What do all of these projects have in common? Not only can they be complex, but more importantly, all of these projects can involve an organization's image. Any time you come anywhere near image, you run into the situation that many different people within the organization (the head, the second in command, the marketing people, the lead designer, and more) all want input. And in fact they often should have input. Just not at the expense of the project.

Without the right approach you can get caught in the middle of internal politics and tugs of war. These types of fun can lead to infinite and confusing change requests from many people all at once. If you quoted them a per-project rate, you'll end up making far less per hour than you had expected. Even if you're being paid by the hour, you'll end up miserable because you can't get the project done and the client will probably complain about the bill.

So how do you avoid this? Insist on a single point of contact. This will be the person inside the organization that acts as your interface or buffer zone to everyone else. This insider can handle much of the internal push and pull, whether by mediating a lot of the issues behind the scenes, or pulling together meetings where you can find out more about what the problems are and how you can address them.

Essentially, you make the client provide their own internal wrangler. Along with that, also define who has to sign off at what milestones, and keep those numbers down to a minimum. Ideally, it's the single point of contact that signs off on things as well. Even if internally that means they have to get five people at the company to sign off first before they can do so.

Along with this tactic, also set a specific number of drafts that are included in the quote. One or two is typical. From there, additional changes cost extra.

Doing all of this might feel a bit like micromanaging and being draconian, but really it's just being professional. I'm a big fan of setting expectations up front. When everyone knows how it's going to work, then things go a lot more smoothly. You'll end up much happier, and your clients will too.

Leave Comment

DEE-ANN: Why did you choose to use your own name or start your own business to work under?

EV BISHOP: Well, a business license is cheaper when the business name contains the owner’s name. Seriously. However, I had another reason to use “Ev’s” besides my innate cheapness. My business developed almost unintentionally. I was writing a lot and starting to sell pieces, and eventually people started calling and asking me to take on writing/editing jobs.

When I realized that I could probably make a successful business out of these unsolicited phone calls, I didn’t want to lose the benefit of word-of-mouth/personal connection. I also didn’t want it to look like there was some other business in town competing with me. ☺

DEE-ANN: What types of projects/clients led to the unsolicited phone calls?

EV BISHOP: Two things particularly helped put me in people's minds as a writer to call:

1. In 1999, I landed a columnist position in the Community section of The Terrace Standard. Going on eleven years later, I'm still writing a monthly, and I still have people who call me because they read the latest one. 
2. Right around the same time I was hired on as a freelance columnist, I joined The Terrace Writers' Guild (TWG). Meeting regularly with other writers from a variety of backgrounds with hugely divergent writing experiences and goals was (and continues to be) incredibly inspiring and motivating. It was also (and again, continues to be) a great way to meet people who want  editing work done or know people who do.
   

DEE-ANN: What kind of clientele were they bringing in?

EV BISHOP: Terrace is a small town and word-of-mouth is a powerful force up here (in the whole region actually), but I expect that that's true most places you go. My column led to businesses calling me to do write ups to celebrate historic milestones (thirty years in business, for example) and things like retirement articles for company newsletters. The more of that type of work I did, the more people heard that I did that kind of work, and well, it was the snowball effect, I guess.

My "big break" into editing was meeting Angela Dorsey, a fantastic storyteller and YA writer, at TWG. She was trying to sell her first novel and at the point we met, it had been out to about 80 publishers and been turned down every time--usually with positive notes about what was working in the story. Her last rejection was almost a page long and elaborated on what (the publishers felt) didn't work. She was frustrated and I volunteered to read the book and see if I could figure out what they meant and how it could be remedied. She was happy to let me. I read and noted places I felt the rejection spoke to correctly (and how to perhaps "fix" the problem) and where I thought it was just personal taste. She rewrote with my suggestions in mind and landed an agent and book deal on the first new submission of the fresh story.

It was just luck for me that the novel sold after I edited it--Angela's work would've sold eventually anyway, because like I said, she's a great storyteller and a conscientious writer who would've, once the initial ouch factor faded, used the rejection to make her story stronger. But luck on my part or not, we do work well together. I love her writing and feel fortunate to still be the one who goes over each of her books before she submits them to her agent.

DEE-ANN: What type of freelance work do you do?

EV BISHOP: A lot of the magazine articles I sell relate to my personal interests, but as a writer/editor for hire, I’ll assist with reports, web copy, promotional materials, academic papers (editing only), newsletters, proofreading, structural and stylistic editing, storyline editing—you name it. Almost every project I take on is different, and I enjoy that.

DEE-ANN: How often do you get asked to write papers entirely for people?

EV BISHOP: Not as often as you might be afraid of! And when I have been, it was couched as a joke and very easy to dismiss (with a  short lecture/rant about the value and importance of intellectual integrity and work ethic! :)

DEE-ANN: How long have you been freelancing?

EV BISHOP: Almost ten years.

DEE-ANN: Full time or part time?

EV BISHOP: Full time as of January 2008. 

DEE-ANN: Can you describe a typical, or at least recent, project for us?

EV BISHOP: I don’t really have a typical project, a fact that keeps things interesting (although the learning curve can be a tad brutal at times!). Editing-wise, I tend to attract YA novelists (including Angela Dorsey) and post-graduate students. Recent big projects involved rewriting a business textbook and developing Sex-Ed curriculum.

DEE-ANN: What are the particular challenges in editing YA?

EV BISHOP: I think that the only real challenge is the same challenge that exists in editing any work: making sure that the suggestions you make, fit with and stay true to the writer who's telling the story. Thankfully, once upon a time, I had someone critique my work, beginning with the words, "If this was my story, I'd . . . " and all I could think was, It's NOT your story.

So yes, there's my editing mantra: It's not my story.  It's the author's. I strive to make all my comments or suggestions in that light--always stressing that they should disregard ideas that don't fit with their vision.

DEE-ANN: How did you get into editing for post-grad students?

EV BISHOP: Again, word-of-mouth. One of my old profs recommended me to someone doing their PhD, whose thesis adviser had told to find an editor.

DEE-ANN: What are the particular challenges there?

EV BISHOP: The biggest challenge is the material.  In order to edit something well, you have to understand the concepts and theories being addressed. You also have to be careful not to overstep the editor/writer boundary and do the rewriting for the student. When I work with fiction writers or creative non-fiction writers, I often rewrite brief passages to show what I mean by a specific comment. With academic works, I generally stick to proofreading notes and explanations of what I perceive to be problematic--the writer has to interpret and apply those suggestions.

The Editors' Association of Canada (EAC) website provides a very helpful list of guidelines for editing theses.

DEE-ANN: How did you get into developing Sex-Ed curriculum?

EV BISHOP: You're probably tired of me saying, "word-of-mouth," but there you have it. I've taught at Centennial Christian School in the past and when I started my business, they were a great client: I've designed posters for them, written up their strategic plan, and done other smaller jobs. British Columbia (as do most provinces, I assume) has guidelines about what should be covered in all subject areas.  Sex Ed (usually called by other names, like Family Planning, Personal Health, etc.) is no exception. I wasn't re-inventing the wheel, just designing and organizing lesson plans to help meet described learning outcomes.

DEE-ANN: About how much of your time do you spend on the business side, and how much on creating?

EV BISHOP: You mean the business side isn’t the creative side? ;-)

DEE-ANN: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone starting out or transitioning into your specialty?

EV BISHOP: Ask a good wage and don’t underestimate the time a job will take. The latter is always tricky, because projects have a way of changing scope as you work with a client.Make sure your contract allows for a certain amount of deadline grace, and if you’ve agreed on a set price based on estimated hours of work, have something in place in case the client’s vision for the project changes significantly and demands more time than the quote was based on.  

DEE-ANN: Do you have any tips for determining what and how to charge for a project?

EV BISHOP: It's tricky. I have a set per word rate for writing and a hourly rate for editing. I determined my rates in part by checking out different websites (PWAC offers great outlines), in part by talking to others in the business, and in part by figuring out how much I need/want to make per job, in order to have time to do a quality work every time.  I've read freelance success articles by writers who feel the secret to making a living is writing twenty or more shorts a day (often for Internet clients) for pennies that add up to dollars. I'm skeptical of that approach.

DEE-ANN: Do you have any time estimation tips?

EV BISHOP: I was always dead-wrong on my estimations, so now (it's so simple, I'm embarrassed it didn't occur to me years ago!) I ask to see the material and I work on it for a bit to get an idea of how long it will take, then I give a quote based on that.

DEE-ANN: How involved are the contracts you use? What's a typical length and number of clauses?

EV BISHOP: They vary too much to really give a helpful comment. For short pieces, I sometimes still just use an e-mail agreement. For bigger jobs, I always have a contract in place and I generally ask for 50% of my fee up front.

DEE-ANN: How did you develop your contracts?

EV BISHOP: Usually my clients are corporations or associations that have their own stock contracts, and I suggest any required modifications, then sign when the changes have been made.  In cases where I need to generate my own contract, I use the ones provided by EAC and PWAC. They're written in clear, concise language and easily modified.

DEE-ANN: What’s your favorite part of your work?

EV BISHOP: I find something to like about all of it. Editing is an intellectual challenge, and re-writing is like figuring out a puzzle—how do I best fit this other person’s words and thoughts into a cohesive (concise!) piece of writing? That said, I probably enjoy working with fiction writers best. It’s fun, and I derive a lot of satisfaction from helping other people pursue their creative goals. Despite the obvious importance of non-fiction writing, I feel like fiction is where the real truths are told and explored. Stories show us how to live, survive and thrive.

DEE-ANN: Do you write your own fiction?

EV BISHOP: Yes, and I'm slowly starting to put it "out there." I've short-listed in some bigger contests and have a short story, "My Mom is a Freak," published in Cleavage, an anthology editing by Deb Loughead and Jocelyn Shipley, published by Sumach Press. Sometime this summer, I will start submitting queries and partials for a mystery novel I just finished.

DEE-ANN: What have you learned about yourself and your writing from editing other people's work?

EV BISHOP: It's exciting (if a bit overwhelming, at times) to know that you never fully arrive. If you're up to the challenge and don't wimp out, you never have to stop learning, growing, and discovering new things.

DEE-ANN: Anything else you’d like to share with Freelance Survivors?

EV BISHOP: Just a small word to readers hoping to subsidize their fiction writing with freelance work: Make sure you slot in time for your novel or short stories, just the way you would schedule any job. It’s easy to have your time sucked into the vortex of the other people’s creations—wouldn’t it be horrible to write for a living and not have time to work on your own stuff?

[Editorial note: Excellent advice!]

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Finding Sources
• Master Books List
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• When You Get Overwhelmed
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Recording and Transcribing Interviews
• Conducting Compelling Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service

I prefer to take the phrase a little differently: Write what you Know. Know, as in Truth, as in the greater Truths that bind us all together. Such a definition doesn't rely on knowledge of particular details. It's more an awareness of the human condition and universal laws than whether you actually know what it feels like to be shot. 

However, when you do write (or talk, or film, etc.) about something, you also have a duty to try to portray it accurately. Again, I don't mean this term literally. Don't punish people with your research and include every tiny step on how to build your own thatch hut unless you are actually documenting how to do this so other people can replicate the process (in which case, go for it, cover every teeny tiny step!) I'm also not a fan of such detailed accuracy that you make it easy for someone to perpetrate a nasty crime.

Instead, the goal is typically to portray the flavor and reality of the thing without letting the nitty gritty details overwhelm. I tend to want someone who's a genuine practitioner not to roll their eyes at the ignorant stupidity of what I've put out there, and at the same time don't want to completely lose someone who doesn't really care about every step in making a snow cave since what they're there for is the emotional experience of it. Add the usual caveats for adjusting for your audience, the genre, the goals of the piece, etc.

So how do you manage capturing the essence of something that you don't know how to do? Or what if you're just writing something more straightforward like a journalist piece where you need to make sure you understand how something works, or have someone to quote with some facts? You start by tracking down the elusive beast known as a source.

Many people find it very difficult to approach strangers for assistance, especially strangers who have knowledge that they may admire. Let me start by saying that for a variety of reasons, a source is as afraid of you as you are of them. For one thing, there is the unfortunate fact that if the source is well-known enough or their field is covered enough, they may have experienced or heard horror stories of other journalists misquoting, slanting, or just plain garbling what they had to say in a way that may have reflected poorly on the source themselves. 

You can't do anything about past problems they may have run into or heard about. What you can do is conduct yourself in a manner that is respectful and clueful, showing them that you understand their frustration and that you will do a far better job on their behalf. If you're writing/filming/etc fiction then you might offer to show them a draft and give feedback. A journalist may not have that luxury since often you don't want to show people the article before it goes out, or you may have influence/pressure placed on you to alter it to be more favorable to them, which is not the goal either. Recording the interview is one method of protecting both them and yourself in this regard. Interviewing through email if you're working in a written medium is another, as you can just copy and paste the text.

But before you interview a source you have to find them and get them to agree to talk to you. I tend to think of sources in two groups, neither "better" than the other. There's the people who are already out there and covered and well-known experts on the topic, and then there's people who are maybe in your community (local, online, etc.) and have their own deep experience but don't have source-seeking creatives beating on their doors. Both groups are valuable in their own ways.

Sometimes it's the less talked to, more accessible people who will give you the most colorful and interesting information. They haven't been questioned to death on the topic so they're less rehearsed, and typically have stories that you won't find elsewhere that you can use (with their permission) to add some extra life to what you're working on. Depending on their particular credentials, they may or may not help you reach a level of credibility you need in order for your work to succeed (in some fields you really need to have internationally-known Ph.D.'s and whatnot on your source roster) but they're also less likely to have a personal agenda in sharing with you, in my experience. They might just be tickled you asked.

Then there's the rock stars of various fields. If you've already been doing reading/viewing on the topic, just look back through the works and see who was interviewed or thanked for their assistance. Unless you're doing a high profile project, though, these folks are probably too pressed for time to give you input. It depends on the circumstances and your timing. Again, I'm not a huge fan of using the same source everyone else does unless there really is only one expert to go to. Discussion can stagnate if only one expert is ever consulted.

On that note, here's some final suggestions for tracking down sources that may have the time to answer your questions:

• Professional associations - Track down professional associations serving the field of interest. Do they offer discussion forums that are open to the public? If so, you might post there. If not, you can write the association, explain what you're looking for, and ask if they can suggest anyone. Such associations also offer a member listing on their web sites, and may publish magazines and/or journals you can look at both for research materials and for people you might want to contact.
  
• Serious hobbyist sites - There's occasional hobbyists and then there's people who live and breathe a topic. Depending on what you're working on, you may not need a credentialed or titled source. Even if you do, hobbyists will have professionals that they admire and can recommend. They may even be able to give you an introduction.

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Master Books List
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Writing Technical Instructions
• Interview with a Freelancer: Heidi Hoff, Freelance Writer
• Interview with a Freelancer: Diana Gabaldon, Author
• Interview with a Freelancer: Dennis Fowler
• Interview with a Freelancer: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, Editor in Chief, Practical Technology

Linux Migration Guide: Choosing a Linux Distribution to Replace Your Windows Desktop

On CMSWire.com I had:

• eXo, JBoss Community Merge Portals For Best of Breed Open Source Solution
• New Linux Kernel to Bolster Open Source Momentum
• No Amazon Didn't Open Source the Kindle
• Barrie North on Books, Videos, and Joomla!
• Plone 4 Call for Proposals

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Master Courses Developed List
• Master Presentations and Workshops List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• Master Article List
• My Articles for the Week of April 27
• My articles for the week of May 4
• My Articles for the Week of April 20
• My CMSWire articles for the week of April 13
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 23
• Article: Optimizing MySQL Database Performance on Linux

Splunk
Supporting Splunk
Using the Splunk for Change Management Application
Using the Splunk for PCI Application
Script for “Daily Log Review” online course

Skillbridge
Custom internal course for Qualcomm

HPLearningCenter.com
Linux 301
Linux 201
Linux 101
Linux 101 Revised
Open source solutions in the business world

DigitalThink
Red Hat Fundamentals I
Red Hat Fundamentals II
Red Hat Fundamentals III
Red Hat Fundamentals IV
Red Hat Linux Security (a)
Red Hat Linux Security (b)
Red Hat Linux Networking Services (b)
Introduction to Red Hat Linux System Administration Series 1: Installation and System Initialization
Introduction to Red Hat Linux System Administration Series 2: System Administration
Red Hat Linux Essentials 1: The Basics
Red Hat Linux Essentials 4: Networking and the GUI
Introduction to Red Hat Linux II
Introduction to Red Hat Linux I        

Digital Education
Networking Linux

Ziff Davis Online University which became Element K
Unix: Linux Installation and Configuration
Using Eudora
Using Eudora II

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• My articles for the week of June 15 2009
• Master Presentations and Workshops List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• My Articles for the Week of May 11
• My Articles for the Week of April 27
• My articles for the week of May 4
• My Articles for the Week of April 20
• My CMSWire articles for the week of April 13
• Article: Optimizing MySQL Database Performance on Linux
• Don't Lose Your Work!

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• My articles for the week of June 15 2009
• Master Courses Developed List
• Article: Optimizing MySQL Database Performance on Linux
• Don't Lose Your Work!
• Article: Hiking Through CMIS Repos with CMIS Explorer
• Article: What Should Your Software Log?
• New article: Determining your Linux software's system requirements
• Project Pier Project Tracking
• When times get tough, the tough get tuning (Linux Webcast)
• Linux TV "Expert"

Wiley

Linux for Dummies Seventh Edition
Linux for Dummies Sixth Edition
Linux for Dummies Fifth Edition
Linux for Dummies Fourth Edition
Linux for Dummies Third Edition

New Riders

Linux Routing

Coriolis

Linux General I Exam Prep
Linux System Administration Black Book
Linux Install and Configuration Black Book

Active Education

Introduction to Microsoft Word 2000

Que

Using Eudora Second Edition
Running a Perfect Internet Site with Linux
The Internet CD Tutor
Using Eudora

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Finding Sources
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Writing Technical Instructions
• Interview with a Freelancer: Heidi Hoff, Freelance Writer
• Interview with a Freelancer: Diana Gabaldon, Author
• Interview with a Freelancer: Dennis Fowler

Mac OS memory flaws pose challenges for enterprise endpoint protection

On InformIT I had:

Barrie North on Books, Videos, and Joomla!

On CMSWire I had:

• Facebook Goes Open Source Under CPAL
• Reviewed: New Book on Selecting an Open Source CMS
• Open Web Vancouver: Hijacked by Pirates
• Open Web Vancouver 2009: Want More Women In Your Project?
• Open Web Vancouver 2009: Open Source Business
  

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• My articles for the week of June 15 2009
• Master Courses Developed List
• Master Books List
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• My Articles for the Week of May 11
• My Articles for the Week of April 27
• My articles for the week of May 4
• My Articles for the Week of April 20
• My CMSWire articles for the week of April 13
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 23

Edited to add: This list is as of 2 July 2009. I'll be updating it from time to time, I'll increment the date when I do.

Builder.com/TechRepublic.com

Warding off Feature Creep
Developing documentation without a tech writer
Burned out (or laid off)? Consider a career coach

CIO.com

7 Reasons Not to Use Microsoft Outlook for Your Company's E-mail

CMSWire.com

Hiking through CMIS Repos with CMS Explorer
Strong Web CMS Presence in Google Summer of Code Projects
Happy Tenth Apache Software Foundation
RDFa, Drupal and a Practical Semantic Web
An Updated Community Builder Suite for Joomla Web CMS
Subtext the.NET Open Source Blogging Platform You Never Knew
OASIS Approves Open Standard for Unstructured Information Access
New Book - Drupal 6 Social Networking (packt)
UK Government Backs Open Source
Plone Web CMS Geeks Ready 3.3, Call for Testers
XOOPS 3.3: Installation of Open Source CMS Gets Easier
Motion for Movable Type Eases Brand Tracking in Social Media
Drupal Documentation Project Gets Funding
Drupal Improves Security Update Process
DAMP Stack Installer Gets Drupal Newbies All Wet
Bug Fixes the Focus of Latest Release of CMS Made Simple
Alfresco host Worldwide Meetups for Community and Customers
ECM3 Maturity Model: Taming Enterprise Content Management Challenges
Mentioned on Ron Miller's Fierce Content Management site
Redact Documents and Protect Privileged Information
HTML 5 Supercedes Web Forms 2.0
Make Your Own Magazine with OpenZine
Alfresco Gets A New VP of Americas
Google Invests US$ 90,000 in Drupal
Open Source Value and the CMS Ecosystem
Open Source Code worth US$ 387 Billion
Open Source: The GPL, Your CMS Project and You
Packt RAW Program Produces First Book
Open Source CMS Fan? Thank These Folks!
Deploying Drupal Just Got Easier
Semantic Web Language Continues to Evolve with OWL 2
Microsoft's Quest for Interoperability and Open Standards
Ruby on Rails Playing in the Open Source Web CMS Market
Taking a Closer Look at Microsoft's Ms-PL Open Source License
State of the Project Report: Joomla! Web CMS
Open Source Knowledge Stack Call for Contributors
Improving Web CMS Usability: Drupal 7 Needs You
Could You Help with Some Open Source Research?
Drupal vs Joomla: Which CMS is Best?
New Google Tech Fuses SEO and Semantic Web
Alert: What's Coming for Open Source CMS in June 2009
Plone Foundation Approves Relicensing Policy
EU to Make Life Hard for Software Vendors, Open Source Projects?
The 2020 FLOSS Roadmap - Call for Contributions
Alert: What's Coming for Open Source CMS in May 2009
Packt Publishing Celebrates Its 5th Birthday with Gifts for You
State of the Project Report: Plone Web CMS
SilverStripe CMS Goes (more) International, Launches Partner Network
Alert: What's Coming for Open Source CMS in May 2009
Facebook Goes Open Source Under CPAL
Reviewed: New Book on Selecting an Open Source CMS
Open Web Vancouver: Hijacked by Pirates
Open Web Vancouver 2009: Want More Women In Your Project?
Open Web Vancouver 2009: Open Source Business
eXo, JBoss Community Merge Portals For Best of Breed Open Source Solution
New Linux Kernel to Bolster Open Source Momentum
No Amazon Didn't Open Source the Kindle
Barrie North on Books, Videos, and Joomla!
Plone 4 Call for Proposals
Plone Makes It Easier For Users To Give Feedback
Drupal 7 CMS to Add Content Type Extensibility for Dummies
Case Study: Momentum Magazine Builds Web Version With Drupal

Coastlines, the STC Canada West Coast Chapter newsletter

Welcome to Microsoft Office XP
Intro to Cascading Style Sheets
Intro to JavaScript
Intro to Dynamic HTML
Online Ergonomics resources
Online Help resources
E-mail newsletters
Online learning
JavaScripting
Cascading Style Sheets
Welcome to Microsoft Office XP

Computer Power User Magazine: "Warm Up to Penguins" Section

Installing Nvidia & ATI Drivers
A Look at SuSE 10.1 & XGL
Working with Flash in Linux
Listening to MP3s in Linux
Explore with Konqueror
Navigate with Nautilus
Surfing for Torrents in Linux
Making Music CDs in Linux
Introducing OpenOffice.org Base, Part II
Introducing OpenOffice.org Base, Part I
Resize LVM Partitions, Part II
Resize LVM Partitions, Part I
Playing Old Arcade Games with XMAME
Using the Find Command
Create OpenOffice.org Macros
Page layout with Scribus
A Hitchhiker's Guide to traveling with Linux
Create your own Linux boot CD
Playing Windows games under Linux with Cedega
Working with processes
Compiling source code
Introducing SELinux
Grab Web & FTP content with curl
Customize your built-in firewall, part 3
Customize your built-in firewall, part 2
Customize your built-in firewall, part 1
Monitor your hard drive space
Auto-starting GUI applications
Sorting out regular expressions
Update your Gentoo system with Portage
Grab updates & new software with apt-get
Everything you never wanted to know about yum
Spiff up your browsing with Firebird
Secure your machine against in-person exploits
Distributions on Bootable CDs
Civilization with Style
Use SmoothWall to Set up A Firewall
Get the Kernel You Need
FM Radio on Your Linux Box
Create & Edit Images with the GIMP, Part II
Create & Edit Images with the GIMP
Control Who Does What, Where, and How with Sudo
Make the Most of Your RAM
The Video Issues Linux Users Face, Part II
The Tricky World of Video in Linux
Start and Stop Programs Automatically, Part II
Start and Stop Programs Automatically, Part I
Get to Know Your Network Traffic
Watch Your Log Files for Intruders
Get up to Speed with Your Command History
Customize Your Command Line Login

Crossnodes.com/Internet.com

Securing the Mail: Batten Down the Hatches With Groupwise
Securing the Mail: Lock Down Exchange
Securing the Mail: Lock Spam and Viruses Out of Sendmail
Secure Your Network Against Viruses and Spam
Sign Your Users Up in the War on Spam and Viruses

DevSource    

A Gentle Introduction to Software Testing
So You Want to Work in QA?
Save QA Time with Test-Driven Development
When eXtreme Programming Makes Sense
Testing Web Apps on a Shoestring Budget

Executive Report from IBM    

TOURCast: A Real-Time Golf Coverage Application on Linux (reprint from InformIT)

Freelance Survivor (my blog)

Blog Posts

Freelancer Interviews

InformIT.com

E-Mail Server Administration 101
Fighting Spam and Viruses at the Server, Part V
Fighting Spam and Viruses at the Server, Part IV
Fighting Spam and Viruses at the Server, Part III
Fighting Spam and Viruses at the Server, Part II    
Fighting Spam and Viruses at the Server, Part I
TOURCast: A Real-Time Golf Coverage Application on Linux
Barrie North on Books, Videos, and Joomla! 

Inklings magazine (www.inkspot.com)

The Complete Non-Idiot's Guide to Breaking Into the Computer Book Market
Working with Editors   

Intercom magazine, the STC’s magazine for members

Breaking Into Computer Book Publishing

ITBusinessNet.com

Practical Revision Tracking in OpenOffice.org
Sharing Calendars Across Platforms
Should You Release Your Code as Open Source
Understanding and Setting Up WebDAV with Apache

Linux AppDev, newsletter

Samba: A Bridge Between Linux and Other OS’s
Samba: Handling Filenames

Linux Foundation

Linux Developer Network

Linux.com

Linux Journal/LinuxJournal.com

Puget for a Sound Decision on the Desktop
Playing PlayStation Games in Linux
You are Now Entering Blog-City
Get Your Windows Game On with Linux
Linux System Administration Tools

LinuxPlanet.com/LinuxToday.com/Internet.com

Novell's Desktop Advances
New Mono-Based Applications for GNOME in Fedora Core 5--Part II
New Mono-Based Applications for GNOME in Fedora Core 5--Part I
Buffalo Link Theater High-Definition: A Linux Multimedia Center from End to End
Pixel Image Editor Gives Graphics Goodness
Hardware Emulation and Old Games
Gaming Open Source
Penguins Like Salmon, Too: LinuxFest Northwest
Real World Linux 2004: Bigger and Better
A Day at the IT Forum in Vancouver
VERITAS Continues Linux Push
OSDL Seeks To Be Linux Center of Gravity
VERITAS: Then and Now
Big Changes Ahead for Red Hat: Opening up the Model for Linux Development
Previewing Summer LinuxWorld: Growing with Each Passing Day
Moving Files in Linux
Real World Linux Showcases New Products, Strategies
User Mode Linux: Coming to a Kernel Near You, Part 2
User Mode Linux: Coming to a Kernel Near You, Part 1
Controlling Access to Your Services with xinetd
Burning CDs Over the Network with webCDwriter
Exclusive Preview of Red Hat 8.0: Bluecurve's Debut
The Linux Kernel's SCSI Subsystem
Linux Books: The Best and the Brightest
Building Sounds for your Applications with SoundTracker
Burning CDs in Linux: Tips and Tricks
Linux in Canada: Are We Going Open Source Yet?
A Look at Kernel Cousins and KDE Myths
Win4Lin--For Those Who Can't Leave Microsoft Windows Behind
Gentoo Linux 1.2: Getting Better Every Day
Making Linux Sing
The UnitedLinux Dark Horse: Conectiva
Linux Partitions: A Primer
Ending Microsoft FUD: An Interview with Peruvian Congressman Villanueva
The Many Faces of Wine: Realities of Open Source and Business
A Sneak Preview of NetWin's SurgeMail: Exit Dmail, Enter SurgeMail
Linux Package Management: Keeping Up with the Times
Distribution Watch: Gentoo Linux
KDE 3.0 Review: Bumpy Install, Smooth Run
CrossOver Office: The Killer App for the Linux Desktop?
Review: SuSE Linux eMail Server III
Case Study: Clusters and Image Processing, Part I
Case Study: Clusters and Image Processing, Part II
Volution: Promising Solution, GUI Not Quite There Yet

LinuxWorld Magazine and LinuxWorld.com

Linux & Games: Installing TransGaming's Latest Release, Cedega 4.0
PowerDVD Software on the Linux Platform
Anarchy Online: Linux-Powered Science Fiction
Linux on the Back-End: Dark Age of Camelot
Linux Gaming: My Kingdom for an Artist
Ask the AnswerSquad: Patch Management
The Technologies behind the Games
Gaming Roundtable Highlights
Mainstream Games on the Linux Desktop
Linux for Fun and Profit
Don't count Linux out of games
The Loki Drama Rears its Head Again
Quick Linux Certification Guide
Introducing the Gaming Industry Department
Chris DiBona: Interview from the Future of Rekonstruction
Spam about the 'CAN-SPAM' act ... from a US government office
To Whom it May Concern
Ask the AnswerSquad! Backup Tools Available under Linux
Kernel Focus
Linux: Politics or Technology?
A Call to Action
Authors in search of Linux Experiences"
SCO Reveals its Secrets, Linux Community Laughs
Embarrassing Dispatches from the SCO front
Open Source Development

NewsForge/IT Managers Journal/OSDN

IT Opportunities in Radiology: Managing Digital Images with PACS
Programming and IT career opportunities in radiology
TransGaming's WineX 2.0: Get out those DirectX 8 games!
StudioB author resource section    
Computer Book Publishing for Beginners

TechTarget.com

Mac OS memory flaws pose challenges for enterprise endpoint protection
Optimizing MySQL database performance on Linux

The Computer Paper (Canada-wide print publication)

Both Canadians and the Canadian Government Notice Open Source
Linux Filesystem Round-Up
Penguin Sound Bytes: Technology and Society
Using Linux: Linux in Tinseltown
Using Linux: Canadians, government paying attention to open source
Using Linux: GUI the next generation
Using Linux: Seeking and supporting the elusive Linux desktop
Using Linux: Successful PostgreSQL bucks post dot-com trend
Using Linux: Linux distribution news
Using Linux: Share printers, files between multiple OSes
Getting ready for USB 2.0, UML, and LSM
Linux User Groups in Canada

Tiplet.com

Change Your Default Mail Client in OS X
Getting Programs to Start at OS X Login
Twitter Clients for Mac OS X
Disabling Sleep Mode in OS X
Adding a Calendar to Your OS X Menu Bar
Sites to Follow for Discount OS X Software
How to Show the Date and Time on Your Mac's Task Bar
Changing What Program Opens A File By Default in OS X
Two OS X Apps Every Mac User Needs

TUX

Customizing GNOME
Distribution Smackdown: Fedora Core 5
Software on Linux with CrossOver Office
The Amazing Amarok: Let the Music Play

WebSphere Developer Technical Journal

WebSphere Application Server 4.0 for Linux, Part 1: Installing and Starting Advanced Single Server Edition as a Non-Root User
WebSphere Application Server 4.0 for Linux, Part 2: Installing and Starting Advanced Edition and DB2 as a Non-Root User

Windows Professional, from ElementK Journals

Sharing files between Windows 98 and Linux
Sharing printers between Windows 98 and Linux

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• My articles for the week of June 15 2009

I'm pleased to announce that Freelance Survivor articles are now being syndicated onto YouWordMe.com, a site that offers turn-key solutions for writer web sites. Essentially an account gets you access to a content management system that you can configure and add content to without having to set up a full web site. Higher level accounts also let you add a storefront to your site.

The articles will appear here first and then on YouWordMe, so from the reader's perspective, little really changes. But I'm pleased as punch! First syndication on one site. Next, all over the world (I can dream, right?)

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Finding Sources
• Master Books List
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• When You Get Overwhelmed
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Conducting Compelling Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service

First, you have to look at whether the items you're trying to organize are digital or physical. I'm going to focus on digital here. In part, this means that I don't generally recommend printing out material unless you absolutely need to. Too often, people print out material that they really didn't need to, keep it for a few days, toss it in a pile, and then eventually just recycle or toss it out completely unused. Better to not print it out unless you absolutely need to. (If saying so makes me a tree hugger, I guess I should go outside and start hugging some trees.

Second, how complex is your project? For some tasks, tagging or adding labels to your email (whatever your particular email client supports) is all you need, allowing you to quickly find what you're looking for. You might also create folders for storing emails related to specific projects. If you use webmail then you might even be able to make a bookmark to the mail right inside your webmail or your browser.

The same goes for bookmarking important web pages. Make folders for your bookmarks for some basic organization. One method I used to use (and still use when I don't have any other options) is either emailing things to myself or asking people to email them to me so that they won't get forgotten or lost. I can then tag and file the mail as I need to. To find items later, you might check out Google Desktop if you don't like the search tools you already have.  

If you have a lot of printed materials, scan them in (or hire a student to do it for you, they could use the money and you can use the time doing things that will earn you more than you're paying them), and/or organize them with a product such as Levenger's Circa system of notebooks. For business cards, one clever solution is to lay them down in groups of four or so, take a digital photo of them, put and the file in a folder with notes on where and when you got the cards as part of the filename. You might also try storing your physical materials in a document storage box labeled with the projects it contains, and/or labeled manila envelopes.

When working on this blog post, I wrote some colleagues to ask how they organize their research. Since they all answered me through the email list, I was able to search my Inbox on the subject and view just their responses, and then move each piece of mail to a saved folder when I was done with it.

While this example might not sound much like organization, consider that putting things into order doesn't have to be a permanent thing. As long as it makes you able to find the information when you need it, it's organized, at least for the moment. In some cases, though, you need to be able to refer back to things later. When an editor asked me to clarify who had said something for an article, since I had put everything into a single folder in a single program, I was able to quickly search all of my interviews for that piece and tell him within just minutes. Before I started using this method, it might have taken me an hour to track down the information on my computer. 

Alas, a lot of projects aren't so straightforward with everything saved into text files dumped into a folder together. Where I started to get buried and seriously slowed down is when I have material from many different sources, meaning both many different people and in many different formats (say text files, email, PDFs, web pages, and images). I've found that for me, it's essential to get everything in one place so I don't have to flip between four different programs to find what I need, or I get bogged down and it takes me far longer than it should to collect my thoughts.

For this purpose, I use DEVONthink, an OS X program that lets me drag and drop in many different types of documents and organize them into project groups (If you're looking for Windows-specific software, check out Debrief or Treepad). Many swear by a Firefox add-on named Zotero for at least their online research needs, which I learned about when talking to colleagues about how they manage their research, and am considering switching to. I like that it's cross-platform, but first I need to try it out and see if it meets my needs as well as or better than DEVONthink does. With some of these tools you can drop in web pages as they appear right at that moment, which can be invaluable in making sure that you capture the information you needed--remember that materials on the web can change at any time.

Another popular solution is Evernote, which is a web-based service that offers free and paid options. Those who travel a lot and can't be sure they'll always have access to the same computer (or divide their work time between their smartphone and their computer) particularly like this option. You can also export an Evernote notebook to your computer, which to me is a must, as I want to be able to access my materials when I'm offline. In fact, you can sync the information across multiple machines/devices running multiple platforms. Add the Evernote browser plug-in and you can add information to this online tool even easier.

Don't have a digital way to take notes that you can carry around? Some people carry 3x5 cards for this purpose, and the more dedicated even print out a framework onto the cards that they can use as a guide to put down the information they specifically need (author, title, etc.) You can then either type in the information or scan it in. Extra points for doing an OCR scan so the computer gets the text without you having to type it.

Eventually you'll find that the information in one folder will pile up and become unwieldy. Organization is a process that's never entirely finished. When too much data piles up in one spot, split it into sub-folders/categories so that you can still quickly find things. And make smart use of search.

Organization might sound like a lot of work, but ultimately, keeping yourself organized at even a basic level pays you back in spades. You'll save tons of time when working on the project, when answering queries about it, and even later when you realize that you need to refer back for a new project to source materials from a year ago. Of course you'll also save yourself some stress and give yourself the gift of peace of mind as well. And what freelancer couldn't use a bit of both?

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• When You Get Overwhelmed
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Conducting Compelling Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Heidi Hoff, Freelance Writer
• Getting Speaking Gigs

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Getting Speaking Gigs

• Could You Help with Some Open Source Research?
• Drupal vs Joomla: Which CMS is Best?
• New Google Tech Fuses SEO and Semantic Web
• Alert: What's Coming for Open Source CMS in June 2009
• Plone Foundation Approves Relicensing Policy

Leave Comment

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: I had established a good reputation under my own name and had clippings from various publications and work-related projects, so using my own name seemed like the best way to go. I also just couldn't come up with a clever business name! IN addition, I started freelancing fulltime in 1984, before the Internet became so omnipresent, so there was no need for a business name to attach to a website or domain.

DEE-ANN: What type of freelance work do you do?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: I write articles for international, national, regional and local newspapers, magazines, newsletters and websites, including independent publications and ones published by associations, nonprofits and businesses; write, edit and desktop-produce newsletters and annual reports for nonprofits, businesses and organizations; manage websites for a couple associations; and present workshops and classes on freelancing and newsletters.

DEE-ANN: How long have you been freelancing?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: I sold my first freelance piece while I was in high school; made a point of having freelance projects in place while working fulltime since 1980, after one of those "I quit/you're fired" situations made me realize how important it could be to have something in hand other than one's regular job; and went freelance fulltime in 1984. 

DEE-ANN: Full time or part time?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: Fulltime since 1984; part-time from about 1976 'til then.  

DEE-ANN: Can you describe a typical, or at least recent, project for us?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: Gosh, I do so many! Both "typical" and "recent" would probably be a profile article about an interesting person, all of an association or nonprofit newsletter, and editing or proofreading a few articles written by other people. 

DEE-ANN: How do you choose people to profile, or do you choose them yourself?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: I do profiles both of people assigned to me and who catch my interest. Both approaches are fascinating, and I always come away from the projects having learned something new; not just about the people I write about, but about the world in terms of what people do - their professions; their world views; sometimes unexpected connections between us, even when we start out as total strangers before the interview.

DEE-ANN: What type of people do you tend to interview?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: Association or nonprofit members and leaders, for the most part; business leaders as well.

Almost anyone interests me. I especially like to meet and write about people who are giving something back to their communities or professions, have overcome some kind of odds in life, or have created something in the arts.

DEE-ANN: How do you approach building someone's profile?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: I ask for a bio/CV and, nowadays, do an Internet search for additional details. Sometimes my editor/client will provide background information about the person's involvement and roles in the organization involved; my editor/client or the person being featured often provides writings by the person.

Sometimes I'm asked to contact people who know the subject of the profile and ask for additional information about the person from the perspective of those who work with him or her. Then I draft a few questions, send them by e-mail, arrange a phone or in-person interview that usually includes a few more topics beyond the original questions, take copious notes, and sit down or head home to write it all up. I try to write it up as soon after the interview as possible, so the conversation is fresh in my mind.

Initially, I do a full write-up of my notes without worrying about length, then go back and edit myself to fit the assignment length. If someone turns out to be worthy of a lot more words than the assignment calls for, I'll contact my editor/client to see if we can accommodate a longer profile somehow.

I turn in the manuscript, send off my invoice, and move on to the next project! When the piece is in print, I make sure the person profiled will receive a copy and ask for permission to include the piece in the portfolio section of my website.

DEE-ANN: About how much of your time do you spend on the business side, and how much on creating?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: I spend much more time on creating and doing the work than on the business side; probably 15 percent on business activities, from filing and recordkeeping to marketing. I should do more marketing, as should we all!  

DEE-ANN: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone starting out or transitioning into your specialty?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: Be professional and don't give up. 

DEE-ANN: What are three things you would consider "being professional"?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: 1) Present yourself professionally - no little-kid's voice on your answering machine, no silly photos at your website, always have a business card in hand, etc. 2) Do high-quality work. 3) Don't whine to clients or colleagues if things aren't going well.

DEE-ANN: What’s your favorite part of your work?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: The variety of topics and projects, and the freedom to do things when (mostly) and how I prefer. 

DEE-ANN: What are three things that you would say represent your work style?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: A lively, engaging, interesting writing "voice"; flexibility and reliability; high quality of writing and of self-editing and proofreading my work.

DEE-ANN: What would you rather farm off on someone else?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: Record-keeping/filing/bill-paying and finding new business. 

DEE-ANN: Anything else you’d like to share with Freelance Survivors?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: I love what I do, and can't imagine any other lifestyle! 

DEE-ANN: What would you say characterizes the freelance lifestyle?

RUTH E. THALER-CARTER: Never being bored, thanks to a wide range of clients and types of projects; flexible and fitting the individual's biological clock and personal preferences of how, when, how much, for whom and why to work; unlimited opportunities; having control, for the most part, of one's career. Freelancing isn't easy, but it's wonderful when it's done right and it works!

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Finding Sources
• Master Books List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Organizing Materials and Research
• When You Get Overwhelmed
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Conducting Compelling Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service

First, how in the heck do freelancers let ourselves get into these situations? For one thing, since famine is a real possibility, it can be difficult to say no to a job if the pay and terms are otherwise decent. Heck, if things have been slow you might not even care if the pay or terms are decent, you'll just say yes to keep a roof over your head.

Another issue is planning and time estimation. Each project has its issues. Some of them are within your control, and others are not. And some like to hide in the bushes and jump at you when you're innocently plugging away, throwing off the entire schedule. You may have thought that you would have project A done weeks before project B needed to start, only to discover that you're expected to go full tilt on both simultaneously.

And sometimes, well, we're just really bad estimators. I won't claim that time estimation is one of my strengths. That's a skill I'm working on.

Regardless of how we get there, everyone becomes completely overwhelmed with just too much to do at some point. How you react to this feeling can be quite individual. Some people freeze, paralyzed, just having no idea what to do first. Others might start rushing, being sloppy and making mistakes along the way. Then there's those who just refuse to even acknowledge that there's a problem in the first place.

You absolutely must start by admitting to yourself that you're in over your head. Sometimes I find that I'll spin in circles, so to speak, until I realize what has me freaked out. Just naming the problem makes me feel better even when it means I have to now solve the problem.

And yes, you do have to solve it. You don't want to spend weeks figuring out how to do so, as obviously you have work to get done, but something has to give. I'll go over a method that's worked for me. If you have one that works better for you, feel free to share in the comments.

I start by looking at the total of what needs to be done, by when, and for whom. If you have something scheduled a month in advance then you can probably ignore it for a week while you work on other things, but be careful with this. If you, say, need to get interview responses from someone, you need to send the questions early enough so they have time to answer.

In my case I decided that what was bogging me down was work I was doing for a particular client. They were my lowest paying, the work was something I was unaccustomed to doing, and they wanted a lot of pieces turned in regularly in short amounts of time. I was spending an inordinate amount of time just on them, trying to keep up, and was doing the work so inefficiently that i was falling behind everywhere else.

So with the problem identified in more detail, I had to solve it. There are many ways to do so, and the option you choose depends on how important the client and the work you do for them is to you compared to everything else you're doing. I try to take both a short and long range view of these things, where do they fit in my overall short term and long term goals compared to everything else?

Once I have a feeling for that, I have to decide how I want to handle things. Letting the situation continue is absolutely out of the question. One way or another it has to be solved. In my case, I decided that I wanted to keep this client, I like working with them and the work I do for them is strategic for me for a number of reasons even though they paid the least out of everyone I work for. However, I needed both to learn how to be more efficient, and slow down the work load a bit so that I could catch up elsewhere. Then we could revisit things. If this wasn't possible and they couldn't or wouldn't be flexible, I would have to seriously reconsider what I was doing.

But of course there are two entities in that equation. Once I had the problem identified and knew what I hoped to do about it, it was time to leap in and just handle it. I'm always a bundle of nerves when going into what might turn into confrontation or rejection, but handling such things is just part of being an adult and a businessperson. So, I contacted the client and said I'd like to talk to them by phone.

Within hours, I was explaining to them the problem I was running into. I'm a person who prefers to find a win-win approach, and so I stuck with the basic facts of where I was running into trouble to see if they were interested in working with me to find a solution. I never said that I needed a raise. Obviously I'd love one, but the point was that I was overwhelmed and needed to adjust my workload. Keeping the same workload for higher pay would leave me just as overwhelmed, if maybe looking forward to the pay a bit more.

By the end of the conversation, I had a raise anyway, we'd discussed various ways that I could be more efficient on my end and ways they could help from their end, and the amount of work I was expected to turn in regularly was significantly reduced until I get caught up.

I also allowed this site to linger a bit. As important is it is to me to try to be consistent with Freelance Survivor, ultimately I won't be surviving very well as a freelancer if I can't step back from my own projects for a moment to give my clients more attention. In the future I hope to have more ways to keep this from happening, such as having more articles lined up to go ahead of time. I'd allowed myself to fall behind until I was working on the next article on the queue each time instead of a week ahead, and it bit me. 

I'm not completely caught up yet, but I've been steadily getting there, and boy is it a good feeling. It's easy to not realize just how stressful it is to be far behind. I feel like the Sword of Damocles was hanging over my head and I finally might slide out from under it. That I was able to handle this without losing a valued client is definitely icing on the cake. Things don't always turn out so neatly, but in the end it's better to end a single project than mess up for multiple clients simultaneously. 

So what do you do when you find you've dug yourself into a hole and can't seem to climb out?

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Career Planning: Investing In Your Skills
• Conducting Compelling Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Heidi Hoff, Freelance Writer

• EU to Make Life Hard for Software Vendors, Open Source Projects?
• The 2020 FLOSS Roadmap - Call for Contributions

The new Linux.com is now live (and gorgeous!) My first piece to appear on there is this case study, which was a fascinating piece to work on. Talk about a Linux migration done exactly right:

• Linux Picked in Gendarmerie Lineup

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Master Courses Developed List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• My Articles for the Week of April 27
• My articles for the week of May 4
• My Articles for the Week of April 20
• My CMSWire articles for the week of April 13
• Article: Hiking Through CMIS Repos with CMIS Explorer
• Article: Manage Your Open Source Projects with Trac
• Project Pier Project Tracking
• Seeking Women in the Open Source Community

• Writing for Hire (a blog about the business of writing--freelance, fiction, etc.)
• The Book Grrl (a blog with book reviews and news)
• Random and Sundry Things (my little blog about whatever)

Here are also some articles regarding the fundraiser she recently organized and ran for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, she's been busy!

• Freedom Ride for Dystonia
• The Dystonia Medical Research Foundation
• The Gazette article about her ride
• The Examiner article
• The Howard County Times article (scroll midway down)

DEE-ANN: Why did you choose to use your own name or start your own business to work under?

DEBBI MACK: If you mean, why did I choose a trade name, I did it primarily to establish my business as an entity of sorts. It's a sole proprietorship, but having a business name tells people what I do and lends my business some gravitas. Also, if I ever want to become a government contractor, it fits within their paradigm better than just operating under my own name.

If you mean, why did I start my own business, it was so I could be my own boss, choose my own work, work from home at the hours of my choosing. All the usual reasons, I think.

DEE-ANN: What type of freelance work do you do?

DEBBI MACK: I've done a wide variety of writing for many types of clients. I'm currently doing a lot of work on marketing and promotional materials for businesses and nonprofits. Some of it's pretty standard--Web copy, brochures, pamphlets. Some of it's a bit unusual--I recently wrote a script for a school's fundraising video (that was fun).

I've also written articles for publication, including consumer press and trade magazines. I'm currently writing book reviews for a community newspaper. As I have a legal background, I've also done research and writing for legal publishers.

For six years, I wrote a monthly article for a magazine for in-house counsel. Unfortunately, that gig ended--taught me a lesson about keeping up with marketing, that's for sure. My legal and environmental background also led to a proofreading project for an environmental think tank. In addition, I've done research for law firms.

DEE-ANN: What lesson did you learn about keeping up with marketing? What did you do to get through that?

DEBBI MACK: Well, there's nothing like losing a steady, good-paying client to teach you the importance of continuing to market. If you don't keep marketing, you run the risk of relying on a few key clients and suffering the consequences if they decide they no longer need your services.

How did I get through it? Financial and moral support from my husband was a huge part of that. Plus my own stubbornness, determination and willingness to try new things--take on new types of projects and try new marketing and networking strategies.

DEE-ANN: What have you found to be the most effective way to find such a variety of work?

DEBBI MACK: The most effective way I've found is to go out and meet people and tell everyone what I do. I try to listen to what they do and think about their needs. Then I can tell them what I can do for them. I try to be open minded and willing to do things that are new, if I feel up to it.

I've tried query letters and cold calls--without much success. Frankly, I do better with personal referrals than queries. I've gotten a few article writing assignments because someone referred me to an editor. In fact, my long-term association with Corporate Legal Times was the result of a referral. Occasionally, I've gotten work through Job Banks and other online job listings--but it hasn't paid very well, for the most part. So I tend to focus on marketing, networking and referrals now.

DEE-ANN: Could you expand a bit on in-house counsel? Is that a company's own legal staff?

DEBBI MACK: Yes, an in-house counsel is simply an attorney who works on staff for an entity (a legal entity, like a corporation). As opposed to an attorney who works under contract either solo or with a law firm.

DEE-ANN: What's your legal background?

DEBBI MACK: I practiced law for nine years. My experience included several years as an attorney for the federal government--first, handling disability appeals in federal court for the Social Security Administration, and later, with the general counsel's office at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where I advised the pesticides and toxic substances program offices. At EPA, I also worked with Justice Department attorneys on cases that went to federal court, and was responsible for handling suspension and cancellation hearings for pesticide registrations  (a small portion of my work).

Between government jobs, I worked at a law firm, first in the litigation department, then later in land use and zoning. After I left EPA, I opened my own office--a general practice. What an attorney friend of mine called "door law." Whatever came through the door, we would take it. (I'm exaggerating a little--but just a little.) After three years in practice on my own, I decided I'd rather be writing, after taking a couple of freelance assignments for legal publishers. I was a journalism major in college and had always wanted to write for a living.

DEE-ANN: How long have you been freelancing?

DEBBI MACK: I took my first freelance project in 1995, but didn't start my business (officially) until 1998.

DEE-ANN: Full time or part time?

DEBBI MACK: That has varied. From 1998 to 2000 and from 2005 to 2006, I held part-time jobs. I also spent 2000 to 2002 getting a Masters in Library Science. I was freelancing, too, but school took a lot of time. After I left my last job, I decided it was full-time freelancing or bust. I also write crime fiction and struggle to balance my time on both endeavors.

DEE-ANN: Are you published with your crime fiction? If so, where?

DEBBI MACK: I had a novel called Identity Crisis published in 2005 by Quiet Storm Press. It's a hardboiled mystery featuring a Maryland lawyer/sleuth named Sam McRae, who investigates a case of murder and identity theft when her client is accused of those acts. It's written in the style of a private eye novel, rather than a courtroom thriller (I don't write those).

I also have a short story in a mystery anthology called Chesapeake Crimes--the first anthology of a series--which was published in 2004 by Quiet Storm, but has been reissued since then through Lulu.com. I recently had another short story accepted for inclusion in Chesapeake Crimes 4, which will be released by Wildside Press in March 2010.

DEE-ANN: Do you write your crime fiction under the same name or a different one?

DEBBI MACK: My own name--Debbi Mack.

DEE-ANN: How do you use your existing freelancing skills for your fiction?

DEBBI MACK: I suppose if there's a set of freelancing skills I use as a fiction writer, it's primarily in marketing and promotion. Just like a freelance business, you have to market your fiction. You have to identify who you want to market to and do your marketing accordingly. Being a fiction writer is like having a separate business--with all of its own marketing, promotional, networking and other responsibilities.

I also use my research and interviewing skills quite a bit to get background info for my novels.

DEE-ANN: What new freelancing skills have you had to learn for the world of fiction?

DEBBI MACK: Don't know that I've had to learn new skills. I think it's more a matter of applying the skills I have to achieve the ends I'm seeking (e.g., a well-researched book, more readers, reviews, greater sales, etc.).

DEE-ANN: Can you describe a typical, or at least recent, project for us?

DEBBI MACK: Wow--typical. That's hard, actually. Let's go for recent, shall we? :)

The video for the fundraiser. I got that job through a contact in a networking group I'm in called Network Referral Group (NRG). I worked collaboratively with a videomaker to create a video to raise money for a school's foundation. It involved a couple of meetings with school foundation officials and a tour of the school.

Based on what I learned during the tour and meetings, plus reading some of their existing written material, I wrote the script for a 10- to 15-minute video. After writing it, I had to read through it at a narrator's pace, to make sure it would fit the time constraints.

The script went through a lengthy editing process after that--when you work with a non-profit foundation, the board scrutinizes things carefully, tweaks the wording and so on. After the script was finalized, the videomaker filmed it. They showed it at an alumni fundraising dinner--and it was a huge success. Now I have my own copy of the video. The project paid well and there's nothing like seeing your name in closing credits. :)

DEE-ANN: Could you tell us a bit about [the NRG] and how you found it? What was nvolved in joining?

DEBBI MACK: Simple. I found them online with a Google search on "networking groups" (or something like that). I probably limited my search to Maryland, where I live. I checked them out, went to a meeting, and signed up. Joining is just a matter of paying the dues ($400 a year--I've made it back many times over in business I've gotten through the group) and agreeing to show up for weekly meetings. A relatively small commitment that's given me great results. And the more you put into it, the better your results tend to be.

DEE-ANN: How do you approach a project when it's a new type of work to you, such as the script writing? Scripts have a very specific structure, etc.

DEBBI MACK: I try to find examples and use them as templates, for one thing. I also read what I can about the sort of project I'm working on (in short, do my research). The script writing gig worked out well, because I met the client in my NRG networking group. She knew I was new to this and gave me a sample of a video script--which is very different from a feature film or TV script (though I've written them, too--or, at least, tried).

I was writing the voice-over for a school's fundraising video that was going to emphasize the students today, as well as harken back to yesterday (it was geared toward an alumni crowd). I was told what emotional tenor to try to reach. Once I had an example of the format and an idea of what they wanted to achieve, I simply wrote out something that seemed appropriate.

I knew I had to make it readable and listenable, too, if that makes any sense. I wrote the script keeping in mind that it would be a guide for the images the video would include and read the narration aloud to see if it sounded good when spoken. I hope that answers the question.

DEE-ANN: About how much of your time do you spend on the business side, and how much on creating?

DEBBI MACK: That's another tough one. I do a lot of networking and marketing, both online and in person. If I add up the networking events I attend, my blogging and promotional writing, plus administrative duties--it could vary anywhere from 30 to 70 percent of my working time (totally rough estimate) on any given week, depending also on my workload.

This is just considering day-to-day marketing and administration--it doesn't count conferences or workshops I attend. Even so, the remaining time might not all go to "creating"--there are tasks like research and planning a project that seem to fall outside the scope of creating, but not under the heading of business.

DEE-ANN: What types of projects do you find require the most planning?

DEBBI MACK: I don't know. I think they all require some level of planning. I'd be tempted to say articles, since I like to do research before I start calling sources and plan what I'm going to ask them. But I also do research before I work on client's marketing materials, so I have some familiarity with their business and some idea what kind of questions to ask the client.

DEE-ANN: Do you have any project planning tips you want to share? Techniques? Tools?

DEBBI MACK: I started to write out a long-winded answer to this question, when I realized I was repeating things I'd already written about in my monthly Web site column for May on work-life balance at http://www.debbimack.com/. I actually discuss some of my approach to project planning as part of achieving work-life balance. I hope this answers your question. :)

DEE-ANN: What types of projects require more planning than you'd imagine?

DEBBI MACK: Not sure there's been one that required more planning than I imagined, but then I'm an obsessive planner. :)

DEE-ANN: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone starting out or transitioning into your specialty?

DEE-ANN: What's been your biggest step out of your comfort zone?

DEBBI MACK: I suppose the biggest step outside my comfort zone may have been writing the video script. It was, as you've noted, a very different sort of writing. I guess the other area which has been a bit different for me is grant writing--a specialized skill, but one I didn't feel completely uncomfortable with because of my legal training.

Following directions exactly on grant applications and providing information in a succinct, persuasive way seemed like something a former attorney could do with little problem. My only concern was lack of experience with non-profits and the grant-making process in general. But, again, it's surprising how much one can learn and accomplish when you apply yourself.

DEE-ANN: What was the most surprising one?

DEBBI MACK: I'm surprised to be doing anything other than article writing. I didn't figure I'd enjoy marketing or promotional writing. But some of my most interesting work has been either marketing, promotional or fundraising work for businesses and nonprofits. But I still enjoy writing articles.

DEE-ANN: What’s your favorite part of your work?

DEE-ANN: Any networking tips you'd like to share?

DEBBI MACK: I think it's important to not only network with potential clients, but also one's peers. You can learn a lot from other writers, make important connections and pick up work from one another. In general, it pays to be as visible as possible in as many places as possible. And you can do this not only face-to-face, but online through social media sites and Twitter.

DEE-ANN: At what point did you realize you were starting to enjoy networking?

DEBBI MACK: I couldn't tell you when precisely, but after doing a few networking events at which I kind of hung back and didn't say anything, I realized I wasn't getting anywhere with that approach. I decided I needed to change my attitude--look upon a networking event as being like a party, rather than a work obligation. Except treat it like a party where I'd be prepared to tell people who I was and what I did.

I also found that asking questions and listening to other people was interesting. The more you listen to what others do, the more you learn about what you might be able to do for them.

DEE-ANN: What are your favorite modes of networking?

DEBBI MACK: I like my NRG networking group and the various events NRG offers (open houses, training sessions and a quarterly trade show). I like mixers--informal events where you can talk to people one-on-one or in small groups. I'm not a big fan of those massive "speed dating" networking events. I mean, you collect a lot of cards and give an elevator speech--and then what? You've got a lot of cards from people who might possibly remember you--maybe. Half the time I can't remember them, so how much will they remember about me? I tend to prefer networking where you can get a better sense of the other person's personality and better connect at a level that might actually blossom into some kind of professional relationship.

I'm also dabbling in relationship building online. It's very efficient. It's time saving. It's "green" (less gas wasted driving to events, less pollution from cars, etc.) Still, I think of it as an adjunct, rather than a substitute, for face-to-face networking. As much as I love doing business online, it's really no substitute for meeting someone in the flesh. Even a phone call beats nothing more than oline contact. And I have done work for people around the country, so sometimes phone contact is the best you can do.

DEE-ANN: What would you rather farm off on someone else?

DEBBI MACK: Anything that's too technical or relies heavily on expertise I don't have and that I can't get from doing research.

DEE-ANN: Anything else you’d like to share with Freelance Survivors?

DEBBI MACK: Your freelancing career is your creation. You get to make all the choices. How long you work, what you work on, how you target your marketing--think about what you really want and figure out how to make it work for you.

I know it sounds like a cliche, but you really should work smarter and not harder. Otherwise, you may find the business running you, not the other way around. Take the time to have a life outside work. Establish regular work hours. And shoot for the kind of work you enjoy. If you're going to build a business, make it a business you love--otherwise, you may just as well find any old job and get a regular salary, right?

DEE-ANN: Do you have any tips on how to narrow in on what you really want to do?

DEBBI MACK: Conventional wisdom is to focus on what you know. There's probably something to that. I've done legal writing, research and proofreading because I know it. I've thought about doing more legal marketing. But I also believe that it's important to focus on what you love. If you feel passionately about a topic or type of writing, you can start small and gain experience. Maybe build up your portfolio while you're working on the stuff you know to pay the bills. :)

Oh, and it never hurts to think about what market exists for the type of work you want to do. If you don't know your market, you won't know who to pitch your work to and you won't find the clients. Without clients, you have no business.

DEE-ANN: Do you have any tips on how to target your marketing?

DEBBI MACK: Consider writing articles for trade or professional journals or speaking to trade or professional groups that might want to use your services. Find the people you want to sell your services to and create a presence among them in some way. Some people buy booths at trade shows (I've never done, but I've thought about it); if you don't buy a booth, you might want to attend one or two.

Let's say you want to write for lawyers. If you spoke at a local bar association conference about legal marketing, you'd probably end up with some great leads. If I were smart, I'd probably do more of that. :)

DEE-ANN: Do you have any tips on the whole work smarter not harder thing?

DEBBI MACK: Try to target your marketing to your niche as much as possible, while remaining open to doing other types of work. Don't try to hit every networking event--you'll just run yourself ragged. But go to a few and figure out which ones seem to be working for you. Think about what you're trying to achieve by attending an event, then gauge your success afterward. Don't go expecting to land a client. Go with the hope of making a connection that may someday lead to a client. If you "feel" you're making those connections (I tend to gauge these things based on instinct), it's probably going to work for you.

Do the best you can on every project you take, but know when enough is enough. Sometimes I think freelancers tend to try to make everything they do perfect. But eventually, you reach a point of diminishing returns. And you just have to say, "Okay. This one is as done as it gets." :)

DEE-ANN: Do you have any business tips for freelancers?

DEBBI MACK:Nothing beyond the ordinary advice. Keep track of all your expenses. Keep careful records. Keep track of your business mileage and everything you spend at conferences involving travel. Also, don't forget about home office deductions.

Bottom line: have someone who knows self-employment tax issues prepare your returns. I just collect receipts, keep a running total of income and expenses in a Dome book and let him handle the paperwork. :)

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Finding Sources
• Master Books List
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• When You Get Overwhelmed
• Recording and Transcribing Interviews
• Conducting Compelling Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service

• Alert: What's Coming for Open Source CMS in May 2009
• Packt Publishing Celebrates Its 5th Birthday with Gifts for You 

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• My articles for the week of June 15 2009
• Master Courses Developed List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• My Articles for the Week of May 11
• My articles for the week of May 4
• My Articles for the Week of April 20
• My CMSWire articles for the week of April 13
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 23
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 16
• Articles: My CMSWire articles for the week of 9 March 2009

• State of the Project Report: Plone Web CMS
• SilverStripe CMS Goes (more) International, Launches Partner Network 
• Alert: What's Coming for Open Source CMS in May 2009
  

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• My articles for the week of June 15 2009
• Master Courses Developed List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• My Articles for the Week of May 11
• My Articles for the Week of April 27
• My Articles for the Week of April 20
• My CMSWire articles for the week of April 13
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 23
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 16
• Articles: My CMSWire articles for the week of 9 March 2009

• The legal issues. In many places it's illegal to record a phone call without everyone on the call agreeing to it. Depending on your country, state/province, city, etc., the rules may be different. A general rule of thumb to follow is if you're not sure is to assume it's not legal, and get the person's agreement on the recording itself. That way no one can argue later that they hadn't agreed.  
• What's making the recording? Do you have a digital or tape recorder you're hooking up to the phone itself, like this one for many cordless phones or these? How are you doing the hookup? You need special hardware to record phone calls. Mac users might want to check out Parliant's PhoneValet, which (depending on the version) lets you plug your phone line into a modem or other device and handle the calls directly through your computer. You might also consider using any digital or tape recorder and putting the call on speakerphone (unless you're recording for a podcast, then you need much better audio quality, but that's for a different discussion.) Some recorders have USB connectors that you can then hook up to your computer to copy the sound file over.

Recording through an Internet phone line is a bit easier, at least where the audio's already going through your computer. All that you need, then, is a program that can capture and record both sides of that audio. For Linux, Mac, and Windows users, there's Gizmo (it's like Skype but has recording built in). For Mac Skype users, some swear by Call Recorder since Skype can't record calls without additional software.

If you're an audio buff or prefer software that can be used for more than one purpose, then you have a lot of other options, though they can be a bit more complicated to use. I have WireTap Studio for my Mac, which I used to record Skype calls. I've also used Gizmo on both Linux and the Mac. 

Before you record a critical interview, be sure to test everything out first. Have someone call you, do the recording, and listen to it. Can you hear both of you clearly? You might find (as I have more than once) that you accidentally got only half of the conversation. It's much better to find this out in a practice run!

Then, once you have the interview, you may or may not need to transcribe the whole thing. At minimum, if you want to quote people correctly, you need to transcribe that part of the interview. If you read my freelancer interviews, you've seen that one of the items many freelancers which they could farm off to someone else is transcription, so that might give you the (correct) impression that transcription is a pain.

If you're not sure what transcription actually is, it involves taking an audio or video interview and typing or handwriting the entire thing out into text. You want to be positive that you transcribed every word correctly, so you have to keep pausing and rewinding over and over. It's tedious and not for the short on patience.

There are a number of ways to make this process easier. For one thing, you can pay someone else to do it! The first few times you use a particular person for this, make sure to listen to what you're going to quote while looking at the transcript so you can be sure it's correct. 

Another option is speech-to-text software. The problem here is that such software typically needs to be trained by speaking to it, and may have problems understanding the many different people it would have to listen to.

Some swear by a product for the Mac, Windows, and Linux called Express Scribe. This free software is designed specifically for people who are going through the tedious process of transcription. The foot pedals you can purchase to go with the free software apparently make transcription a much smoother and faster process, enough so that I'm seriously considering purchasing a pair myself. No, I have no relationship to the company and get no referral fees.

Even if you don't need to ultimately transcribe the audio, having a recording can be intensely helpful if you remember a partial detail later but didn't take thorough notes about it. Take it from me. Just make sure to do so ethically and legally. 

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Conducting Compelling Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Heidi Hoff, Freelance Writer
• Interview with a Freelancer: Diana Gabaldon, Author
• Interview with a Freelancer: Jill McCaw, Co-Owner, McCaw Media
• Interview with a Freelancer: Dennis Fowler
• Article: What should you keep records of in your software project?

When looking at these kinds of decisions, it can be hard to be objective, but you need to do it. Especially if you're unsure you can afford the price. Sometimes the reality is you can't afford not to. But you can't really make this decision unless you have a clear idea of where you're trying to go.

Most of us hate this question, but it's an important one. What are you trying to achieve with your career? If that's too big a question, try asking yourself where you want to be with your career in five years. What do you picture yourself doing?

Even if you're doing mostly what you're doing now, are you doing it somewhere else? Are you doing it better? Are you more tightly specialized? Have you widened your skillset? 

Honestly, if you just see yourself doing the exact same thing in five years with no changes, you need to decide if you're happy with that. If you are, great. You have to do what's right for you. But if you're picturing that only because you have no idea, it might be time to sit down and ponder where you're trying to go. Because the answer to that question makes it much easier to know what skills are really worth investing in and what aren't at any given time.

In my case, I've discovered that (geek that I am) I like working with data and information. I've added Content Management Systems to my specialty area and have been doing quite a bit of work there as well in my usual Linux corners. I also have a number of project ideas for myself and in discussion with clients that involve dealing with data presentation. So looking at where I'm going in my own career tells me that this seminar is something worth attending in my case.

It helps that a friend swears to me that Tufte is very good and I'll get a lot out of the class. Even knowing that a subject is something you need to learn about doesn't mean that a specific class is the right one. Learning from the best can be great if you can afford it, but just because someone is a "name" doesn't mean they're the best, or that they're a good teacher. 

But a bit of Google-fu, young grasshopper, should help you find out whether a particular class is worth it. Just try to take the comments with a grain of salt. There's always someone out there who's undeservedly bitter or way too fanboyish. I like to somewhat average the comments and see how they lean, and whether there are any real points made that tell me if I'll get something out of the class or not. For example, if it's on using a technology, I need labs with the lecture to really understand it, so all lecture may not be worth it to me. But there's probably one out there that I'd like better, so I just find that instead.

So remember, while its all too easy to spend away on a bunch of conferences and seminars that really go nowhere but toward an empty bank account, you also need to nurture your career. And sometimes that means taking the time and expense to learn from someone who has a lot to teach. At worst, you could start by just reading their blog or picking up one of their books/videos/etc.

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• When You Get Overwhelmed
• Learning from Reality Competition Shows

On CMSWire this week I had:

• Google Invests US$ 90,000 in Drupal
• Open Source Value and the CMS Ecosystem
• Open Source Code worth US$ 387 Billion
• Open Source: The GPL, Your CMS Project and You

On the Linux Foundation's Linux Developer Network I had:

• Get Things Moving with a Facilitator

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• My articles for the week of June 15 2009
• Master Courses Developed List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• My Articles for the Week of May 11
• My Articles for the Week of April 27
• My articles for the week of May 4
• My CMSWire articles for the week of April 13
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 23
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 16
• Articles: My CMSWire articles for the week of 9 March 2009

I used to hate doing interviews. It wasn't the process, unless there's transcription involved. (More on this topic later, transcription is essentially taking the audio or video interview and writing or typing it out into text.) The bigger problem for me was actually coming up with the questions. What the heck do you ask?

First, preparation. You don't have to become an expert on your topic, but at least learn the basics. That way you not only go into the interview sounding informed, but you can spend your time on issues that don't involve basic explanations or clarifications (unless that's what you need to focus on). Generally you want to establish a rapport with the person you're interviewing, and showing that you respect their time is a huge one (including showing up a bit early, making sure that you're ready, choosing as pleasant an atmosphere as possible, working with their schedule, etc.) 

Then, as with anything of this nature, you need to consider the purpose of the interview. For example, are you trying to learn about something that you can then explain to other people? An informational interview can be much different than a personal one. Still, an informational interview can have some personal questions revolving around their personal relationship with the topic. I do this in the freelancer interviews on this blog. See if you can spot where. The point is to bring the subject to life a bit.

Is the thing you're trying to learn about the actual person? Even if you don't have time to learn everything about them ahead of time, at least learn what they're known for, and know which aspect of them your publication is most interested in. For example, Diana Gabaldon is a well-known historical fiction writer but my topic is freelancing, so I focused on her freelance career, which is actually pretty colorful (and is something not a lot of people ask about, so it lets me show a unique side of her others don't focus on). 

When you want people to get to know a person, it's important to try to capture some of their personality. Often this is done through carefully choosing some quotes to give the flavor of their speech. Or, in my case, I show the full text of the interviews. Some people do so by describing people's clothing and/or mannerisms, or telling a story about something that happened while talking to this person. The method you choose depends on your publication, audience, style, and goals. 

As to the questions themselves, definitely have a pre-prepared list. If nothing else, you can fall back on the questions you wrote down to try to spark more interesting ones. When I'm interviewing someone by email, I'll sometimes say that they don't have to answer every single one, especially if I send a large number of them (I'm a naturally curious person, I can't help it!)

No matter how you're doing the interview (in person, email, phone, IM, whatever), listen for statements that might provide good leaping points toward interesting answers. But for heaven's sake don't interrupt and ask right away. I won't say I'm a saint about this, I come from a very interrupting family, but I do my best to listen far more than I talk when I'm interviewing. If you're like me and have a bad short-term memory, take notes. That lets you jot down a question so you won't forget while still listening.

If time is limited, focus on things that you couldn't learn by just sitting down with a good search engine. Ultimately what makes an interview interesting (no matter what the context) is learning something new. If all you manage to do is rehash what people already know, even if you do it with flair, the result will be disappointing.

And don't be too hard on yourself if the first few are difficult. Doing interviews does get much easier over time. You get a feel for the rhythm and flow and what makes for a good avenue for further questions.

Note: I wanted to add one bit that doesn't entirely belong, but is very important. If you want to record a phone interview (and I'm using the term phone loosely, even if it's over the Internet) the best practice legally is to include you asking them for permission on the recording, and them giving you permission. It's illegal in some states/provinces/countries/whatever to record a phone call without everyone involved giving permission. 

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• When You Get Overwhelmed
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Recording and Transcribing Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Heidi Hoff, Freelance Writer

• Packt RAW Program Produces First Book
• Open Source CMS Fan? Thank These Folks!
• Deploying Drupal Just Got Easier

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• My articles for the week of June 15 2009
• Master Courses Developed List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• My Articles for the Week of May 11
• My Articles for the Week of April 27
• My articles for the week of May 4
• My Articles for the Week of April 20
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 23
• Articles: My CMSWire Articles for the Week of March 16
• Articles: My CMSWire articles for the week of 9 March 2009

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Why did you choose to use your own name or start your own business to work under?

ELISABETH NULL: I chose to use my full name because the name I usually use, Lisa Null, is what I use in my other life as a folk performer. I wanted people who google me to come up with my articles and editorial work rather than the latest folk festival I've played at.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Do you sing? Play an instrument? Both? Perform plays?

ELISABETH NULL:  I am a professional singer of traditional American, English, and Celtic song. I used to tour regularly through America, Canada, and England and played the largest folk festivals as well as Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion." Now, I perform mostly in the area around Washington D.C., though I still travel elsewhere to do concerts when asked. I used to work with Bill Shute, a well-known guitarist, but now I work mostly a cappella, which is how the songs I sing were meant to be performed. I play piano and guitar and was recently part of a piano trio that played Celtic, ragtime, and Americana music. A cappella is my favorite approach however because you can really focus on the words of a song as well as the many vernacular singing styles from which they come. I teach voice and have graduate degrees in folklore and history. My two albums with Bill Shute: American Primitive and the Feathered Maiden (all ballads) were recently reissued by Folk-Legacy Records. I also appear on a new tribute album of Utah Phillips songs ("Singing Through the Hard Times") available through Ani di Franco's label: Righteous Babe Records.

[Editorial note: Her next appearance is at the 29th Annual Washington Folk Festival.]

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Are you paid for your folk appearances?

ELISABETH NULL: I used to earn much of my living from performing, though I also ran what eventually grew into America's largest Irish record company (Green Linnet). Now, I perform for money but do many more free community events. I am deeply involved with the Folklore Society of Greater Washington and do what I can to support its efforts to nourish traditional, ethnic, and roots music within our area while presenting masters of these various traditions to local audiences.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Have you learned anything through your folk performing that you've carried over to your other work?

ELISABETH NULL: Yes, a lot. First of all, I have stored up the life experiences of centuries converted into song and this has given me multiple perspectives for looking at the world. I do believe if more people would learn and exchange the old songs they would learn to travel back and forth through time, enlarging their own insights and developing a form of empathy for those outside of their own time and place. I do not regard these songs as mere entertainment but as messages and insights that those in the past wanted to pass on. The messages, grand and trivial, that were most enduring were those that got memorized. It's up to us to carry them on. Practically, I've learned to see genius within everyday life-- to connect with it, often to celebrate it. Vocationally, I  research and write about traditional folk music and song whenever I can. I did Peggy Seeger's recent album notes and just published an article on shape-note singing, "Making a Joyful Noise" for the Singers Network, a website hosted by Chorus America.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: What type of freelance work do you do?

ELISABETH NULL: I am a trained reference librarian who also taught folklore and history at the University level, so I like to do work that demands sophisticated qualitative research and relates to my interest in the social sciences, current affairs, ecology, or music and the folk arts. I need to believe in what I'm doing-- that can mean furthering an idea or furthering the work of an individual author. Variety is also important to me-- I try to have no more than one writing project going on at a time and try to combine that with editing, research, promotional work, or web and wiki administration.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: What are a couple of reference librarian skills or practices that you think freelancers, especially those who need to do research, could benefit from?

ELISABETH NULL: I am an indefatigable google user but also urge other freelancers to utilize the online reference materials to be found their their local libraries. These can often be accessed from home. I did most of the research from public (versus private) documents for  the journalist, John Dickerson's brilliant biographical memoir "On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star" just by using a computer and phone. Even my archival work was shortened by doing all the preparation well ahead of my visits. Computer or live research is not usually an either/or choice but a careful coordination of both idioms. Live reference librarians can be a lot more helpful if you've done your advance work first. Also, each search tool has its own special features that make them particularly appropriate for one sort of search query or another. Learn to use a variety of them and don't expect them all to come up with the same answers. On the other hand, don't become so structured and precise in your search strategies that you forget to go wandering serendipitously. That's how you find the gems you were never looking for.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: How long have you been freelancing?

ELISABETH NULL: I've been freelancing about 11 years.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Full time or part time?

ELISABETH NULL: I bill about 20 hours a week (if I'm lucky) though I am slow and may work a lot longer than that to do what I consider a proper 20 hours worth of work. I also spend a lot of time going after the next job and trying to stay current in my interests so that I can hit the ground running in one of several possible projects.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Can you describe a typical, or at least recent, project for us?

ELISABETH NULL: I've been working with Ira Chaleff, an author and executive coach, who wrote a seminal book: The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders. He wants to disseminate his ideas and insure their legacy and my job is to help him do that. I have built web sites, located and corresponded with kindred spirits, but the most interesting thing I have done is to build a wiki with Ira, hosted by the International Leadership Association. Usually wikis are used for collaborative writing, but in this case, we are building an interdisciplinary "community of learning" for academics and practitioners interested in leader/follower relations. People consult and contribute to our resources from all over the world as we are defining a field of inquiry where none has previously existed.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Can I have the URL for the Wiki, if it's public access?

ELISABETH NULL: It's called the Followership Exchange. It is not packaged to sell a project and the form is deliberately free of graphic and citation standards so that timid users will be tempted to contribute.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: About how much of your time do you spend on the business side, and how much on creating?

ELISABETH NULL: 20 hours a week on my assigned work, 5 hours a week networking and looking for new clients, and 5 hours learning new internet skills or staying abreast of my fields of interest. Another 10 hours are on e-mail, social networking, doing my own writing, and gestating.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone starting out or transitioning into your specialty?

ELISABETH NULL: Understand and accept the way your mind works and organize your life around its strengths and weaknesses. Don't do home-based freelancing unless you enjoy pacing yourself. Work and life are constantly intertwined so you have to live with the idea that you always have something pressing to do.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Any tips for handling that?

ELISABETH NULL: Well, one advantage of working at home is that I enjoy fusing the professional and the personal. Most of my clients have become friends over the years and their needs often intrude into the middle of my personal life. Although this can be overwhelming, I find it preferable to conducting sequestered, formal relationships with people whose brains and projects become as important to me as my own. Working online can be quite lonely without water cooler conversations so I work hard at developing a deep level of rapport with my clients. This enables me to "shadow" them-- I can capture their voice and predict their responses if I work hard enough at comprehending their ways. I am learning, however, only to accept work I really believe in and/or to collaborate with people I really care about. There comes a time with many clients when I confess to my partner Charlie, "help, I'm falling in love with this person." But Charlie knows me well. "I would expect you to settle for nothing less," he says. Still, there can be a let down when the job is finished, the piece is produced, the invoice is settled. That's when music  becomes therapeutic as well as vocational.

I do have a fabulous support group of writers and editors who have helped me through and are perfectly willing to have passionate conversations about the uses of serial commas. Charlie himself is an editor and desktop publisher at the National Academy of Sciences. I admit, it helps to live with an editor-- much of the time, we just peck away at our computers side by side, late into the night.

Luckily my kids are grown.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: What’s your favorite part of your work?

ELISABETH NULL: The intense pleasure of helping intelligent people realize their dreams. I particularly love the intense collaboration of working with authors on their manuscripts.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: What would you rather farm off on someone else?

ELISABETH NULL: Anything to do with formatting, graphical precision, or numbers.

DEE-ANN LEBLANC: Anything else you’d like to share with Freelance Survivors?

ELISABETH NULL: Grow your business slowly and have a nest-egg or domestic partner to rely on. You can go from a surplus of work to no work at all quite rapidly. Freelancing is like riding a roller coaster.

[Editorial note: Amen.]

Leave Comment

Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• When You Get Overwhelmed
• Interview with a Freelancer: Debbi Mack, Mack Research and Writing
• Recording and Transcribing Interviews
• Conducting Compelling Interviews
• Interview with a Freelancer: Elisabeth Higgins Null, Null Editorial Service
• Interview with a Freelancer: Heidi Hoff, Freelance Writer