Meeting the Freelance Challenge -- Staying Alive in 2010

The freelance life has a way of miring writers in an eternal present. Upcoming deadlines require total focus and last week's writing is like dew on the grass -- forgotten by noon. Change in the publishing and newspaper industries can have the same effect on writing careers, drying them up in a flash. With so many casualties among print publications, a writer needs luck and flexibility to survive.

Staying solvent in 2010 meant working with a wide range of people and publications. As the year ends/begins, I can't resist mentioning some of those projects and a few special people who helped make this a great writing year.

Last January I was editing a mystery novel when I got a call from a lawyer working with the Innocence Project of PA. The group works on cases for prison inmates whose innocence can now be proved with DNA testing. I had to do a lot of research about the field before I could write for them, but it was a great learning experience. In the end, they valued my work -- no writer could ask for more.

February found me hanging out on Tuesday nights with Liberties Scribblers, my regular gang of writers. It's impossible to overestimate the value of a great writing group that keeps its members inspired through the long, snowy winter.

As Spring approached, my focus moved back to a group of regular clients who run youth programs in Philly, Baltimore, and Latino communities across the country. The leaders of these organizations are exceptional people and I'm lucky to be working with them. One of them is Breezy Bishop, a national Hall of Fame basketball coach who once helped a team win a silver Olympic medal. This fall she turned 75, an incredible person.

In April I started working with Gotham Ghostwriters in New York. My projects for them drew me back to the world of education and charter schools. For this work I had to study up on charters in California. That work kept me busy through May. Then June brought an amazing assignment to write about methadone treatment for heroin addictions -- another field where I was a total novice. I really enjoyed working on the project and learned plenty from hardworking experts in a challenging field.

In late summer I taught writing workshops for the Nano Bio Technology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. This is always an amazing experience because I get to meet brilliant, smartypants students doing research on the tiniest matter yet known -- we're talking nano-particles! Editing their papers is like seizing controls on the Starship.

Fall was memorable because I went to the Toronto International Film Festival where I interviewed directors from Spain and Egypt and even got a chance to meet the incredible Danny Boyle. I also met some producers of favorite films including Josh Astrachan who's worked with film master Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor (an idol, a King!)Now there's just ONE degree of separation between Garrison and me!

As winter approached, I did some writing about small town heroes at the local fire station, and care for the homeless and elderly in Philadelphia. This work reminded me of the many volunteers in this world who care for those without a safety net. Hats off to John Randolph, Sister Rose, Maris Krasnegor, Ron Hinton, Bruce Berger and many others who pick up where our blind leaders leave off.

The year ended on a note of joy and exhaustion after trips to celebrate with writing colleagues in New York and family members across Pennsylvania. I'm grateful for every moment and every project and look forward to new writing adventures in 2011.