both
writing and financial, and resolve to find a cure for procrastination — self
discipline.
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C.S. Paquin mailto:editor@writerslounge.com is a nationally published
writer in a variety of genres — from news writing to humor. She holds a
Master of Arts degree in Journalism, and dreams of being a best-selling
author. Cheryl currently contributes to regional publications in Minnesota
and she is the Editor of The Writer's Lounge http://WritersLounge.com.
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