Category: Freelancer

  • Is AI My Competition?

    Is AI My Competition?

    In the summer of 2023, I stopped writing for How Stuff Works after more than a decade of freelancing for the company. After I left, I learned from my editor (who has also since left the company) that article updates would be performed by artificial intelligence. I posted about this change in several places, including…

  • I Was Replaced by AI

    I Was Replaced by AI

    For more than a decade, I wrote for How Stuff Works. I started as an automotive writer, and after a few years, the editors figured out that I could take on almost any topic they threw at me. So I was farmed out to other departments (except health; they were very picky about those writers…

  • My Go-To Freelance Tools and Apps

    My Go-To Freelance Tools and Apps

    I’ve noticed, after six months of stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, that a lot of people are striking out on their own to build freelance businesses. I’ve been out here living a freelance life since 2006, and I would like to welcome you all! It can be tough going for the first few years,…

  • Freelance Perks: Serious Time Off

    Here is what it is like to be a mid-career freelance editor and writer. After building up subject expertise and reliable contacts and great clients, I get to take a month off. Like, a whole month. This month, to be exact. How I Planned It In the spring, Mr. KHG and I discussed taking time…

  • KHG-Force

    What I’m up to the week of Dec. 3, 2018:

  • Obvious Freelance Lesson: Honesty Is the Best Policy

    I’ve been freelance writing and editing since 2006, and it’s gone pretty well. I’ve had lots of happy clients, one unhappy one, and a reasonably steady income from an ever-evolving roster of publications. I’m pretty good at the whole freelancing thing. But every so often, I need to have a basic lesson pounded into my…

  • How I Improved My Productivity in Two Easy Steps

    You may think that headline is clickbait-y, but I did indeed improve my productivity this week in two easy steps. One of the steps was free, and one was not. The free one, actually, was harder. Here they are, in numbered list form so you can follow along: What have I completed this week? I…

  • A Bullet Journal Journey to Page-Chomping Freedom

    A Bullet Journal Journey to Page-Chomping Freedom

    When I was a kid, probably about eight years old, I got my first hardcover journal. I think it was for my birthday, though it could have come in an Easter basket. We were a gift-giving family, so sometimes after decades have passed, I don’t remember precisely what holiday was the occasion for a gift.…

  • I, a Design-Challenged Person, Have Made a New Logo

    I have not been happy with my previous attempt at a logo. It had too many words because I am a word person, so that’s what I added. It was two shades of gray, light and dark, because that seemed trustworthy and professional. It was boring and looked like this: I am trustworthy and professional,…

  • Freelancing Is Like Baking

    or, a study in forced metaphors and The Great British Baking Show For a little less than a year and a half, I contracted with TechCrunch to write nearly a dozen posts a month on automotive technology. As of July 31, 2017, that contract came to an end. This is how things work in the freelance…

  • My Shitty Mantra

    Mr. HG and I had both had long, stressful workweeks, and a non-rainy Sunday was in the forecast. A couple hours under the trees with the dog would be the mind-cleansing, soul-restoring excursion we needed. It was true — our minds were cleansed by exhaustion and our souls were restored by surviving. It was a…

  • The Bottom Line Is Not Just a Figure of Speech

    I’ve been a freelance writer and editor years longer than I’ve had proper accounting software. (A quick hat tip to Freshbooks for making the switch from home-brewed spreadsheets to software not so painful.) The basics are easy (invoice! expense! bam!), and I have a brilliant freelance-friendly tax accountant. But I’m still learning a lot about…

  • What I Learned from HowStuffWorks.com: Research and Documentation

    I do lots of work for lots of different outlets, but there are a few publications (online and print) that I work with regularly. One of those is HowStuffWorks.com, which is part of the Discovery network. I’ve been writing for their Autos channel since 2008 — nearly three years — and the most important thing…

  • To Holiday or Not to Holiday

    I am writing this at my desk, in my office, on Memorial Day, an official holiday in the United States. Yet here I am at my desk. Most people are camping this weekend — or as a friend of a friend on Facebook called camping, “drinking near trees.” I did not leave town for the…

  • On the In-Person Q&A

    A few months ago, my friends Kristin and Ali (founder of Indigo Editing) asked if I would be available to answer questions about the freelance life. I said sure. Ali mentioned that I was requested by someone, which was flattering. She never said who the requester was, but she doesn’t know my mom, so it…

  • Freelance Tip #2: Twitter

    Though Twitter has only been around a couple of years, it’s spawned a little industry of books on how to effectively use it — and a big group of Twitter haters. I use Twitter and have for a long time, if we’re measuring time in internet terms rather than, say, geologic terms. Here’s my Twitter…

  • Freelance Tip #1: Lunch

    Basically, you have two options for lunch as a freelancer: eat in or go out. Let’s explore the options for and implications of each. Eat In Do not eat at your desk. That is for people with “regular” jobs who have to work in cubicles. You are a freelancer. So eat somewhere nice, like at…

  • On Freelance Breathing Space

    Recently one of my favorite editors at one of my favorite freelance gigs sent out an email announcing that we all — staff and freelancers alike — were being given “breathing space” for a few weeks. I don’t know if this is a euphemism for being a bit broke or if things really were getting…

  • The Monday Morning Freelance Plan

    As a freelance writer and editor working from home, getting out of the house is always nice. So I’ve instituted a new ritual: the Monday morning freelance plan. It gets me out of the house and makes the rest of my week far more productive. The basic idea: This takes about an hour, maybe a…