My work goal this year is very simply to get some work done. It's not ambitious by any means, but then again with an infant around just getting some work done is rather ambitious itself.
(The last time I posted was just a few hours before he was born, and that was nine months ago. My work has been nearly as sparse as my posts.)
My work, and hence my income and my opportunities for more work, suffered greatly last year since I was not able to write as much as I was before the baby was born. Fortunately, I didn't lose any jobs/clients, but I did have to go from a weekly assignment to a monthly assignment with one newspaper and went for months on end without submitting anything to my best paying newspaper client.
Desperation has brought on several light bulb moments lately and one of them was to try working at night and at other times when I have some help with the baby.
Though I hate working while my husband and the other kids are around (I feel that I should be spending that time with them) I've been having them babysit the baby while I work some in the afternoons/evenings. The baby is old enough now to go to bed with his dad at night and sleep three or four hours for the first stretch, and I've been using that time to really get down to business.
I've continued to make my phone calls during the day, and then I use the evenings/night to actually write. This plan seems so simple but my mind was clouded with many things, including a great deal of frustration in not being able to get anything accomplished.
It's all worked out unbelievably well so far. The weekends seem to be my best times to work, since I have more hours available with someone to help care for the baby. I work a few hours a few nights during the week depending on how much work I have to do.
I just started this a few weeks ago but it's going really well. I got caught up very quickly and have now am working to get back to normal with everything on frequency of publication.
A side goal for this would to become more balanced with working, getting enough rest, and spending more time with my family. Now that goal is ambitious.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Tax day!
It's tax day today!
We were expecting a refund so we filed a few weeks ago, although it wasn't nearly as early as we would have like to have filed. We were waiting on me to tally up all my self-employment income and expenditures, which in the wake of a move topped with bad record-keeping practices, was not an easy venture.
I did learn something from it though ... I MUST keep better records. I have Excel now and could make up worksheets for all my expenditures but haven't bothered to learn how to properly use it.
In the meantime I'm keeping tabs with everything in a Word document. I have several headings broken up by month and every time I spend money for my business ventures I enter the figure in my document. I have individual columns for each of our utilties (electricity, water, gas, and phone/Internet) since a portion of those can be counted as business expenses. I have a column for mileage and another for expenses like computer programs, supplies, or whatever it is that I bought.
I do pretty good with keeping up with all my income. I get 1099s for most of my work but I keep all the payment stubs since invariably there will be a job (or two or three) for which I won't get a 1099. For that reason I don't have the payments on my new tax document.
Hopefully next year it won't be as difficult or time-consuming to tabulate everything in preparation for a visit to the tax office!
We were expecting a refund so we filed a few weeks ago, although it wasn't nearly as early as we would have like to have filed. We were waiting on me to tally up all my self-employment income and expenditures, which in the wake of a move topped with bad record-keeping practices, was not an easy venture.
I did learn something from it though ... I MUST keep better records. I have Excel now and could make up worksheets for all my expenditures but haven't bothered to learn how to properly use it.
In the meantime I'm keeping tabs with everything in a Word document. I have several headings broken up by month and every time I spend money for my business ventures I enter the figure in my document. I have individual columns for each of our utilties (electricity, water, gas, and phone/Internet) since a portion of those can be counted as business expenses. I have a column for mileage and another for expenses like computer programs, supplies, or whatever it is that I bought.
I do pretty good with keeping up with all my income. I get 1099s for most of my work but I keep all the payment stubs since invariably there will be a job (or two or three) for which I won't get a 1099. For that reason I don't have the payments on my new tax document.
Hopefully next year it won't be as difficult or time-consuming to tabulate everything in preparation for a visit to the tax office!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
It's tax time again!
It's that time again ... TAX TIME!
As a work-at-home writer mom I'm of course self-employed and responsible for keeping up with all sorts of things we need for filing income taxes, from mileage to expenses. A more organized working mom than I would have a better system in place to keep up with everything as the year goes on. Suffice it to say that I've been dreading pulling out and tallying up all this information even though I'm looking forward to getting a refund this year, as usual.
So far I've made my list of what I need to do:
As a work-at-home writer mom I'm of course self-employed and responsible for keeping up with all sorts of things we need for filing income taxes, from mileage to expenses. A more organized working mom than I would have a better system in place to keep up with everything as the year goes on. Suffice it to say that I've been dreading pulling out and tallying up all this information even though I'm looking forward to getting a refund this year, as usual.
So far I've made my list of what I need to do:
- Count up mileage
- Tally expenses
- Figure up utilities
- Go through Paypal records for both income and expenditures
- Collect additional income figures, those for which I have no 1099s
I've broken down my 1099 list into companies I've either received the forms from or from whom I need forms. I'm just missing one. I've also broken down the sources of additional income into categories and subcategories.
While pulling out utility bills, receipts, and so forth I've decided that my system needs an overhaul and that this house needs a good cleaning. But that will have to wait until I get all these figures tallied up and I can deliver the good news that my part of the income tax preparation has been completed!
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
The Microsoft Office Suite
I just got the Microsoft Office Suite!
I needed Microsoft Office Publisher to create my two newsletters and for other work-related tasks and decided I may as well get the whole thing, the small business package that includes Publisher.
I went online to download the free trial version at www.office.microsoft.com and I now have the whole thing for free until the end of March. I will be purchasing the program then.
Something unexpected happened when I downloaded the program -- all my Wordpad documents were automatically converted to Word documents. While that was a tad disconcerting at first, it turns out that Word is way better since it counts your words for you. I very rarely have to count my words but that feature came in handy tonight since I was writing a story that was supposed to be 300 words. (I held it to 400.) It does lots of other neat things that I haven't explored.
The Publisher program works great as well, and I'll be using that instead of Adobe Pagemaker to create the newsletters for two nonprofit organizations.
It feels good to be caught up with the rest of the world!
I needed Microsoft Office Publisher to create my two newsletters and for other work-related tasks and decided I may as well get the whole thing, the small business package that includes Publisher.
I went online to download the free trial version at www.office.microsoft.com and I now have the whole thing for free until the end of March. I will be purchasing the program then.
Something unexpected happened when I downloaded the program -- all my Wordpad documents were automatically converted to Word documents. While that was a tad disconcerting at first, it turns out that Word is way better since it counts your words for you. I very rarely have to count my words but that feature came in handy tonight since I was writing a story that was supposed to be 300 words. (I held it to 400.) It does lots of other neat things that I haven't explored.
The Publisher program works great as well, and I'll be using that instead of Adobe Pagemaker to create the newsletters for two nonprofit organizations.
It feels good to be caught up with the rest of the world!
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
The printing saga continues
An update to Friday's drama with getting a couple of newsletters printed is ... BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
The printing place called me this morning and said one of the documents I tried to send in on Friday afternoon was password coded.
"Never mind on that," I said, "I messed that up. Did you get TWO print jobs in?" No, they didn't. The larger job didn't go through over the email. It was too large.
I was asked to go through the website to place my order. I tried that but it said the file was too large. The site told me to try a custom order, which requires you to plug in the store location, but when I did that the site said that location wasn't found. (It's there, I've been there AND I was looking at the address on the directions I printed from that very website.)
Okay, so I call the store back and am asked to BRING THE DISK IN TO THE STORE, which of course is what I originally tried to do a few days ago!
The man was very nice and apologetic about all the trouble. They were also nice and apologetic when I did indeed bring my disk back to the store.
Of course I had the number of pages figured up wrong. I submitted 10 pages which won't work with a two-page spread, since one sheet of 11x17 paper folded in half makes four 8½x11 pages. In all my years of working with two-page spread publications, I should know that your pages must be in multiples of four. So I either need to send in two more pages or figure out where the blank pages are going to be. I opt for sending in two more pages and hurry home to come up with something and send it in.
The incorrect number of pages was also a problem with the other newsletter, but it was printed without me being notified of the problem or approving a sample. I sent in six pages (it should have been either four or 10, if I had looked at a sample before it went to press I would have pulled two pages and saved them for the next newsletter) so they put blank pages for the last two pages. That's going to present a problem because some of the newsletters will be folded in half for mailing with the back cover being the part that shows.
Now I have to make yet ANOTHER trip to the printing place tomorrow to approve the sample on the second, larger newsletter.
I'm getting really tired of the printing office, and so are my kids!
The printing place called me this morning and said one of the documents I tried to send in on Friday afternoon was password coded.
"Never mind on that," I said, "I messed that up. Did you get TWO print jobs in?" No, they didn't. The larger job didn't go through over the email. It was too large.
I was asked to go through the website to place my order. I tried that but it said the file was too large. The site told me to try a custom order, which requires you to plug in the store location, but when I did that the site said that location wasn't found. (It's there, I've been there AND I was looking at the address on the directions I printed from that very website.)
Okay, so I call the store back and am asked to BRING THE DISK IN TO THE STORE, which of course is what I originally tried to do a few days ago!
The man was very nice and apologetic about all the trouble. They were also nice and apologetic when I did indeed bring my disk back to the store.
Of course I had the number of pages figured up wrong. I submitted 10 pages which won't work with a two-page spread, since one sheet of 11x17 paper folded in half makes four 8½x11 pages. In all my years of working with two-page spread publications, I should know that your pages must be in multiples of four. So I either need to send in two more pages or figure out where the blank pages are going to be. I opt for sending in two more pages and hurry home to come up with something and send it in.
The incorrect number of pages was also a problem with the other newsletter, but it was printed without me being notified of the problem or approving a sample. I sent in six pages (it should have been either four or 10, if I had looked at a sample before it went to press I would have pulled two pages and saved them for the next newsletter) so they put blank pages for the last two pages. That's going to present a problem because some of the newsletters will be folded in half for mailing with the back cover being the part that shows.
Now I have to make yet ANOTHER trip to the printing place tomorrow to approve the sample on the second, larger newsletter.
I'm getting really tired of the printing office, and so are my kids!
Friday, December 29, 2006
Working frustrations
Oh the aggravation! A very simple (so I thought) work-related task turned into a saga lasting several hours and resulting in quite a bit of frustration today!
Here's what happened: I created two newsletters for a couple of nonprofit organizations; I used Pagemaker but the nonprofits don't have this program so right now we aren't compatible. I'm getting Publisher for the next issues but right now we need to get the current issues printed. My job ends when the documents have been created and I normally just leave a copy of the document on CD with them. Because of the incompatability problem this time and me living close to a Kinkos, my newsletter people have asked me to drop off the print jobs.
Sounds easy enough.
That is, until I set out to find the print shop can't find either one that's close to me. (Really, how hard could it possibly be?) It starts raining and so I pull over to call the store. Between me not being familiar with the area and the young man not having the sense to say "We are at the corner of This Street and That Street" I still can't find the place. Driving around I eventually find it. I'm starting to get aggravated, and the rain starts falling harder just as we are getting out to go in.
I take my kids and my disks and my instructions that I have so painstakingly prepared for the printer and go in the shop. Turns out, that's not how they want it. They want it emailed in, in PDF format, along with the printing directions and payment information.
Oh goodness, that's an extremely aggravating trip for nothing. We drive the 20 minutes home in the rain with me thinking I can still do this without that much more of a headache. How wrong I was.
My PDF program on my computer doesn't do what I need it to do, so I get online and find a free trial for five online file conversions. After I finally got it to convert (lots of waiting), turns out all it coverted was the FIRST PAGE of a 10-page document. I thought it meant a free trial of five documents, not five pages. Perhaps document and page means the same thing to PDF!! Chalk that one up as a learning experience, and a highly frustrating one at that.
My husband found me a PDF converter to download on the hard drive but by this time I've wasted approximately five hours of my day (for which I'm not getting paid, by the way) trying to get this to work with no avail.
I've ended up emailing in Pagemaker format the documents to the printer and they can do the coverting.
What is more, by the time I finish up with all this it's past time for us to be leaving to go somewhere for the weekend.
So I just take a deep breath, eat some chocolate, smile at my children, and refuse to stress over anything the rest of the day.
Here's what happened: I created two newsletters for a couple of nonprofit organizations; I used Pagemaker but the nonprofits don't have this program so right now we aren't compatible. I'm getting Publisher for the next issues but right now we need to get the current issues printed. My job ends when the documents have been created and I normally just leave a copy of the document on CD with them. Because of the incompatability problem this time and me living close to a Kinkos, my newsletter people have asked me to drop off the print jobs.
Sounds easy enough.
That is, until I set out to find the print shop can't find either one that's close to me. (Really, how hard could it possibly be?) It starts raining and so I pull over to call the store. Between me not being familiar with the area and the young man not having the sense to say "We are at the corner of This Street and That Street" I still can't find the place. Driving around I eventually find it. I'm starting to get aggravated, and the rain starts falling harder just as we are getting out to go in.
I take my kids and my disks and my instructions that I have so painstakingly prepared for the printer and go in the shop. Turns out, that's not how they want it. They want it emailed in, in PDF format, along with the printing directions and payment information.
Oh goodness, that's an extremely aggravating trip for nothing. We drive the 20 minutes home in the rain with me thinking I can still do this without that much more of a headache. How wrong I was.
My PDF program on my computer doesn't do what I need it to do, so I get online and find a free trial for five online file conversions. After I finally got it to convert (lots of waiting), turns out all it coverted was the FIRST PAGE of a 10-page document. I thought it meant a free trial of five documents, not five pages. Perhaps document and page means the same thing to PDF!! Chalk that one up as a learning experience, and a highly frustrating one at that.
My husband found me a PDF converter to download on the hard drive but by this time I've wasted approximately five hours of my day (for which I'm not getting paid, by the way) trying to get this to work with no avail.
I've ended up emailing in Pagemaker format the documents to the printer and they can do the coverting.
What is more, by the time I finish up with all this it's past time for us to be leaving to go somewhere for the weekend.
So I just take a deep breath, eat some chocolate, smile at my children, and refuse to stress over anything the rest of the day.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
One thing leads to another
The past few weeks for me have been busy ones as I've kept up with my writing along with negotiating for a couple of new freelance positions. It seems that one thing has led to another in my work, and I'm grateful for the opportunity.
I am now in charge of publicity at a nonprofit organization in Eastern Arkansas, and a position as freelance writer and layout artist seems pretty sure at a new central Arkansas newspaper.
The publicity position, which includes putting out a quarterly newsletter and an annual report along with writing press releases and other materials, came about from doing some features on the nonprofit for a local newspaper for whom I've been freelancing weekly stories since I started working from home.
The director of the nonprofit and I had briefly discussed me taking on some freelance duties months before, and he contacted me a few weeks ago to ascertain my current interest in the project. I was, and over the course of the next couple of weeks we met and found out what each expected of the other, and we decided to go ahead with the partnership. I'm currently working on supplying text for the 2006 annual report — next year I will take over the production of the entire publication, save for the printing — and the winter newsletter.
The layout and writing position with the newspaper came about from my association as the editor (since the Summer 2006 issue) of yet another newsletter for a nonprofit organization in Eastern Arkansas. My design skills came highly recommended from the president of this nonprofit to the editor of the newspaper, who happen to be well familiar with each other as father and daughter. I received a call from the young lady and met with her and her editor last week.
A followup call later that week determined our continual mutual interest in the partnership, and I was also offered some freelance writing work with this newspaper. I accepted that as well and was given an assignment on the spot. I look forward to finding out the decision on the layout work.
This newspaper, a monthly publication that debuted in October, can be accessed online at www.stand-news.com.
Now I am busy scheduling and completing interviews for my new projects, and have quite a bit of work to do within the next month. I have two newsletters and an annual report due the end of December and hopefully a newspaper to lay out for release the first of January, along with my weekly feature writing that I have been doing for the past few years.
I am now in charge of publicity at a nonprofit organization in Eastern Arkansas, and a position as freelance writer and layout artist seems pretty sure at a new central Arkansas newspaper.
The publicity position, which includes putting out a quarterly newsletter and an annual report along with writing press releases and other materials, came about from doing some features on the nonprofit for a local newspaper for whom I've been freelancing weekly stories since I started working from home.
The director of the nonprofit and I had briefly discussed me taking on some freelance duties months before, and he contacted me a few weeks ago to ascertain my current interest in the project. I was, and over the course of the next couple of weeks we met and found out what each expected of the other, and we decided to go ahead with the partnership. I'm currently working on supplying text for the 2006 annual report — next year I will take over the production of the entire publication, save for the printing — and the winter newsletter.
The layout and writing position with the newspaper came about from my association as the editor (since the Summer 2006 issue) of yet another newsletter for a nonprofit organization in Eastern Arkansas. My design skills came highly recommended from the president of this nonprofit to the editor of the newspaper, who happen to be well familiar with each other as father and daughter. I received a call from the young lady and met with her and her editor last week.
A followup call later that week determined our continual mutual interest in the partnership, and I was also offered some freelance writing work with this newspaper. I accepted that as well and was given an assignment on the spot. I look forward to finding out the decision on the layout work.
This newspaper, a monthly publication that debuted in October, can be accessed online at www.stand-news.com.
Now I am busy scheduling and completing interviews for my new projects, and have quite a bit of work to do within the next month. I have two newsletters and an annual report due the end of December and hopefully a newspaper to lay out for release the first of January, along with my weekly feature writing that I have been doing for the past few years.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Updated WAHP-writer resource page
My work-at-home-parent / freelance writer resource page on my writing website has just been updated!
It's a good list of sites that provide tips for moms and dads who want to work from home and people who want to earn money for their writing.
I hope you find it useful. Let me know!
It's a good list of sites that provide tips for moms and dads who want to work from home and people who want to earn money for their writing.
I hope you find it useful. Let me know!
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Time for newsletter number two!
The time for the release of the second newsletter I've written and edited for an Eastern Arkansas nonprofit organization is upon us, and I've had to do more of the work over the phone this time than I did the summer issue. School's in now, and we are now an hour and a half (as opposed to about 30 minutes) from the office where the printing takes place.
That makes it a little harder to be at their office in person much, but now that the layout is established my presence is not required as much. I did go one day last week, though, for a meeting -- and a photography session for one of my newspapers there in that same town -- and everything worked out just perfectly time-wise. I got off the interstate and went straight to the school to pick the girls up, and was right on time.
It's exciting to see some of all the exciting things that this organization has in place to help people and communities, and besides the opportunity to write and edit the newsletter being a big help to my family, it's an honor to be associated with such a community-minded organization. I only wish I had started with the newsletter before we moved.
That makes it a little harder to be at their office in person much, but now that the layout is established my presence is not required as much. I did go one day last week, though, for a meeting -- and a photography session for one of my newspapers there in that same town -- and everything worked out just perfectly time-wise. I got off the interstate and went straight to the school to pick the girls up, and was right on time.
It's exciting to see some of all the exciting things that this organization has in place to help people and communities, and besides the opportunity to write and edit the newsletter being a big help to my family, it's an honor to be associated with such a community-minded organization. I only wish I had started with the newsletter before we moved.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
New resource for work at home dads
Work-at-home dads are doing a terrific job of taking care of the kids while getting the bills paid, too. Here's an article about a new resource for work-at-home dads:
EntrepreneurDad.com Offers a New Resource for Work at Home Dads
Morris County, NJ - June 12, 2006 - An increasing number of fathers are opting to work from home in order to provide parental care for their children. Although a variety of useful resources exist for work at home parents, few focus on the unique needs of work at home dads.
In honor of Fathers' Day, EntrepreneurDad.com (http://www.entrepreneurdad.com) will officially launch on Sunday, June 18, 2006. This new web site is dedicated to the needs of work at home dads and includes articles and tools to help them manage their dual role as parent and business person. There's also a community of fellow dads in the discussion forums providing advice and sharing their experiences.
EntrepreneurDad.com was created by Justin Powell, who works from home as a web designer and cares for twin boys.
"When I first started out as a work at home dad, I found useful information was minimal and scattered," says Justin. "I was looking for a single location online that addressed the needs of work at home dads but found that such a place didn't existed. I felt a there was clearly a need for this type of resource, so I decided to create an online destination just for dads who work from home and care for their children."
To celebrate Father's Day, EntrepreneurDad is offering work at home dads a way to get free advertising for their business. For a limited time, dads can receive 100 free impressions in the site's banner ad rotation for each message they post in the discussion forums - up to a total of 5000 impressions. Dads must register and post at least one message by June 30, 2006.
For more information about this promotion, dads should visit: http://www.entrepreneurdad.com/modul...viewtopic&t=15
For additional information, contact Justin Powell or visit http://www.entrepreneurdad.com.
About Justin Powell: Justin Powell helps empower small- and medium-sized entrepreneurial firms by integrating the Internet as a business and marketing channel. He has 15 years of experience, including 11 years of corporate experience in sales and marketing of technology products. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Justin was Assistant Vice President at Pershing LLC and functioned as a product manager of Pershing's NetExchange Client online brokerage platform.
About EntrepreneurDad.com: The mission of EntrepreneurDad.com is to provide a singular resource for fathers who work from home while caring for their children. The site provides articles, tips, links and a discussion forum specific to work at home dads.
EntrepreneurDad.com Offers a New Resource for Work at Home Dads
Morris County, NJ - June 12, 2006 - An increasing number of fathers are opting to work from home in order to provide parental care for their children. Although a variety of useful resources exist for work at home parents, few focus on the unique needs of work at home dads.
In honor of Fathers' Day, EntrepreneurDad.com (http://www.entrepreneurdad.com) will officially launch on Sunday, June 18, 2006. This new web site is dedicated to the needs of work at home dads and includes articles and tools to help them manage their dual role as parent and business person. There's also a community of fellow dads in the discussion forums providing advice and sharing their experiences.
EntrepreneurDad.com was created by Justin Powell, who works from home as a web designer and cares for twin boys.
"When I first started out as a work at home dad, I found useful information was minimal and scattered," says Justin. "I was looking for a single location online that addressed the needs of work at home dads but found that such a place didn't existed. I felt a there was clearly a need for this type of resource, so I decided to create an online destination just for dads who work from home and care for their children."
To celebrate Father's Day, EntrepreneurDad is offering work at home dads a way to get free advertising for their business. For a limited time, dads can receive 100 free impressions in the site's banner ad rotation for each message they post in the discussion forums - up to a total of 5000 impressions. Dads must register and post at least one message by June 30, 2006.
For more information about this promotion, dads should visit: http://www.entrepreneurdad.com/modul...viewtopic&t=15
For additional information, contact Justin Powell or visit http://www.entrepreneurdad.com.
About Justin Powell: Justin Powell helps empower small- and medium-sized entrepreneurial firms by integrating the Internet as a business and marketing channel. He has 15 years of experience, including 11 years of corporate experience in sales and marketing of technology products. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Justin was Assistant Vice President at Pershing LLC and functioned as a product manager of Pershing's NetExchange Client online brokerage platform.
About EntrepreneurDad.com: The mission of EntrepreneurDad.com is to provide a singular resource for fathers who work from home while caring for their children. The site provides articles, tips, links and a discussion forum specific to work at home dads.
Monday, June 19, 2006
It's down to the wire on the newsletter!
The quarterly newsletter that I'm doing for the nonprofit prints next week and I'm getting it all wrapped up!
I didn't have any of the templates or programs that had been previously used so I started from scratch with my Pagemaker program and created a whole new (and improved) look and layout style.
The rest of the week I'll be busy finishing up with the interviewing, researching, and/or writing for all the stories. I'll also meet with the man I'm working with on this, the vice-president of the organization, to show him the new layout. I think he's going to really like it. The president of the organization will also have to look it over first.
I really should have it ready to print right now but with the big move a few weeks ago, I think it's going as good as can be expected. It's going to be printed in their office. When I get finished with everything here I'll just load all the files and photos on CD and take them along with my Pagemaker program over to their office and get it all going on one of their computers. I think that should work. I hope it will!
This project has been very exciting for me since I've been writing about this organization nearly as long as I've been in the newspaper business. It's very much an honor to produce this newsletter for this organization and I certainly hope our partnership continues.
I didn't have any of the templates or programs that had been previously used so I started from scratch with my Pagemaker program and created a whole new (and improved) look and layout style.
The rest of the week I'll be busy finishing up with the interviewing, researching, and/or writing for all the stories. I'll also meet with the man I'm working with on this, the vice-president of the organization, to show him the new layout. I think he's going to really like it. The president of the organization will also have to look it over first.
I really should have it ready to print right now but with the big move a few weeks ago, I think it's going as good as can be expected. It's going to be printed in their office. When I get finished with everything here I'll just load all the files and photos on CD and take them along with my Pagemaker program over to their office and get it all going on one of their computers. I think that should work. I hope it will!
This project has been very exciting for me since I've been writing about this organization nearly as long as I've been in the newspaper business. It's very much an honor to produce this newsletter for this organization and I certainly hope our partnership continues.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Making work fun
In an effort to try to get back into a somewhat normal routine after moving the end of last month, I've pretty much scheduled up the normal amount of writing work for myself these past three weeks since the move.
Of course, I failed to take into consideration that our first days and weeks at our new home would also be the first days and weeks of summer vacation for my children, but we've made the double transition quite well.
We've done all of my newspaper story interviews together as usual, with them coming home with all sorts of treats like buttons from an antique store and sets of rewriteable magnets from an office supply store. After one of those interviews we stopped and ate lunch and then went to the movie store. It was special to us because neither of those particular places are available where we used to live.
We've also stopped by their grandparents' house on our way back home from another interview. Everyone was surprised to see us so that was fun, too! We'll be able to make more of those impromptu stops this summer, I'm sure.
There'll be other fun things we can incorporate along with my work this summer as well. We have a whole big city to explore and I'm sure we can do a lot of it after work!
Of course, I failed to take into consideration that our first days and weeks at our new home would also be the first days and weeks of summer vacation for my children, but we've made the double transition quite well.
We've done all of my newspaper story interviews together as usual, with them coming home with all sorts of treats like buttons from an antique store and sets of rewriteable magnets from an office supply store. After one of those interviews we stopped and ate lunch and then went to the movie store. It was special to us because neither of those particular places are available where we used to live.
We've also stopped by their grandparents' house on our way back home from another interview. Everyone was surprised to see us so that was fun, too! We'll be able to make more of those impromptu stops this summer, I'm sure.
There'll be other fun things we can incorporate along with my work this summer as well. We have a whole big city to explore and I'm sure we can do a lot of it after work!
Sunday, June 04, 2006
That was not a good idea
Whew, I lived through a week without my computer and the Internet but I do not recommend it for any work at home mom! That was just terrible.
I did get to the Internet to send some work in and to check my email toward the end of the week. I went to a place in a town nearby our other house that has public access computers and was able to get a story in, but the floppy disk I used to store a photo wasn't formatted, so the computer said. Later that afternoon I went to a friend's house to send the photo, and of course I checked my email again.
The Internet, along with the phone and cable, was installed on Friday at the new house and I made haste trying it out. It worked, and all was again well with the world!
The next time I move, which I doubt won't be anytime soon, my computer and my Internet aren't going anywhere until I do! That was one lesson well learned.
I did get to the Internet to send some work in and to check my email toward the end of the week. I went to a place in a town nearby our other house that has public access computers and was able to get a story in, but the floppy disk I used to store a photo wasn't formatted, so the computer said. Later that afternoon I went to a friend's house to send the photo, and of course I checked my email again.
The Internet, along with the phone and cable, was installed on Friday at the new house and I made haste trying it out. It worked, and all was again well with the world!
The next time I move, which I doubt won't be anytime soon, my computer and my Internet aren't going anywhere until I do! That was one lesson well learned.
Friday, May 19, 2006
How will I make it a whole week without the Internet?
It's bad enough to be without the Internet for an hour or even a whole morning, but how will I live without the Internet for a week?
The week in question will be next week, during which my family will be in transition from one house to the next. I'm dreading it.
I set the date for next Wednesday for the cable company to come hook up the Internet service. They want the computer physically there so they can leave the equipment — it's their policy. With us living an hour away from our new home, my husband and I both having to work, and the girls being in school through next week means we can't just take the computer over there right before hookup. It has to be moved this weekend, but I can't move with it because of the school thing.
Since I — or someone, preferably me with the more flexible schedule than my husband, who will be 10 minutes away from the new house but not able to break away — must be there at hookup to pay the activation fee, I figured I'd make it okay with being able to get on the Internet on Wednesday after the computer was moved the weekend before. I can pay the nice man, hook up the Internet service, and get on for a few minutes before I have to make the hour's drive to get the girls from school, that is, if I don't let them miss so they can come with me.
That plan rather fell apart yesterday when I got a note from school saying my daughter's behavior awards ceremony is next Wednesday! Now this award is very important; she's already collected three ribbons for good behavior and at this final assembly she gets another ribbon plus a gold medal for being good all year. This event is not to be missed.
I called the cable company back to see if I could get my Internet hookup moved up to Monday. No can do. The next available appointment is way on next Friday. Gasp, I can't hardly breathe! It's more than I can take.
Well, I guess I'll just have to live with that. If I feel myself losing control there should be a computer with Internet somewhere I can use. In the meantime, I guess I can use all the extra time to actually pack all our stuff up!
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The week in question will be next week, during which my family will be in transition from one house to the next. I'm dreading it.
I set the date for next Wednesday for the cable company to come hook up the Internet service. They want the computer physically there so they can leave the equipment — it's their policy. With us living an hour away from our new home, my husband and I both having to work, and the girls being in school through next week means we can't just take the computer over there right before hookup. It has to be moved this weekend, but I can't move with it because of the school thing.
Since I — or someone, preferably me with the more flexible schedule than my husband, who will be 10 minutes away from the new house but not able to break away — must be there at hookup to pay the activation fee, I figured I'd make it okay with being able to get on the Internet on Wednesday after the computer was moved the weekend before. I can pay the nice man, hook up the Internet service, and get on for a few minutes before I have to make the hour's drive to get the girls from school, that is, if I don't let them miss so they can come with me.
That plan rather fell apart yesterday when I got a note from school saying my daughter's behavior awards ceremony is next Wednesday! Now this award is very important; she's already collected three ribbons for good behavior and at this final assembly she gets another ribbon plus a gold medal for being good all year. This event is not to be missed.
I called the cable company back to see if I could get my Internet hookup moved up to Monday. No can do. The next available appointment is way on next Friday. Gasp, I can't hardly breathe! It's more than I can take.
Well, I guess I'll just have to live with that. If I feel myself losing control there should be a computer with Internet somewhere I can use. In the meantime, I guess I can use all the extra time to actually pack all our stuff up!
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Making the switch to cable Internet
I'm switching from DSL Internet to cable Internet and I am told that I'll be completely delighted! I called the phone company, AT&T/SBC a couple of weeks ago to get our phone and Internet service transferred from our current home to our new residence. The phone switch arrangements went smoothly but I hit a brick wall when inquiring about DSL service. It seems that there is no DSL service available from AT&T/SBC at my new address.
WHAT??? Do you mean to tell me I've had DSL in a town of fewer than 4,000 people for two years — or is it three? — and it's not available somewhere within a city of 60,000 people? Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.
Talk about angry. I stomped around mumbling in frustration for a while and then decided to call the cable company. My husband had mentioned wanting to get cable TV and Internet service through the cable company although I wasn't paying attention since we don't have cable or satellite now and I intended to keep it that way. I could at least check to see how much the Internet service is through the cable company.
I called the local Comcast office and was greeted quickly and quite pleasantly by a real person with a smile on her face — I could just see it. She offered me a deal too good to pass up: basic cable — 78 channels, mind you — local and long distance phone service, and some kind of extremely speedy Internet service all for the low price of $99 a month; $113 with tax included. (With all taxes it'll probably end up being around $150 a month but that's still a good deal.) I snapped it up and told her why: it's inexcusable for the phone company to not have DSL at my new address in a city of 60,000 people.
I'm excited about trying out the new service and I think I'll really like it. What's not to like about having Internet, fast Internet at that?
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WHAT??? Do you mean to tell me I've had DSL in a town of fewer than 4,000 people for two years — or is it three? — and it's not available somewhere within a city of 60,000 people? Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.
Talk about angry. I stomped around mumbling in frustration for a while and then decided to call the cable company. My husband had mentioned wanting to get cable TV and Internet service through the cable company although I wasn't paying attention since we don't have cable or satellite now and I intended to keep it that way. I could at least check to see how much the Internet service is through the cable company.
I called the local Comcast office and was greeted quickly and quite pleasantly by a real person with a smile on her face — I could just see it. She offered me a deal too good to pass up: basic cable — 78 channels, mind you — local and long distance phone service, and some kind of extremely speedy Internet service all for the low price of $99 a month; $113 with tax included. (With all taxes it'll probably end up being around $150 a month but that's still a good deal.) I snapped it up and told her why: it's inexcusable for the phone company to not have DSL at my new address in a city of 60,000 people.
I'm excited about trying out the new service and I think I'll really like it. What's not to like about having Internet, fast Internet at that?
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
Monday, May 15, 2006
Getting the day started with a good cup of gas station coffee
There's not much better than a good cup of gas station coffee, and I decided to get my day started with one today.
After I got all the girls dropped off at school, I was possessed with a craving for a cup of gas station coffee. I fished around in my pockets and car cup holder for change, and to my delight I found enough! I mixed a 20-ounce cup of one-third French vanilla cappuccino, one-third extreme caffeine latte, and one-third regular coffee. Yummy!
I'm going to need this delicious pick-me-up today with all that I have to do. Three stories are due today and one of them hasn't even been interviewed yet. I've got about three loads and counting of clean laundry to fold, and of course there is the ever-present packing to move to do. At least I'll have the energy to knock a pretty good-sized dent in my to-do list!
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
After I got all the girls dropped off at school, I was possessed with a craving for a cup of gas station coffee. I fished around in my pockets and car cup holder for change, and to my delight I found enough! I mixed a 20-ounce cup of one-third French vanilla cappuccino, one-third extreme caffeine latte, and one-third regular coffee. Yummy!
I'm going to need this delicious pick-me-up today with all that I have to do. Three stories are due today and one of them hasn't even been interviewed yet. I've got about three loads and counting of clean laundry to fold, and of course there is the ever-present packing to move to do. At least I'll have the energy to knock a pretty good-sized dent in my to-do list!
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Packing up my desk
In preparation for the big move in a couple of weeks, along with the need to find the scanner program CD — apparently I deleted a scanning program when I was cleaning off the computer files about a week ago — I cleaned my desk entirely off and packed everything away. Everyone else in the house loudly expressed their skepticism that I could fit everything in one box — "Do you think I can fit everything in this box?" I asked, to which three people loudly and quickly chimed in, "NO!" — but I did it.
I filled two large bags with trash from my desk — why do I have five catalogs from the same company? — and filed numerous other papers and notebooks away in other boxes containing work papers and notebooks, kids' schoolwork, drawings, and other keepsakes, and kids' books and activities. There was a tax return bundle and a needs-to-be-shredded pile to go along with that.
Alas, I didn't find the scanner program CD but I did pack away numerous other CDs, floppy disks, notepads, phone books, envelopes, a box of receipts and paid bills, and all manner of office supplies. My current files and notebooks were already in my new little file box so that really helped.
I did leave out a few important things I need now like pens and pencils, a sticky note pad, scissors, stapler and staple remover, and of course my planner, without which I cannot breathe much less get a single thing done. If I need anything else I can just flip the lid of the big desk box and get what I need.
Now all that's left to do is to unhook the phone, answering machine, pencil sharpener, scanner/printer/copier, fax machine, computer, and monitor. Actually I think my work is done here and I'll turn over all this equipment to my husband.
When I unload and hook it all up at our new home it will be at a smaller desk since the one I'm using now is too large for the spot that will be my office. Getting all my stuff on it should be very interesting.
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
I filled two large bags with trash from my desk — why do I have five catalogs from the same company? — and filed numerous other papers and notebooks away in other boxes containing work papers and notebooks, kids' schoolwork, drawings, and other keepsakes, and kids' books and activities. There was a tax return bundle and a needs-to-be-shredded pile to go along with that.
Alas, I didn't find the scanner program CD but I did pack away numerous other CDs, floppy disks, notepads, phone books, envelopes, a box of receipts and paid bills, and all manner of office supplies. My current files and notebooks were already in my new little file box so that really helped.
I did leave out a few important things I need now like pens and pencils, a sticky note pad, scissors, stapler and staple remover, and of course my planner, without which I cannot breathe much less get a single thing done. If I need anything else I can just flip the lid of the big desk box and get what I need.
Now all that's left to do is to unhook the phone, answering machine, pencil sharpener, scanner/printer/copier, fax machine, computer, and monitor. Actually I think my work is done here and I'll turn over all this equipment to my husband.
When I unload and hook it all up at our new home it will be at a smaller desk since the one I'm using now is too large for the spot that will be my office. Getting all my stuff on it should be very interesting.
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
Payday wasn't payday after all
Thursday is what I like to call payday, since I receive a check in the mail from one of my papers for the work published the previous week on that day, and I can go pick up another check from a different newspaper for the work printed the day before if I like.
Neither one of those worked out today, though. The check that comes in the mail didn't come, and the young lady who makes out the checks at the other newspaper wasn't working today. The mailed one will probably arrive tomorrow, and I will wait until another story is printed at the other paper before picking up a check from there. I normally wait until two or three have been printed anyway, but I was over there today and thought I'd grab one while I was there.
I'll add that one to a pretty nice one I'm expecting this coming week for some independent contract work I did last month, and we'll knock those utilities right out.
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My writing blog
My mom life blog
Neither one of those worked out today, though. The check that comes in the mail didn't come, and the young lady who makes out the checks at the other newspaper wasn't working today. The mailed one will probably arrive tomorrow, and I will wait until another story is printed at the other paper before picking up a check from there. I normally wait until two or three have been printed anyway, but I was over there today and thought I'd grab one while I was there.
I'll add that one to a pretty nice one I'm expecting this coming week for some independent contract work I did last month, and we'll knock those utilities right out.
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Thankful for my blessings
This past week I received three paychecks in the mail that were barely $75 altogether. I found it a little comical that putting all of them together didn't even equal $100 for several reasons. One was $45 for a story, another was $12 for mileage reimbursement, and another was $20 for an independent contractor assignment.
The good thing about this bunch of checks is that the $45 one was supposed to be $90 because the paper actually printed two stories, and the $20 one is supposed to be $30, but somehow they got the fee wrong. So everybody owes me more money.
The other good thing about it is I have another check for two stories sitting at one of my other papers, just waiting for me to pick it up. There'll probably be a checks for three stories over there before I get over there to pick them up.
The other OTHER good thing is that I bought groceries already this week and used someone else's money (well, it's mine too) to pay the utilities! The last good thing about this bunch of checks is that it is very rare that I get them that small anymore.
Isn't that great? I'm so thankful to be able to giggle about these three checks totalling $77. I remember a time in the not-too distant past where these three checks would be absolutely neccessary and every dime used to keep our lights on. I also remember a time in the very recent past when I busted my butt waiting tables for about $77 for one week. I did that for three weeks and my checks plus my tips plus some more paychecks I hoarded paid two mortgages all in one month.
It took me several months to have enough writing work and a few more months to be able to let the extra jobs I was doing on the side go. It was really tough for us then — we have always struggled financially, mostly because of the economics of the area we are in but also because we choose to live simply — but we felt very strongly about me working from home and taking care of the children. It just had to work since we didn't feel like there were too many other options. After that rough first year it seemed to work itself out and we are doing better.
This is not to say we're doing so well financially and I'm not bragging at all. I'm just thankful and blessed to be tickled at these little checks. It could all disappear tomorrow but I am most certainly thankful for my blessings today. I hope that everyone else who is determined to stay home with their children will just stick with it. It'll work out and you'll be glad you did.
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
The good thing about this bunch of checks is that the $45 one was supposed to be $90 because the paper actually printed two stories, and the $20 one is supposed to be $30, but somehow they got the fee wrong. So everybody owes me more money.
The other good thing about it is I have another check for two stories sitting at one of my other papers, just waiting for me to pick it up. There'll probably be a checks for three stories over there before I get over there to pick them up.
The other OTHER good thing is that I bought groceries already this week and used someone else's money (well, it's mine too) to pay the utilities! The last good thing about this bunch of checks is that it is very rare that I get them that small anymore.
Isn't that great? I'm so thankful to be able to giggle about these three checks totalling $77. I remember a time in the not-too distant past where these three checks would be absolutely neccessary and every dime used to keep our lights on. I also remember a time in the very recent past when I busted my butt waiting tables for about $77 for one week. I did that for three weeks and my checks plus my tips plus some more paychecks I hoarded paid two mortgages all in one month.
It took me several months to have enough writing work and a few more months to be able to let the extra jobs I was doing on the side go. It was really tough for us then — we have always struggled financially, mostly because of the economics of the area we are in but also because we choose to live simply — but we felt very strongly about me working from home and taking care of the children. It just had to work since we didn't feel like there were too many other options. After that rough first year it seemed to work itself out and we are doing better.
This is not to say we're doing so well financially and I'm not bragging at all. I'm just thankful and blessed to be tickled at these little checks. It could all disappear tomorrow but I am most certainly thankful for my blessings today. I hope that everyone else who is determined to stay home with their children will just stick with it. It'll work out and you'll be glad you did.
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
Friday, April 21, 2006
Fueling a day's work
There's no better way to fuel a day's — or night's — work than with a great cup of coffee. I get my day started with one every day and have some at night too when I have an assignment I need to get submitted.
One of my fellow coffee lover-writers, Christina Spence up in Canada, has a new blog dedicated to coffee! It's Coffee Creations and has some good recipes for some coffee treats. Be sure to check it out and add it to your feed list.
That's not all there is to Christina. Coffee-powered as she is, she has another blog that I love, The Happy Slob's Guide to Housecleaning blog with simple cleaning tricks and natural cleaning solutions designed to get us back to doing what we love most, writing and drinking coffee! It goes with The Happy Slob's Guide to Housecleaning website. Yes, I'm a happy slob myself. Whatever Christina posts about in her blog every day is the thing that I clean that day. After I have my coffee, that is.
For recipes for just about anything else under the sun and all kinds of other ideas that are useful to work-at-home writer moms, take a look at her Kitchen Crafts 'n' More blog and her Kitchen Crafts 'n' More website. I'm not a big recipe gal but the blog and site are loaded with all kinds of useful information that even a slacker like me needs.
While you are there at the Kitchen Crafts website, be sure to check out the message board and see if there is anyone familiar there.
There's also her Freelancing for Beginners site with all kinds of good tips on getting started writing.
Wow, see how much you can get done when you load up on some good coffee?
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
One of my fellow coffee lover-writers, Christina Spence up in Canada, has a new blog dedicated to coffee! It's Coffee Creations and has some good recipes for some coffee treats. Be sure to check it out and add it to your feed list.
That's not all there is to Christina. Coffee-powered as she is, she has another blog that I love, The Happy Slob's Guide to Housecleaning blog with simple cleaning tricks and natural cleaning solutions designed to get us back to doing what we love most, writing and drinking coffee! It goes with The Happy Slob's Guide to Housecleaning website. Yes, I'm a happy slob myself. Whatever Christina posts about in her blog every day is the thing that I clean that day. After I have my coffee, that is.
For recipes for just about anything else under the sun and all kinds of other ideas that are useful to work-at-home writer moms, take a look at her Kitchen Crafts 'n' More blog and her Kitchen Crafts 'n' More website. I'm not a big recipe gal but the blog and site are loaded with all kinds of useful information that even a slacker like me needs.
While you are there at the Kitchen Crafts website, be sure to check out the message board and see if there is anyone familiar there.
There's also her Freelancing for Beginners site with all kinds of good tips on getting started writing.
Wow, see how much you can get done when you load up on some good coffee?
My website
My writing blog
My mom life blog
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