FREELANCING

I've spent the day looking for writing gigs. I have a couple of long-term jobs but they're certainly not enough to pay the mortgage and I really don't fancy being homeless.

I've signed up with a new agency (see the link top right) and I'm already with Elance, so I make a bit of money; it's certainly not enough though. The problem is that folk don't understand the true financial worth of the writer's art; it's like that old comeback you get when telling somebody you have written and published a book - 'oh yeah, I keep meaning to do that too.' Well, if it's that bloody easy, go on and do it then!

I am not the only jobbing writer who, on more than a few occasions, has worked at far below the national minimum wage. I suppose if I'd written a best seller I could name my own price.

In my experience, writers write because they're the quiet dreamers of the world; not the sort of people who take financial negotiations in their stride. Oh, we may come across as assertive and confident on the surface but all of us tend to prefer our own inner worlds. Perhaps that is the root of our problem - we're not in your face enough to demand our true worth.

I shall try to turn over a new leaf (geddit!)

Meantime, I'm busily knitting a pair of socks to enter into the Ravelry Sock Knitters Anonymous February Sockdown.

If you knit but haven't yet discovered Ravelry get on over there at once! It's a wonderful place for all knitters, whether you are a real beginner or a dyed in the wool (I'm on a roll obviously!) supertricoteuse.