Journalism FTW

I got a freelancing job.

Some of you know part of this story already. I ran into this woman at my coffee house of choice who said that she sees me there all the time. When we were going out to our cars, she asked me what I did that made me a coffee shop dweller. I told her that I was a journalist and writer and she handed me a business card. She turned out to be the publisher of this magazine about weddings/marriage/relationships.

She CC'd me in an e-mail to the editor (who actually hires the writers, she's the publisher) and I e-mailed him a bunch of clips and a resume. He called me the next day and we met yesterday where he offered me a job. Well, really, he first asked if I wanted to be a staff writer, but I didn't want to jump into a commitment with this magazine that I didn't know about less than a week ago. I said that I would try writing a couple of articles for them and see how it went. He was a really nice, really funny guy.

My article is due in eight days. When he said that, I almost wanted to do a spit take. Eight days! That's ridiculous. It's not, of course. I have to remember my days at the Hellish-Place-of-Employment-Of-Which-We-Do-Not-Speak where I could go from not knowing about an issue to writing about it in a matter of hours. I always get nervous when I start with a new place. It's like a suddenly wonder if I actually do have the ability to do this, even though I've been writing and meeting deadlines the better part of my adult life now (with papers in college and all, throw me a bone).

As for being a staff writer, who knows. We'll see. I've got the summer to think about it.

I'm getting paid $60 for this article. I talked to my editor about the average rate of payment and I can't remember if that's good or not. I think it's pretty decent. I mean, it is the first article I've written as a freelance writer. The important thing is, I'm getting paid. PAID FOR WRITING. (Again, Hellish-Place-of-Employment-Of-Which-We-Do-Not-Speak did pay me like $150 a month for the two months I worked in the summer, but if I calculate the hours I worked and the mental anguish it really barely counts as payment at all.)

The moral of this story? Every single moment of coffee shop dwelling I've done over the past five years or so has been completely VALIDATED. What's that universe? You want to spend more time at coffee shops? Read you loud and clear. No need to tell me twice.