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At least I have some writing to do...

October 29th, 2016 at 09:01 pm

Friday saw a little freelance writing work coming in from 3 different areas. It sure feels good to be busy.

I finished up a smallish legal report for one client this morning and helped another last night compose some job recommendation letters. He's looking for a new job and asked 2 colleagues to write referral letters; they said they'd sign something but wanted him to write it, so now he's given it to me. Considering I've never met this client, it's a little harder to do. He gave me some idea of what traits/talents he wanted me to emphasize, but still...

Then there was something I saw on Craig's List. It was a p/t freelance writing job for an educational (K-12) website. First I had to write a "test" paper for them. I spent over an hour on it, probably more time than I needed to. I won't get paid for that but I did well enough for them to return to me, this time with another little writing assignment for which I'll earn $25. It's an intro for something and it's just a few paragraphs long.

Once I pass that little test (I hope to knock it out tomorrow as it's due Tuesday) and assuming they're happy with my writing, I can then become a regular writer for them, writing as much as 3,000 words a week. Based on the $25 payment for the mini assignment and assuming that rate holds for future assignments, they pay .10 a word, or $300 gross a week.

That actually would come out to a decent amount each month, although she did say they can't guarantee that much on a regular basis but could promise at least 3,000 words a month. So my gross would be anywhere from $300 to $1300 a month.

In any event, it seems relatively easy and I can do it at home, as long as I meet their deadlines and follow the instructions.

It's actually the kind of p/t work I envisioned for myself in retirement...something that would keep me productive and occupied but not for 40 hours weekly. I'll be curious to see what I gross. $300 a week would total $1300 monthly, which could cover half my essential monthly expenses.

I'd prefer they paid me with a W2 instead of as an independent contractor, but it would be the latter. So I'll have to keep track of time spent so that I can report to the Dept of Labor how many hours of work I spend on it each week, so they would deduct the corresponding amount from my unemployment benefits, thereby lengthening the time those benefits will last.

I've been in touch with a woman on Ancestry who the DNA results indicate is an "extremely likely" 2nd cousin of mine, on my paternal grandmother's side. Her mother was adopted but after digging around her mother learned that her birth mother's name was the same as my grandmother's maiden name, and they both grew up in the same neighborhood (Germantown) in Philadelphia. In addition, her mother's birth mother's first name is the same as one of my grandmother's sisters. I'm wondering if she had a child out of wedlock and gave it up for adoption. I have to talk to dad about this when I see him tonight for dinner.

He has already told me how another one of my grandmother's sisters did become pregnant and the family, to avoid the "shame" of this, sent their daughter to live in a little room/apt above a deli of some friends of the family in NYC. I would imagine that must've been very tough for the girl to go through the whole pregnancy alone and away from her friends and family. She did end up keeping the baby and marrying the father. So it's possible that an unplanned pregnancy may have also happened with another one of grandma's sisters, with different results.

I took an hour-long walk today but really had to push myself to leave the house.

I had another great meal, this time a free lunch, at an area restaurant for another MS lecture/meal sponsored by the drug company. I met some nice people there and we talked for some time. I went off the vegan thing and thoroughly enjoyed a sirloin steak.

I got the gadget in the mail from Safeco to track my driving habits and plugged it in the car. Once I wrack up 100 miles the online program will begin indicating me how much money I'll save on the insurance and this will continue to fluctuate for the next 3 months (thru most of January) so I plan to minimize my driving and be especially careful about quick acceleration or braking. I'll be excited to see how this plays out. I could save as much as 30% on my premium, but I'm not sure if it's only for this year or not.

Despite the horrible $836 vet bill for Luther, I was able to squeak through the month of October in the black with an extra $106 more in income than expenses.

5 Responses to “At least I have some writing to do...”

  1. VS_ozgirl Says:
    1477781968

    Lovely news that you have landed some freelance writing jobs! Every little bit helps and hopefully you can keep the jobs in retirement.

  2. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1477793205

    That's good news about the freelance jobs!

  3. Dido Says:
    1477828682

    Glad to hear you have some work and were able to get through October in the black.

  4. CB in the City Says:
    1477843557

    Great that you are staying within your income! Your little writing job does sound like an ideal retirement job.

  5. rob62521 Says:
    1477940286

    Your writing job sounds ideal.

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