Greetings! Today's message brought to you by Powdermilk Biscuits-- giving shy people the courage to do what needs to be done...

I saw the new Spider Man movie last night. Unbelievable. I haven't been that pleased with a super hero movie in years, probably not since the first Batman movie. Yes, I know, it even beat the Avengers for me. Though that very well could be blamed on the fact that, at the time I saw the Avengers, I had only seen the Iron Man movies. I guess I need to catch up on Captain America and Thor and the Hulk and all that...that'd probably help. But I mean, I found myself grinning outright during some of the inspirational parts, frowning or grimacing when it got bad, and I literally had to cover my mouth to stop myself from guffawing so many times I lost count. Finally they brought the true sarcasm and humor of Spider Man to the screen.

They really stuck to the original comic book story line, the casting was flawless, the soundtrack was inspiring, and the graphics weren't vomit-inducingly complex while still being out-of-your-mind incredible. As I was informed by my computer-whiz friend Will, the rendering had to have taken at least two years for them to do. It apparently takes 109 days to make a car drive down the road. You learn something new every day.

And they actually gave the bully some depth. That, above all I think, really sold me on the producers of this movie. Because only the really bad guys are really bad. True and total jerks may exist in the high school realm, but they're rarely criminal masterminds. Even they can know when not to poke the wrong buttons. And this time, Flash, or whatever his name was, actually had compassion without seeming fake. Hats off to you, my friends.

Besides, with a director's name of Marc Webb-- how can you not make the Amazing Spider Man movie, well...amazing?

Anyway-- that is not what my main message is. Instead I'm going to direct you to another article of interest for writers everywhere. That is, after all, what my blog is going to be mainly about. Books, writers, and the writing industry. All interconnected, don't you see. Yes, I even have a plan.

This author has been a freelancer since 2008, and I would never have known about her had my father not started sending me her blog posts and articles to read. A good source of information, my father. This article in particular comes from PJ Media, a blog domain with a sense of humor. Ever hear those complaints by 'official' writers that bloggers aren't true writers? Oh, they could be any old Joe just sitting at home typing away in his pajamas! Thus PJ Media was born.

What better article to introduce you to this finest of authorial sites than one dedicated to freelance? Kathy Shaidle's "Talent Isn’t Everything: 5 Secrets to Freelance Success" is a sharp, insightful guide to what you can expect (and not expect) in the freelance world. Freelance does not equal freeland. You don't just get to do whatever you want, and it's not always gravy. In talking to my author mentor at Peachtree Publishers on the subject of money, she submitted this outlook as well. Sometimes life is really good, financially, and sometimes it's really not. You could say that's true of any job, what with the economy falling and rising, but it's even more so with freelance. Because you don't have benefits with freelance. You don't have a five-ten year contract or unemployment grace periods from your company if you got laid off. Your income simply...ceases to be.

And you have to constantly put yourself out there. You are part and parcel the work, the advertising, the upkeep, the follow through, the social media, and everything else that goes with. There is never an end to any job, because as soon as that job is over so is your paycheck, and you need a new job right away.

You have to be flexible, you have to know that the customer is always right (even when they're dead wrong) and you have to know who you are and what you're offering. It's very easy when your boss or the CEO of a company tells you what your job is worth. It's so much harder to convince a prospective client that they want to pay you your fee. Some writers will then undercut their prices in order to attract their clients, to be competitive in the workforce, but in the end they're hurting themselves alone. Know your worth and stick to it. You'll attract better customers that way, in the end. A customer who is paying a lot on your hourly rate will want the project done quickly-- hence, less money. The cheaper client can rack up more hours, more of your time without worry, even if those extra hours are spent waffling between font styles. If you don't know what you're worth...? Shaidle's article cites six, count them, six sources on how to price your work and yourself according to today's most competitive freelance rates in all genres of the writers life.

And if you want to be a freelance writer because you don't want to engage with people, sorry Charlie. You have to be even more charming and personable as a freelancer. You are selling your product, your personality, your self. Now, you may be able to do that over email or the phone, rather than in person, so if that fits in with your original plans, then alright. But don't expect freelance to give you the window to your true inner dialogue. Sometimes silent thoughts do best to remain that way.

Shaidle also pinpoints several difficult to overcome trials of being a freelance writer-- or even a writer of any kind. Keeping normal hours is one of them. As a freelancer it can be incredibly charming, the idea that the world and all the hours in it are yours to divide up and conquor as you wish. But your clients are not going to work that way. Chances are they have a 9-5 job and/or business and are going to expect you to cater to their needs during that time slot. If you're sloshed from staying up all night writing and drinking chai tea (or whatever it is you may drink at 3 in the morning...) then you're not going to be able to cater to your income's needs, much less put a good face on it. They may not be able to see the circles under your eyes and your frazzled hair, but they will be able to hear it in your voice or read it in your email. You may have the power of youth or you may have the ability to survive on 3 hours of sleep at a time. But you can't live that way for very long. There will come a point when your body will just say no more and throw up the white flag. And according to Murphy's Law, it will be at that point alone that you miss the email that would have gotten you the million dollar commission. So stay sharp.

Another little tidbit that I thought was amazing (don't know why I didn't think of this before) was Shaidle's answer to proofreading. Any writer knows that after a certain point you just have to put down the manuscript, because there will always be something wrong with it, always something you can change. In the end you just want to throw it out the window, tear out your hair, and become a professional anything-else. You cannot stand to look at that section of writing one more time.

Now, one trick I know is that reading your work aloud helps you find the areas that don't flow, that stick in your craw, and that just sound plain weird. Last summer I spent a matter of about a week and a half reading my entire manuscript (all 300+ pages of it) aloud to try and find the bits that made me stumble. This works relatively well, but if you're not good at reading aloud you're stuck. Also, if you have been staring at the same piece for too long, even this trick can only go so far. But Shaidle has the next step:

Trick your brain into thinking it's reading the piece for the first time. Sleep on it. Always sleep on it. Then change the font, increase the size by one or two points, and then change the color of the font. These subtle but visual changes will make the visual subject that you're brain has already 'memorized' appear fresh, allowing you to point out typos, awkward sentences, and brainstorms you forgot to incorpoate. After you're through, you convert it back to normal type, and send it to your client/professor/agent.

Of course, writing like any other artistically based job is widely open to speculation, experience, and opinion as to how it will go and how it can go. But you can't get around just gold old common sense. Always take the advice from those who have been there. Maybe their advice won't be the thing that does it for you, but you won't know until you try. I am certainly learning a lot from my author mentor, learning things I had never known before because they're tidbits you can't get anywhere but from the industry itself-- no self help book will have them. She's also giving me fresh perspective, insights based on experience and new brainstorming. Maybe it'll work out for me. Maybe it won't. But it's got the wheels moving and the gears turning again.

One other thing-- all the help you ever get as a student or starting writer... All the advice, hours of editing, free or homecooked meals, supplies, articles, references, suggestions, and favors...

Pass it forward. Not because of karma or any other pay back mentality. Remember that when you're older and you've got something more or less 'figured out' that there are young people around you who are scared stiff and still uncertain as to what the heck they're doing. A pot of spaghetti in a real home, a chance to dog sit for extra cash and a day away from campus, a fresh look at that essay or short story, even a chance to talk to a published author or director of the office will seem like a gift incomparable to anything else.

Caitlyn, out...