I had trouble getting to sleep last night. The worry caught up with me--over money, of course, and the neglect resulting. Last night it was mainly worry over my crumbling teeth. When I was suffering badly with pain, with no hope of relief, I was clenching my teeth tightly in my sleep night after night. The result: I need crowns on eight cracked molars, and no way of paying for it.
So I spent today e-mailing my resume to local firms, mostly non-profits, to see if they could use contract copy-editing work. For other freelancers, I'll share an organization that was featured last week on CBS Sunday Morning: www.freelancersunion.org. It's free to register, and it features good forums and other helpful resources. It isn't just for freelancers in writing-related occupations, it's for anyone working as a contractor. The founder, Sara Horowitz, founded it because so many corporations are now contracting out work rather than pay for benefits, like health care and paid vacation. These workers do exactly the same work a for-hire employee would do, work the same hours, but lack the benefits.
Another problem that freelancers run into is the companies that contracting them--and it's mostly the big corporations guilty of this, big surprise--stiffing them and not paying them for services rendered. The problem is that many of these freelancers aren't earning a lot of money, and they have to pay for health care and health insurance out-of-pocket. The corporations know this. They also know that the ceiling for small claims court for a complaint is about $3,000. So, for example, if a freelancer performs a service and turns in an invoice for, say, $3,500, the corporation knows it's over the limit for the freelancer to be able to take them to small claims court. But the corporation also knows that a freelancer most likely can't afford to hire a lawyer to go to court over the $3,500, and also, that a lot of lawyers wouldn't take a case like that because it isn't lucrative enough. So a lot of freelancers are being stiffed for services rendered, with no way of collecting.
Could it be that, with thorough enough documentation, the freelancers could publicize abuses like this, and at the very least, publicly shame these corporations? Any lawyer Kossacks have any insights?
Another good organization: www.foodnotbombs.net.
This is a global effort to get food to anyone in need. They set up informal areas that provide food to anyone who shows up and who is hungry. If you don't have a food-not-bombs effort in your town or city, you can visit the web site, and they provide information on how to start one.
I look for unconventional ways to bring in money. I e-mailed a local marketing research company, inquiring for work as a mystery shopper. Not a career choice, but if they really need people to do that work, I'm willing.
About 2-1/2 years ago, when I was still suffering with a lot of pain, I began doing pro bono copy editing work for a small, independent press publication (a monthly magazine) to gain experience. I worked as much as I was able, depending on the severity of the pain I was having. When I began, I had signed on only to gain experience. It has also had the benefit of centering me mentally while I'm having a very rough time of things. As I've been there, though, I've found that the place fits me like a glove--no small feat, as I'm quirky and unconventional.
For that reason, and because I'm not getting many nibbles for my resume, I've been trying to find a person or foundation willing to fund a salary for me to work there. So far, not a nibble there, either. I've been doing research at the Career Services library at my alma mater. They've got useful foundation directories there, but one foundation after another states, "we do not award grants to individuals." My only chance, a slim one, is calling attention to myself with someone committed passionately to independent media, as I am. It's vital, in this age of media conglomeration, and with the FCC so blatantly commandeered by the right wing. I'm honored to be contributing to the efforts of a publication that offers excellent independent press, but I can't continue if I'm not paid for it.
In the meantime, I hustle for income in other ways. I've found some work as a model for art groups and classes. This work isn't for you if you'd be uncomfortable posing nude for a room full of fully-clothed artists. I'm not. The art academies observe very strict rules of etiquette aimed at protecting, and keeping comfortable, their models. The strictness varies from school to school. At one school, a women's art school, students and models may not speak to each other at all--not before, during, or after class. At other classes the rules are more relaxed. But I pose on a platform about two feet high and about six feet square. In all institutions, that space is inviolably that of the model. It is sacrosanct. No one is permitted to approach it at all except for the instructor, and then, only to point out something technical, like a line here, some negative space there. In the small community art classes, I do talk while I'm posing. But most often I hear silence, except for the sound of the artists forming images on paper with their charcoal pencils.
I undress in a rest room and return to the class room in my robe. I've learned from experience to be sure to toss my robe onto a surface several feet off the ground so that I don't have to bend over to retrieve it. I do two, five, ten, and twenty-minute poses. After 20 minutes of posing I get a ten-minute break, clad in my robe. I find the series of two-minute poses for 20 minutes give me the greatest challenge because I have to come up with a variety of poses from different angles, sometimes in front of a room full of 30 artists completely circling me. I have only two arms and two legs, so to give more variety I use a stool as a prop.
An etiquette rule observed everywhere is that no one actually speaks to me until class is completely over and I have changed into my street clothes. Only then do students all thank me for posing and compliment me on the poses I gave them.
Another possible way of bringing in some cash for someone who is struggling is to accept deliveries or deal with a contractor while a home owner is at work. I will be doing that tomorrow, accepting delivery of home heating oil for a client while he is out of town.
I intended this diary as a practical one, in hopes that I can offer ideas to other Kossacks who are struggling.