Day 14: Inspiration from Doonesbury?

Monday is... yeah, Monday. I tend to work strictly from home on Mondays, because I'm really not in the mood to face the world. (This becomes a problem when day jobs start up, but hey, I still have time before that strikes.)

I have found the freelance rhythm: getting assignments, pitching stories, writing them up in time of deadline. I think today's Doonesbury strip (up above) says it well. Writers write because we have to write. Not just that soul-fulfilling stuff that we tell friends/family/college classes to try and justify what we do, but the "putting food on the table" side that keeps us from having to go into an office every day.

I've been doing this for nearly 20 years, the last seven on my own as a freelance writer. I don't have a pension. At least, I don't have a pension from an employer (I have my own investments that I tithe to every month in hopes that it will grow to be enough to allow me to semi retire - writers never really stop - before I reach 70).

So, I scratch and claw for every bit of work I can find. I don't mind it at all. I enjoy writing and I enjoy discovering new things. Sure, the time spent writing about my passions (theater, music, the arts) is more fun than some of the other topics I've delved into through the years, but I've also enjoyed my trips to places outside of my comfort zone. All of it helps.

So I try not to dwell on the negative (a shrinking saving's account, which is typical for this time of year for me) and look to the positive (a chance to pick some of the winners for City Pages' annual best of issue). And at least it's sunny out today.