Readers!
I know I often talk about the perks of being a freelance writer, but it’s not all roses and sunshine over here. Plus with [waves hands] going on, I just want to grouse a bit. These aren’t really about the writing part of being a freelancer, but annoying business stuff that I could live without.
Please note that I love freelancing and am so glad it has provided me a wonderful way to make a living for almost 20 years. But just as office life isn’t perfect, this isn’t either. Also! This is not an opportunity for someone to come in and tell me why such and such is this way (and thus that I shouldn’t be annoyed by it). This is a vent sesh, folks. Let’s get on with it.
- Accounts payable departments that…won’t tell you if there’s a problem with your invoice. I recently followed up on a late payment, and it turns out that accounts payable had flagged my invoice and needed a correction before they paid me. But I didn’t know because no one told me. It’s not the first time this has happened. One former client had an accounting admin who took my invoice and stuck it on a pile because she’d never seen my name before. She didn’t ask the editor who sent it to her about it. He flipped his lid. Remember: no one cares about your money as much as you, which is why when checks are late, you gotta follow up. You may never be paid otherwise.
- Sources who….suddenly demand to be interviewed over email. I get why people want to sometimes answer questions over email, and sometimes I will do that if it’s a disability accommodation, I’m in a pinch, or it’s truly the only way I can get a source that my editor has asked I use. The reason I avoid it is because — except in the cases of a disability accommodation — I’ve had too many cases where the answers are stilted or clearly written by PR people, who often drop them off to you right before the deadline, which means you can’t ask follow up questions. Also throw in that I know PR people are using genAI, which makes stuff up, and no thanks! Fortunately, I do a lot of writing where I can find other sources if I need to, but if you say at the outset you’ll speak to me by video or phone: stick to it.
- PR people that…keep asking over and over and over again when the story is going to run. I end every interview I do with a note that I don’t know when a story is going to be published, but as soon as it does, I’ll send them a link. I’m happy to do that, but I’ve had PR people ask three or four times if I have a run date. I do not! Quit it! If your client is pressuring you to find out, then it’s part of your job to remind them that I already said I don’t know. And if this is a repeat offense, I will not use any of that person’s clients again.
- Clients that…require you to go through a complicating on boarding process just to get paid. I should start charging for the time it takes me to create logins and identities and windings and magic spells in some of these systems. It shouldn’t be that complicated! I submit an invoice and you pay me!
Recent Bylines
“Putting out a brain on fire: Researchers map how antibodies bind in rare autoimmune disorder,” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
“How CIOs are reskilling their workforce,” CIO Dive
What I’m Reading
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I didn’t know that this was a retelling of Charles Dickinson’s David Copperfield set in America’s opioid epidemic, but it seems clear as day now that I’m done the book. I don’t know what else I can add to the many pages that have been writing about this book except yes it deserved to win the Pulitzer Prize. A depressing read though.
What I’m Watching
- Sitting on the Moon. A short, sort of silly musical from 1936 that I watched courtesy of the Audubon Public Library. Through Hoopla, a free-with-library-card streaming service, I took out a one-week binge pass to IndieFlix, and this movie was on it. Hooray libraries! I put it on while I worked, and it was perfect for that. I know know all the words to the song “Siting on the Moon” because they played it MANY TIMES throughout the movie. There’s also an accordion. Good fun.
- Challengers. Back to Movies I Missed! Someone was watching this on my flight home from Italy, and I thought…really? So I watched it when I got home. It was fine, though not nearly as naked as I expected (not a criticism, just fact). I know people made a lot about the Trent Reznor soundtrack when this came out, but I thought it was distracting.
- Thelma. Another one I got free through Hoopla. When a 93-year old women gets scammed out of $10,000, she decides to get her money back, which leads to an improbable, often very funny, reverse heist movie. June Squibb is fantastic as Thelma, and whole bunch of great actors pop up, but I’m not going to spoil it for you since I like going into movies without reading the IMDB first. One note: the scam Thelma falls for, the “grandparent scam,” is very real. Someone calls for “grandmom” and never uses actual names, but says they were in a car accident and hit someone and need cash. In the movie, the caller says they hit a pregnant woman. Someone tried this scam on my elderly neighbor a few years ago. It’s terrible. Fortunately, she felt something was wrong about the whole thing, so she called me, and we were able to report it to the police. I only tell you this in case you have older folks in your life. You may want to let them know.
Nail Polish of the Week
Odd Squad by Essie. A very deep brown, perfect for the season. I’ll probably do something little witchy this week because, well, you know.
Until next time!
Jen A. Miller
Notes from a Hired Pen ebook series
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