What I've Learned From 6 Months of Freelance Work

This is exactly what freelance anxiety feels like.
Or it might be a photo of a baby seriema from a German newspaper.

It doesn't seem possible, but I've been working as a freelance writer for six months now. That's half a year, folks! Back in May, when I quit my day job, it felt like I was jumping into an abyss. What would the future hold? Could I find enough work? Well, so far so good. Which doesn't mean that working without the relative safety of a steady paycheck isn't continually terrifying. But it does mean that I've learned a couple of things. Maybe you're contemplating jumping into the abyss too? If so, here are some things to consider:

1. Fear is the mind-killer.

Yeah, I know. A quote from Dune. How unoriginal. But here's the thing: in this case it's true. There are ups and downs in any job. Some days you feel like a genius for solving some problem, sometimes you feel like an idiot for screwing up something simple. And some mistakes are epic. But no matter what, chances are you're used to working with people, getting daily feedback from your boss and coworkers, and knowing that you couldn't have screwed up too badly if you come to work in the morning and still have a job. When you work from home none of that's true. Oh, you may get feedback from your editor or your cowriter, but nothing like the feedback loop you find at any "normal" job. It's easy to go through a rough patch, become convinced that you're a horrible fraud, and stop working. Don't let that happen. Instead, let the fear pass over you and through you. When it is gone only you (and the work you cranked out) will remain. And if you start with a Dune quote, you damn well better end with one.

2. Remember to invoice.

It's possible that this only applies to me. In fact, it's probable. But when I finish a project I often feel like it's done. Wrong! Getting paid is really, really important if you want to pay the rent. Don't expect your editor to chase you down and remind you either, because chances are the department that signs the checks is completely separate from the one that tells you how wonderful your final draft is. Plus, many places only pay once a month so missing the invoice cutoff might leave you living off of savings for longer than you'd like.

3. Tell the truth, but don't break their hearts.

When you agree to take on a job part of the deal is doing the work by the deadline. That's a given. But sometimes bad stuff happens and you know for a fact that you're going to miss it. Personally, I hate to miss deadlines. Doing so makes me feel like the photo above. It also leads to the feedback loop mentioned in #1. So, what to do? The best policy is honesty. Tell your editor, and give them a date that they can expect the work by. Talk to them about how to mitigate the damage. But don't give them a long, sad excuse. Even if the excuse is true and really, really sad. 

Here's how it should work: you say "I'm sorry, but it doesn't look like I'll be done on Friday. I can have everything to you on Tuesday though, if that's alright". They say: "That's cutting it close, but we can make it work. Although getting it in Monday would be better". You say: "Okay". Or work out what will work. But don't make them feel guilty. You're providing a service and it's up to you to get everything done. Editors are busy people. Don't make them too sad to do their jobs. And don't flood them with extraneous details.

4. Leave the house occasionally

This one's all about balance. Now that my husband and I both work from home it's very tempting to  simply never go out into the world. There are people out there, and traffic, and other things that interfere with getting a lot of work done. If you find that you're counting days instead of hours since you've gone farther than your driveway, you may want to schedule in some free time for yourself.

5. Learn how to say no, or at least how to say "when my schedule opens up"

There are countless ways to fill up your time doing favors for other people. Many of these people are well-meaning, they just don't understand that "work from home" doesn't mean "unemployed and looking for something to do". It's okay to tell them that you can't do a project, meet them for lunch, pick up their dry cleaning, whatever the case may be. Why? Because you're working. Even if you aren't on deadline, even if you are working on a creator owned property, you're still working. If you let other people forget that you run the risk of forgetting it yourself. 

So there you have it, my five top tips, culled from a whopping six months of experience. Now, back to work!

Spooky Reading... Digitally!

Halloween almost snuck up on me this year. Between the hot weather, a trip to NYC, a busy writing schedule... October seems like it just started...

But fear not, horror aficionados! Our skeletons are hung in the back yard, a row of pumpkins leads to our front door, and a full roster of recently published short stories are available for your reading pleasure.

I'm really proud to have Sky Full of Fire in this month's Lovecraft eZine, a free journal of lovecraftian horror. It's about a woman who loses everything: her home, her family, even her sense of reality. All she has left is her car, and that won't run. So what is she going to do about the monsters?

Last month saw the publication of my short graphic story The Carpetbaggers, with gorgeous black and white art by Kyle Latino. It's available in Horror Double Feature #2, as a download along with another horror short for $0.99. You can get it as a PDF or as an innovative app for your iPad. If you read it on your iPad you can peel back layers and see the process art as well as commentary from the creators, including me! Read it and learn what a guilt ridden war veteran is willing to sacrifice to defeat an ancient evil.

Want something a little shorter if not sweeter? My very-very-short story Solemn Bird was published in Eschatology earlier this year. All I will say about it is this: what is that thing in the river?

Speaking of things, my horror graphic novel Heathentown, created with the incomparable Gabriel Hardman, is now available digitally from Comixology. You can download the entire thing, all 98 pages, for just $3.99. It's a frightening steal!

Still in the Halloween spirit? I've been loving Eldritch!, a six issue digital comic by Aaron Alexovich and Drew Rausch. The first three issues are available for just $0.99 each. It's crazy and funny and scary and I promise you will not be bored for a second. Science and horror colide in almost every panel, a ratio that would make Lovecraft proud.

And with that, I'm off to do some reading. And maybe to contemplate why this giant shrimp has no heart. Happy Halloween!

All About "The Fishes"

Why yes, I do write prose! And not just here, on this blog. Most people know me as a zoo keeper, or as a comic book writer. And I am those things. Well, I'm not currently a zoo keeper, except at heart. I quit my job working at a small private zoo back in May to concentrate on my writing career. It was a big leap, and a rather scary one, but so far it's going well. I'm working on a Planet of the Apes miniseries for BOOM! Comics right now, called Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes. But back in May, before I had a firm writing job lined up, I wrote several short stories that are now seeing the light of day.

One of them, called THE FISHES, was published last week in the Absent Willow Review. It's a science fiction story involving a girl living in a remote farming community on a planet where the dividing line between night and day is perpetual. It's about curiosity and above all the need to connect with other living things.  Oh, and there's a bit of scary sailing of alien seas involved too.

It's tough work, flipping back and forth between comic book scripting and prose writing, but it's rather freeing too. So much of what goes into a comic book relies on the artist to tell the story. The storytelling really works or fails depending on the skills of the artist in most cases. But when you're writing prose there's no one to hide behind. No one is going to elevate your work past what it is. And there is no one to blame for your boneheaded ideas.

That said, I hope you like The Fishes if you decide to give it a read. You can see more of my work by clicking on the sidebar to the right too, if you're so inclined. And keep your eye out for two more stories appearing next month, a horror short called "Sky Full of Fire" and another science fiction story called "Oceans of Darkness". Happy reading!