Whether you write magazine features, flash fiction or articles for the web, freelance writing has its ups and downs. It’s never boring, but late payments and heavy handed editors can sometimes take the wind out of our literary sails. I write because I enjoy it, but it’s also work for me and the money I make doing it comprises a substantial amount of my income…
I want to use a photo I found in an old newspaper in my book but I can’t find the copyright owner and the newspaper is now out of business. How can I determine if it’s in the public domain?
My recent freelance success has been based on some of the worst experiences in my life. Without divorce, job loss and a number of illnesses, I wouldn’t have the successes I have experienced in my first year as a freelance writer…
After Frank was finally triaged (He sat in the waiting room, bleeding, for about 40 minutes, until people started complaining. They even triaged a little girl who was laughing and skipping around her mother in the the E.R. before they looked at Frank!), we saw a doctor. They didn’t order x-rays or anything else. The doctor looked at him, felt the wound, and said, “I’m going to glue you right up.”
I thought he was kidding…
Many novice writers think that being published, having an idea and your name in print, is the “biggy”. It is the ultimate sign of success, the breaking of the cherry, so to speak. Time and again the old-timers warn that seeing your name in print is NOT a good reason to want to write a book- or anything else for that matter. Heck, if that is the be-all end-all, then go stand in the park with a shot gun and start shooting pigeons. Believe me, in no time at all you WILL be asked to write to your heart’s content and sign it, and I have a pretty good feeling your little story will end up in print all over the papers, perhaps even nationwide! Fame is easy, rites of passage, not so much.
Think about it. Does a woman’s first pregnancy mean she is no longer a virgin? Does the birth of her first child indicate the first sexual encounter? Not on your life! At least, not too often these days…
A legit, well-respected publisher just accepted an article that I wrote and will be running it later this year. How long should I give them before asking about payment?
Thanks
Writing might have come natural to me, but it was never easy. As far back as I can remember, I enjoyed telling stories to my young brothers and sister. When classes in English grammar and composition required the writing of essays, poems, and short stories, I was excited
This morning, after Mason went down for his nap, Frank and a neighbor started banging on the front door. I got angry because the dogs started barking and they woke up the baby. I opened the front door, ready to lecture them on being too noisy (I feel so guilty about that now)…and Frank was standing there with blood all over him. He had a pretty bad head wound…
