'Freelancing' - Week 5

'Freelancing' has turned into 'find a day job so that I can stay in my apartment'. A few of the temp companies I've contacted actually had some jobs to put me up for last week and I'm waiting to hear back. The best part of job hunting last week was when I had to bus out to Lake Oswego to interview for a temp job in Portland. When I got out of my interview Google couldn't find any bus routes home so I called a friend and had them direct me using a computer. I walked down the road till I found a bus stop, waited 40 minutes, caught a bus deeper into Lake Oswego, waited 20 more minutes for the seemingly single bus that runs into Portland, waited in stalled traffic on Macadam, and finally arrived back home 2 hours later. What is up with Lake Oswego? Why are there no buses there?

My blogging for PQ Monthly is going well, they've asked me to pitch a story for their next issue, so I'm trying to nail down the details. I'm kind of in awe that people are paying me to write non-fiction pieces, and I'm glad I've had this opportunity. One of the major differences between writing for a paper, and the non-fiction writing I do on my own (in addition to being paid) is fast deadlines. I write like a marathon runner, I try to keep a steady pace because I know I'm in for the long haul, even if I'm writing short pieces. I like to take my time, think about what I'm saying, and edit over and over again. When blogging I have a short amount of time to get things done in, so I have to speed up my process, blogging is a sprint. And when I start to think of the fact that I am paid a flat rate for each post, the longer I spend writing the less cost-effective my work is, so I feel this pressure to work fast to keep up a good hourly rate. Perhaps this isn't a useful mindset, especially considering that I DO have the time to spend, but it's something I'm struggling with.

Things you see in downtown Portland in the middle of the day.