20150623.0741

Another freelance piece has come in, this one treating the most recent James Patterson cooperative novel. I have only just purchased the text; I have not yet read it. Even so, I do find myself somewhat envious. I am able to make some small amount of money from my writing work. Freelancing is not exactly a volunteering project for me, and I am fortunate to have a regular client who happily pays on time, every time, and even offers bonuses. That said, I would like to be able to make more money as a writer than I do, and I know that that means I need to spend more time writing--and not just to order, but to sell through other means. (And I have to get over a number of other hangups, as well, but those need not be explicated here.)

I do spend a fair bit of time writing already, admittedly. Posts to this webspace do take some time, usually around twenty minutes for me (of which some time is spent in contemplation, some searching for links to embed to justify my assertions--because I am a scholar, after all--and some spent correcting typographical errors or realigning phrasing to better effect, although the last receives less attention from me than perhaps it ought), and I try with too little success to keep a daily journal. I also work on letters and resumes, as well as maintaining other web presences, and all of those are accomplished through putting words onto pages. Too few of them pay, however, and so when a job comes in, I usually drop the rest of what I am doing to attend to it. The lure of the paycheck is strong; I cannot work on The Work or any other work without the access to resources promised by said paycheck. More's the pity.

In all honesty, the freelance work is not terribly difficult. It has me read novels and write about them, usually some five thousand words (including headings) at a crack; if undisturbed, I can usually turn a project around in two days, meaning I can turn in three or four a week when the work is present and I am allowed to sit and do it. I cannot count on the work being present, though, and I know better than to think that most days will allow me to sit and attend to it. Ms. 8 is more important, and seeing to her immediate needs trumps seeing to the more remote that freelance work allows me to address. The Mrs. understands work a bit better than our daughter does, appropriately enough, but she also needs attention that prompts me to set work aside. One to two a week is what I can reliably generate, then, when the work is on offer. It is not always so.

That it is not, though, is not always a bad thing. Yes, I can more or less always use the money; having a kid and owing debts ensure that. But when the projects are not forthcoming, I am able to attend to the other work that I do, and if that is not the same in the summer as in the fall and spring, it is not less pressing upon me. For this is when I ought to be working on The Work when I have not paying work to do. It is the knowledge-hunting season, and I have yet to meet my limit.