As I've Already Mentioned

So, with the magazine industry about to tank tanking, I've decided to try freelancing again.

Do you know what's great about freelancing? (Besides the obvious -- being able to work in your pajamas...) It forces you to learn a little about a lot of different subjects.

Now, do you know what stinks about freelancing? Learning a little about a lot of different subjects makes you feel like you're in school again. (I know what some of you are thinking. And yes, I actually liked school, too, to some healthy extent. I also enjoy going to the movies, but that doesn't mean I want to be trapped in a theater for the rest of my life, does it? It doesn't.)

Every writer I know is splitting his or her focus about seven different directions now. "Well, on Mondays and Tuesdays I write a week's worth of blogs for a site that my friend's friend runs. And on Wednesdays through Fridays, I work on all my articles I'm trying to submit to this online news site -- but that's just before noon, because after noon, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I make myself query print publications to see if I can get any leads. And also, when I can, I make phone calls for this sales gig that one of my former coworkers got me into. On weekends I try to chip away at my book, but you know, most weeks I don't get that far."

That is no way to live. Sure, right now my fellow creatives and I may have to operate on a schedule that we don't like in order to pay the bills, but if this is just the way things are going to have to be until the economy turns around, then I'd like to at least make it a personal goal to work toward having the option of writing about things I want to write about.

Anyway, I'm still in the phase where I'm trying to figure out into which two or three or four outlets I want to split my focus. Soon, however, I'll be adding a widget to the side of my posts here that will list my monthly freelance earnings. I want it to serve as encouragement to meet my goals, and then later, hopefully, as a way to track my progress.

In related news, I have been having wicked eye strain and tension headaches lately. Probably due to the 10+ hours I spend in front of a computer all day. Too bad it's too soon to take a vacation.

Who needs cheering up? I do. Click here and you'll feel better -- or at least, different.