what’s that? you wanna read more of me?

chimpanzee at typewriter by ewing gallowayWhen I started writing this post, it quickly turned into a rant about how some people don’t realize that freelance writing is hard (actual!) work and that just because we can walk our dogs on a whim doesn’t mean we don’t have real jobs with real responsibilities.

Phew.

But that’s not where I wanted to go with this post.

What I *did* want to do was share with you what I’ve been up to lately, some of the writing I’ve done so that you can visit me elsewhere around the web and maybe learn a few things along the way–I certainly did as I was writing these!

I tried to gather a wide assortment of pieces so that there’d be something in there for everyone. Please let me know what you think!

(1) For those feeling pain at the pump (and who isn’t?), check out 101 Ways to Save Money on Gas.

(2) Looking for fun summer activities with the kiddos? Summer Fun on a Budget.

The Fedora Hat: New Old Fashion Necessity

The Messenger Bag: Delivering Fashion and Function

Top Ten Wackiest Patents on the Books

Top 5 Must Dos Before You Write a Living Trust

  • And finally, something I *know* you’ve been dying to know about. From TomatoCasual.com:

The History of Throwing Rotten Tomatoes

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy!

And buon weekend!

21 Beans of Wisdom to “what’s that? you wanna read more of me?”
  1. 07.11.2008

    wow, i had just finished reading most of them, its 12:43 a.m. here in SF. i love your tips about saving gas and the feature about fedora hats!

    how do you do it? it seems like there’s so much researching and attention to little details that you need to do. kudos to you!

    oh, i’m not sure if you already wrote about this before, but how do you start doing freelance writing? i probably don’t have enough self-discipline for it, but its always worth a try, right? πŸ™‚

    p.s. sorry for the long comment. i got carried away. ;P

    Odessa’s last blog post..inspiration

    Odessa, I haven’t written about that before, but perhaps I will take a stab at it one of these days. My best advice for now is to look around the Internet at some freelance writing sites like:

    FreelanceWritingGigs.com
    AbsoluteWrite.com
    WritersWeekly.com

    And do some Google searches as well, of course.

    You’ll find lots of great advice and support from people who have been around a lot longer than I have, potential jobs and also plenty of informative articles.

    Freelancing definitely takes discipline, but the rewards are pretty great too–I just *love* making my own schedule. And remember, you don’t need to jump in with both feet to start…you can ease your way in and see if it’s something for you or not.

    Best of luck πŸ™‚

  2. Joanne at frutto della passione
    07.11.2008

    Good heavens you are a busy lady. I had no idea how versatile you were. I’m really impressed, and as for your rant, I can just picture relatives and friends dropping by, expecting you to sit around and chat with them or run errands for them. After all, you’re home all day right, you’re not doing anything. I know, I’ve been there. Unfortunately I never figured out an appropriate response. Please add links to your writing regularly!

    Joanne at frutto della passione’s last blog post..Watermelon margarita

    Thanks for the support Joanne πŸ™‚ I’m lucky that most of P’s family isn’t right here in the village or it would certainly happen a lot more. Now that August is coming, though, and most of them will be around, it’ll get tougher…especially since believe me, I’d *much* rather sit around and talk and head to the beach too πŸ˜‰

  3. vanessa
    07.11.2008

    my you have been busy! I love that you wrote an article about how to save gas when you don’t even drive/ have a car. h ah ahha. Sorry i didn’t read that article yet, but I’m sure somewhere in there is the tip to walk or use public transport or share with others….

    Also the tomato one, i thought would be about that tomatina festival they have in spain but i see that is not mentioned. Maybe they use fresh tomatoes for that – all the excess produce at the end of summer perhaps. Italians I guess not so wasteful and turn it into tomato suace/s for the rest of the year.

    Hah, yes of course there are tips about walking, etc. And hey, I don’t wear fedora hats either (although I would if I could find a decent one)….

    I’ve written about La Tomatina here, if you’re interested:

    World’s Biggest Tomato Fight: BuΓ±ol’s La Tomatina

    No, I can’t imagine Italians throwing around tomatoes like that…although there is a similar orange-throwing festival in Ivrea πŸ™‚

  4. Preach on sister. ha.

    I look forward to reading your other work.

    When you have multiple projects due at the same time how do you divide your writing time?

    nyc/caribbean ragazza’s last blog post..Flashback Friday – Toronto edition – Sarah McLachlan β€œAida”

    It definitely varies, but I tend to do big chunks of research together (I do a lot of copying and pasting into Word docs (including the URL where I found the info) so then all the research for one thing is in one file). I always have five or six tabs open on Firefox and search for a few assignments at once…I get bored doing only one at a time.

    When I’m writing, though, I write each one straight through and then put it aside. Then after I’ve worked on something else for a while, even a day or two if deadline allows, I’ll go back and edit.

    Some people don’t like bouncing around, but I find it keeps me awake and involved πŸ˜‰

  5. 07.11.2008

    If I made a links list of the crap I’m writing over here, my reading audience would fall asleep. (Except for that Italy book I wrote, when I emailed you all panicked LOL.) I get fun stuff sometimes, but mostly it’s MLM copy and IT websites. BOO!

    Here’s to some more exciting stuff coming your way, especially on Italy πŸ™‚

  6. 07.11.2008

    And here I, foolishly, thought there WAS no history of throwing rotten tomatoes. Shows what I know!

    katie’s last blog post..Steak Caesar Pasta Salad; Com’on, have a guess!!!!

    Glad you could learn something Katie πŸ™‚

  7. 07.11.2008

    Now just who are those nasty people who say you don’t have a “real” job?
    Great stuff, girl!! Now how do you find all those assignments? Do you pitch ideas to various
    outlets or do you get assignments from those freelance writing sites you mentioned earlier?

    milanesemasala’s last blog post..Itanglish Korner

    Well I won’t name any names, and really it’s never so blatant as that. I do get plenty of comments that *imply* I have all this time to do other things, including other full-time jobs…like questions on why I don’t put my CV in at the local school, etc…um, because I’m a writer?

    With all the clips above, I have ongoing relationships with them. I think for all of them I answered ads that I saw on FreelanceWritingGigs.com or the job board at Problogger.net or some other job board. For some of them I pitch ideas, others are just assigned–depends on the client.

  8. 07.11.2008

    Nicely done.

    running42k’s last blog post..Friday at home

    Thank you kindly πŸ™‚

  9. 07.11.2008

    This is so ironic, because I was meeting with a friend yesterday who’s entering the world of freelancing, and I was talking about those of you who do this (I did, but had to stop for a bit). I sent her your link this morning, and then here was this post!

    You certainly have a variety of topics. πŸ˜‰

    jen of a2eatwrite’s last blog post..I Don’t Like Fennel

    Thanks for passing my link along Jen. Yes, I like to keep things interesting with different topics…never know when you’ll need experience in something, right πŸ˜‰

  10. 07.11.2008

    You have been a busy girl! I had no idea that was the sort of freelance writing you did, or that you could make a living writing pieces for random web sites like that. Cool!

    Stefanie’s last blog post..Live blogging my water heater repair

    The Internet has really opened up the freelance writing market; of course that means a lot of people who probably shouldn’t get paid to write get work too, but hey, the cream rises, right? πŸ˜‰ The trick is *finding* these random writing opportunities….

  11. 07.11.2008

    I can’t imagine anyone thinking that freelance writing is easy. I worked in PR for a couple years (half of it I did freelance) and I know how difficult it can be to write on a deadline. Sure you make your own hours…but the minute you slack off even for a bit it can bite you in the ass and result in some really late nights.

    I’m looking forward to reading these articles and I hope you post more in the future. L
    Ciao for now,
    Lulu

    LuLu’s last blog post..Adventures of Learning a Language – Part 4

    Thanks LuLu. I think for someone who has never had any experience with writing or working at home, it can be difficult to wrap his/her head around…a good comparison, though, for anyone who went to college: it’s kind of like perpetually having to catch up on your reading and write papers πŸ˜‰ There’s always *something* that you could be doing involving work…sometimes it’s hard to draw that line and say it’s time to NOT work.

  12. 07.11.2008

    Thanks for letting us know-I wondered what type of things you worked on. I see that you also contribute to the Italian Notebook which I love reading everyday! Brava!

    Glad you enjoy the Notebook; that reminds me, I’m due to send another “note” in πŸ™‚

  13. 07.11.2008

    that’s a lotta writing and a lotta hard work. Well done. Hope Stella is still getting her walks with all this industriousness going on! Just off to read them all, I don’t have a dog to walk.

    african vanielje’s last blog post..…make basil aioli

    Luna and Stella are still getting the walks, although the summer heat means none of us are really eager to go six times a day like in the winter….

  14. 07.11.2008

    wait
    one
    minute…

    you wrote all those
    and
    what’s cookin’ wednesday
    and
    so on
    and
    so on???

    πŸ™‚

    what do you do in your spare time, missy?

    {{ i love that you wrote about this—>Apparatus for Facilitating the Birth of a Child by Centrifugal Force }}

    clearly you never sleep………………………

    somepinkflowers’s last blog post..tourist tuesday and kay larkin airport

    SPF, when I saw that contraption, it was just too interesting to *not* write about. Glad you enjoyed πŸ˜‰

    Btw, in my spare time? I read…b/c you know I don’t read enough while working πŸ˜‰

  15. 07.12.2008

    I’m amazed at your range and learnt a few tips on saving gas/petrol – thanks.

    Loved the tomato piece – including the comments. The potato was introduced to the UK at exactly the time of Shakespeare/Elizabeth I, by Francis Drake, so we couldn’t have thought they were poisonous.

    Now, I’m curious to find out about the tomato because I think you’re right – they weren’t around then. Maybe someone knows?

    casalba’s last blog post..Frasassi Caves

    Thanks Sally, and I’m glad you learned a few things. My best guess is that since people were already throwing other things to show unhappiness, the tomato was just added to the mix…but then as someone wrote in the comments to that post, the tomato is clearly the most rewarding to launch πŸ˜‰

  16. 07.12.2008

    I’m back after a quick ‘google’. The tomato came to the UK around 1590 via Spain (1519). Shakespeare died in 1616 so they might just have had them at the Globe Theatre. (Interestingly, we did think these were poisonous – that is, the rich did because they ate from pewter plates which had a high lead content and the acid from the tomatoes brought this out causing lead poisoning. The poor ate from wooden platters so no problems.) There, I’ll leave you alone now – I’m sure you must be very busy with more writing.

    Hah, well you certainly were curious! Thanks for sharing your research πŸ™‚

  17. Tina
    07.12.2008

    I know how you feel – I have tango friends and friends of friends visiting Buenos Aires all the time thinking that I have all the time and money in the world to take them to sites, milongas, shoe shopping, dinner, etc… just because I work from home and so my schedule is “lax”… oooookay.

    And now I have to start reading your articles! πŸ™‚ (ugh and then start translating 3000 words)…

    Besos,
    Tina

    Tina’s last blog post..Wordle Fun

    Ah yes, the assumption of having the money to entertain is another great one that comes from living in a nice vacation spot…hope your translation is finished (and paid for!) πŸ˜‰

  18. Tina
    07.12.2008

    P.S. Just read the article on the patents: AAAAAAAAAH!!

    Tina’s last blog post..Wordle Fun

    Hope that means you enjoyed it πŸ˜‰

  19. 07.13.2008

    WOW! Where do you find time for all this writing?
    I dream to live off my writing…..some day, but really have problems finding the time.

    Well, I am working on it πŸ™‚

    Britt-Arnhild’s last blog post..If – I lived on a small island

    It’s not easy Britt-Arnhild, believe me. I had to make a decision to commit to it no matter what, including meager paychecks, and only then did I start to see greater (financial) rewards….best of luck to you πŸ™‚

  20. 07.14.2008

    Wow, you’ve been busy.

    I’m glad you enjoyed your visit with your Mom also.

    Minnie’s last blog post..We Got Annie!

    Thanks Minnie; was truly amazing πŸ™‚

  1. [...] I want to thank those of you who took the time to read some of my writing mentioned in Friday’s po... bleedingespresso.com/2008/07/books-books-and-more-books.html
Michelle KaminskyMichelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived. 

Calabria Guidebook

Calabria travel guide by Michelle Fabio

Recipes

 

Homemade apple butter
Green beans, potatoes, and pancetta
Glazed Apple Oatmeal Cinnamon Muffins
Pasta with snails alla calabrese
Onion, Oregano, and Thyme Focaccia
Oatmeal Banana Craisin Muffins
Prosciutto wrapped watermelon with bel paese cheese
Fried eggs with red onion and cheese
Calabrian sausage and fava beans
Ricotta Pound Cake