Posts Tagged ‘Freelance writing’

The pros and cons of freelancing: part 3

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Now, I know I’ve painted a lovely picture of the freelance life thus far, but let’s face it, it’s not all jelly beans and unicorns. There are a few major downsides to being self-employed and working from home.

One being that nobody seems to think you actually work.

Landlords, for example, can get highly suspicious when two scruffy twenty-somethings take up residence in their building, then don’t leave for work in the morning like everyone else. I’m fairly certain ours believe we operate a lucrative meth lab up here on the second floor. In fact, I expect them to break down the door any day now, fully outfitted in haz mats, to find me hunched over my laptop, bleary-eyed, polishing off another bowl of cereal.

I’ll admit that I’m so self-conscious of my landlords’ opinion of my career that I actually go out of my way to avoid their door when sneaking down to the laundry room. Which, come to think of it, probably does nothing to ease their suspicions.

But landlords aren’t the only problem here. Pretty well everyone who learns that you work from home automatically infers that you’re not *really* working. They will inevitably call you on their days off, assuming that since you work from home, you’ll be free to watch them try on bridesmaid dresses all afternoon. And you’ll undoubtedly get asked to take someone’s terrier to the dog spa because she simply must have her nails clipped and you have such a flexible schedule.

I mean, the nerve! And all because you go rollerblading in the middle of the afternoon some days. And sure, there were those few three-hour-long, mid-week  beach picnics, but you did bring a book, so it wasn’t like you weren’t being productive. And okay, you have been known to come home from the library with some adorable creme brulee ramekins from the chef shop across town. But that was research!

So there we have it. Our first con: people who think you do nothing all day. Misguided fools. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a dozen food blogs to read, followed by a thorough re-organization of the hall closet. Time is money, people.

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The pros and cons of freelancing: part 2

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Back in Chapter One of my lengthy discussion of the freelance life, I listed the lack of co-workers as a downside of working from home. And sometimes it is a true downer. Sometimes, my living room-officemate simply does not want to hear my musings on what so-and-so posted on Facebook, or why yet another ambulance just pulled up outside our building (which happens with alarming frequency).

Now, if I had an office job, and my desk neighbour got sick of me, I’d just trot over to the front desk, where they’re always dying to hear pointless musings. And good times would ensue. But in this apartment, we don’t have a front desk. We do have building managers, but they’re usually busy dealing with the reason for the ambulance parked out front.

So yes, the dearth of co-workers can be tedious. But then, one might argue, who needs co-workers when you’ve got freelance friends? And when I say freelance friends, I don’t mean the other self-employeds in the neighbourhood. I mean real friends. The ones who stick by you throughout your day, no matter how hard your work or how crappy the weather.

I’m talking, of course, about CBC radio DJs.

I have long suspected that every Canadian who works from home actually believes that he or she has found a kindred spirit in Tom Allen or Julie Nesrallah. I actually know several (several!) women who work from home and are convinced (convinced!) that Rich Terfry is their soul mate. Is this because of his voice? His sense of humour? Maybe. But more likely it’s because he’s always there, every weekday afternoon at 3:30 on the nose, taking you by the hand and guiding you toward dinnertime.

I knew a freelancer who was incensed when Tom Allen switched from the morning show to early afternoon. “Poor Tom!” he exclaimed. “He must be so unhappy with this change!” Because as Tom’s best friend, he was that in-tune with the man’s feelings.

And me, well, I’m not much better. Just this morning, I turned the dial to Radio 1 to listen to Q, only to be greeted by a voice other than Jian Ghomeshi’s. Not that I have anything against Laurie Brown, but here it was, 10:30 am, and where was Jian, dammit? He said he’d be here! Well, no, actually he didn’t, but still. In the world of CBC Radio friendships, I’d been stood up.

I never said freelance friendships were healthy.

So there you have it. Another pro for the freelance life. Imaginary friendships with people you’ll never meet.

Living the dream, people. Living. The. Dream.

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The pros and cons of freelancing: part 1

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Lately I’ve been giving the freelance life a lot of thought. Partly because my bank balance has been looking rather unhealthy, rather underfed. And partly because my living room-office mate has been far, far out of cell phone range, leaving me with one very quiet apartment and one very noisy brain.

Freelancing has its downsides, certainly. There’s the obvious lack of a regular paycheque, benefits, and paid holidays. There’s the dearth of co-workers, water cooler gossip, and the hearty laughs you get when you toss out clever quotes from Office Space.

On the other hand, it has a lot going for it. First and foremost, you don’t have to dress up.

And when I say dress up, I’m not talking pencil skirts and buttoned blouses. I’m talking the kind of dress I had to don for many a job. I’m talking interpretive dress.

A while back, I mentioned this job, for which every Friday and Saturday night, while normal 22-year-olds were primping for the bar, I’d don a crow costume, then preen my foam wings and practice my squawk for the campground amphitheatre crowd.

The next season, at a provincial park in northern Alberta, I opted for a handmade sawyer beetle ensemble, complete with antennae twice the length of my body. Thus outfitted, I proceeded to serenade the campers with “Chew Chew Chew, Chew the Spruce” (which remains to this day the best song I’ve ever written).

But believe it or not, that wasn’t the worst of the costumes. A few years prior, I worked as an interpreter at a historic site on the U of A campus. There, in my authentic historic stockings, petticoats, and Pepto-Bismol-pink dress, I pretended I knew how to crochet and cook on the authentic historic stove while tourists watched, unconvinced, as I burned batch after batch of authentic historic oatmeal cookies.

I was also the site gardener. Which would have been a great gig had I not had to garden in… you guessed it… authentic historic dress. In the August heat, I’d head out in my straw bonnet to tackle the weeds, or worse, mow the lawn. The lawnmower was … need I say it? One of those rusty, rattly, rolling things.

So there I would be, all pink dress and petticoats, sweat soaking through my bonnet as I heaved the rattling lawnmower around, high heels sinking into the grass. Students in flip-flops would stop to gawk and wonder aloud why I didn’t just use a real lawnmower. My responses were unladylike, and not at all authentic historic.

So there you have it: reason number one for choosing the freelance life.

Jeans and t-shirts, baby. Jeans. And. T-shirts.

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