I’ve really appreciated all the thoughts on freelancing so many people have offered in the last little while. I’m getting into my groove, and my office works more efficiently every day. There’s not a lot to talk shop about here right now, though, so I’m afraid it’s been a lot of filler lately. I think a lot about people’s advice and apply it to how it works in my personal situation–for example Scalzi’s financial advice to those who want to write full time applies just as well to freelance writers; getting debt completely paid down and out of the way is a huge priority (as it always has been, but of course when your income is more sporadic you tend to become more militant about it).

Knowing the market and being willing to write/edit for things not exactly in your specific market (in my case, children’s and YA fantasy specifically and children’s fiction and nonfiction more generally) is essential, especially as you get started, to be able to make a living. Being willing to take jobs when they come and doing an excellent job at them spreads word of mouth about your abilities and builds your business; eventually it may grow to where you can accept the jobs that are only in your field but even then it’s good to be diverse. Markets change all the time, as we all know these days! It’s good to have options.

Having a separate office space where I go to work has been a huge help in this transition. Separating work space and sleep space, especially–not allowing the work to be done in the bedroom, even if it might occasionally invade the couch or the kitchen table–makes a huge difference in quality of life. This applies to both "at the office"–removing distractions from "home" that would make me feel like I should be doing laundry/washing dishes/vacuuming/cooking–and "at home"–removing work-related distractions that might otherwise invade the ability to get a good night’s rest, even if it might prevent me from watching all of Sanctuary without having to hit pause. 🙂

At first getting out of the house helped because it helped re-create the feeling of coworkers, but I found it cost more in time than I really wanted to spend, especially because I have such a nice workspace right here. What I find interesting, though, is that because the office is my editing space, I have to do my writing in other locations: on the couc
h, at the library, at a friend’s house. This is also an important mental separation of space that’s very important, because when I remove myself from my editing space, I can remove myself from my editing brain, if for only long enough to write a couple thousand words.

Anyway, further discussion on life as a freelancer welcome!

I’m still working on painting my apartment, which is a slow process when it’s not your first priority. I just got a nice chocolate brown leather chair–SO very comfy–and ottoman for a steal on clearance at a local furniture store outlet. I also found an end table that matched perfectly with the dark cherry shelves I already have, which works perfectly with a lamp I’ve loved since I got it secondhand when I moved to Seattle. It’s all coming together!

The couch now kind of pales in comparison–it’s a nice enough couch, but it’s getting old. I’d like to replace it with a leather one that matches the chair, but of course that will take time to save up for. But leather is the way to go when you have cats!

I’d post pictures of my office, but I have yet to declutter it from all the things that should be on shelves in the closet (a happy thought indeed). Someday I’ll show you–it really is a nice place to work, but I don’t like to be reminded how much work there is left to do in there!

And it’s the assistant manager. She lives upstairs, and earlier this morning she was walking by and saw two black cats on the stairs outside. She did a double-take and said, “Wait a minute! You guys aren’t supposed to be outside!”

 

Turns out that my cats had somehow knocked out the screen door to the patio (I’d forgotten to close the glass door, which I never do–I’m on the first floor and anyone could walk in) and made a prison break. She shooed them back inside and put the screen door back on. Who knows how long they were out there—and they didn’t even go anywhere. Nice prison break! Stayed right where the guards could find you.

33,650!

I can’t find the progress bar I used to use. I’ve searched as much as my borderline-migraine brain will let me. I give up, and I’m going to bed. It’s enough that I just wrote two chapters more, and that we’re finally *getting* somewhere in the story!

I don’t really need a two-sided card–and in fact, as an editor I prefer getting 1-sided cards because I can make notes on the back of the cards. I’ve been tweaking with my business card, and I kind of like just going with the iconic feeling. What do you all think of this?

 

Note that there’s a little bit more of a margin than I really want on the actual card because the jpg has to allow for trim tolerances.

(Friends-locked due to not wanting to post my phone number everywhere)

For the info side of my card:

And two options for the other side:

I really like that shot, but I kind of like the second one, which I used a stained glass filter on, because then it’s not so much about those particular books as it’s about books, books, lots of books, you know?

ETA: What do you think of this for the front?

ETA again: added a square to the picture side to separate out the text. Better?

Thanks for all the advice. If I go with one of the service I’m looking at, I have the option of including an RGB photo and can pull in my own for not all that much money. I’m thinking this might make the card look nice without adding foil or raised type. So, if I go with that option, here’s a poll for y’all.
Sorry for the spamming, if you got multiples of these–it should be working now!

I know many a writer who has really interesting business cards. I might keep more toward the staid side, but at any rate I’m in the market for some. For those of you have had a need to get a business card of your own, where did you get yours? I’ve heard that there are some good relatively inexpensive places out there especially online, but of course I don’t want to have a generic business card, either, so I want a service that will let you customize. Yet it’s really important to have one to pass along, so I’m looking for good, professional-looking options.
Of course, I could just design them myself and go down to the local Kinko’s and have them print them on card stock and cut them. But I would think it would be easier to go through a business-card service (maybe Kinko’s has a template you can use when you design so that you have the right dimensions?), especially if I can customize the content pretty easily.
Suggestions welcome!