Employment update - Stability!
If you've read my mom's LJ, you already know at least the basics. As for everyone else...
For the past few weeks, I've been regularly freelancing at three places - the 22nd Century Media's North Shore newspapers, the Niles Bugle and Austin Weekly News. With Austin Weekly News, the editor and I agreed that I would get paid a certain amount of money to write 1-2 articles a week. But with other two, the income was less predictable. For the Bugle, I'd write at least one article a week. Sometimes two. Very rarely three. With 22nd Century Media, it was even less predictable. Sometimes, I get one. Sometime, I get two. Sometimes, I get none at all. Which is a problem - since, as I wrote earlier, I had to have at least four articles a week (plus what I'd earn at Austin Weekly News) to earn what I did at Pioneer Press. While I've had reserves, I could make up for occasional shortfall, but this clearly wasn't going to be sustainable in the long run. I've been looking for jobs since I got blacklisted, but I've had no luck so far.
But recently, that changed. I talked to my editor at the Bugle. Turned out that the company that owned the paper recently got a new owner (which surprised me - usually, when newspapers in Chicago, even smaller ones, change owners, word gets around). The owner is willing to put more money and resources into the papers. For the first time in months, Niles Bugle is going to have a staff writer. And my editor offered that position to me.
Now, this is a part-time position, so there's no insurance, and no benefits. But it would pay 93% of what I earned at Pioneer Press. If you include what I earn at Austin Weekly News, I would actually earn more. Not that much more, but still...
More importantly, for the first time since July, I would have a clear idea how much I would earn per month. I would be able to refill the reserves I've been spending for the past two months. I would even be able to save money aside to eventually go to New York, see Randirogue and Grace.
(Visiting Randi has been on my agenda for a while. I wasn't able to see her at all while I was going through chemo, and I was given an all-clear, I was determined to visit her sooner or later. And since Grace is in New York, at least for the time being - why not see if we can meet up).
The part-time staff writer job won't start until September so, for the time being, I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing and try to pick up as many assignments as I can. And I will continue pitching to websites and magazines. I pitched in crapload of places, and I see no reason why I should stop trying.
(So far, only one of my pitches was accepted. At the moment, it's a bit up in the air, since I haven't heard back from the editor after I submitted the article a week ago. I intend to start bugging the editor about it by Monday, because she offered to pay me more than I've ever been paid per article in my entire life, and even though my financial situation has just improved, I still want to get paid. And besides - I worked hard on that article, damn it.)
I will also keep looking for full-time jobs in the area. On the long run, one full-time job is better than two part-time jobs, and if there is an opportunity, I'm going to take it.
But for now... I'm in a better place, financially, then I was a week ago. And that's definitely something worth celebrating.
For the past few weeks, I've been regularly freelancing at three places - the 22nd Century Media's North Shore newspapers, the Niles Bugle and Austin Weekly News. With Austin Weekly News, the editor and I agreed that I would get paid a certain amount of money to write 1-2 articles a week. But with other two, the income was less predictable. For the Bugle, I'd write at least one article a week. Sometimes two. Very rarely three. With 22nd Century Media, it was even less predictable. Sometimes, I get one. Sometime, I get two. Sometimes, I get none at all. Which is a problem - since, as I wrote earlier, I had to have at least four articles a week (plus what I'd earn at Austin Weekly News) to earn what I did at Pioneer Press. While I've had reserves, I could make up for occasional shortfall, but this clearly wasn't going to be sustainable in the long run. I've been looking for jobs since I got blacklisted, but I've had no luck so far.
But recently, that changed. I talked to my editor at the Bugle. Turned out that the company that owned the paper recently got a new owner (which surprised me - usually, when newspapers in Chicago, even smaller ones, change owners, word gets around). The owner is willing to put more money and resources into the papers. For the first time in months, Niles Bugle is going to have a staff writer. And my editor offered that position to me.
Now, this is a part-time position, so there's no insurance, and no benefits. But it would pay 93% of what I earned at Pioneer Press. If you include what I earn at Austin Weekly News, I would actually earn more. Not that much more, but still...
More importantly, for the first time since July, I would have a clear idea how much I would earn per month. I would be able to refill the reserves I've been spending for the past two months. I would even be able to save money aside to eventually go to New York, see Randirogue and Grace.
(Visiting Randi has been on my agenda for a while. I wasn't able to see her at all while I was going through chemo, and I was given an all-clear, I was determined to visit her sooner or later. And since Grace is in New York, at least for the time being - why not see if we can meet up).
The part-time staff writer job won't start until September so, for the time being, I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing and try to pick up as many assignments as I can. And I will continue pitching to websites and magazines. I pitched in crapload of places, and I see no reason why I should stop trying.
(So far, only one of my pitches was accepted. At the moment, it's a bit up in the air, since I haven't heard back from the editor after I submitted the article a week ago. I intend to start bugging the editor about it by Monday, because she offered to pay me more than I've ever been paid per article in my entire life, and even though my financial situation has just improved, I still want to get paid. And besides - I worked hard on that article, damn it.)
I will also keep looking for full-time jobs in the area. On the long run, one full-time job is better than two part-time jobs, and if there is an opportunity, I'm going to take it.
But for now... I'm in a better place, financially, then I was a week ago. And that's definitely something worth celebrating.