Have you seen The Martian yet? If not, go see The Martian. I loved it, even more than I loved Fury Road. Everybody I know loved it. The reviewer I trust most called it the best hard sci-fi movie ever, based on the best hard sci-fi book ever.

Seriously, this was a great movie. Go see it. I’ll wait.

Okay. Wasn’t that fun?

Here’s the thing about The Martian. Continue reading →

Over the past couple of years, something strange has happened. I went from writing my butt off to writing my butt off and mentoring several writers about their own work.

I like the move. I’ve always enjoyed coaching and teaching, and it’s fun to watch my friends’ careers blossom.

By far what I get asked most is where to find work. Mostly I find mine through existing contacts, and people those people know. But I still go back to this well a couple of times a month to keep my inbox runnething over. Here are my 8 best places to find people who will pay me for what I do.

1. All Indie Writers — a job board that updates not as frequently as I’d like, but lists the payment levels before you click to view the job description. Note how they label the payscales. “Pro” is anything over $100 a post.
2. Problogger — frequently updated job board wit a mixture of Craigslist shares and unique content. The signal-to-noise ration leaves something to be desired, but it’s a good place to hit regularly for the gems that pop up.
3. Facebook — you know all those articles your friends share with you every day? Somebody has to write them. Pay attention to which sites you click through to often, then find out how to submit. Most pay in the $50 to $100 range.
4. Online Writing Jobs  — somebody is combing through lots of Craigslist pages and finding the better writing gig postings. You should hit CL early and often in your first years freelancing, and this makes that process much easier.
5. Your Chamber of Commerce — join and attend meetings for your local Chamber. It puts you in touch with people who own small businesses in your community. Which is to say people who need content written by a professional. See also Rotary Club and the Elks.
6. Your Local Hobby Shop — whatever it is you’re passionate about, somebody runs a shop near you who doesn’t write as well as you do. You probably already have a relationship, so reach out. Double-dip here by contacting every hobby magazine on the shelf in that shop. They have a similar need for people who know the subject and know how to write.
7. Media Bistro — has some good jobs posted from time to time While you’re at it, subscribe to their newsletter.
8. Blogging Pro —  it costs $30 to post a gig on this site for a month, which tells you that every potential client found here was willing to invest in finding good talent. Which means they’re willing to invest in professional writing.

Dishonorable mention: oDesk, eLance and similar content mills. Although I’m not opposed to the idea of spending a little time there as you start gathering clips, these places are a race to the bottom in terms of payment and client quality. Step up into the bigs by taking better gigs.

Hey, that rhymed.

If you’ve followed any of my feeds in the past month, you probably already know how much I loved Mad Max: Fury Road. You can go here, or here to see me wax eloquent on how it’s the platonic ideal of its genre and the best movie of any genre I’ve seen this year.

You know what else? It’s also a model for how to rev up your life to kick more ass in your career, relationships, hobbies and anything else. That feature comes from something I’m certain they had as part of their writing process.

An Awesome Guy

Picture a table in a writing studio. The creative team sits there, batting around ideas. The air smells of stale coffee and cold pizza. They’re in the zone. A writer says “What if we had a huge fleet of apocalyptic death cars chase them into the desert?”

Everybody nods in approval, then the Awesome Guy clears his throat and does his only job.

Continue reading →

I don’t usually get political here on the blog (as opposed to my FB where I pick political fights constantly and with great elan). Recently, though, some of the national conversation and chats I’ve had on social media have led me to a thought too long to put on social media. So here it is.

Let’s talk about privilege.

Privilege is a social construct people toss around a lot that boils down to the fact that life ain’t fair. For example, I’m white and male and hetero and grew up with sufficient food. I earned none of that, but it makes corners of my life easier than it is for people without those advantages. For better or worse, privilege is the word we use to describe that, and it’s a real thing.

Trouble is, a lot of people skew towards asshole when the topic comes up.

• Liberal assholes use it as a bludgeon to end legitimate questioning of their ideas. They holler RACIST or claim the other can’t understand instead of having a conversation. More on them in a bit.
• Conservative assholes respond with indignation, and point out how their lives are limited by their demographic identity. Very often, it sounds like “There was a Black Pride march parade today…why can’t I have a White Pride parade?”

Both sides go all out when this happens, joining an upward spiral of outrage that accomplishes nothing. But it’s not the liberals’ fault. It’s not the conservatives’ fault.

It’s Vanilla Ice’s fault. 

Continue reading →