Happy Easter! Yes, yes, I know Easter will already be but a distant memory by the time you read this, but I still get to say it anyway, because I’m actually writing this on Good Friday, to be published next week.
No, there is no such thing as a public holiday for the freelance writer. Or there is, but in order to actually have a holiday, I have to be prepared to work twice as hard to prepare for it – to the extent that I sometimes wonder if the holiday itself is actually worth what I have to go through to get it.
In order to have some “proper” time off over the next three days, for instance, I’m having to do the work I’d normally do over the weekend today – Good Friday. And yes, I normally work on the weekends: not all weekend, to be fair, but for a couple of hours each day. I tell myself that this is a temporary situation, that I need to put up with while I build up my blogging business, but sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be able to just sit back and put my feet up without thinking, “Hmmm, I really could be doing some more work on the blogs…”
Am I alone in this? I have a sneaky feeling I’m not: most of the other self-employed people I know admit to working much longer hours than they ever did when they were employed by other people – and to finding it difficult to “switch off” for weekends and holidays.
What about you? Did you have some time off over the Easter break, or was it business as usual?
I’ve already written about Why Journalists Hate PRs, but having worked in both fields, I know that it works the other way too, and PRs have their fair share of gripes about us journos. I can’t speak for all PR professionals, of course, but during my brief time in the field, these are the things that used to annoy me the most…
1. They’ve been working on the story since 10am that morning, but they wait until five minutes before their deadline to call you for a quote…
…and you have a sneaking suspicion that they did it in the hope that you won’t have time to get back to them, allowing them to ignore your client’s side of the story altogether.
2. They copy and paste your press release…
…but put their byline on it.
3. They promise faithfully to come along to the press conference/other event you’ve spent weeks organising…
…and then don’t turn up.
4. But they still expect you to give them a full and thorough briefing on what happened.
5. Which they don’t use.
6. They never seem to have the slightest idea when the story they’re writing will be published – and they never want to discuss the reasons why it got spiked.
(In fairness, there are lots of different reasons why this is the case, and the “When will it be published?/Why didn’t it get published?” question is one that journalists get sick of hearing, but I know it’s something that can annoy PRs, whose clients are clamouring for the information.)
Nor all of these complaints are totally justified, of course, but I thought it was only fair to give the PRs their say, too.
Do you work in PR? What gripes do you have about the journalists you have to deal with?
No, it’s not a hybrid car, it’s a hybrid word - and I hate it.
“Ima go to the store now,” for instance, means, “I’m going to go to the store now.”
“Ima have lunch,” means “I’m going to have lunch.”
And “Ima lazy so-and-so who can’t be bothered writing out the words ‘going to,’” means… well, you can probably work that one out for yourself.
“Ima” crops up more and more often these days in the language of people who think they are “being cute” by turning four words into one. These are, without a doubt, the same people who use the word “prolly” and think that “ppl” is an acceptable way to write “people”, even in a business email.
Granted, the use of ‘Ima’ does conjure up a certain type of dialect, and may be useful to fiction writers who want to make their characters sound a bit more “real”, but in everyday writing? No. Please, no. Make it stop, someone?
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an actress when I grew up.
When I did grow up, and entered the world of employment, I achieved my ambition. Oh, I wasn’t paid to act – or not literally, anyway. I was paid to be a newspaper journalist, a press officer, even a call centre operator, but as far as I was concerned, no matter what my official job title was, most of my time was spent acting.
I would arrive at work in the morning and act like I was happy to be there.
I would act like the early mornings didn’t bother me, although I am far from being a morning person, and don’t generally feel human until at least 10am, and the second mug of coffee.
I would pretend to like and respect people I actually couldn’t stand.
I would say I didn’t mind staying late to finish that urgent press release, when really I wanted was to go home and get to be myself again.
I would sit in endless, pointless meetings and act like there was nowhere I’d rather be.
I would grit my teeth and smile when my boss asked me to work through my lunch break – again.
I would pretend to find my work interesting and stimulating, even when it involved answering the same questions over and over again, or covering the dullest committee meetings known to man.
In general, I made a living out of pretending to be someone I most definitely was not: a happy little worker bee who lived for the job and could think of no better way to spend her time than trapped in a windowless, airless office, earning money for someone else.*
These days? I don’t do a whole lot of acting.
Oh, there are bits and pieces of pretense scattered throughout my weeks. Not being overly-fond of the phone, for instance, I have to pretend to be pleased every time someone decided to call me, or ask me to call them. And there’s the odd difficult client or advertiser who I have to pretend not to be frustrated by, but for the most part, I wake up every morning and don’t have to act like anyone other my myself. There’s an honesty to my working life that was sadly lacking before, and it’s perhaps the biggest reason why I’d never want to go back to office life. Well, that an the early mornings, of course.
I guess acting really wasn’t for me, after all.
*It had its good points, too.
- In terms of professional blogging, I like to think I have the best of both worlds: as well as being paid to edit and write for a blog owned by a large blog network, I also run my own blog network, so my blog income comes from a number of different sources.
Sometimes, though, I find myself wondering if this really is “the best of both worlds” or whether it might be better just to commit to one method of earning and stick to it. Here are the pros and cons of each…
Being paid to blog for someone else:
Pros:
- No need to worry about administration
The blog is set up for you, and it’s someone else’s job to worry about technical issues, design issues, and promotion. All you have to do is get up every morning and write.
- A set job description
You’ll generally have to write a certain amount of posts, of a certain length, every day, week or month. Once you’ve completed those posts, your time is your own.
- A set wage
This isn’t true for all freelance bloggers, of course, because some are paid based on the amount of traffic they generate. If you’re paid by the post, or on some kind of retainer system, however, you know exactly how much you’ll be making each month, which allows you to plan ahead and enjoy a certain degree of security.
- Camaraderie
If you’re blogging for a network, even when you’re based at home, there’s a good chance that you’ll get to know the other freelancers who write for your blog, or the people who run it. I’ve made some great friends this way, and even although I’ve never met some of them, I do enjoy some of the benefits of having colleagues – albeit ones behind a computer screen.
- An instant audience for your work
If the blog you’re freelancing for is well-established, you won’t have to wait for it to be noticed, or feel like you’re writing into a vacuum: you’ll have an instant audience for your work, which can be very gratifying for a writer.
- The kudos of writing for a popular blog
You can achieve this by blogging for yourself too, of course, but it will take you longer and be much harder to gain than the respect you’ll gain for writing for a popular, well-established blog. And then there are the other writing/blogging opportunities that can come to you as a direct result of this…
Cons:
- No control over various aspects of the blog
You don’t get a say over the look, feel, or way the blog is run, so if the owners decide to do something you don’t agree with, that’s too bad.
- Lack of freedom in writing style
You’ll probably be working to a specific house style, and will have to craft each post in a specific way, as specified by the blog owner. Not a huge problem if you’re used to freelancing, but it may cramp your creativity just a little!
- Lack of freedom in general.
If you want to take a holiday or have a day off, you’ll have to ask someone else’s permission. You may also be obligated to compete your posts by a certain time each day, which means you can wave goodbye to that long lie and afternoon shopping trip.
- You’re at the mercy of someone else’s marking and publicity skills
Pro-blogging is a business, but in this case it’s someone else’s business, so it’s someone else who’ll be ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the site. That’s all well and good if all you want to do is write for it, of course (and some networks do give their bloggers some input into the way the site is run and marketed), but others may not like this lack of control.
- You’re always writing and speaking on behalf of someone else
If it was your own blog, you’d possibly just ban that commenter who insists on abusing you every chance you get, but when the blog belongs to someone else, you may just have to suck it up and reign in your temper.
- You’re ultimately making money for someone else
This is the downside of any paid employment: the fact that the success that comes will benefit the person you’re working for more than it will benefit you. Of course, by negotiating traffic bonuses and pay increases, you can work around this, but the fact that the spoils of your toil are being shared between you and your employer may eventually start to grate.
Blogging for yourself
Pros:
- The money you earn is yours and yours alone
Well, the tax man will take his share too, but what’s left over will be all yours.
- You have complete freedom over your blog and writing
It will look how you want it to look, be written in the style that youchoose, and be run exactly how you want it to be run. You’re the boss.
- You have complete freedom over your lifestyle.
If you prefer to work in the dead of night and spend your days in bed, no one will stop you. Similarly, if you need a day off, you won’t need anyone’s permission but your own.
- The satisfaction of making a success of something all by yourself
There’s a huge amount of satisfaction to be had from the knowledge that you’re making money from something you started from scratch.
- You have no clients
So you have none of the problems that come with clients either, including unreasonable demands, late payments and personality clashes.
Cons:
- You will have to do EVERYTHING for yourself
You’re responsible for designing your blog, sorting out technical problems, attracting advertisers, monetising it, optimising it for search engines, dealing with the daily administration – oh, and you’ll have to write for it. Of course, you can always pay people to take some, or all, of these tasks off your hands, but then you’re going to have to manage the people who are working for you. You’ll spend a huge amount of time on non-writing tasks, which could be frustrating if writing is all you’re really interested in.
- You’ll have to become a business person as well as a blogger
You’re no longer just a writer. You’re now an accountant, a marketer, a sales person and much more besides.
- You’ll have to do an awful lot of learning…
… about SEO, blog promotion, social networking, monetisation, advertising – the list goes on. And not only will you have to learn about all of these things to start with, you’ll have to keep on learning about them, and make the effort to keep up with developments in the world of pro-blogging.
- You won’t have a guaranteed income
And not only that, but your income from blogging can fluctuate wildly from month to month, making earning a living precarious at the best of times.
- It will take a long time before you’ll start making money from your blog(s)
Unless you get very, very lucky, it could take months, or even years before you make enough to live off.
- You’ll work much longer hours than you would as a freelancer
All of that writing, marketing and admin takes up a huge amount of time, and you won’t be able to just clock off at 5pm.
- You may not have clients, but you will have advertisers
Who can be just as difficult to deal with!
Look at both sets of lists, it does look like blogging for yourself is the hardest choice, with more cons than freelancing for someone else. All things considered, though, I think the “pros” more than make up for them, and as I actually enjoy the marketing/admin/analysis side of things, I know which option I’d choose.
Which would you go for?
I admit it. There are some words I just can’t get to grips with. No matter how hard I try to memorise them, or to come up with nifty little mnemonics or other methods by which to trick myself into remembering them, I always have to look up the words:
Lose/loose
If left to my own devices I will ALWAYS choose the wrong one. Always.
Cliché
Or as it’s better known to me, “clique”.
Tomorrow
Gotta love those double consonants. Now, is it two ‘Ms’ or two ‘Rs’?
Separate
For some reason I always want to be generous and give it two Ps. Why? Who knows.
And that’s to say nothing of all of the differences between US and UK English that now completely confuse me because I’ve done so much work for US clients that I now sometimes forget which spelling goes with which country. Fun times!
I know I probably shouldn’t be admitting any of this, because I’m probably just opening myself up to a whole world of “You call yourself a writer, but you can’t spell TOMORROW?” comments, but the fact is, it’s true. I can’t. But hey, at least I know I can’t, so every time one of those words comes up, I can head straight over to Dictionary.com and look it up.
Do any words give you problems, or are you all perfect spellers?
 I love getting comments at my various blogs, and I love leaving comments at other people’s. But the fine art of blog commenting has given rise to a few Pet Peeves. OK, more than a few Pet Peeves…
I hate:
1. Comments that begin with the phrase “too bad” – as in “Too bad this post sucks”. It always strikes me as a particularly snarky way of saying “I’m about to put you down in a really snooty and superior way”. Yeah, too bad I’m going to delete your comment…
2. Comments that end with the phrase, “Just sayin’” i.e. “Isn’t that a typo in the second paragraph? Just sayin’”.
3. People who leave comments pointing out typos and spelling errors, again in that overly superior way. Sometimes this fault can be aggregated by turning it into: “Too bad you made a spelling error in the second paragraph. Just sayin’”
4. People who observe a typo and go through a stupid pantomime of pretending not to know what you mean because of it. “A clique? Oh, do you mean ‘a cliché’? Ah, I get it now!” So I always spell “cliché” wrong. So what? At least I don’t spend my time pointing out people’s spelling mistakes on the Internet.
5. Use of the phrase “If you had done your HOMEWORK you would know…”especially when I DID do my homework, and I DO know…
6. Comments which start with the phrase, “I don’t mean to be harsh, but…” This basically means, “I DO mean to be harsh, but I’d like to pretend to myself that I’m a nice person, so I’m pre-empting my bitchy comment with a disclaimer.”
7. People who have Blogger blogs that are set to only allow comments from other people with Blogger accounts. Discrimination!
8. Commentors who call me “fat” or “ugly” just because they don’t share my opinion on something. “The only reason you don’t like this dress is because you’re too fat to wear it!” Truly, the Internet is just one massive high school sometimes.
9. Commentors who demand my death. “You deserve to be shot in the head for liking this handbag.” True story. I wish I was joking.
10. Getting no comments. At all. Ever. That sucks more than all the rest. (Except the “death” one, obviously. Nothing sucks more than people wanting you dead…)
What are your pet peeves about blog comments?
 Yo, dudes, s’up? Rubinman in da house. Yes, THE Rubinman! We’ll sort out the autographs and stuff later, but for now, listen up…
So, it’s like, Amber is "busy" today, so it was left up to me, Rubin, to come and tell yoos that Amber’s blawgs, The Fashion Police and Hey, Dollface, are, like, nominated for some kind of "awards". No, I don’t understand why either, ‘cos it’s not like they even have any pictures of me on them or anything, you know? And also, while we’re on the subject, why doesn’t the Rubinman’s blawg get "awards"? That, like, makes no sense, AT ALL.
Anyways. Yoos should all totally go and vote for those blawgs (they’re, under "fashion" and "beauty", cos, it’s like, that’s what they’re about?), and I’ll tell yoos for why: yoos should vote for them because if you don’t, Amber’ll be all whiny and like, "Boo hoo, nobody loves me!" and the Rubinman’ll be the one that’ll have to pick up the pieces. As usual. Also, if yoos don’t vote for them, I’ll personally come over there and bite yoos on the bum, and don’t think I wont do it.
So, yeah, that’s alls I got to say right now. It’s kind of a shame because I’m guessing that as soon as yoos saw my picture on the page yoos were all, "Thank Dog, it’s an entry from the Rubinman! Now we don’t have to read this crap about The Famous Five and Amber’s stupid hair no more, and we can get to read us some REAL blawgs, that are written by a WOLF and everything!" And then it just turned out that alls I was here for was to tell yoos to vote for them stupid blawgs. I feel sorry for yoos, I really do. I’ll still totally bite yoos on the bums, though, remember that.
Smell yas,
Rubin
When I was a child, I was addicted to The Famous Five books, by Enid Blyton. To this day, I cannot drink ginger beer or explore a network of secret underground passages without thinking about good old Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the dog. I loved Enid Blyton’s other books, too (The Adventure Series was my favourite, although there is also a special place in my heart for The Magic Faraway Tree) and, to the horror of my friends and family, I will occasionally re-read these books if it’s been a particularly long, hard winter and I’m in need of some comfort reading. I recommend it. Not only will you be swept away into a world of crazy smugglers and sinister old castles, but you will also learn some important life lessons, such as:
1. All underground caves have a stream running through them. If you find yourself trapped in one (by smugglers, natch), all you have to do is follow the stream to the place where it breaks ground, and you will be freed.
2. You will almost always end up trapped in an underground cave during the “hols”, so you better have been paying attention to point 1.
3. Don’t worry, though – your faithful dog or other animal friend will guide you through the dark, winding tunnels to safety if the underground stream thing doesn’t work out.
4. If you don’t have a handy animal, the circus folk camping near you will lend you one.
5. There will always be circus folk camping near you.
6. Some of them will secretly be smugglers, though.
7. About those tunnels… If your animal friend has been, say, poisoned by the smugglers/circus folk, you should unwind a ball of string or make chalk markings on the walls as you walk, so that you can find your way out again.
8. You will use your torch to see these chalk markings/bits of string
9. You do HAVE a torch on you at all times, don’t you?
10. While escaping from the smugglers, remember to always observe regular meal times, even if you are underground/in grave danger.
11. It’s OK: you will always discover a bag of Barley Sugar and some potted meat sandwiches in your pocket.
12. Right next to the notebook and pencil that you carry with you AT ALL TIMES.
13. Friendly farm folks that you meet on your travels will supply the barely sugar, potted meat and also: ginger beer. You’ll have to supply the pencil and notebook yourself, though.
14. Ginger beer cures almost every ill.
15. And while we’re on the subject: food that you eat outdoors always tastes SO MUCH BETTER, don’t you think?
16. If the people you meet along the way have slightly ridiculous names, they can probably be trusted. Examples: Nobby, Fanny, Dimmy. (No offence to anyone called Nobby or Fanny, by the way. If your first name is ‘Dimmy’, though, well, good luck to you.)
17. If the people you meet along the way are crazy old men who warn you to NEVER GO NEAR THE OLD CASTLE AT NIGHTFALL, you should wait until nightfall and then go there immediately.
18. Not if you’re a girl, though. If you’re a girl you should remain at home, preparing a slap up dinner for the hungry adventurers, with lashings and lashings of ginger beer and some delicious ices for afters. Remember: you may like to think that you’re "as good as a boy" any day, but you’re really not.
19. But back to those smugglers…
20. Don’t worry too much about the smugglers, because most arch villains are relatively harmless.
21. I mean, they may tie you up and leave you in an underground cave (in fact, they almost certainly will), but they will not otherwise lay a finger on you.
22. You’ll be able to use your penknife to cut the ropes that bind you and escape by the light of your torch, though.
23. What do you mean, there’s no room for a penknife in your pocket, what with all the ginger beer, torches, notebooks and barley sugars?
24. OK, the monkey will carry the penknife for you.
25. You WILL encounter a monkey at some point in your adventure.
26. Thank goodness all monkeys are friendly, eh?
27. Also: all dogs can climb ladders. Which is lucky, because how else will you get down into the caves?
28. All islands and castles have a dark secret.
29. It normally involves smugglers.
30. As soon as you arrive at the sinister old castle you will be holidaying at, you should seek out the secret passage. This will save you a lot of time later.
31. The secret passage is located behind a sliding panel which you will find either in your bedroom or in the library
32. Every building has a secret passage. And a library, come to think of it.
33. The secret passage leads to underground caves.
34. Which are used by smugglers.
35. So you better have paid attention to point 1, eh?
(P.S. I know this entry will only make sense to fellow Enid Blyton fans, and to Erin, who inspired it, but if you are one, this is the funniest article ever….)
It’s my birthday today. I mean, I actually celebrated my birthday on Saturday, which was the only time I was able to fit it into my hectic schedule, but as today is the actual day, I guess it’s only appropriate to mention that I AM THE BIRTHDAY GIRL. Yay, me! No, I STILL did not get a pony. Jesus.
I celebrated by running on the treadmill at the gym for 49 straight minutes last night. Forty. Nine. Minutes. Clearly I was aiming for a perfect 50, but at 49 minutes and two seconds my body suddenly piped up and told me that if I didn’t stop running RIGHT NOW, it had ways to make me. Those ways included blisters on both my feet, my life flashing before my eyes, and me still not being able to walk properly today. Happy birthday to me! So near but yet so far. Story of my life!
Still, 49 minutes. Am old, but not yet finished…
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