Seeking Advice

Thanks for all the great advice. I had my interview today. I'm still not sure how to proceed, but I'm definitely putting more weight toward my family and kids. I thought maybe I was goofy for valuing the time that I spend with them more than money. But I've come to realize that people can sympathize. The job, it turns out, would be daytime hours Monday through Friday, which isn't easy to get in this profession. So that's a bonus. But I'm still not sure how I'll explain it to my 3-year-old son if I get the job. It occurred to me, though, that I'm probably thinking of myself more than the kids. I had this thought when I realized today that they'll be in school in a few years, a fact which nearly caused me to declare that I'll home school them.

To clear up a few things, my wife teaches high school English and makes enough that I only have to contribute a few hundred per week. As of my third month on the freelance beat, I was contributing anywhere from $300 to $500 per week most weeks. But there were a few rocky periods when one source went dormant and I had to write about, well, dolls for a doll magazine.

Yes, the getting paid part can suck for freelancers, and doing the shuck-and-jive day in and day out to get work can be a pain as well. But I think most of my work is steady. I expect my clients to grow a lot in the next year, and I do a lot of sports and local features, which seems to be steady work.

Thanks again for the advice. I'm sort of a strange animal. While I've worked in the business for nearly a decade, I really don't have many solid journalism friends who can provide advice. That probably says more about the quality of the staff at my past stops than it says about my personality...at least I hope so.

 

Heinie,

Your wife is a teacher, so that is good and you probably know this but ...

Putting the kids in daycare so you can work M-F may be something you don't want to do right now but preschool is a different story and is a definite plus, I think.

Also, once the kids are in kindergarten, you may wish you had the 9-5 job if the freelance is drying up.