jodiet.com Blog

My first month running my own combination freelance paralegal and writing business has flown. I thought I might miss my previous employer but I really haven’t. Eventually I’m sure I will begin to miss some of my co-workers but being the self-centered loner I am it takes a long time for me to begin to miss all but the most important people in my life. I have been in touch with my best friends from my prior employer so thankfully I’ve not had to endure missing them anyway. I don’t even miss the coffee. I definitely don’t miss the drama and office politics.

The only thing I do miss about my prior employer is the money. I got approximately 1/2 of my goal amount of hours which is actually pretty good considering I’ve only been in business for one month and the sure-thing client I thought I had failed to materialize. As I suspected it would be, the downside to starting my own business–and really the only con, though it is a big con–is lack of steady cash. The goal of all start-up businesses is to grow to obtain at least as much personal profit if not more than they received at their prior jobs; therefore, the hope is lack of cash will one day cease to be an issue. And for me, there have been so many positives they have so far outweighed that one big powerful con. Some of those positives have been, in no particular order:

1. My work uniform consists almost entirely of comfy pants.
2. I can grocery shop during the day when the stores are less crowded and the only children present are under five years old. And they are either cute or make me chuckle and think how glad I am THOSE days are over for me.
3. I can eat breakfast and lunch whenever I want plus I have the time and convenience of being able to make healthy meals (I’m saying I COULD, not necessarily I HAVE)—but I don’t buy fast food out of desperation.
4. I’ve been able to volunteer to help plan the first annual Quad City Book Fair scheduled to take place on May 8, 2010.
5. I’ve been able to speak to Paralegal students about my experiences.
6. I got to visit a friend who has been home with her newborn on maternity leave.
7. Whenever I want to take a break to play a game on Facebook, I don’t have to worry about my computer being “monitored”.
8. The only drama I’m forced to witness is from my kids and I can send them up to their rooms if they get too unruly.
9. Quiet—at least when the aforementioned kids are at school.
10. Similarly, I can watch TV or blast music without bothering anyone except my cats.
11. I can burn candles or spray air freshener without sending anyone into an asthma attack.
12. I can swim laps during the noon adults only hour at the Y.
13. I decide what I do when I do it and how to get it done.
14. I’ve been able to actually WRITE!!!
15. When school was cancelled I didn’t have to scramble to find alternative child care.
16. I can use the restroom without someone needing me the second I sit down (again, at least when the kids are at school)
17. I was able to help my daughter find her cell phone in the snow before its battery died.
18. I can crank the thermostat up as high as I want or turn it down when I start to sweat.
19. Did I mention the lack of drama???

Though I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the extra time just meeting 1/2 of my goal hours has provided, it is time now in February to buckle down and get some more hours if I plan to make it to my trip with my husband hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado in August. So it is now time for marketing–letting lawyers and law firms know I am out here ready, willing & able to assist them with their paralegal needs. (If you happen to qualify, please see http://www.jodiet.com/ParaInnovHome.html)

This week I have been attempting to immerse myself in the early ’90s to aid a writing project. My goal is to somehow meld my experience, the world’s experience, and someone from halfway around the world’s experience from that time period into an entertaining and enlightening novel for girls. I know what I want to say but am struggling with how to say it.

The easiest part has been getting the research necessary to write the story of the person from halfway around the world. All it is taking are some visits with a good friend, holding her adorable baby and eating delicious lunches. We just chat, I let a voice recorder run and take some notes. I feel a little guilty even saying I am working–which is not so unusual because I believe most, if not all, non-writers feel we writers do not perform “real work” anyway.

Researching the world’s experience from the early ’90s with regard to my particular halfway-around-the-world’s subject’s home country has not been as easy as I thought it would have when I first embarked on this project. Her country seems almost like the forgotten step-child of world media. There are few books on the subject relative to her country’s history and their writing makes it clear the perspective is one-sided. I have skimmed through several months of local newspapers on microfilm at the library from 1990 where mentions of this country’s experience are presented as an aside or an afterthought. Our media was so preoccupied with the fall of the Berlin wall, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and later the Gulf War (all worthy stories), it seemed to have barely noticed the explosion of another, albeit geographically smaller, communist country.

Researching my own experiences of the early ’90s has not been as easy as one would think either. I do have a wonderful resource in the journals I’ve written in prolifically since 1985 but as much as I wrote, unfortunately, it would’ve been more helpful if I wrote more than I actually did. At that time, I was preoccupied with my own teenaged life to take real notice of even the more prominent world-news stories. I was impressed I even mentioned the declaration of the Gulf War in my journal. My life was focused on surviving what I now know was depression triggered by the loss of some very important loved ones from my life.

In late 1990 to the beginning of 1991, I had just realized life was going on following the death of my cousin in September, 1989, and I decided I could choose to spend the rest of my life miserable or I could choose not to. So for the ensuing couple of years I focused on playing the role of the carefree teenager by dating, going out and having fun as well as realizing my dream of going away to college, a goal I foolishly believed would erase everything wrong with my life (which maybe in a way it eventually did but that musing is for another day).

My ventures in the dating world at that time were grossly inadequate. I had three “boyfriends” during that time period. I designate the word boyfriend as fictional by enclosing it in quotes because I don’t think there was one of them that was what I think of as a traditional boyfriend — i.e. the boy asks you out, you go somewhere like the movies, he kisses you goodnight at the end of the evening, calls you later, asks you out again, etc., etc. My dates with the first one consisted almost exclusively of going for evening walks and talking on the telephone. The second one most resembled a boyfriend but I asked him out first to a turnaround dance (where girls take the boys). My third “boyfriend” was essentially a lesson that the notion of a “friend with benefits” just does not work. I scarred all three of these boys so badly they left the state and/or country without contacting me again; and only the third left without promising me he WOULD keep in contact with me. So that was my life in the early ’90s along with many of the other typical experiences of girls in their last three years of high school.

My work thus far and this project has consisted much more of reading and musing than actually putting words down. And most of those words’ fate was met with the delete key on my keyboard or colored-ink cross-outs. Writing IS hard but I am not giving up. I will keep plugging away, researching, reading and musing, putting it down then taking it away and somehow, someway, some day the how to accomplish my what will materialize.

6:30 a.m., Monday, January 4, 2010: a new year, a new adventure, a new life. I jumped out of bed, determined to make a positive first impression on my new boss. I’d heard she was difficult; volatile and demanding. I searched through my closet, pulled several possibilities and finally decided on just the right pair of sweats. My commute was a nightmare but after dodging toys on the stairs, weaving around my fellow commuters rushing to make it to their destinations on time, and stopping by the coffee bar to grab a much needed cup of Joe, I finally arrived at the office only a few minutes late. I found my new boss standing in my office tapping her foot. She pointed at the computer and glared at me sternly. I bowed my head and pushed myself into my chair. My new boss stood behind me like a dictator as I logged on to my computer. I held my breath as I went to work and breathed in relief when she saw I had logged on to Facebook and gave me the thumbs-up sign. Everyone knows you cannot be productive until your priorities are taken care of; i.e. your CafeWorld customers served and your Farmville crops harvested before they rot.

Finally, I could get down to real work. I turned on my telephone, checked my calendar and contemplated my next move. My office was cluttered with boxes and artifacts from my previous job so I decided to get organized. I spent the rest of the morning cleaning my office. Frankly, I thought it was rude of my new company to stick me in a dirty office but didn’t mind the chance to eavesdrop on the water cooler conversations and learn the new politics. By 11:30 a.m., I had made an appointment to meet with a potential new client and was exhausted so I decided I deserved the afternoon off. I took my kids on their last day of winter break out to lunch then shopping to spend their remaining Christmas gifts.

Tuesday was a day filled with research for the young adult novel I am writing. After taking the kids to school, I made the long trip to Blue Grass to my subject’s home. There, I worked hard. I visited, held her adorable baby, had homemade spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, perused some pictures and left at about 1 p.m. Proud of everything I accomplished, I stopped at Wal-mart to browse for office supplies and refill a couple of prescriptions. One would think a day that productive would command an evening of rest but not for me. I decided it was kind of nice to have my office clean and tidy so I moved on to the rest of my office building and spent most of the rest of the week eradicating three years of dust bunnies from under my furniture.

On Thursday, I got my first project offer and turned down my first project offer in a span of a few hours. I was cleaning when my business phone chirped. I answered professionally, “This is Jodie.” It was the administrator from my former employer’s office with a project offer for next week. But there was a catch; the job started early Monday morning, took place approximately 100 miles from home and involved staying overnight potentially throughout the entire week. Not wanting to break my scheduled meeting with my potential new client, I had to decline unless they could delay the project start time; they couldn’t so decided to handle it internally. So that, as they say, was that.

Friday morning, I took advantage of my flexible schedule and went grocery shopping. I was in good company and felt like I’d just joined an exclusive shopping club composed of mothers with young children and other business owners. I finished my shopping, carried in and put away my groceries by noon and had a nice business lunch of a little angel hair pasta with a can of Italian diced tomatoes. I continued my cleaning for the afternoon and looked forward to my first weekend after my first long week at my new job.

Ironically, Saturday ended up probably being my most profitable day last week. That afternoon, I attended a meeting to discuss marketing ideas with other authors at the Midwest Writing Center (MWC). I volunteered to moderate a book marketing discussion board and to head the program committee for a book fair hosted by MWC scheduled for May 8, 2010. This, in itself, is a marketing technique: getting my name out so when someone sees a book I wrote or needs a freelance paralegal, they will gravitate to me because my name is familiar. In addition, another author at the meeting is an attorney who teaches in the paralegal program at a local college. When she asked if I’d be willing to speak to her students about being a paralegal, I accepted. Again, this will get my name “out there” plus I truly enjoy speaking to an audience that has no choice but to listen to me. This is indeed an exciting prospect and who knows where it will lead.

I filled in the rest of my weekend cleaning my house. I didn’t get through my whole list but did clean my entire first floor including actually washing the floor and dusting the areas I normally skip because I am not tall enough to see them. My basement is clean and back in order; again somewhere I actually feel I’d like to spend time. I ended the weekend with cleaning my master bathroom; a disgusting job complete with shower steam glued on dust and hair. Yuck!

It is now Monday morning again. I wasn’t as excited for it this week and overslept by a half hour. And, yes, my boss was all bitchy when I finally got in but I’m not worried. I know what buttons to push and I have her right where I want her. My meeting with the potential client is scheduled for 11 a.m.; I hope it nets some, but not too much, immediate work. Also on my agenda so far is to work on my two in-process writing projects, research the local newspapers on microfiche for one of those projects and offer my completed young adult novel to literary agents and publishers for rejection. It should be a good week!