Friday 15th August 2008

Wednesday 6th August 2008

Friends with Structure

“This is about structure,” the therapist said.

I’m sitting across from her because my husband found me sobbing into the carpet of my home office, again, some more. She’s sitting there because I’ve reached the point, now, where I need to pay people to listen to me.

“I thought this was about huge, huge amounts of anti-depressants.”

“No. For the first time in your life, you don’t have outside structure dictating your every move. And it is affecting your writing, and you are very angry.”

“Even though I hate structure.”

“Even though you hate structure.”

I sat for $7.28 worth of silence. Then: “Well, how do I fix it?”

“How do *you* think you need to fix it?”

This is why I have never seen her in the same outfit twice, and it is often a struggle for me to find clean shorts to climb into for the sessions.

How I wish this were a cheerful, ten-bullet list detailing how freelancers produce creative work in structured circumstances. But outside of “How to Build a Particle Accelerator For the Production of Synchrotron Radiation,” there’s perhaps no article I’m less equipped to write.

There are few lamer excuses for a squandered career than “Well, I’m creative. I’m made this way.” I cannot imagine how pissed off God would be if I stand before Him at the end with a blank sheet of paper but a really, really thorough knowledge of ‘80’s commercials on YouTube.

I never used to be like this. “What happened?” I asked a college friend. “You knew me when I was a student. I chaired four committees at once. I wrote for the newspaper. I dealt with a job and a boyfriend and sixteen credit hours. I got things done.”

“Of course you did,” she said. “And then you got a full-time job and cookware and then you got married.”

Well, yes, adulthood. It’s one thing to structure a life when the cooking is done at the dining hall, and one’s entire livable space is the size of a crayon box. But how many people successfully balance a writing life and a day job, a spouse, volunteer work, a household, children? Multiple children? What was so hard about looking at a day planner and checking off the little lined tasks in the little white boxes?

It’s not for a lack of inspiration, or caring, or even, in this era of gold-plated corn on the cob, absolute budget-based terror. I have projects and deadlines and segmented-out plans. Why, why, why, did I suddenly decide it was time for my daily workout and notice it was a quarter after ten at night and nothing was accomplished for the day but a self-proven truth that yep, Google really works as a search engine? Another day goes by, and at the end of each wasted hour, every single one of my German ancestors spin a few centimeters closer to the center of the Earth.

I recently watched an interview with David McCullough, the famous and prolific American historian, who announced that his best advice for writers was to knock out four pages a day. Four pages. A day. I leaned forward, wondering exactly how this came about, but then the host asked something about Teddy Roosevelt and that was that. Whatever McCullough had to say about Roosevelt, he said it first as part of a four-page chunk, the magnificently persistent bastard. How’d he do it?

He sat, I imagine, and he wrote. He let the car’s oil sit unchanged until it was time to change it. If he were struck with a reminder to return a phone call, he made careful note of it on the afternoon’s agenda and continued on with his work. Bills waited until a designated bill paying time, thus neatly avoiding interrupting the writing flow and avoiding frantic drives to the post office a minute and a half before closing time. What simple things to do. What simply impossible things to do.

“You,” said the therapist, “are going to make friends with structure, and on your own terms.”

Structure had better buy the drinks.

Mary Beth Ellis runs BlondeChampagne.com. Her first book, Drink to the Lasses, was released in 2006.

Freelancer Pro Interview: Zac Gordon

Students in Springbook High School’s Web design classes get a real-life glimpse into being a designer—their teacher is also a freelancer!

Zac Gordon, 26, graduated from this Maryland high school just eight years ago. For the past four years, he’s been freelancing in the design business. Because he’s got a side career going, it’s the perfect platform for his students to see what being a designer is really like. Now he’s created a business platform that will enable him to work with his students after they’ve graduated. He’s still teaching in the classroom, but has found that the benefits of his full-time job have translated into a thriving business.

He’s also incorporated things he’s learned on FreelanceSwitch into his teachings—and his students enjoy Freelance Radio every other week. Find out more about this interesting designer!

What class do you teach? Where? How many students are in the class?

I teach an intro to Web design and an advanced Web design class. The intro class is full: 35 students and 28 computers. However, this is our first year offering an advanced Web class, so we only have a little more than a dozen students in that one. Additionally we have team of interns that are working to release a rocking Website for our high school next semester.

My undergrad and graduate degrees were in history. I also teach Modern World History, which I love. At this point, though, I am moving towards working full-time with the Web program and Web education. Because of my experience, though, I encourage kids to study whatever interests them in school, not just art or programming or Web design. I don’t feel that studying other subjects interferes with or holds you back from doing freelancing. If anything it makes you a more well rounded person.

Tell us about how you’re integrating your students into your freelance business.

I have done freelance Web design for about four years, however, I like to work with other people so I usually have a team of another designer or programmer (or two) on most of the projects that I do. Now I am trying to give more work to my students, whether it means giving projects over to them before I get my hands on them or get them to help me with existing or large-scale projects.

I am trying to build up our high school as a place to go to get professional Websites done at a tenth of the price. All of the money goes straight to the students, but I ensure that the work is quality. Over the next few years, I think it will grow into something really amazing. It really sunk in for me after I met with a client with one of my students… I was thinking, I would charge about 2500 for this project, but the client ended up paying $500. Everyone felt it was a fair price, from the client to the student to the student’s parents.

After students graduate I try to either employ them directly as freelancing contractors through my private business or refer clients to them straight out. Over time I hope to transform my business into more of a network of trained freelancers that I can personally vouch for because I have known them, taught them, and worked with them on projects for at least two years. It is in its early stages, but I think the business model has potential.

How did you find out about FreelanceSwitch?

I came across northxeast.com recently after it launched and have been following Collis and his crew’s work ever since! I found out about FSW through northxeast and have been digging the forums, book, etc. since it all got started.

How did you hear about the podcasts?

I learned about the podcasts from just following the site. They were a big boon early on for me because I would wait anxiously until the next episode came out. I never really followed podcasts before this, but I learned how nice it was to listen to Freelance Radio while doing the more routine or design related freelance Web design tasks. Unfortunately I can’t listen while programming!

How have you incorporated these into your class teachings?

My buddy who teaches Web design at a nearby high school started bringing in guest speakers every Friday. It got me thinking about what I could do that was cool on Fridays. Since the advanced Web class works on projects for themselves or for clients outside of school, I thought we could have what we now call “Freelance Fridays” where students work on their portfolios, paying/charity sites and listen to Freelance Radio.

We have recently switched our process because we can’t listen to an entire podcast in class, so now students listen to an episode during the week and we talk about it at the beginning of class on Friday. Every week students also get a grade for participating in the FSW forums. I am a big believer in the community and feedback on that site and feel that they are getting invaluable guidance from the podcasts and forums. I mean imagine learning all of this stuff when you were sixteen years old!

How do you think freelancing impacting the younger generation? What’s your advice to high-school-age kids who want to freelance when they “grow up?”

Again, I let the students answer this one. However, my goal in teaching Web design is that after the first year they can all make static Websites for clients if they like, and that in their second year they will make dynamic, easy to update sites with WordPress or ExpressionEngine in class and get paid for it. They must all also do charity work, because I believe it is important to realize how much your skills can help other people reach some pretty noble goals. (And it keeps them from just thinking about money).