Finally, I got a break. I landed a steady gig where I'll be writing weekly reports for a business (hard to explain the details, but I'll post the link to one here once I've written one ;), they'll be online). I start after the New Year. This job will be our "base" of income - steady work that is assigned to me - and take up 1/3 to 2/3 of my week. I still don't know how it will all shake out as far as that. But I should have enough time to still query magazines and such.

The amount is enough for us that we should be able to pay all our bills and keep a reasonable budget including sinking funds, savings and paying off the HEL (at what rate, we'll see - could be fast, could be slow). My first goal is to save a big cushion - $5-7k - so that when there are slow times in the future with my writing, we don't incur debt. Beyond that I can't really think. I want to see six months of building savings and making it every month without incurring any debt, before I can think beyond that.

I'm excited about this but need to stay in control. Yes, it's steady, but it's freelance - it could be yanked at any moment. I can't get complacent. It is not a "job." It's a freelance gig, unpredictable and variable.

So that is good news number one. Good news number two is that I got word yesterday that our elementary school was approved to get a Farm to School grant to put local foods in the cafeteria. I wrote the grant application for it, largely by myself (I left the budget amounts for the school to fill in) - we had a couple of meetings to decide direction as a group and then I wrote the whole darn thing myself, edited it and everything. The grant is significant - $14,500 - and will launch a project to bring bulk-purchased local farm foods into the lunchroom. I am really happy about getting the grant and I know I'll be asked to participate heavily in the project if not head it. So 2008, that will be one of my big projects. My one big project outside of work, because it is going to take a chunk of time. But I feel I could not be doing more important work - bringing kids awareness of where their food comes from, reducing impact on the environment through sourcing local foods (currently the kids eat US Commodities and food from a wholesaler 1.5 hrs away), and improving health and nutrition as well. I mean, I get to help teach kids the basic premises in The Omnivore's Dilemma. What could be cooler??

(They are even building an outdoor root cellar for storage vegetables...how cool is that?)

Gotta run, but wanted to share the good news here. :)

Both of those are just screaming FANTASTIC! Hooray for accomplishing two such enormous things with your writing skills.

Kerri

wow wow wow. SO SO cool! what great accomplishments! you have impacted SO many lives by writing that school grant.

Wonderful, wonderful news!

That is SO amazingly cool I can't believe it! WOW! Congratulations! I can't wait to see your first work. :) And the school... that is totally kick ass! Amazing... great job!

Val

Still geeked about the school... wow.

Thanks! A bunch of people have had questions about the type of writing work...I will try to explain.

As a writer I have committed myself to making a living with my words. This is craft more than art. I am not trying to publish a literary novel (yet, anyway, :lol: ). I am not trying to land work writing only about what my passions are - homesteading, local foods, the environment, living simply, parenting. It would be wonderful if I *could* land work writing about my passions and it's not like I'm *not* trying. But, first and foremost, my work has to pay the bills.

This means taking a rather unglamorous gig like the one I just landed. I will make good money per hour, but what I will write is rather dry and not terribly creative. It does require a lot of analytical work, which I'm good at.

I'm still working to get assignments for magazines in natural health and alternative medicine, parenting, and whole foods. I have a *lot* in the works right now - things that have been assigned but not yet published. Especially in April - I will post my biggest assignment yet when it comes out, and it is very relevant to this forum. :D It is slated for publication then and I can't say more about it till then.

Anyway...all the magazine work is happening, and I'm excited about that. I'm building clips and getting work and establishing myself. It's going really, really well. Just slowly, because national magazines tend to go slowly. The work I just got - I don't want to downplay it, it's *awesome* - but it is the steady, mid-level work that I need in order to keep going with my loftier ambitions of writing for national magazines.

I will write anything. I love to write. But as I've let people know about my new work, I find there are many misconceptions - not necessarily here, I've just told a few friends and family and people kind of think I've gotten some big creative/artsy break. It's more solid, steady, grind type of work. But that's the real life of a writer. I don't wait for someone to decide to publish a nonfiction book based on my blog or whatever (though wouldn't that be wonderful, I have a few years of platform building before I can even consider that). I need paying work, now. My first and foremost goal: make a living with my words. I'm close to that goal now. :D

Wonderful on both accounts. Sounds like 2008 will be a wonderful year for you :)

:singing:

I am very excited for you!

Sounds like a great start for your year!

yay! i am super excited for you!