This last century has been remarkable in many ways. It sprouted a whole new range of Dewey-inspired disciplines in the Social Sciences, it hurled us from the first tentative definition of the electron in 1904 to an electronic world which Prof. W. Wilson of Princeton could hardly have imagined. It gave us tools and techniques we now consider absolutely necessary for civilized life, but it also gave us a long list of regrets, verging often on a wish for the simplicity of the “old days”, which really never existed except in our imagination.

Two losses, which we began to feel acutely when the century was two thirds gone, were the disappearing ability of most people to do arithmetic mentally or even with a pencil, but the calculator made it all right for us after a fashion. The other loss is serious and there is no device or program to set it right again. I am speaking about the loss of the ability to write clear and understandable English. I would like to trace in very rough outline the course of the century in regard to this situation:

1895. Dean Briggs at Harvard decided that American education, which was based on the intensive study of Greek and Latin as Core Materials, was insufficient for a Harvard education, and introduced a radical new course required of all Freshman. This involved reading examples of well wrought English, and regular writing of papers or “themes”. This was listed in the course catalog as “English A”, and the course swept the country like wildfire, thus opening the gates for the undergraduate study of English Literature as both a reading and writing discipline.

1925. The new emphasis on the Social Studies involved a great deal of discussion and consideration of the radically new and innovative concepts. Whether it was Economics, Sociology or Psychology, there were new opinions to be voiced, and the student was expected to write coherent accounts of thinking and reading in well manicured, typed papers with detailed footnotes. Typing lessons were everywhere and “student papers” began to look like serious articles, which many of them became as the student proceeded through graduate school.

1950 By mid-century the rule of the “red pencil” was firmly established, papers were marked up with such energy that often the original text was at times hardly visible. This could summit in the rigorous system of “Outlining the Sentence”, or it could be merely crossing out words and phrases and waiting for the student to submit acceptable copy. Small writing in the margins covered content, while the red pencil went to the heart of the matter.

l970 Here a new spirit entered the world of high school education, one which we have not yet identified as the enemy within. “Educators” with at times questionable degrees and little experience in the field, stated that “Rote Learning was the Death of the Mind”, and urged teachers to stress learning about things, rather than learning things. These few words are so simple but insidious, that I had better go back and make them clearer: “LEARNING ABOUT THINGS, vs. learning things.”

l975 Teachers began to read their student papers in terms of “content”, which is laudable, but they decided that correcting mistakes in the writing might damp the student’s enthusiasm, even make writing a frightening experience. So they stopped “correcting” papers, with an educational excuse first, but with the net effect of saving the teacher a lot of time and work with the red pencil. I know a specific case where the student in Junior High asked his teacher to correct his writing in detail, but the teacher said he could not do this for him or he would have to do for everybody. A complaint to the principal brought no action and the student went through High School with no corrections on his written papers. I know from my college teaching that reading papers only for “content” had become common by l980, actually standard by l985, and the only detailed corrections offered were in college Freshman “remedial” writing seminars, which were too thin by then and of course far too late.

l980 This new wave of Educational Reform ignored the fact that arithmetic must be learned by rote and if you don’t learn it early, you will be unable to make change in the supermarket when you re working your way through college. And what about the number of days in the months……? Let alone being ignorant of the end of the Civil War, and whether if came before 1776 or not. Look at a History SAT exam now, and you see the result: The study of history is a game of guessing likelihoods, ruling out worst-answers to find the right one by subtraction. We know all about the SAT’s now, their tests and ETS-Biz are being scrutinized at last. But in the rush to the new rule, we applied anti-rote thinking to the writing of English, with results which we at last begin to deplore.

1985 With the appearance of SpellChecks on the new wave of computers, along with rather questionable Grammar Checkers, some people felt that the worst of the writing problem was being faced and the situation well in hand. But writing didn’t get better. It is true that gross spelling errors did get caught, but there is no way to make up for years of inattention with a quick course, or with a snappy new device. You have to “learn” how to write well, and that takes time, like the learning curve from arithmetic through geometry into algebra with all firmly in hand before you can hope to get through the calculus.

l990+ In my last year of college teaching, I and another teacher did a course in writing for just four senior students who had all done well enough in college, but knew their writing skills were weak. By intensive labor we re-did some of the work which should have been done over the course of many years, we tore apart their written papers word by word, often spending an hour on a page, tracking down every word and phrase for the best clarity, style and conveying of meaning. When the students took apart some of our printed papers, we knew they were on the right track. At the end they assured us that although they hadn’t learned everything they needed to know, they had learned how to look at their writing critically, and felt from there on they would be able to float alone. Q.E.D.

l950 looking backward! In my first teaching position in a small college in the West, I had one section of Freshman English along with my other work. I assigned a one or two page paper to be brought in Tuesday and Thursday with no excuses, and spent my Sunday afternoons with the pencil correcting some sixty pages of student writing. Few typed, so each student had to write out a new corrected copy to go to me along with the new piece. Of course some of the students complained to the Dean, and the Chairman of English , who never corrected anything, hoped to get me fired. I persisted and soon everyone realized how well my students were writing after two terms on this regimen. I would have said then that there was no other way to get the job done.

Back to 2000 again! But now there are some ways to get it done, with the aid of new technologies which we all have at our hands. There is little excuse anymoreto ignore spelling and grammar problems, other than from a leaning toward laziness. If Typing was the invention of the l930’s in the schools, the use of the computer Keyboard is even more a necessity in the new century, not only for writing notes and themes, but for most jobs. So the previous handwritten “paper” is now composed on a computer and since it is electronic format, it can be reviewed by the teacher with far more accuracy in much less time. But many teachers will still like the feel of a paper printout, which gives those wide margins so suitable for the traditional cramped and snippy little remarks which most students will never read. “Good idea here….but have you read Tyler’s new book?” “I like this but you could have gone further…” “Good idea but no reference…?” Or the traditional: “I like this…….” which merely indicates that the Prof. has read through the paper rather than rubber-stamping the grade at the top.

For the New Century:

It is time to go back to the rigorous days of the last generation of high school and college teachers , the “Wielders of the Red Pencil” and the eagle-eyed searchers for micro- discrepant detail. We can now do it much more effectively than they did, with the aid of our new computer technology. I have several suggestions:

First, require a 3 page paper each week, due Friday with no excuses about a grandmother’s recurrent death. This is submitted in electronic format, inserted in a folder which contains that week’s writing from the class. Unless there is an objection, all students should be able to see each others writing, especially in the corrected versions. Isn’t learning from your peers part of the American system of education?

Second, the teacher pulls up the student’s paper on screen, and start to edit. I have used the following system and find it easy and effective with standard KB keystrokes:

    a) For a word misspelled or wrongly used in the context, highlight it and make it bold.

    b) For bad grammar, in any of its infinite varieties, make it underlined .

    c) For something which is stylistically inept or just plain unclear without being technically wrong, use the italics

    d)Then draw a line across the page ———————- below which you can write a note about the corrections, and ideas about improving style, suggests of all sorts. I think that a computer “mini e-mail” of this sort is more personal than a penciled word or two of advice, since it can be easily expanded if there is something pertinent to be said.

    e)But then the student must correct the paper and turn it in as a new copy, which is so easy to do electronically that there is no excuse at all for ignoring this stage. If the corrections are minor and local, the page can be corrected on screen just as it stands by deleting and substituting. But if there are more corrections, it would be a good practice to Copy/Paste the corrected paper down to a place right below the original, and then go about the corrections and improvements on a new copy. When that copy is brought up the best that the student thinks possible, it can be highited entire and reformatted to BOLD, as a way of signaling that the correction is done and this is the new copy for the teacher to read. For the teacher this is not only a sign for WorkDone, but also easier to read in the bold font.

A FINAL WORD:
We have been complaining and recently whining about the deplorable state of our students’ writing abilities. Enough if this! We haven’t been making much headway with our complaints. But there is something very valuable in the American character which can be summed up in the words : NEVER GIVE UP!

We have been through fires, earthquakes, Depressions and more Wars than we like to recount, but we have never lost sight of the idea of things getting fixed. Improvement is part of what we are about nationally, we have been successful in almost every area we have committed ourselves to, and I am sure the “Crisis of Writing” is the next item on the firing-line. Something has to be done, and the people who have to get it done are you teachers who are reading this paper on your computer screen. There are three components involved here, all within your power:

1) Get rigorous with student writing assignments, get the students to flow out several pages a week, without fail.

2) Get rigorous with your electronic substitute for the red pencil. You can now do that work in a quarter of the time it used to take, no more long Sunday afternoons and evenings with piles of paper to be carried back and forth. If you and your students don’t have computers available and network connections, go out and get them. The schools do have money if you talk out and make your needs clear.

3) Set a standard for each student in terms of what you believe that student’s ultimate capacity is. Press on hard for excellence, for the kind of writing which will later make the student a desirable employee, a literate and coherent scientist, and perhaps even a teacher like yourself sitting before a computer handing on to the next generation the lessons which your students are now learning from you.

You’ve done your homework like a good little freelancer, and you’ve got a boss pitch in your hot little hands. Now what? This guide to the publishing marketplace will help you decide whether to go indie or mainstream, and whether to target websites, magazines, or newspapers.

1) The Indie Market

A key advantage of going indie is that the market is open to unconventional stories. When I’ve got something edgy to say, it’s indie all the way. A bonus for beginning writers is that the smaller and more independent the periodical, the more likely you’ll be given the chance to strut your stuff. That’s why the indie market is the perfect place to build clips. Just keep in mind that payment probably will be in free magazine copies and “the joy of knowing people around the country will listen to what you have to say” (as writers guidelines quip).

2) The Mainstream Market

The mainstream market will provide a big fat platform for your scrawny little soapbox: Millions of people around the world will read what you have to say. So if your objective is to change the world, rather than preach to the choir, this is the market for you. (Just keep in mind that if you’re pushing, say, a radical feminist message, you’ll have to sneak it in through the side pocket of today’s! hottest! pants!) The mainstream market is also ideal for people who like paychecks with more than one digit. That is to say, if you long for a pad other than the cardboard box on your local street corner, think glossy.

3) The Glossy Magazine Market

These periodicals are, in a word, bank. As in, 1000-3000 words at $1-$2/word. If you’re Carrie on Sex and the City, make that $4/word. (And if you know what I’m talking about, holla “Addicts in da house!”) There are, however, a few downsides:

• thousands of established writers will be clawing your eyes out to get the attention of the same editor
• unless you’ve got a news-breaking story, you’ll have to wait between one and six months for Queen Editor to decide yay or nay on your pitch
• while the queen is taking her sweet little time, she won’t let you show your pitch to anyone else

4) The Daily Newspaper Market

If you want a quick turnaround on your pitch, the daily rag is for you. With a cross-section of topics covered (Arts, Business, Fashion, Health, News, Politics, you name it), there’s something for everyone. What’s more, each time you publish in the paper, you’ll have a greater chance of publishing the next time around — even if it’s for a different section. Which goes to say, this is a good place to develop your writing in different genres. Unfortunately, newspapers across the country are downsizing, and the first writers to go are freelancers. Which brings us to our final writing outlet…

5) The Website Market

Websites are ideal for two reasons:

• They’re a great back-door entrance to leading periodicals: The biggest & best publications often have “web exclusive” content with way more freelance opportunities.
• The print world is dying, my friends! I realized this painful truth last year, when editors who luv luv luved my writing suddenly stopped assigning me stories. On the heels of that shocker, my bread & butter swanky magazine went belly-up, like, overnight. So as you squint at your grimy little computer screen, you just might be staring at the face of your writing future.

From Loolwa Khazzoom,

Difficulty: Hard

Time Required: One Week

Here’s How:

1. Know Your Target Periodical

While hordes of periodicals cover the same topics (Women, Politics, Business, etc.), they all do so in different ways. I know, I know, it seems like an impossible task to distinguish between some of these rags, but if you stop reading them and start studying them, you’ll begin to notice subtle differences. And mastering those differences is key to landing an assignment.

2. Research Back Issues

Go to the library, and read back issues of periodicals in your genre of choice. Start with a close look at the Table of Contents. Once you understand the overall structure, read the periodical section-by-section instead of page-by-page. Next, compare sections between issues (i.e., Jan., Feb., March). Take notes on the content, tone, and style of each section. You’ll begin to grasp exactly what topics are covered and just how they are approached.

3. File Your Notes

Once you’ve got killer notes breaking down the vibe of periodicals, be sure to file the information in your Periodicals Database. Then when you’re ready to pitch that story idea to end all story ideas, you’ll know how to work it to get the editors swooning.

4. Read the Writers’ Guidelines

Writers’ guidelines are often found on periodical websites. If you don’t find them there, hit up editors and ask for copies. Beware: Guidelines are useful for additional information about what periodicals are looking for, but you must ignore any and all instructions about how to submit your pitch. You inevitably will be directed to the big black hole known as “submissions@” — an email address where you can kiss your pitch goodbye. That’s because editors are shifty, squirmy little things from the Dark Side, intent on steering you far, far away from them.

5. Think Up Story Ideas

Now that you know what your target periodicals want, start brainstorming story ideas for them. Jot down notes about topics, angles, and hooks. Practice talking about these ideas in sound bites — super-brief answers to the Holy Trinity of questions: Why this story, why now, and why for this periodical?

6. Cold-Call Editors

Know that high squeaky voice that only dogs can hear? I used it on my first 100 calls to editors. (I’m only exaggerating a little bit). Cold-calling editors is about as intimidating as it gets, but as with anything, practice makes perfect. Be prepared to bomb, just be sure to do it with verve. Now that you’re totally nervous, take a deep breath and pick up the phone.

7. Use What You Have

Have you published already? Do you have an MFA? Did the editor graduate from the same university as you? (Check your alum association.) Start off with whatever may hook the editor, giving a reason to speak with you. If you’ve got nothing to show (yet), try the old “take me under your wings” approach. Mention that you’re a beginning writer and a die-hard fan of the publication. Say that you’ve been studying back issues of the periodicals and that you’ve got some ideas for fresh new stories. Ask if the editor has a few minutes to speak with you, to help make sure you’re on the right track.

8. Research the Topic

Once you’ve confirmed that the editor is interested in an idea you’re pursuing, it’s time to start researching the subject. Start off with background research on the internet. Once you’ve done your homework, get in touch with people in the know on this topic, to schedule interviews. When you’re finished collecting answers to the Holy Trinity, fall to your knees, bark out some fierce “Hail Mary”s, and get busy writing the pitch.

9. Write the Opening Paragraph — Anecdote

Everybody loves a good story. If you’re writing about a musician, draw in the editor with a vivid scene from a wicked concert. If you’re writing about a health issue, start off with a dramatic narrative of someone personally affected by that issue. If you’re writing about a restaurant, open with a mouth-watering description of a dish on the menu. (And if you’re hell-bent on getting into the periodical, Fed-Ex the editor a sample. Especially if it involves chocolate. Actually, in that case, Fed-Ex me the sample.)

10. Present an Anecdote Like This:

The House Jacks

They confidently emerge from backstage like a male version of America’s Next Top Model. True, it’s standard fodder for a cappella guys to get the ladies swooning, but even the frat boys in the corner are all worked up over this act. With mesmerizing vocals and riveting beat boxing, high-brow musicianship and impeccable comedic timing, The House Jacks stand at the intersection of old-school a cappella and cutting-edge improv – dishing out one of the most entertaining live acts today.

11. Write the Opening Paragraph — Street Cred

Another way to grab an editor’s attention is by establishing that your topic is hot hot hot. If you’re writing about a new product, name-drop Fortune 500 companies that have invested in it. If you’re covering an environmental issue, discuss how many millions of people are affected by it. If you’re addressing a political concern, talk about related bills going through Congress right now.

12. Present Street Cred Like This:

Miri Ben Ari

Perusing the Hot R&B/Rap Billboard charts, one does not expect to see a red-headed Israeli artist represented in the number three song. Then again, one does not expect to hear a violin-dominated musical number with no singing, rapping, or music sampling whatsoever. For Israeli violinist Miri Ben Ari, however, doing the unexpected is standard fodder; so it should come as no surprise that her new single, “Symphony of Brotherhood” (featuring MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech weaving in and out of a string solo) is topping the charts just one month after its radio release.

13. Write the Closing Paragraph

The second and closing paragraph is the article summary. Here you will outline exactly what you’ll be covering in the piece. For example: “Miri Ben-Ari Takes Hip-Hop Violin to the Top” catches up with Ben Ari at this exciting juncture — revealing the inspiration for and musical process of writing “Symphony of Brotherhood,” sharing the emotional impact the song has had on fans across America (”I’ve played it for people putting their fists on their hearts and crying,” Ben Ari recounts), dishing out the background 411 on this gangsta violinist, and revealing what’s ahead in her career.

14. Deliver the One-Two Punch

Even at this advanced stage of my career, most editors will not respond if I only call or E-mail them. Most, however, will respond if I do both (just, you know, to get me off their damn backs). Start off with a phone call letting an editor know you’re about to send the pitch. Then send it.

15. Work that E-mail

The purpose of this love note is to introduce your pitch and remind the editor of all the reasons you’re P.H.A.T. (see #7, “Use What You Got”). Remember to add a signature at the bottom of your E-mail — a mini-bio followed by a link to your clips website. Type “Requested Pitch” in the Subject header, and you’re good to go. Position your mouse over the “send” button, say your prayers (cover your bases with a cross-section of religious incantations), and click to your destiny!

1) Invest in Quality

As with purchasing a good pair of shoes, this is not the place to pinch pennies. You need someone qualified to provide a simple concept, clean lines, and a sleek look — something that will catch editors’ eyes and make it quick & easy for them to navigate through your clips.

2) Convey Your Message Immediately

Editors – especially those at national periodicals – are very busy people, with hundreds of writers banging on their doors every day. On my site, I use periodical images to immediately convey where I have written. I also use a drop-down menu to immediately convey the genres I have written.

3) Select Impressive Clips

I have published an extensive body of work, but displaying all the pieces I have written will not serve to impress editors. It will simply give them too much to look at in their already-cramped schedules. The objective of a clips website is simply to demonstrate that a) you are a fully-competent writer and b) you have already proven yourself in the publishing world. Choose just a handful of clips to convey this message.

4) Show Who Loves You

Editors are herd animals: They look around to see who else has worked with you before deciding it’s worthwhile to work with you themselves. So as you climb the ranks from hand-copied underground ‘zines to full-throttle national glossies, be sure to update your site with clips from the most prestigious magazines, then send editors the link to the updated site. Remember: Don’t freak out and binge on cookies if the periodicals are obscure for, like, the first six months to a year; you gotta start somewhere! (And hey, leave cookie binging to me.)

5) Link Your Site in Your E-Signature

Create an automatic signature at the bottom of every E-mail — a mini-bio with a link to your clips website. As with your website, be sure to regularly update your signature with the most prestigious places you have published. Over time, your signature will move from #1 to #2 and beyond:

1. William Writer (WebsiteName.com) has published in Synagogue Newsletter A, Neighborhood Paper B, and Local Weekly C

2. William Writer (WebsiteName.com) has published in Local Weekly C, National Indie E, and National Glossy F.

From Mr. Lemley, Editorial Director of DrWeil.com.

1) Write About What Interests You

You are making crap-to-middling money, even at the highest levels, so use your writing as an opportunity to go to interesting places, meet fascinating people, learn, grow and improve the planet. Never, never, never take a gig writing about something you hate, or that bores you, or that you feel is destructive, just to make rent. I mean this. Drive a truck instead. The world needs truck drivers more than it needs good, cowardly writers in service to bad causes.

2) Dig Into Your Soul

If you want to be aloof and opaque, become a circuit court judge. Writers should confess their weaknesses whenever possible; it forms an instant bond with the reader. If you have no faults, cultivate some.

3) Show Don’t Tell

Write cinematically: Create a scene with vivid sights, sounds, and smells. Visual detail is the most compelling part of most magazine pieces.

4) Give Us Some Attitude

If something is ugly, call it ugly. Never add, “I think” or “in my opinion” to a description like that; of course it’s your opinion. The world is full of fearful people. If you are one, you can at least be fearless in print.

5) Get to the Point

Elliptical ledes should and do get cut. The lede should be the most interesting single thing that you saw or heard while reporting the story.

6) Don’t Send a 10,000-Word Piece to a Magazine

Find out the necessary length beforehand, and hit it within 10 percent. Blithering on and on is for amateurs.

7) Speak Up

You can argue, some, with editors. They conform to the I.Q. distribution of the public at large: some brilliant, most middling, some morons, and a few malevolent morons. As a freelancer, you don’t have a job with the company; so your job is not on the line. That means you can make your views known, within reason. (You can, after all, lose the fee.)

From Loolwa Khazzoom,

You get paid to write! As if that’s not enough, there are a bunch o’ extra perks to being a freelance writer — from rubbing elbows with kewl cats, to working at your favorite café while sipping lattés. Here are some of the top advantages to a freelance writing career.

1) Be Your Own Boss

Get ready to belt out, “Take this job and shove it!” to anyone anytime anywhere. As a freelance writer, you choose with whom to work, when to work, and on which stories to work.

2) Set Your Own Schedule

While there may be certain factors to take into consideration, like when editors are on the clock in New York, you decide when your work day begins and ends. This flexibility is especially great for parents of tiny tots, people with disabilities, and aspiring rock stars.

3) Work Wherever You Want

In the age of laptop computers and wireless internet, your virtual office can be at an outdoor café on the French Riviera, under the covers of your warm, fluffy bed, or on a spaceship to the moon (um, wait, do they really have wireless?)

4) Get Paid to Have Fun

Speaking of the French Riviera, if you want to vacation in the south of France, be sure to get paid for it and take it off your taxes as a business expense: Secure assignments for stories on the best spas along the coast, the coolest bike paths down to Italy, or the hippest restaurants in Nice. Added bonus: You get intimately acquainted with locals who otherwise might not look your way. Oh yeah, and the article fee can pay for that French massage.

5) Meet Cool People

Speaking of getting acquainted, know that movie actor you’re pining after? If you come up with the right spin, hook, and pitch, you just might nail an in-person interview with your celebrity crush. (Um, oh yeah, and you can meet heads of state, Nobel Prize winners, yada yada yada.)

6) Gain Access

On assignment, you can enter into a “do not enter” zone. In war-torn countries, for example, citizens cannot cross over borders, but journalists can.

7) Have a Platform

Here’s a favorite perk of being a freelancer: When you feel the need to speak up about something, you can, in many different ways — including first-person stories, as-told-to pieces, and straight-out reported fare. What’s more, up to millions of people will be listening as you pontificate. How cool is that?!

8) Learn Lots O’Stuff

Freelancing rocks for those with short attention spans! As a writer, you can dabble in business, health, fashion, music, sports, and lots more. If you get super-duper into one particular topic, you can write about it obsessively — even become a recognized expert on it — but still move on whenever you get bored.

A freelancer or freelance worker is a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer. The term was first coined by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) in his well-known historical romance Ivanhoe to describe a “medieval mercenary warrior.” The phrase later transitioned to a figurative noun around the 1860s and was then officially recognized as a verb in 1903 by various authorities in etymology such as the Oxford English Dictionary. Only in modern times has the term morphed from a noun (a freelance or a freelancer) into various verb forms (a journalist who freelances), and an adverb (she worked freelance).

The author and poet Ernest William Hornung (1866 - 1921) also used the term in “The Gift of the Emperor” to describe something of poor quality: “I warmed to my woes. It was no easy matter to keep your end up as a raw freelance of letters; for my part, I was afraid I wrote neither well enough nor ill enough for success.”

Fields where freelancing is especially common include journalism and other forms of writing, computer programming and graphic design, consulting, and many other professional and creative services. The military sector also still makes considerable use of freelance mercenaries.

The Internet has opened up many freelance opportunities, expanding markets and helping to build it into one of the largest economic segments for many economies. Development for freelancing has been especially high for software development, information technology, and business documentation.

Freelance practice varies greatly. Some require clients to sign written contracts, while others may perform work based on verbal agreements, perhaps enforceable through the very nature of the work. Some freelancers may provide written estimates of work and request deposits from clients.

Payment for freelance work also varies greatly. Freelancers may charge by the day or hour, or on a per-project basis. Instead of a flat rate or fee, some consultants have adopted a value-based pricing method based on the perceived value of the results to the client. By custom, payment arrangements may be upfront, percentage upfront, or upon completion. For more complex projects, a contract may set a payment schedule based on milestones or outcomes.

Benefits and drawbacks

Freelancers generally enjoy a greater variety of assignments than in regular employment, and almost always have more freedom to choose their work schedule. The experience also allows the opportunity to build up a portfolio of work and cultivate a network of clients in hopes of obtaining a permanent position.

Sometimes a freelancer will work with one or more other freelancers and/or vendors to form a “virtual agency” to serve a particular client’s needs for short-term and permanent project work. This versatile agency model can help a freelancer land jobs which require targeted, specific experience and skills outside the scope of one individual. As the clients change, so too may the players chosen for a virtual agency’s talent base.

A major drawback is the uncertainty of work — and thus income — and lack of company benefits such as health insurance or retirement pay. However, many freelancers, journalists specifically, have found security in a new option. Many periodicals and newspapers have recently offered the option of ghost signing. Ghost signing occurs when a freelance writer signs with an editor, but their name is not listed on the byline of their article(s). This allows the writer to receive benefits, while still being classified as a freelancer, and independent of any set organization.

Another drawback is that freelancers often must handle contracts, legal issues, accounting, marketing, and other business functions by themselves. If they do choose to pay for professional services, they can sometimes turn into significant out-of-pocket expenses. Working hours can extend beyond the standard working day and working week.

Cultural views of freelancers

From a cultural standpoint, freelancing is viewed as either above or below the social system. In keeping with Scott’s original coinage, some Americans and most Europeans view freelancing as a socially elevated occupation.

However, many Asian countries appear to follow Hormung by holding low regard for freelancers, often associating the practice with personal failure (an inability to find work with a major employer) and even criminality (see: Ninja).

From Loolwa Khazzoom,

An Interview with Brad Lemley, Editorial Director of DrWeil.com

When did you first get interested in writing?

From the time I was a kid, writing came pretty easily to me, and I was often complimented on my work. I was in no danger of excelling at sports, math, or really anything else, so I seized on my writing ability as my one true talent.

How did you get into freelancing?

My son was born in 1986. My wife had a regular 9-to-5, and I had wanted to freelance, so I decided to stay home and try it. I pitched a piece to The Washington Post’s Sunday magazine, and the editor liked it. I wrote for The Post for about five years, then branched out to other publications for the next 15 years.

Did you have formal training?

I did go to journalism school, but the main way I learned was via my poverty: I had to make money as a writer from the time I was a sophomore in college, just to make ends meet; so I started freelancing like crazy for anyone and everyone.

I would just study existing articles and work from that format. It’s not difficult if you have some natural gifts and are motivated.

Why did you stick with freelancing?

I loved being my own boss, choosing my own subjects, and getting to learn from the best people in the business — yet having the freedom to move on if a given situation grew claustrophobic, or a more interesting opportunity popped up elsewhere. I almost never took assignments. I generated my own ideas and pitched them, which had two major advantages: I only wrote about those things that truly interested me, and I spared overworked editors the need to dream up good ideas — which made me valuable to them.

What do you have to say to untrained writers?

Three-quarters of “writing chops” is simply the willingness to do it. Many people want to be professional writers. Few have the discipline to actually sit and create. It is hard, and you must be wiling to be edited. Some people just have too much ego to handle a big, black “X” through their favorite paragraph!

What Was One of the Coolest Things About Your Freelance Career?

I wrote hundreds of articles that had the potential to make the world better. Once I wrote about the world’s only surgeon who specialized in making people with dwarfism syndromes able to walk. Many people found this man through my article, and his surgery allowed them to walk. He said to me, “You will never know all of the good that story has done.” The scenario repeated, with variations, dozens of times in my career.

Before Becoming the Editorial Director of DrWeil.com, Where Did you Freelance?

Parade, Reader’s Digest, Psychology Today, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Discover, Body and Soul, This Old House, and many others. I also co-wrote some books: It’s Not What Happens to You, It’s What You Do About It, Thos. Moser, Artistry in Wood, and The Complete Tightwad Gazette.

At Your Peak, What Was Your Income From Freelancing?

It is a tough way to get rich! In my best year, I made about $80,000 from magazines. You have to write awfully fast to make even that much!

How Did Your Freelance Work Lead to Your Editorial Position?

I wrote about Dr. Andrew Weil for both Discover and Body and Soul magazine. We formed a friendship, so when his company needed an editorial director, I had a natural entry point.

What are the Major Dos & Don’t s You Advise When Working with Editors?

Listen. Take direction. Don’t take it personally. I used to work with a guy who crossed out whole paragraphs and wrote “YUK!” in the margin. If that frosts you, stick to PR or teaching English.

Anything Else You’d Like to Share with Aspiring Freelancers?

It takes great courage to face a blank page, fill it with words, and submit it to an editor. But the writer/editor dance is one of the things that distinguishes real writing from the random logorrhea of blogging. I have had the experience of working with editors and making something truly special — far better than either of us could have dreamed of creating individually.

Freelancing is a good way to have an interesting life. When people tell me about the mind-numbing jobs they do decade after decade, I am appalled. If you like rampaging around and seeing what there is to see, be a freelancer.