Words on a page

Sometimes, you just need a break. And I’m not only talking about work. I’m talking about taking a break from technology and communications.

With email, smartphones/mobile phones, instant messaging and other related technologies there’s an expectation put on us. An expectation that we’re always available. It’s been called, among other things, Blackberry Overtime. And it’s not really necessary. Freelancers included.

But how do you take that break? By scheduling a digital fast.

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Being a freelancer and co-owner of a business, one of my goals is to keep my costs (and those of my business) down. I do that by cutting out any unnecessary spending, only buying new hardware and software if I absolutely need it, and try to do as much on my own as I can. I also use as much free/Open Source software as can, and wherever possible free Web applications.

But there are services I am willing to pay for. Why? If only because I don’t have the skills or time to do certain things myself. And because the service either helps me make money or makes my freelancing life a little easier.

The types of things that I have no qualms about paying for, and even paying a good price for, include:

• Web hosting
• Skype
• One or two (maybe three) Web applications
• Online storage (OK, I only pay for one service that I use, but will need to upgrade the other ones soon)
• Design services — there’s no way I could have created the logos on my freelance Web site or my company’s site
• Promotional items like branded pens, notepads, and USB flash drives
• Professional accounting

So what services are you willing to pay for? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Photo credit: elke peterson from Photoxpress

Every so often, someone (usually someones) ask me about what they’d have to do to become a freelance writer. With the economy doing some strange gymnastics over the last 18 months or so, I’ve been asked that question a bit more. So, I started to plan out a series of posts on this subject.

Then I remembered that my business partner and I put together a set of blog post about this last year on the company blog:

• Becoming a freelance technical writer
• Getting set up
• Getting to work
• Marketing
• Educating yourself
• Rendering unto the tax collector

The posts are aimed at technical writers (seeing as how our company focuses on that area), but there’s quite a bit of information in there that I believe will benefit freelance writers of all stripes.

Take a read and let me know. Either leave a comment on this post, or on any of the posts that are listed above.

Actors, artist, musicians, and writers all have one thing in common: when they’re starting out, many of them can’t make a living doing what they want to do. To pay the bills, they need to get the dreaded day job.

For writers, this can be an easier proposition. There are, arguably, more jobs out there that require the skills we have than, say, the ability to play classical guitar.

Over the years, I’ve talked about this with a number of other writers and the opinions have been mixed. Some have said that if you need to get a day job, you should do something outside of writing. Others have said that a day job that involves writing is fine, but with a few caveats.

Here are my two cents (and a bit more) on the subject.

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That’s something I’m not always keen on. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against sharing. It’s just that things can go badly.

I prefer to use a wiki or Google Docs to collaborate. But not everyone I work with thinks like me, or is comfortable with the range of tools that I’m comfortable with.

And to be honest, email doesn’t really work. Too many bad things can happen to attachments:

• They can get stripped from messages
• They can get corrupted
• It’s easy to get confused about the current version of a file if multiple revisions are floating around

Whenever possible, I try to get editors and clients to work with an online file sharing service. These services are cheap, efficient, and easy to use.

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