May 2, 2006
I recently signed on with a new client. They paid me an advance check for the one big project & 3 small inter-related projects and it was sizable, which is nicely gratifying and mildly stressful all at the same time.

I just wrapped up Part 1 of the first of the 3 small projects and it turned out to be a massive pain in the butt that was a black hole in terms of time.

Why?

Because, basically, it wasn't really a writing assignment. It was more of a database project, a detailed listing of 100 organizations, contact information, phone numbers, fax numbers, etc. I was given a database to work from based on a survey the organization conducted. I think they thought it would be easy.

It wasn't. Of course, it paid $1000, and I don't know if I spent 20 hours on it or not--probably, in this case, maybe more.

Sometimes--this has happened to me before--I'm hired to do something that more closely resembles data entry, secretarial work or media research. It sort of livens things up because it tends to be such a pain in the ass, it reminds me of the things I like to do and why.

I suspect this happens all the time in freelance writers' lives. Somebody has a project that on one level looks like writing to the powers-that-be, but to the writer probably doesn't. My advice: if you can figure out before hand, make sure you charge an arm-and-a-leg for the privilege.

On the other hand, this particular group is paying me even more for the writing ends of things, and that makes me think they value writing. Not a bad deal.

Best,
Mark Terry