Take Back Your (Freelancing) Time Week

Did you know that the fourth week in January is Take Back Your Time Week? This celebration was "created to establish good time management habits and the importance of prioritizing activities and demands."

If there ever was a group of people who needed to have a week set aside to remind them of the importance of managing their time, it's freelancers. If you've been putting the task off, no more excuses. Make this the week that you say "Screw you!" to the less-important demands and put your priorites (whatever they might be) at the top of your to-do list.

I read somewhere that it takes 21 days for an action to become a habit. Following that logic, if you Take Back Your Time for just three straight weeks, you shouldn't need to wait until next January to get your act in order again.

Keep me posted.

The Ultimate Get-a-Clue Freelance Request for the Week of January 19, 2009

by: Jonas B

Methinks this freelance seeker doth protest too much. S/he gets my Middle Finger Award for coming up with the most unbelievable excuse for plagiarizing I've ever heard. Unfortunately, the project was removed before I could copy down the specific request. Suffice it to say it was a lengthy treatise on why s/he wasn't really asking writers to plagiarize. The title alone should give you the gist.

Project Descriptions: NOT plagarism as work was stolen-Re writing req.

I mean seriously, if your work were stolen, wouldn't you sue the person who stole it and get it back? Why on earth would you allow them to pawn it off as their own and start all over from scratch, paying someone else to rewrite what you supposedly already wrote. Yeah, okay. Screw that!

Biting My Screw You! Tongue

by: vaxzine

Last week, I put my foot down with two clients. Now, I know what you're thinking. How is that any different from any other week for me, right? The thing is, I could tell neither one of them was thrilled with the fact that it was my way or the highway. Instead of sending them freewheeling down Route 666, however, like I typically would, I ignored their protests temporarily and thought about the situations a bit.

Client #1 was a new client I secured through a referral from one of my longest-running clients. She wanted to chit-chat it up on the phone one day after we'd just had a lengthy gab fest. Long-time readers know, I don't do the telephone and I made it clear to this client that this (non-billable) telephone time was not going to become a habit. Then I relented and said, "Let's have one more conversation and try to iron everything out."

And a funny thing happened. That phone time turned out to be productive. Although, in essence, it was still unbillable time, the client and I nailed down the themes, reasearch sites and titles for three articles in the process. That means I can now get right down to writing, thereby saving me time overall. Mind you, this concession worked to my advantage only because I'm charging a project rate. If I were charging by the hour, it wouldn't have. But then again, if that were the case, I'd make it part of my contract that brainstorming time fell under billable hours.

Client #2 is an ongoing client who sends me a good chunk of work each month. However, she wanted me to revise a press release--for the second time--that I wrote on November 26. Setting aside the fact that it's now six weeks later, I agreed to only one round of revisions with this client. I almost didn't relent on this one, but maybe after all I've gone through in my personal life of late, I'm feeling a bit charitable these days. Perhaps it's just the full moon. In any event, I left it at this: "If it's something that I can fix fairly quickly, I'll do it this time for free. Let's just try to keep to one revision moving forward, though."

So why am I, the self-proclaimed Irreverent Freelancer, admitting this? It's in honor of Amy Derby's call for blogging authenticity and vulnerability. (See video on the top right of her page.)

I'm not going to become a pushover by any stretch of the imagination. Client #1 is going to be limited to 30 minutes of phone time per monthly assignment. Client #2 is getting a freebie only this one time, and I may even add a 30-day revisionary limit clause to our working arrangement. It's possible that through my actions I've maintained two gigs that will be smooth sailing from here on out. It's also a potentiality that I'll wish I hadn't conceded.

Either way, what I suppose, in essence, I'm saying is that "Screw you!" isn't a one-size-fits-all solution--and it's not how I approach most of my working relationships. The authentic me isn't afraid to put her foot down, but occasionally she also recognizes that she needs to pick it back up before the bug goes splat.

Freelance Funny of the Day

I know Lori Widmer is a fan of I Can Has Cheezburger. Last week, I think I found out why. Check out this literary-related funny to discover for yourself.

The Ultimate Get-a-Clue Freelance Request for the Week of January 12, 2009

I'm filing this Middle Finger Award winner under "Huh?"

Project Description: Ghost writer wanted (Lower Mainland)

Specific Project Request: "I am looking for a student/ ghost writer in the lower mainland.

This position is only for students or new graduates!
Professional writers and freelancers, please DO NOT reply.

I am starting a new career and wanted to write a book about my experiences.
English is not my first langugage. I am looking for a motivated student writer interested in diversity and multiculuralism.

Responsibilities include,

-Writing promotional diversity related stories and newsletters, with a focus on immediacy
-Proofreading, editing, and writing a variety of advertising material
-Compiling articles and help write a book.

You Will Learn:

- Blogging
- Press Release
- Newsletters (email)
- Help write a book

Bonus
- Basic HTML is a bonus

Thank you."


That's right; you read that correctly. This freelance seeker wants a ghostwriter, but only if s/he is a NON-professional one. Huh???

Year-End Wrap-Up Freelance Gush Pile

I'm feeling like I want to end the week on a postive note, so I thought I'd revisit some of the praise I accumulated while I temporarily deserted this blog.

At the end of October, I received this email from my contact at the magazine I edit: "Thanks for a nice catch! In the November XXX article, you noticed that XXX was spelled two different ways and wrote a comment to me to check on this. I did and found out that not only was one of the words not spelled correctly it was the wrong word. XXX is the correct word so it was wrong through the entire article. So your terrific eyes picked up a much bigger problem that would have embarrassed all involved from me, the writer, and the interviewer. WELL DONE. Thank you."

I'm particularly proud of this one since the work took place while I was in the midst of dealing with the aftermath of my dad's heart attack. Just goes to show I give my clients my all, regardless of personal circumstances.

Also, I just received word from a client for whom I substantially edited a novel that he was just "offered [a] publishing contract!!" Yes, he was excited, and so was I because "they are not a vanity press" and he scored a pretty good royalty rate as well.

There are probably a few others that are escaping my mind, but these two are highlights of 2008. I'm hoping to have a lot more to gush about in 2009.

What are you most professionally proud of from 2008?

An Unexpected Screw You! Fan

by: hebedesigns

I don't know whether to be flattered, appalled or amused (and amused I am) by my latest discovery, but I'm being stalked by the person who several months back (anonymously) accused me of cyberstalking. In fact, just this past week she's spent a good two hours at my blog.

Glad you find my writing, which you once (anonymously yet again) deemed "weak," so compelling that you come back to read my blog every day, M. Just so you ... I know it's you.

Proof of My Non-Conformity

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a Self-Improving Self-Knowing Money Manager

Why does it not surprise me that "0% of the 39099 people who have taken this quiz are like"me?

The Ultimate Get-a-Clue Freelance Request for the Week of January 5, 2009

I regret that this one got flagged before I could copy the details, but here's the gist of the ad.

A Craigslist poster was seeking a blogger. S/he wanted 100-word posts for which s/he was willing to pay a whole dollar. That fact alone is bad enough, but s/he gave the rationale for the low pay as something along the lines of: "This is an opportunity to get started in blogging and publish your own blog."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Blogger and WordPress allow you to do the exact same thing ... and to earn some money on the ads that you place there? Why would anyone give up rights to their writing for a mere dollar when they could keep those rights and obtain the same promised benefits all on their own?

It boggles the mind, but I guess a sucker really is born every minute. Screw you, Craigslist poster! I'm glad to see your "job" ad was flagged so quickly.

The 2008 Freelance Year in Review

What follows is a compilation of my favorite 2008 Screw You! posts. Hopefully you'll enjoy rereading them as much as I enjoyed writing/living them. And if you missed them the first time around, you're in for a treat!

January 2008
On Freelancing, Irreverence and Transparency in which I decide I will never hide behind a mask, regardless of what others think of my putting-it-all-out-there mentality.

February 2008
Some Freelance Requests Get Better with Age in which a Middle Finger Award winner proves his worthiness.

March 2008
Fun with Irreverenct Freelancer Keywords wherein I highlight the interesting search terms that lead people to my blog.

April 2008
A Freelancer's First Draft in which I detail what happens when a client stupidly misunderstands the concept of a "first draft."

May 2008
Why I Love Screw You! wherein a delight over initial indications that my deadbeat-ending tactics are working.

June 2008
The Ultimate Get-a-Clue Freelance Request for the Week of June 16, 2008 in which I highlight a freelance request that provides more detail than anyone wants--or needs--to know.

Lookee What I Found in which my aforementioned deadbeat learns that my threats are actually promises and then tries to anonymously exact revenge in the comments.

July 2008
Three Dirty Little Freelancing Words wherein I give my opinion of "startups."

August 2008
Requesting Assistance in Standing Up for the Freelance Writing Profession wherein you and I take on an Internet marketer with a diabolical approach to "getting filthy rich."

And You Thought the Irreverent Freelance Was Tactless wherein a freelance writer hurls every expletive in the book at his editor.

A Middle Finger Award Winner Shows Up, which is self-explanatory.

September 2008
How Freelance Tattletaling Paid Off in which I turn a lost opportunity into an even better one.

And there, dear readers, the fun and irreverence ended. One day after that last post, my dad suffered a massive heart attack from which he is (miraculously) still recovering. Here's hoping 2009 will be a full year of "best of" Screw You! posts.