ON HIATUS

I am on hiatus with bilateral ear infections.

Sleeping pills, while I despise medication,have been a Goddess-send to deal with the pain and ringing in my ears. I have been writing but I am not sure any of it makes sense.

The only post this week will be an already prepared and queued one on the 21st. I am otherwise, and unfortunately, occupied.

IN THE MEANTIME

I am writing for Demand Studios. The pay is not great but the writing gigs are steady and the assignments have a quick turnaround. The jobs are also something that I can do in whatever time margins I can grab because the incompetent Canadian school system has still not allowed my formerly home-schooled daughter to go full-time to classes. I,perhaps, should start billing those poor apologies for educational administration the time I have lost to their halting and stalling tactics. The school administration has choked my writing career and created a great amount of hassle and stress for my daughter and my family.
However, the gigs work for me because I am able to write about any subject that I choose. I like the flexibility in subject matter. This is not to write that the school administrators have given me any favours in their reluctance to provide my daughter with an education, but I can make the most of what little time I can manage.
I have stopped looking at job boards. Employers using these job boards too often want some poor and desperate worker with insignificant knowledge of the English language who will write for two cents or less a page in a search optimization content mill. Quality matters in writing and I do not pity those who hire substandard labourers.

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MAYBE HAPPY NEW YEAR...

Happy New Year! I have started 2010 with revision work on my second novel. The first is finished and under wraps. I have also gained some writing and editing gigs that pay (not a helluva lot of) money!

I am looking forward to the new decade with child number two full time in school and child number one a year away from finishing high school. I will have more time to dream and to write. However, being close to an emptier nest is somewhat disconcerting, but why do parents exist save for to give their children wings? The freedom will have salutary effects for all concerned but it is sad nonetheless.

I am anticipating the new year and new decade with mixed hopes and apprehensions.

I'll keep you posted. TWH

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THINGS TO KEEP THE DEMONS AWAY

I would feel depressed if it were not for the story writing that I do in my spare time. I finished yet another chapter in my second (unpublished) novel and am engaged with the long tight rope act of rearranging the text so the chapters make sense in relation to one another and are not higgledy-piggledy thrown into the air to land on the page in a disordered heap. How's that for slant alliteration? This is an author who definitely needs a chamomile tisane and some sleep.

I have been picking up some writing and editing gigs but the work is sparse. I have almost given up the ghost in terms of being fully employed. I either do not have the requisite years that an employer demands or my rates are too high. Excuse me, but am I Methuselah? How old do you have to be and how much experience do you need before an employer will hire? My rates are not (too) much over standard market but I never cut a bargain because, dammit, I am worth every penny. My prose and editing, of any sort, kicks it like a can-can dancer. I am a meticulous and hardworking editor who does not stop until I have crossed and stabbed the last unholy and obnoxious “t” on the keyboard. Sigh. There are no jobs for the excellent.

Another cuppa, bartender....

UPDATE

I am currently employed as a technical writer and editor. The work is more steady but it is also tedious. The challenges that I venture lack emotional interest. Technical writing and editing, however much I may gain in compensation, bores me.

I want to be off with the fairies, or at least with fliskmahoy mice up to never any good. I continue to write on the second book of a novel series despite the grim outlook for the publishing industry in these less than holy days of the winter retail season. Work does not salve over deficits in the generous waste yard of this blighted economy. I feel as if I should have a tin cup to beg my work when I accept those alms from hires. There is not any space to write what one wants but only room to write what one must. I struggle with loneliness and, depressed with the near morbid thought, ken I am not isolated in the abyss.

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WHERE ARE WE NOW

….stranded in the middle of Canadian school system purgatory. I am still homeschooling on part-time because the powers, in this temporal existence, that be retain my child on a yo-yo schedule for an hour and a half, then return aforementioned child home to a mother who is stressed for time in trying to pick up gigs and to write a second novel. I am picking up copy writing bits and editing shards but this is razing me to the white, skull-hued splinters of Joycean coloured bone.

What am I writing? For shame. I truly doubt the administrators who keep our family on the schedule’s leash would think in this manner, of James Joyce or anything connected to literature with regard to the dilemma. I cannot have an intelligent conversation with those rule-conscious minds that produce very little in real education. The schoolwork from this institution is not impressive. I have seen only the maths curriculum in the school district and it is not up to the standards that would prepare a child to go to the next grade level. There is not much one can do to maths to boggle the subject unless an incompetent teaches, and the school district has won the lottery with its failure to provide adequate subject matter. To quote my eldest, “This is baby crap!” The literature is similarly dreadful. I taught my child at home for a year and the“literature” the school provided was sunny and wholesome makelit about icicles and whatnot. Ew. I read to my child the works of Oscar Wilde, Stevie Smith, Emily Dickinson, and Heian era poetry ---among other choice morsels to feed the soul. The school prison does not give, with its rigid conformity, but scraps for the heart. Mine, certainly, now starves.

However, despite the hassles, I've kicked out another chapter last month in the novel and vetted another for inclusion last week. I have spotless turnaround time on gigs with perfect grammar and spelling. I will survive but these are the loneliest moments of my life.

BY THE WAY...

This is the copyright notice for my blog. I wrote, with the exceptions of the poems and other clearly marked articles, all the blogs. I do check on CopyScape and similar web sites to ascertain if and how someone is using my manuscripts.

That is all I have to write about this matter. I now return you to your continued reading.

TWH

HOLD THE CONGA LINE

I've put my life on hold to do one more round of homeschooling until October. Then it's off to the races!

I have been picking up gigs and I have a loyal clientèle but there are days when I wonder why some people get up in the morning. There are days I wonder why I get up in the morning. I will go to the end of the Earth (okay, maybe around the block) for an employer. However, I expect modest needs and demands. I, usually, have a good working rapport with one client but this person is obsessed with every jot of manuscript layout. No, it's not in my job description to format the damn article if the employer in question does not understand technology and realizes that certain attributes are just part of the word processing software. I just proofread and copy edit the very badly worded sentences, burnish them into deathless prose, and then flush the entire business out of my system as graceful as an elephant with a dire rhinovirus.

It's been one of those days.

TWH

September 26, 2009 Update: Er, I feel a wee bit embarrassed. How the *bleep* was I to know if not deleting a comment or note would leave a grey space in the manuscript? One-o-clock in the morning and I am ready to cry or eviscerate the computer with my teeth over the dreadful screed. It's all good, though, and I got paid.

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IN THE MEANTIME

I've taken a summer hiatus to be with my family. September is almost here and this means the children will be going back to school. I'm leading the parade of mothers doing happy dances down the main street, veritable can-cans (Good grief, I never knew she wore that for her knickers!)of euphoria that we will be grownups again and not just auto-matrons cleaning up the same debris over and over and over...

I have, in the interim, picked up editing gigs and spot work as a proofreader. It's a slow rebuild to my career after going through one year of being seriously, but not fatally, ill and another year for homeschooling that included keeping my youngest up to speed on her maths during the summer so she can rock going back to school. I know she will.She's smart like her parents.

And yes, I continue to dream the impossible dream of being a book author. I am tackling second book in a series chapter by bloody chapter.* During the blessed time when the kids are at school or otherwise not giving me grey hairs, I'll update the status reports on all of the above.

Yours Virtually,

TWH

*Note: I'm not swearing but I tend to cuff my characters around a bit. Thankfully (due to the tender mercies of the author)no one has died, yet.


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DURING THE WAIT

The wait to hear from potential employers or publishers, who are experiencing economic Ragnarök, can be tedious and depressing. However, there are steps that one can coach out of oneself that will contribute, hopefully, to future contacts and employment. I am using this down time to learn technologies new to me and to sharpen my job skills.

Currently, I am enrolled in a Linux administration class at the HP business online courses. I also have set up a blog for my resume and have worked at tinkering with the site's design by getting into the HTML template code. The site is called The Writers' Home Portfolio. I am pleased with the results which involved going through lines of HTML code until I found the specifications to change the design. I used GIMP to manipulate the designs, specifically the header divider. I attached a Google Gadget, a clock, and changed some of the code to be similar to my colour scheme. I am am also playing with cloud computing.

Being unemployed does not mean being idle. I plan to use both blogs, this and the portfolio, to showcase my newly found knowledge.

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NO HONEY FOR THE BEAR

One of the most anticipated events and shining new hopes in publishing, if you are not already depressed as an out-of-work writer, is a revival of the Winnie The Pooh brand. Publisher Dutton Books and author David Benedictus plan to have great sales with a retread of Christopher Robin and friends.

I ran this past my children who like many youngsters, including someone not now so spry as me, had the enchantment of A.A. Milne's characters to grace their childhoods. The immediate reaction from my very literate offspring was "What!!!" There was a general cry of shock and horror that these books of strong character identifications and mythology were being sold like cereal. The visceral yelps led to a long, about a half hour at the least, vilification of publishers who try to cash in on their readers' fond memories for short-term profit. Books were, and are, the friends who comfort us when the world seems too big. Tampering with these emotions with a written mockup (mockery?) destroys the child's primary experience and love of the elemental literature.

I am not sorry to comment that I am a literary traditionalist and that I have given these values to my children. An individual's genius, their spirit, cannot be copied and packaged like any other product. The publishing companies are in trouble not because brands such as Winnie The Pooh are insufficient but because book marketers are not bold and will not chance original writers to hook and engage new readers.


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WRITERS OF THE WORLD UNITE

This is certain to be the most clueless advertisement that I have ever read. I do not know who their marketing person is (or one hopes, for the sake of the publication, was...) but what ethereal planet are they are orbiting, or inhaling? Smells like something green and illegal from BC (No, I don't do spark or anything like that. My greatest vices are chocolate and white tea but not together). Here is the text in its entirety and my further comments afterwards.

"In today's strange social and economic times, it's essential that we take care of ourselves and each other - whether it be through our health regimes, our careers and finances, our relationships, or the wonderful food in our pantries. How do we create happiness from the inside out? Our website is dedicated to searching for those answers. We're a new yet rapidly growing blog/social networking website dedicated to bringing holistic health and wellness to people everywhere through insightful, funny, compassionate, and informative articles. If you're a college student, graduate student, stay-at-home mom seeking a little "me" activity, or anyone else looking for intern experience in new media, then we'd love to hear from you! We're seeking both Marketing and Editorial interns (or those who enjoy both), who can lend us a few hours a day, a few days a week. While there is no outright compensation, we make it a point to reward a job well done -- we've done the unpaid intern thing ourselves, so we know full well how to appreciate them! We'd love to hear from potential interns with social media experience. Ideally you have a strong profile and network on sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and Delicious, and be an avid consumer of and participant in the blogosphere...but you know what? Even if you don't have these things, we'll teach you! Don't worry about traditional cover letters...those are quite boring. Just tell us why you'd like to be a virtual intern, how many hours a week you could spare, and what interests you as a writer or reader! Thanks so much! Have a Peaceful Day."

I hope a hurricane wipes this company from the globe. Have a happy day! The false sense of camaraderie that the advertiser tries to build with the first lines about the rough times and how we must all stick together is nauseating. I prefer an advertiser who has specific business needs and states these goals in a matter-of-fact statement. Skip the cutesy stuff, just tell me what you need for writing services and how much money you offer. This false lifeboat of New Age marketing jargon is abusive towards people who are struggling to find work for their survival in a tough economy.

What irritates me most about this classified is that any self-respecting stay at home mum who was looking at adverts on the Web would be searching for a pay cheque attached to a job, not a "little me activity". The writers of this ad treat women if they are second class citizens who do not want to be employed or who are not, like single moms I know, breadwinners in their own right. I agree with Harlan Ellison's rant about those parasites who expect a writer to feel oh-so-grateful for a free interview or an unremunerated internship. He believes that writers should not give their content away for free or for the lowest pay and that those skinflints who desire unpaid internships or 400 words for 40 articles a day at $.01 a word should go take a long walk off a short pier over a piranha infested river.

I think, as writers, we are obligated to starve the penny-pinchers out of the publishing market. Refuse to take jobs that pay less than minimum wage. Let their businesses fail without our work. The companies do not have our talents and will go under without us. They will only have our competent labour if they reward us with decent wages. The other side of the coin is to do well for those companies who value their writers and pay decent wages and who, in other terms, act professional. Those flighty buggers who continue to live in this fantasy world where moms want a little me activity and not a paycheque will only get the worse of the lot, if that.

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THE BROOM AND MOP MARKET

Have you ever noticed that small concerns in the publishing area do not know where to advertise for help?

I write of those employers who hire intermediaries such as Elance or similar chop shops that charge fees either to the buyer of services or to the provider. Sometimes these outlets charge a cut of the provider's wages.

The wretched innocents who patronize the scam artists get for what they pay. Elance, Guru.com et cetera are like the broom and mop markets of nineteenth century England. Those were the hires who applied without the written recommendations of a satisfied patron. In that era Mrs. Beeton, a Victorian Martha Stewart, wrote the proper manner in which to find service.

"IN OBTAINING A SERVANT’S CHARACTER, it is not well to be guided by a written one from some unknown quarter; but it is better to have an interview, if at all possible, with the former mistress. By this means you will be assisted in your decision of the suitableness of the servant for your place, from the appearance of the lady and the state of her house. Negligence and want of cleanliness in her and her household generally, will naturally lead you to the conclusion, that her servant has suffered from the influence of the bad example."

There are better sites for hiring employees such as MediaBistro. An insignificant publisher will not be more than it is unless the employer discards pay sites as mere carnival tricks.

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I'M AN AUTHOR

I received a copy of the magazine, Optical Prism, that contains the article that I wrote. It is a small but necessary contribution to my career as a writer.

I'm a published author! I am excited and very cogent of the fact that commercial work is more viable than fiction. Still, when I am not searching for writing or editing gigs, I manage to crank out about a chapter of fiction every two weeks. I think, without the push of what I love in writing fiction, that commercial work would be extremely dull.

However, this gives me the street cred to say to an agent or a publisher that I can sell material albeit only now this very fortunate request from the magazine's editor. Today eyewear, tomorrow a Red Cedar! Don't I wish.....


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SEE YOU LATER

Have you ever wondered why some companies bother to advertise for employees ? I refer to those who offer only internships with no salary. For example, here is a gem that I found on Craigslist. Yes, I know there is a rare treasure of quality listings on that site but tolerate my search there.

"Online parenting media company in search of savvy writer/researcher with an eagle eye and keen attention to detail to:
.. proofread, research and fact check locally-focused newsletter stories prior to publication
.. research story ideas and events for future publication.
.. update and maintain an internal calendar listing and database.
.. develop and update in-house style sheet.

Ideal candidate will have a firm grasp on the english ( English should be capitalized. How's that for AP style? TWH note) language, excellent
grammar and punctuation skills (knowledge of AP style a plus). (Parenthesis should be kept to a minimum. Yes, I know that I am commenting in passive voice.) Additionally,
he or she is naturally curious and in-the-know, willing to dig deep (both online and in the real world) to find off-the-beaten-path story ideas and insider tips for Bay Area parents.

This is a telecommuting position, with occasional team meetings. Candidate must be a self-starter, willing and able to work independently.

This is an unpaid internship. College credit available."

Er, if I have to correct the mistakes in this advertisement then there is something very wrong with those who publish the newsletter. I will not apply for employment with someone who requires AP style yet fails to capitalize proper nouns. Their offer of no salary and mere college credit has no incentive for the most desperate college student. Textbooks and tuition are expensive.

The advertisers for this employment can also write off those of us who provide content for cash.Who do they believe will answer this classified if there is not sufficient renumeration? I would not work for a newsletter pro bono unless there was prestige associated with the employer that could lead into more lucrative contacts. However, I would think twice before a decision on that matter. I attempted a gratis gig before and it led nowhere.

Time and so on, writers need to remind employers that we are not freebies. We are professionals that require payment on time to have decent lives that aren't wasted scrabbling after a publishers' dead end.


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THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART

In the last few weeks, I have applied for several editor and writer employments but have not heard from any companies. A bright spot was when I had a note from a prestigious financial website asking about my interest in being an editor about a week ago, but then no call back.

The slowdown in my life is very frustrating. I can churn out a thousand words or more in a chapter of fiction in about a week or two, yet there are no offers in the commercial sectors. I have an article published this month in a retail magazine for eyewear. After this, everything seems to have dried up.

I am sure mine is a common lament. I have good skills in editing, writing, and research. I know how to use photo editing software, word processing programs, and audio editing software. I am a blogger for five years and a web writer since 1997. If I am with this experience, how can I not get a gig?

However,I don't have it as tough as the staff of the trade periodical Publishing News in Britain that will soon close shop. Neither am I one of the 3,500 people who have lost their employment in the newspaper industry in two months. I don't know that hurt but I can guess. To have talent, proven work, and experience without the luck to snag a writing or editing job.

What to do in the meantime? At this point, I am brushing up on my web skills such as WordPress, HTML, and CSS among others. That is all one can accomplish in resolution during a sinking economy.

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UPDATE: FOOD STUFF

Yes, the Hobbit Shire Soup was good. If you remember two months ago, I wrote a post where I was sipping oolong tea and contemplating Hobbit Shire Soup. It was delicious. I plan to make it tonight mainly because my significant other has not got the cheque that he has been promised and we are down to the last dime in the bank, if that. No one ever said that writers automatically become rich and famous. Hobbit Shire Soup is quick, easy and, most importantly, cheap to make out of pasta, tomatoes,onions, and chickpeas. You have the basic food groups: grain, fruit, vegie, and protein. It's good if you have bay leaf and parsley at hand. A writer's feast.

Oh hell. I am so depressed. I have a manuscript that I would like to get out but the synopsis is just not gelling for me. I know the cheque is in the mail. Isn't it always? That doesn't matter when the mail slot is empty. I understand at these times Chaucer's Complaint to His Purse:"To you, my purse, and to none other wight /Complain I, for you be my lady dear!/ I am so sorry, now that you be light;" The physical container for money is flat and also the bank of imagination. The only things that keep me going are the neighbour kids that occasionally drop by to see my youngest. Some of those children don't get breakfast. I feed them but lately worry if my family is going to make it through the week or to the end of the month with our sparse larder. However, I can't refuse children who say that they are hungry with their being pale thin creatures on my doorstep, and Canadian winters cold and without regard. Mine is just a temporary bump until the cheque arrives. I know that some of these children live in households of seven where there is just enough apartment space for four people.

Perhaps writing is not just for money. Whenever there is a setback or crisis, writing is a lifeline that the neighbour children do not have. I'm holding on tight to the last thread.

UPDATE: CHEQUE ARRIVED! YEA!

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WHY?

There was a question on one of the Facebook groups when a high school student asked if he should pursue a career in writing. This is my reply with additional comments since the wall post only allowed 1,000 characters.

The post starts with "I don't mean to be sarcastic but have you ever heard of the term 'struggling writer'?" I then address the high school student's other concerns. Find a job that pays the bills first especially if you plan to go to college because that leaves most people enough in hock to busy them for quite a while.
Secondly, being a writer is a difficult career. The market is saturated with people wanting to get their novels published. Hell, even Jane Austen would have a hard time selling a novel in this market. I wrote an editorial in one of my blogs about a man who passed off Austen's novels as one of his own.

So why write? Because you have a story that pulses through your blood and won't leave you until its ink dries on the page.

However, for the money, there's always commercial writing work. You develop that by making contacts. Facebook is one way to do that. Of the Social Network Services, Facebook is the most useful. LinkedIn is a good tool also. MySpace, LiveJournal, and Orkut are useless because they are not well-organized and cater to a less literate crowd. Bebo and Friendster are the same in the lack of content. Twitter is useless unless you are terribly vain and want those who would rather not know about your latest hernia operation. Also try Sunoasis and Debbie Ng's freelance writing blog. Good luck!

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SUPPORT THE WRITERS' STRIKE

Please support the writers' strike in Hollywood. One way that you can support the writers' strike is to boycott any scab activity that takes place online. Recently, I found this ad. The spelling errors are not mine:

"Freelance TV Writers - (US-CA-Hollywood - 90078)

Min Education: Bachelors
Job Type: Contract

Everyone knows it is a rough time here in Hollywood with the strike and with the holidays coming up it couldn't have come at a worse time. I was starting to wonder how I would be able to make it an enjoyable Christmas for my twin 12-year old daughters. That is why I decided to come up with an alternative.

I, and some marketing folks, producers, and other interested parties had some private disucssions on how to get some writers back to work while this strike works itself out. I've worked out deals to get scripts written on a couple of CBS shows and I'm working on a deal with Fox. We will be privately and discretely writing scripts for these shows. We will ensure your privacy and confidentiality and are willing to pay top dollar for talented writers. We are currently working on bring other shows into the mix, but the producers want to see if we can make this work for a few shows first before giving us many more.

Together we can make this a happy holiday season for our families, contact if you have any questions.

William Kinkade
Kinkade Creative Solutions"


I've excised the contact information for the company. Why help them?

Help these people instead.
Here is the web page for the Writers' Guild of America.
http://www.wga.org/

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ONCE MORE INTO THE BRINK....

Here I go again... I have started my second unpublished novel in a series. I have written one hundred and eight pages into it.

No one ever said writing is a rational occupation. It is a profession that lives on hope, little sleep, and less praise. One has to be a master of dreams to push on through the most dreary of situations. The bills, sick kids, ill self, lonely nights typing at the computer, the blank screen that does not cheer with its stare uncomprehending as a government form that asks "Well, what is your work?"

Let me think... I am the tender of imagination, the midwife of new beings in print, a guardian of a world.

Doesn't get one very far in the "real world". I usually scrawl "homemaker" on a form. "Writer" means, at least to the bureaucratic people that I know, 'unemployed person with an English degree'. Not very prestigious.

So what keeps me going and persisting and hoping to be published? Because my characters, those mischievous struggling (almost) human creatures I've known for all these years, make my life reflective and intellectually alive. If they died unwept, so would the part of my life that budges the humane in me. This keeps me going as a writer.
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