Christy Matte

When I sit down to get my work done, I’ve got email to check and administrative stuff to catch up on. Then I need to format everything, and worry about SEO and choosing an interesting, but search-engine-friendly title. Really, I just want to write.

For as long as I can remember being able to write, I have been a writer. The highlight of my young writing career came in middle school. I wrote a (tremendously bad) novella at the age of about 12, which I published in my very own publishing company (a la the micro-society-based magnet school I attended). I did fairly well with it, earning enough Mogans (the school currency) to achieve rank as the richest student in the school. In the end, I spent my cash on a Care Bear in an auction, but that’s a whole other tale.

Once I hit high school, my creative energy disappated. In other words, I developed an inner critic who told me my writing was… crap. As it turns out, even my inner critic was at a loss for words. I stopped my creative writing, with the exception of a collection of sappy, fantastically juvenile poems, and focused instead on journalling.

My mid-twenties arrived and I grew past the angst that drove me to my journals. I didn’t stop writing, but instead poured my energy into school work and, finally, a string of odd workplace tasks that included an HR handbook (when I’d never worked full-time for a company with even one HR person), a training curriculum for AmeriCorps members, and several federal grants (even landed a couple). My last full-time job used a lot of those skills, so at least it felt like I had built towards something.

And now I am actually fortunate enough to make my living (or my subsidized living, anyway) as a writer. It strikes me that it’s not something I ever aspired to. I wanted to be published, but I think the dream was to write some great novel in my spare time, not to become a Writer. At this point, I like what I’m doing. I never could get the hang of dialogue and I was awful at taking a story past the introduction. Too bad there is no market for the first few pages of books… I think I’d make a mint.

Are you wondering why I’m going on about my writing history? I read a forum post today where someone asked how people could afford to take on freelance writing projects that paid the equivalent of a low hourly rate. Several people answered her, but she still keep pushing that it would be better to work at McDonald’s. I don’t have anything morally against McDonald’s. I even eat there occasionally. But I simply don’t understand the idea of writing solely as a J.O.B. Sure, many of us write in order to keep food on the table. We don’t always have the luxury of taking on low-paying gigs just because they look fun. On the other hand, there are certainly plenty of other people who write for the joy of writing and who don’t necessarily need an income.

Most of all what I wanted to say to this person was, “Who cares?” Why do you care if other people either need or want to take on low-paying projects? Yes, if no one would work for lower-pay gigs, they might be forced to raise their rates. Then again, they may be forced to do the writing without help. Either way, “Who cares?” (it bears repeating).  Let’s all just get back to the task of writing.

I think I will.

If so, let me know!

Kids squabble all day

Trying to write in chaos

Brain is so weary

I’m enjoying reading the Freelance Parent over at Sparkplugging. As a parent who cares for her children full time during the day and writes during an “alternative work day,” I appreciate hearing from other parenting writers. There are some special challenges involved. I rarely give out my business number because most PR people call during the day. I’m constantly trying to explain (over screaming kids) that I’ve got a home office and that it’s not technically open during the day. Luckily, it’s becoming more commmonplace and email is more of a standard. I often miss smaller family “events” (i.e. random dinners and gatherings not related to birthdays, anniversaries or holidays) because I need to work in the evenings and on weekends. I’m not sure our families fully understand, but they’ve been pretty good about it.

Anyway, one of the posts at Freelance Parent really made me think. Lorna Doone Brewer wrote about some discrimination she experienced while attending the BlogWorld Expo last week. She took her daughter, who is still breastfeeding, with her to the conference and ran into resistance from the venue and other bloggers. First off, I want to say, “Woo-hoo,” to her for sticking up for her right to be a breastfeeding mother and a professional writer. She is obviously sensitive to her daughter’s behavior and how it might impact other conference-goers. I guess I just don’t think that all parents are as thoughtful. So, where do you draw the line? If you do allow babies and even children into conferences intended for adults, who decides at what point a child is being disruptive if the parent does not? I don’t have an answer (how can you?), but I do think it’s about time we start having the conversation.

How are people getting any writing done when they’re so busy blogging, tweeting, Facebooking (?), and so on?

Today I’m working on a list of favorite writing blogs. If you have one, feel free to share. Otherwise, I’ll post some when I finish browsing through them all.

I was studying electrical engineering at a technical school when I got burnt out on the competition, the lack of “soft” subjects and the anxiety of wondering whether I was passing or failing my classes. I decided to transfer to a large, diverse school (pretty much the opposite of where I started) to pursue a more varied education. One of the requirements for all students was a freshman-level writing course. Each year, the department offered a test for transfer students and precocious freshman as a way to opt-out of the basic writing class. The rumor was that no one ever passed the test. It was very clear that the school was determined to funnel everyone through this course.

I, on the other hand, was determined that I would not be taking freshman writing as a 20-something year old. I was a transfer student, had other interests, and didn’t want to waste my time. Now, I consider myself to be a strong writer and I test well. Perhaps everyone feels that way, but I went into the test with confidence. I zipped off an essay (handwritten in a blue book) that I was extremely happy with.

Not long after, I received word. I had not received a high enough score to waive the writing requirement. I was stunned. And embarrassed. And more than a little outraged. I called up the department head and explained that I had just received my test results. I very calmly said, “I am disappointed to see that I didn’t pass the exam. I was wondering if someone would take the time to sit down with me and go over my essay. I’d love to know what I could have done differently.” They told me they would set up an appointment.

The next day I received another letter from the department. It stated that upon further review, they had decided to waive my freshman writing requirement.

This experience reminded me of a few important life lessons:

1. As long as it’s reasonable (and sometimes when it isn’t), always ask for what you want and need.
2. Don’t be afraid to question authority. Just learn to do it from a place of deference (not because you should have to, but because you’ll get better results).
3. Have confidence in yourself.
4. Just because everyone else has to take freshman writing doesn’t mean that you have to take it, too.

By the way, I remain convinced that they never even bothered to read the essays.

I’ve requested the book Six Figure Freelancing from the library. I’m looking forward to reading it. I also read Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer not that long ago.

I’m always looking for great books on writing, being a writer, and inspiration. If you have a favorite, please share it.

If you’ve ever had to write a bio, you know that it’s tricky. You need to find a difficult balance between highlighting all of your skills and talent, and remaining somewhat modest and practical. Once again, the quest for perfection kept me from writing the About section for this site. In the spirit of letting go and just getting it down on paper, I finally posted my About page. Check it out…

I spent some time today getting organized, setting up my new Blackberry and looking for widgets to accomplish things I want to do. It’s amazing how much time you can spend doing administrative things like that without actually writing a thing! Hopefully it will pay off in the end.

I’ve got a lot of projects going on right now and it’s an exciting time. I’m loving the freelance life!