Deadlines. I've Got Deadlines.

I feel overwhelmed by looming deadlines this morning. This scene from The Pit and the Pendulum comes to mind, in all its Roger Corman–imagined glory:



And now I will stop feeling and get back to working. Must halt that pendulum so I can hop up from the desk, relatively unscathed, in time to truly enjoy a bit of this holiday season.

I Feel Some Blogging Coming On

As my career has evolved since I opened this blog in 2007, the blog itself has devolved. I've never wanted to shutter it; even in lean-posting times it's felt like a hardy living organism to me — one that can rebloom anytime I show up with my watering can and a little TLC. That's why I've been content to let it quietly sit for seasons at a time.

Part of my own growth in the last several years has involved intentionally refocusing my professional efforts. My goal has been to step off the very pleasant-but-specific career train I'd boarded when I first started freelancing full time (basically because it showed up at my local depot one day), and to work on claiming the career that I really want. And guess what — that takes time and considerable effort. It also, for me, has made it difficult to blog with anything resembling regularity. While writing about whatever I'm experiencing does help me process those whatevers, trying to do that on the blog has not appealed to me. So I've kept the writing-as-processing to my morning pages, which — as my fellow Artist's Way devotees know — are neither meant nor fit for public consumption.

Now is now, though — as everyone knows — and I've entered a new season. Earlier goals have been reached, realistic newer ones have been set, and all systems seem Go for continuing to move in the right direction. Which all makes for a more focused me and the proper time to say: I feel some blogging coming on.

I know that I'm ready to reengage, because I keep having post ideas while just going about my life. I even have a new overall blog theme in mind, and that makes both sides of my writer-editor split personality smile. (Those dames like them some purposeful structure.)

To any readers out there, I invite you to follow along with a simple "All aboard!" Rides on this blog train are always free, and you can hop on and off as you like.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what my newer goals might be/what theme I might apply to the blog at this stage,  I thank you for paying enough attention to question those things! Don't worry, though, all will be covered in future blogs. For you, and for me.

Coming Up for Air

Summer is just about over, huh. I know this because I've met all of my most pressing end-of-season freelancing deadlines and have already switched over to thinking about how to handle The Holidays, work- and otherwise.

But I need to stop that madness. It's time to breathe, take a beat to appreciate exactly where I am in time and space, and focus on crafting an approach to enjoying the rest of the year. Which — according to that primary source known as the calendar — is just not over.

Something to relish after weeks upon weeks of editing other folks' books? How about this: Tomorrow, I write!

Taking Back My Blog

So many post ideas, so little blogging! What's up with that?

Seriously. I'm asking. Except that, actually, I think I know. As mentioned earlier, I've purposefully rearranged my freelancing schedule to commit more of this year's time to getting through my pretty-pet YA WIP. The one I've been pondering for (eek!) decades now and seriously working on for the past year.

That commitment means a lot to me. A LOT. And, so, because the writing — which by most of your saner external measures has gone really, really well — is never quite where I want it to be (let's face it, that means "done"), the Voice in My Head is less than nurturing. She might even be a bit trash-talky. Which, in turn, makes me shy away from the blog. I just don't want that voice writing here, not even in a veiled form.

So, this is the part where I step in to take back my blog. I am perfectly capable of writing in my own dang voice, thank you. Miss Voice can just shut her pie hole. (Which really is a shame for her given that my research includes lots of pie-making practice.)

Because you know what? Writing about my process is one of the points of having a writer's blog. !!! And, just like life with a capital L, that process gets messy sometimes — and messy isn't bad. It's not to be feared. It's just a thing.

More blogging it out to come.

Happy New, New Year!

Hey, You(s?) — I finally made it to 2012!

Yes, yes, I certainly existed and definitely even functioned during January and February of this very year. But March is the first month in which I've been able to exist (and even function) in the 2012 space I set my sights on inhabiting late last fall.

Translation:

I reprioritized my professional life so that I'm actually available to pursue the goals at the top of my list. These include

1. Finishing and submitting my YA historical novel WIP (1/2 of a first draft complete)
2. Ditto that for my humorous picture book WIP (full first draft in hand)
3. Repurposing the three previously sold full manuscripts whose rights reverted to me after a few publication schedules were canceled in the Downturn

Turns out that making significant changes to your day-to-day work life takes a wee bit o' time. Old projects to finish, new goals-friendly projects to pursue/secure, other activities to step away from . . . and all that.

But. Here I am. Right where I want to be and ready to get it all DONE.

I'm Writing

Checking in to say, as the title implies I might, "I'm writing."

I always am, of course; always with the writing. But I've recently (why, just this week, if you must know) re-prioritized my various writing projects, and I'm working on a scheme that I dearly and deeply hope will allow me to put my YA novel WIP first, for the first time ever, in the very near future.

I mean, come on: It has to happen sometime.

EFA's Fall Lineup!

I still serve as education chair on the Editorial Freelancers Association's Board of Governors, and I am happy to share that the Fall 2011 Education Program is all set — with registrations streaming in at a nice clip!

None of this season's classes are directly related to children's writing, but I know many children's authors also freelance in other areas, and I thought readers might like to at least check out the offerings. They include

• Proofreading: Online class starting 9/29
• Basics of Editing and Proofreading: NYC workshop on 10/21
• Getting Started in Editorial Freelancing: NYC workshop on 10/22
• Basics of Websites for Freelancers: NYC workshop on 10/22 (Note that those registering for all 3 NYC workshops via the combo option receive a 20 percent discount!)
• Tips & Tricks: Editing with Adobe Acrobat: Webinar on 10/26
• Rev Up Your Marketing Machine for 2012: Webinar on 12/7

Let me know if I can answer any questions about the lineup!

Good Grammar, Bad Grammar — Both Work for Me

It occurs to me today that I owe my career to the simple process of creating a well-constructed sentence. It has taken me from reporter to proofreader to copyeditor to editor to writer to author. How lucky am I?

The nitty-gritty details of truly working with words aren't of particular interest to most outside the field. But give me a blank page to fill or someone else's manuscript to hone, and I am happy to do what I do best: shape and polish, write and revise — in other words, use the guiding principles of English grammar to craft language that effectively communicates the intended message to its audience.

Yes, there's quite a bit more going on than "just" grammar in any piece of writing or editing. But if you take grammar out of either one, well . . . you can't do that.

I am grateful for my work. And that is reason enough for me to celebrate National Grammar Day.

If all goes well, Good Grammar, Bad Grammar, and I will continue finding satisfying ways to collaborate until one of us expires.

I sincerely hope, of course, that I am the first of our happy trio to go.

Plugging EFA's Fall Classes

It's that time of year again — time for me to plug the fall course lineup I put together as education chair for the Editorial Freelancers Association.

First up, starting September 21 in Seattle, is the NEW-to-EFA 12-week The Artist's Way Class based on Julia Cameron's bestselling book on creativity, The Artist's Way. This is an excellent opportunity to work through Cameron's program (and more!) in a fun and supportive group setting. The class meets Tuesday evenings through December 7 at Present Sense.

Next, we have a trio of online classes (by far our most popular format!) to suit a number of professional-development needs:

• Proofreading — starting September 23. Taught by our popular copyediting instructor, this 5-week online course is a great intro to proofreading for anyone wishing to explore the topic or expand their editorial skills.
• How to Get Freelance Writing Work — starting October 13. If you want to write great pitches, make more effective business calls, and sell higher-paying stories, this 5-week online class is for you!
• Navigating the Children's Writing Biz — starting October 29. This NEW 4-week online class demystifies the business side of children's publishing. Lessons cover the market, must-have resources, submissions processes, and networking.

Then later in the fall, we're heading East to sponsor three more in-person workshops:

• Substantive Editing I — November 6. This one-day clinic is held at EFA Headquarters in Manhattan focuses on editing for clarity. The instructor uses a mix of lecture, in-class exercises, and group discussion.
• Substantive Editing II — November 13. Picking up where the first clinic leaves off, this workshop — also held at EFA Headquarters — delves deeper into the art of substantive editing. The clinic stands alone, and you don't need to have taken SE I to register. (Note that there is a 20 percent discount for those taking both clinics.)
• Introduction to Indexing — December 4. This NEW half-day workshop in Richmond, Virginia (a new location for the education program!), gives freelancers an overview of indexing as an editorial discipline and helps them think about adding indexing to their list of services.

I am really looking forward to this season!

For full course descriptions and to use EFA's secure online registration system, visit the catalog page today. And do feel free to help spread the word!

Weekend Work

Every once in a while the writer-for-hire has no choice but to work the weekend. Sometimes I work on a weekend just because I feel like it. And yes, sometimes I really do just feel like it. (What can I say, I like to work.) But this weekend I just plain need to work. Not nearly enough hours in the regular days.

See, I took on this large rush-job project only recently, and instead of trying to negotiate more reasonable deadlines, I accepted the client's timeline terms. That's despite still needing to meet a different client's deadline first. (Which I did, thankyouverymuch.)

Funny thing is, I think I could have gotten a little scheduling leeway. I've worked with this client many times. And my editor actually said, in a legal-evidence-quality email, that we could talk about spacing out dates if I wanted to.

But — does this sound strange? — I really didn't want to. (I. Know!)

It's the freelancer's dilemma:

If I'd stretched out this work and actually taken that extra time (which, to try to be clear, wasn't really extra time at all), I'd be bumping in to, or possibly jeopardizing, deadlines for a project set to start a bit later. If I want this particular project I'm working on . . . and, obvs, I do 'cause I'm working on it . . . my own schedule demands that I finish the work in time to do the next thing.

And this is where I'll leave you, my bloggy friends. Saturday night break time is over. I need 200 more words before bedtime, and I'll be hanged if I'm not going to write them.

Busy Spring-into-Summer

Thought I'd better check in here before I lose my lease.

It's been a busy spring of chasing new freelance projects as a few previously scheduled ones fell through. Hate when that happens, but it is part of the biz. I constantly remind myself that I'm no different from the businesses and independent contractors I use (or don't use, or decide I won't use, or stop using). It's easy, when you're lucky enough to generally have steady, reliable work, to take a break from hunting for new clients and thinking up new ways to use your skills. But this has been a good reminder for me that keeping in touch with the regulars and introducing myself to the futures is essential. 'Cause I'm all about keeping the work coming IN.

I wrapped up my PNWA gig as a Spring 2010 Writer in Residence. I got to run a Grade 6 writing workshop at a Seattle-area elementary school. What a treat to work with students. (Not to mention my target audience.) They were sweet, smart, and so insightful.

There's been lots of hearth-and-home stuff to deal with, too, including tending to my honey of an office assistant (see sidebar for pic), who's had a very rough several months of dealing with serious back problems. I worked very late last night, and I can't even tell you how happy I was to have her "on the job" with me, just like old times — she felt good enough to supervise, so yay for that step forward.

What else is new? Well, I am thrilled to say that I'm hard at work on a YA manuscript. It's historical fiction: my favorite thing to write. I've actually been doing the research for a very long time, off and on (and mostly off). So far I've created a thorough outline and gotten unbelievably satisfying peer feedback on it — the kind that tweaks your own vision for the story in such a way that you really wake up and smell the game-changing coffee. Love when that happens. I've written a significant chunk and set the attainable goal of finishing a decent first draft by year's end. I plan to start blogging my progress, people!

And that brings me to what's going on today: In just a few hours I'll be on the horn (and Web) moderating a fun teleconference for the Editorial Freelancers Association. The topic is "Social Media Strategies for Freelancers," and my wonderful guests are writer/social media strategist Greg Pincus of The Happy Accident and freelancing expert Jake Poinier of Dear Dr. Freelance.

EFA Fall Classes Start Soon!

I recently rejoined the EFA board as education chair, and I am pleased to share news of our Fall 2009 Education Program. We have an exciting season of targeted professional-development opportunities planned and hope you'll join us for some of our online offerings and/or live events in Seattle and NYC.

ONLINE CLASSES

How to Get Freelance Writing Work (starts 10/13)

Editing Memoir and Narrative Nonfiction (starts 10/15)

Dealing with Nightmare Clients (starts 10/21)

Proofreading (starts 11/2)

Turning Journal Entries into Polished Pieces (starts 11/30)

Writing from Healthy Starts (starts 12/1)

SEATTLE EVENTS

Getting Started in Editorial Freelancing (10/17)

Blogging Basics (12/5)

NYC SEMINAR

Supplementing Your Income with PR Work (11/14)

For full course descriptions, pricing information, and a link to EFA's online registration system, see EFA's main catalog page. Be sure to act now and SIGN UP for any classes you're eyeing, especially those starting just around the corner in October. Class size is limited, and some courses do sell out early.

Hope to see some of you in class! And please share this notice with any interested friends and colleagues.

A Brief Tear on the "Fun" of Writing

Did you watch the Emmys telecast last night? I didn't. I did, however, click on a few Emmy-related news links early this morning and came across this E! Online quote from Mad Men creator (and statue winner for writing) Matthew Weiner:

"When you get something like this, it makes writing look fun, but it's not."

To me, winning an Emmy — or, how about a pretty, pretty Newbery?!?!? — for writing does in fact sound super fun! Yet, as a writer, I know that the work that goes into most award-winning works is, ahem, a whole lotta WORK.

Fun can and should be had while working at any job, certainly. And I doubt any writer /*slash*/ thinking human being would unfavorably compare writing work to, say, physically difficult labor or otherwise emotionally unpleasant occupations (use your own POV/imagination here). Few writers have to work under downright smelly/filthy/scary/dangerous/extreme-temperatured conditions, after all.

When you are a writer (and yes, a kids' writer, even!), you have a job to do. You figure out how you will do it. You get started and actually finish. You meet your deadlines. You collaborate with your editor and your fact-checker and your agent and whomever else you need to keep happy. You, the plumber, the surgeon, the store clerk, the sales rep, the lawyer, the teacher, the animal trainer, the photographer, the chef, the baseball coach, the park ranger, the dentist, the personal assistant, the banker, the carpet cleaner, the engineer, the pastor, and everyone you know in every job you can think of have everything in common ------- you all get it done.

So. I feel obligated to point out and echo and beat to absolute death Matthew Weiner's sentiment. Even though I very much enjoy (and I do mean very.much.enjoy) being a writer who sometimes gets to create fun works, I felt the urge to blog that I never sit down to my desk . . . and I do mean NEVER . . . thinking, "This is going to be fun."

Instead I think things like "This should be easy" or "I have no idea where to start" or "I can't wait to try my new idea" or "Yesterday's writing was crap" or "I need some new research" or "It's time to interview my expert" or "I'm going to solve that plot problem if it kills me" or "Just 1,000 words to go" or "I wish I didn't have to do ANY of today's tasks . . . but of course I will, because that's my job."

And thus concludes my brief tear on the "fun" of writing.

Shaking Off the Cobwebs

Last night the dog and I took a stroll, and with every few yards of progress, I batted and spit my way through yet another crop of tightly spun cobwebs. (The pooch seemed unaffected.) A heatwave had emptied our neighborhood parks and sidewalks for a good week or more, leaving the spiders with free rein. (Note that over the weekend, I also discovered webs — and the teeny little spiders that crafted them (!) — in the drying rack next to the kitchen sink. My explanation, and I'm sticking to it: Very few windows in my built-for-the-Northwest house have screens.)

It's still quite warm for our climate, but the heat is much less oppressive now, and the promise of markedly cooler temps starting tomorrow has been dangled. I'm so giddy about the downward trend that I decided to work away from my home office today. Last week, the heat and constant sleepiness were distractions, problems to overcome, heavy burdens to bear/loudly whine about. Today, though, with things looking up I worried that a livable temperature might make me too tempted to either (a) catch up on neglected-due-to-heatstroke household things that I can easily do tonight or (b) answer the siren call of a pretty summer's day, resulting in the need to work on WORK tonight, when I have firm plans to not do any of the aforementioned "household things."

So, I went for a bracing wake-up walk and then whisked myself off for a Workday Wi-Fi Crawl. Free wi-fi implied. It was a terrific change of pace and perfect for the editing work featured as today's main to-do.

At 7:30, I headed to a nearby coffee shop for emails and such over a latte. Most other patrons were headed someplace else, so I scored a comfy chair next to a handy table. Cool! Midmorning I switched to my nearest library branch to do some work-related library-ing before settling down for several hours of quiet, focused editing.

Hungry by midafternoon, I tried a never-busy dive lunch joint I knew to offer wi-fi (to which I've always said, "Who would use that here?"). Worked out fine! Then, to finish out the crawl, I grabbed a cold tea and headed to a shady, wi-fi-equipped park close to home. I sat at a picnic table facing a lake and was surprisingly productive there, too. Nobody was swimming or even stirring until around 4:30 — and by then it was time for me to get home.

Tomorrow will be business as usual, as usual. I truly do prefer to work in my office at the big-girl's computer. (That doesn't sound quite right, but neither does "adult computer." I'm comparing my large, tricked-out desktop machine to my small, just-functional-enough laptop, okay?) But today sure was lovely. The change of scenery/pace cleared my web-filled brain and renewed my weary spirit — and I look forward to tomorrow's nothing-special workday with — yes, I think it's true — happy anticipation.

A Brief Musing on "Busy"

I'll keep it brief because I'm — you guessed it — BUSY. I'm just wondering this morning, what is it about "busy" that always seems to attract more of the same? Why, when you have, for example, four deadlines in the first three days of the week, are you inundated with availability inquiries from clients (communications you'd rather not put off), personal calls/emails/invitations (stuff you want to focus on), and a growing list of must-suddenly-do-nows around the house?

What do you think? Do all these things always hover within your sphere but simply become more noticeable when a confluence of outside demands appears? Or does the "busy" energy you're putting out into the universe actually spark something that makes other people/forces seek you out?

Naturally, now — as my busy factor peaks — is the absolute best time to stop and try to get philosophical about . . . anything.

Before I get back to it, I want to give a quick shout out to any UW editorial certificate students checking out the blog: Hi if you're out there — fun to talk at you last night!

Four Down, Two to Go

I passed the halfway point yesterday in my "Six Books in Six Weeks" marathon. That felt good. Still does today, in fact.

It helps that the books share a global theme — that makes both the research and writing processes more efficient. It is wearing, though, to finish a manuscript one day (last night in this case) and then get right down to business on the next installment at wake-up. But the switching-gears part takes a minute no matter what kind of work you do.

I spent the first half of today on administrative tasks like invoicing, filing, stacking the library books I need to return (making sure to remove ALL Post-its so I don't get another mean warning!), and tending my embarrassingly overgrown email garden. It required very little quality thinking yet yielded a bonus sense of accomplishment.

And now, with lunch out of the way and no further ado to be had, on to Book 5 I go!

Six Books in Six Weeks

Writing six books in six weeks sounds insane, doesn't it? But I'm doing it. The books are short, about 1,000 words each (illustrated nonfiction). The schedule is tight but doable.

Starting next week, I have one title due each of six Tuesdays in a row. This project came along just as I was starting to plan a little vacation that I need but wasn't quite ready for, so for me the timing was right and the distraction factor (from what has created the need for a break) was perfect. Really, it's no fun to vacate if you're not entirely up for it.

So. Six books. Six weeks. That's what I'm doing.

7 Random Facts Meme

Oops, it is November 26, and I'm just noticing that illustrator Dawn Phillips tagged me on her blog — and mine — for the 7 Random Facts About Me meme 10 days ago . . .

Bad, bad blogger, Lisa!

Here's my list:

(1) I bailed on a writing gig last week. My role was to write a slew of Little Readers. These books truly are fun to write. But my development-group client repeatedly changed the schedule and assignment content/tasks/fees with no dialogue, no advance notice, and no pleases or thank-yous.

I'd already been increasingly uncomfortable with the company's (lack of) communication style in the months leading up to the work. And, a quick exchange with a colleague confirmed that others out there in our small-ish world of freelance children's writers had already sworn off working with this client due to BAD experiences. So when my first assignment finally arrived, late and completely different in every possible way from what had been confirmed the day before, that prompted me to finally just say no thanks.

To other writers out there: Remember, you ALWAYS deserve to be treated fairly and with a modicum of professional courtesy. Your time is valuable, and your writing is work.

(2) I am ambidextrous. Thank goodness, so says Wikipedia, that I don't shoot for sport. Apparently, though, the condition might be good for my word-processing skills. Seems I'm in pretty good company — Michelangelo, Einstein, Beethoven, Gandhi — not bad. I like this quote I just found: "Ambidexterity is neither a goal to aspire to nor is it a gift from God. Instead, it is first and foremost the mark of brain damage." That might explain some things.

(3) Speaking of word-processing skills, I never took a typing class in high school. This was back in the day when (a) people used typewriters; (b) everybody took typing class for an easy A; and (c) some guidance counselors were still telling girls that they MUST have good secretarial skills to "fall back on." I remember being insulted that my assigned counselor didn't want to talk about my college/career aspirations and adamant that I'd be the one with the secretary working for me and so shouldn't waste my academic hours on such a useless class. Instead I needed to study world domination and such.

I started needing to type nonstop right away in college, and so, luckily, typing proficiency followed. Joke's on me that I became a writer and editor, both of which require quite a lot of the clickety-clack.

Just the other day I saw a report on the average salary of executive-level administrative assistants. Upon growing up and entering the workforce, I quickly learned that administrative professionals do demanding, highly specialized, crucial work (and that EVERYONE could benefit from developing great secretarial skills). But gee whiz, I didn't realize just how lucrative the job category could be. I think I coulda been a contender. Darn you, my smug, surly, sexist guidance-counselor man!

(4) I recently brought home a bag of half-priced books, and I don't know where I put it. I know that at first it was in my office, right under my desk. But now? No clue. What's more, I'm not entirely sure I know what all is in the bag. I just know the bag exists. One might rightly guess that I experienced a wee episode of emotional book buying. (Come on, you know you've done it too!)

(5) I replaced my dog's office bed a few weeks ago. She seems to be missing her old, worn cushion and hasn't been spending as much time with me during the day. She'll come in, sniff the new cushion and kick it around, give me a forlorn look, and then go flop down in the adjacent family room. Did I mention that the old cushion was flattened out and discolored and maybe even smelly — and old? At least now I have a better picture of what the draw was in here.

(6) I'm not really working today. I'm sitting at my desk, willing to answer the phone or an email if necessary, but I'm mostly goofing off. My to-do list includes tasks like finding a new pumpkin pie recipe, scouting shopping sites for holiday gift ideas, and burning CDs of the new holiday music I've downloaded. I needed this day.

(7) I happily post a meme when I've been tagged, but I rarely tag other people. I always either feel too busy or too lazy to check other blogs and see whether they've already participated. I suppose this practice is kinda spoil-sporty of me, but I didn't forward chain letters in the 70s and 80s and I don't pass along modern-day email forwards either. Drag!

What Would Patton Do? Or Hemingway?

I love a good quotable. Each day my hard-copy day planner puts two motivational snippets at my fingertips. And a widget on my iGoogle home page funnels insights from literary giants to inspire me (or demoralize me, depending on the day).

Now, I don't read the daily quotes daily. My quote-reading record is pretty spotty, in fact. But I like knowing the pearls are there, ready to illuminate, annoy, or slip by unnoticed. I tend to take more regular looks at them when I have bigger issues on my mind and, thus, need (or just take) more mini breaks.

The past several days I've been mired in the task of figuring out how to balance upcoming personal activities with the responsibilities of keeping my business healthy and strong. Naturally such decisions are in play every single day for every single one of us. But the scale of that balancing act changes from time to time, and I'm in a phase where I can count on non-work issues taking an extra-special intense center stage for known stretches of time.

Enter my quote-peeking ways!

I love it when I come across a quote at the very moment I need to see it. Last night, for instance, I calculated detailed scheduling info on my calendar pages before firing off an email to someone with the power to help make or break my best-case life-and-work scenarios. I'd had to make some prior decisions . . . you know, which projects to work on, what I can and can't try to do in this life . . . just a few little things like that. Email sent, I looked at my planner notes one last time before heading to dinner with my husband. That's when I read this quote from George S. Patton Jr.:

"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash."

THAT made my night. It felt like the universe was telling me that my decision to say yes to what matters, no to what doesn't, and let the rest take care of itself was sane. Not rash. It helped reinforce my knowledge that I had rationally examined all angles — and that risks are often necessary and usually worth it, regardless of outcome.

This morning, then, I was primed to check out at all the daily quotes at my disposal. None of 'em did a thing for me. Pretty typical, really.

Later, though, I pulled out one of those pet projects I've mentioned and stared at it over lunch. This is a nonfiction thing that I just don't know how to frame. Can I really do as I want and focus on a very small piece of the much larger story? Of course I know it's possible for someone to do it, but my real question with this has been, Can I do it? No telling till I make a serious attempt at writing it, eh?

I opened up my Stickies application to jot a couple of ideas before getting back to paying work. I saw an Ernest Hemingway quote I'd saved a few months ago:

"If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water."

Big a-ha for me even though it wasn't. For my completed works, I can easily point to ways I've omitted things I know. For example, unspoken (or unexplained) character backgrounds and motivations in fiction. And reams of detailed research that just doesn't make the cut in nonfiction.

But I wasn't seeing the obvious answer to my writing dilemma (= no dilemma) because I was too caught up in overthinking it. Of course I can tell one story that's part of a bigger one. What story in existence ISN'T one tiny part of something bigger? It's not even that deep of an insight. Sheesh!

Now that I'm feeling all "one with my brain," I can also see that there was no true dilemma involved in making the life-and-work-balancing decisions I struggled with either. In writing, as with life, you make decisions when you're ready.

Maybe someday I'll be as decisive as George and Ernest in everything I do. On second thought, maybe I don't want to be. They may have been brilliant, but those dudes were crazy!

A to the Q: Taking Low-Paying Children's Writing Work

A to the Q is an ongoing series of posts in which I answer questions I've received from blog readers, workshop students, and others about writing and navigating the waters of children's publishing. My aim is to share what I know and spark your search for even more information.

Q: I've heard it's a good idea to pursue some of the low-paying projects I see advertised to get my feet wet and build my children's writing credentials. Do you agree?

A: As you've found, pay ranges for children's writing projects run the gamut. Of course everyone has to start somewhere, and of course you'll want to move up the pay scale from your starting point. But I'm assuming that you're talking about working for peanuts — and that's something I simply never advocate.

Listen, there are some low, low, LOW fees out there. I've seen fees as low as a dismal $0.05/word, or maybe $100 for a week's worth of work. (Take a sec to do that math. Can you live on that? Can anyone?) Some writing-advice gurus advise newbie or wannabe writers to go after such "jobs." They'll even tell people to work for free to pad their writing credits. (Volunteer-type writing, such as when you're contributing content to an organization or cause that matters to you is a different matter entirely.) But I rarely hear of writers having a good experience working on pay-nothing projects, and I've never witnessed anyone parlaying such work into high fees or credibility/career viability.

Maybe you will get better projects after writing for next to nothing, but in most cases that will only happen because you move on and look for something better, not because you got great exposure or paid some nonexistent dues writing for publishers who want cheap content to feed to . . . uh, who is their audience, exactly?

Think of it this way: If you take on unreasonably low-paying work, you may miss out on decent-paying work. And worse, you'll set a precedent for your low worth as a writer. That, in turn, effectively contributes to your low-paying publisher's low opinion of writers' contributions to its revenue. If you feed that cycle, it will continue.

I realize that the issue of needing experience/specific writing credits to score assignments is a valid concern (and true in any field). As I said, you need to start somewhere, and very few people get to start at the top of a profession's fee scale. I would just hate to see you waste valuable time chasing gigs that treat the writing — your work — as something you should feel privileged to produce and give away.

Established publishers who pay fair rates know that they need to occasionally hire first-time writers to keep the pool fresh — and many are willing to take a chance on an unknown candidate who exhibits professionalism, talent, and perseverance. No reason why that candidate can't be you!