My Kick in the Pants

It's no secret that making magazines or newspapers is not exactly the most lucrative business to be in right now.

Nearly every industry in the U.S. economy is taking a hard hit, so it makes sense that less necessary items such as magazines, periodicals and trade journals are having one hell of a time maintaining their usual pace. In fact, many of them aren't. People just aren't spending the few bucks they used to picking up magazines. And clients don't have the cash to cough up for ads, either. As my friend Christine put it, "Now is a bad time to be whip cream, you know what I'm sayin'?"

So there are dozens of publications folding or struggling, and the one I work for is no exception. Effective this month, all my coworkers and I are enduring a wage reduction. The powers that be say it will last six months at most, but I have my doubts and believe it will likely go on much longer.

However, I'm trying to spin this as good and telling myself that this is just the sort of shove I needed to start approaching freelancing opportunities with more conviction. More determination. More desperation! ("The time has come," the Walrus said... to write of many, many things...)

And as always, I will be reporting my successes and failures here. Stay tuned. It'll change your life.