To be perfectly honest, however, from my perspective, my job does not include financial compensation that allows me to contribute to my personal savings on a regular basis, to be as generous as I would like with my tzedakah or to splurge every once in a while on a Broadway show, a vacation (even a short one that's not too far away) or an "I'll-pick-up-this-one-just-because" dinner with a friend or two. And, while my modest lifestyle and carefully watched pennies help ensure that I am able to meet my expenses each month (despite my very deliberate decision to live in outrageously-expensive Manhattan), the chasm between my take-home income and my monthly outgo grows wider and wider and wider with each passing year.
Therefore, I recently decided to go in search of some paid freelance editing opportunities. I’ve been doing it (the unpaid variety) for years, informally and successfully editing friends’ resumes, business correspondence, including cover letters, web content, blog posts, funding proposals, training materials and the like. Using existing material (and the Track Changes function in Microsoft Word), I gently and carefully smooth out the bumps, retaining the original voice and message, while making the prose cleaner, sharper, easier to read and more powerful. Now, I’m hoping to parlay that expertise and experience into something a bit more formal (aka the paid variety).
By way of testimonials, I can offer you these:
From the blog roll on The DCC: “JanetheWriter Writes -- She is Good, You Should Read This One Too”Want to know more? You can read lots of my other work elsewhere on this blog, as well as here and here.
From a friend whose document I edited last week: “I LOVE how you edit!! I had torn that letter apart, but you were way better than me!! :)"
And lastly, this from me (I know, that’s not a credible testimonial, but this is a start-up business and it's the most I can offer at the moment): When it comes to the edits themselves, I always urge my friends to “take ‘em or leave ‘em.” More often than not, though, they “take ‘em.”
And so, my loyal blog readers and Facebook friends, I turn to you. Should you or someone you know need a freelance editor, I’d be extremely grateful if you’d play matchmaker and help make a shidduch. Just drop me an email with all the relevant details, and I’ll take it from there.
Thanks, friends, for helping me set things "write."
I've done (and do) some freelancing...What's hard to get your head around is that the rate is so much lower than what is paid when you're doing virtually the same thing within an organization.
ReplyDeleteSounds like we need to talk this over over a lunch.,...Give me a call
nice post. i want to bookmark this site.
ReplyDeleteJane, I was thinking about your desire for a blozuzah here. I logged into my old blogger account to see how to do it.
ReplyDeleteIf you go to Dashboard > Design > Add a Gadget and select the Picture gadget, you should be able to achieve the desired effect by putting up a picture of a mezuzah.