Freelancing

I’m a certified (certifiable?) cheapskate when it comes to my business as a freelance writer in journalism and creative writing. Freelancing has been a lean-times/fat-times endeavor over the years, and it’s the ghost of the lean times that still shapes my financial habits.

Submittable, you remind me of bones bleached against the gypsum sands of New Mexico, where time and wind mark the passing of the hours, days, weeks, months since I submitted my creative nonfiction personal essay to The Gettysburg Review.

“The biggest issue is that in creative industries,” says freelance writer Phoebe Mogharei, “deadlines are very variable.” The New York Minute is a recurring column by Eva Avenue interviewing creative professionals in New York City.

Please forgive me for taking until now to announce that in May 2020 I hired Lisa Barrow as Editor, and I could not be more stoked to have her as my very first employee!

Job, funding, grant and other opportunities culled from the Coffee+Creatives group for creatives seeking work or other ways to get paid for what they do.

We thought it would be helpful to periodically summarize what’s out there to calm the storm of information that seems to be swirling around us. So here is a resource list focusing on mental health, wellness and financial assistance to help soften the impact of COVID on all our lives. 

Hey arts-loving friends! Albuquerque’s Arts Hub is raising funds for artists impacted by the pandemic. Donate at their Facebook page or at their website at http://www.abqartshub.com/relief

John Fugelsang is in Albuquerque to perform “Unpresidented: The true story of a comedian trying to raise a toddler while his country was electing one” and we were lucky enough to get him into the Pyragraph LIVE studio (a.k.a. my office) to talk about comedy, politics, religion, and how he’s pulled all those elements and more into his unique creative career. 

I have signed and dated permissions forms that explicitly inform the participant that their recorded interview could end up in a published journal or book. Is there an expiration date on the permission they granted?

Iʼm pretty sure this is the freelancerʼs life. Unless youʼre truly gifted—I mean frighteningly, what-you-touch-turns-to-money gifted—youʼre probably throwing anything at the wall and praying it sticks.

Normally you would need two permissions to sell movie action figures: permission from the copyright owner of the movie, and permission from the actor (referred to as publicity rights). Because Night of the Living Dead is public domain, there is no copyright owner from whom you’ll need permission. However, you would need permission from the actors.

The future looms large before us and it is our responsibility as artists to advocate for ourselves. We must advocate for our continued importance and relevance in such politically uncertain times. We must advocate for increased fusion of art and science, since an interdisciplinary understanding of the world has always been more thorough and enlightening.

You and I can continue to snooze our loud and buzzing iPhones, skip a shower and eat half of a granola bar for breakfast—but it’s time to wake up and stop snoozing our feelings, our art and our common future.

Eric and Peri talk about moving past grief and blamestorming after the election, and how progressives can build upon the momentum that was generated by Bernie Sanders and others to fight back against the “machine” politics that dominate both major parties.

Below I’ll outline a few of the “characters” I see no matter what cafe I go to, and since it’s Halloween, I will describe them in Halloweenie terms, because I love that seasonal shit. I’ll also give you some advice on how to deal with their nonsense.

This kit provides a basic merchandise license agreement as well as explanatory background and instructions for filling out the template.