So it seems my days of ghostwriting are coming to an end. Well, ghostwriting for my one major client. Not necessarily ghostwriting in general. I got a phone call today that my services will no longer be in the budget after this month.
And here’s the funny thing about it all. When I was given the news, I wasn’t even angry. I did have this one moment of panic and the thought of “what the fuck are you going to do?” ran through my head, but only once. And it wasn’t a stressful thought. It was more like a time to get busy thought.
I guess the timing couldn’t have been better. I have been meaning to work on my own stuff and I just don’t have time to get to it or I procrastinate and I would have had time to get to it but I found something else to do. So now, I am being forced to get back to my hustle. I have been super complacent. I relied on this one big gig to get me through the month as far as my bills were concerned and any of the smaller gigs I picked up were just for fun side cash. Now I’m back to wondering how I will feed my kid and keep a roof over his head next month without having to go get a “real job.”
I know that all I have to do is walk out of the house and apply for something and I will get hired. I’m a people person. I’m smart. I’m adaptive. I’m optimistic. I’m genuinely a nice person. I’m an asset to any company I’ve ever worked for. The problem is, I don’t want to work for a “company.” I like doing creative work. I would work for a company if my job was creative work because that’s basically what I’ve been doing, but I like the freedom to be able to do my work from wherever I am.
So now, I am back on the hunt for more gigs. I’ve been kicking around ideas. I thought about blog editor because that’s something I recently picked up, but I’m not sure how many people would want to shoot me their blogs for me to edit before they posted them. Especially if they are like me and just get on here at all hours of the day and night to write and post. But I will say, I have read some blogs that were written by “professionals” and it is evident they aren’t professional writers even though that is what they are “selling.” But I don’t know if there is a tactful way to say, “hey, you are teaching people about writing but you’ve got a shit ton of grammatical errors on your blog.” I don’t know if it would be taken as constructive criticism or if it would be offensive. So I just keep my mouth shut and usually don’t visit that blog again.
I can still write content for other people. I have joined a couple writing groups on LinkedIn. I guess I will have to be more visible on there. I don’t really hang out there very often. It’s kind of like the water cooler at the office. I go when I’m thirsty, but other than that, I just sit at my desk and mind my own business. But I guess if I need business, I need to start minding other people’s business.
I also thought about that people walking gig I saw on Facebook the other day. Some guy was meeting people and taking walks with them. Yes, it was mostly women, and they were walking with him for protection, but I am fairly entertaining in person, so I’m thinking maybe there are a handful of people lonely enough to want to hang out with me for $10 for 30 minutes.
I also thought about selling blow jobs, but unfortunately, this ain’t vegas and I don’t want a criminal record. So I’ve put that idea on the backburner (for now) along with joining some drug cartel. Those things can wait until I don’t have an impressionable teenager at home. So, 2020, Look out!
But seriously, my one true love is writing and editing. I love doing both. And I’m hoping that I can continue to feed myself doing both. But today, I am heading to Charleston to officiate two weddings so I don’t have time to let it stress me out. Plus, the beach is excellent for creating and coming up with new ideas. So there’s that.
Stay tuned.
RouletteWeekend 