I hope your freelance writing isn’t keeping you from spending time with your friends and family today. Enjoy your break.

Congratulations to Jeff Rene, the winner of the Scratch Beginnings giveaway.

Jeff, I’ll be emailing you shortly with details.

Last month, one of my regular clients emailed me that he’d be late paying his current invoices, but gave his word that his company would get caught up in short order. I was grateful, because the fact that my client kept me informed is an uncommon courtesy, but I was also pretty worried. It wasn’t so much about the money itself because I have safety net that means an unpaid invoice isn’t the end of the world. It’s the fact that I consider invoices a key indicator in how a client is doing.

If a client who has always been on time in paying invoices is suddenly unable to pay, I generally think that it’s time to start looking for another regular client. The fact of the matter is that companies with money problems often consider freelancers a good place to cut costs. It’s a fact of doing business, and having that advance warning is actually a good thing.

While it didn’t make me happy, I wasn’t actually surprised when my client discontinued the project I had been working on. I also wasn’t up a certain creek — I’d tentatively lined up a couple of smaller projects.

Of course, invoices can be indicators of other factors. I’ve found that clients that I have problems getting to acknowledge (and pay) invoices are guaranteed to be problems in other problems. It’s just another reason to keep a close eye on your invoices.

I had the opportunity to review  Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream last week. It’s the true story of Adam Shepard, a young man who wants to find if he really can go from homeless to doing alright within a year. It’s not your typical inspirational book — it’s got a bit of swearing, among other factors. I really do recommend it, though: Scratch Beginnings is well worth the read.

More relevant to this blog, Adam Shepard self-published this book initially. It sold 10,000 copies and landed him on the Today show. One of HarperCollins’ imprints picked it up and brought a new edition of Scratch Beginnings out last month.

I’m giving away the uncorrected proof that I reviewed. To enter, leave a comment before the end of the day Sunday. I’ll randomly select a winner on Monday (Nov. 24). I’m happy to pay shipping within the U.S. — however, if you win and live outside the U.S., I’ll ask you to cover the difference.

And, well, if you haven’t voted for me in the College Blogging Scholarship yet, voting is winding up. Please take a moment and vote for me.

You may now that I’m a fan of the Freelancer’s Union. They provide several options for freelancers of every kind to receive health insurance — and they’re taking it a step further. The Freelancers Union is creating its own insurance company to meet the special needs of freelancers in the insurance market. Among other things, FIC is putting a heavy emphasis on portability, allowing freelancers to move their insurance as needed.

So few freelancers have health insurance that it’s scary. Some of us have managed to pick up coverage through a spouse or by paying exorbitant rates. But FIC will provide a real option for freelancers in need of health insurance. It is a for-profit company, although FIC is entirely owned by Freelancers Union (a non-profit organization). In the paperwork establishing FIC, it’s made clear that the company is expected to charge enough to remain financially stable but not enough to make a significant profit.

More information is available through the Freelancers Union announcement.

I was wandering through Borders this weekend and noticed that the 2009 Writer’s Market has an entirely new cover design. I thumbed through it and it looks like the same great resource, albeit with a bit of a face lift.

As much as I love the Writer’s Market books, I did manage to refrain from buying a new copy. I’m a firm believer that you don’t need a new copy of every Writer’s Market book every year, and even every three years won’t hurt to bad. Now, that would be true if I was trying to sell a particular project — if, for instance, I had a children’s book I was truly serious about selling, I couldn’t do without the most up-to-date version of the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market.

I do miss the older covers, but that might just because I’m so used to staring at my copy of Writer’s Market, in hopes that it will magically open to that one perfect market.

I recently wrote a review of Personal Development for Smart People — Steve Pavlina’s new book. That review is up on LifeHack and I’m ready to give the book away. I definitely think it’s worth a read for freelancers looking to improve on their current situation (no matter whether we’re talking about health, relationships or money).

To enter, leave a comment about what resources you’ve used to improve your productivity as a writer before
the end of the day Tuesday. I’ll randomly select a winner on Wednesday (a week from today). I
will pay shipping within the U.S. — if you win and live outside the
U.S., I’ll ask you to cover the difference.

As I moved my freelance operation to Colorado for a couple of weeks, I started thinking about what parts of my office have to go with me. I have a standard ‘go bag,’ but I need a few more things.

First off, I am dragging along my trusty laptop. It’s a Macbook Pro, loaded with CS2 and Microsoft Word - between the photo-editing, pagination and other writing-related activities I tackle, I’m grateful to have such a good little workhorse.

I’m packing my camera, and the associated card readers, cords and battery chargers as well. I may find a story that requires a little photography in my journey. In a pinch, I’ve also been known to use my camera as a scanner — luckily, that means I can leave the scanner / fax machine home.

I already use my cell phone as my business line, so I don’t need to worry about forwarding calls. Not to long ago, I broke down and got an iPhone. In an emergency, I can actually write on it. This blog post, for instance, was typed out on my phone while waiting to have the car serviced for our epic drive.

I’ve got an inverter so I can power my laptop in the car, and I’ll be setting up a wireless access point at my destination (my family has Internet, but wireless will make all of our lives easier).

Beyond my gadgets, I’m packing a couple of notepads and my preferred pens. I’ve also got a couple of books I need to review. I’m just happy all my reference materials are electronic these days.

Surprisingly, that’s pretty much my entire pack list.

One of the great things about freelance writing, in my opinion, is that we don’t have to spend hours in traffic commuting. It turns out that just getting out of daily traffic gives freelancers a head start on having a green business.

I’m giving away a copy of Ecopreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits, a book all about running a green business. Despite the title, the book does talk about making a comfortable living from your work and I think it’s a must read for freelancers and small business owners alike.

To enter, leave a comment about why freelancers should go green before the end of the day Friday. I’ll randomly select a winner on Saturday. I will pay shipping within the U.S. — if you win and live outside the U.S., I’ll ask you to cover the difference.

Last week, I had two different writers tell me that they had “gone to the dark side” — that they were working on public relations projects. At the time, I didn’t pay much attention: doesn’t everyone describe PR as the dark side of writing? I first heard it described as such when I was interning at the Tulsa World in college. There was a constant stream of reporters leaving the paper for PR jobs.

In general, writers tend to look down on PR work. It pays well, but there is a sense that we’re doing something that just isn’t right. But why? Truthfully, I can’t think of anything wrong with public relations in and of itself. Sure, I’ve known many PR ‘professionals’ who were a bit out of line, but there’s nothing wrong in my mind with working as the advocate of one particular company.

For freelancers in particular, and writers in general, I think it’s time for a change. There should be no shame in taking on PR projects. We’ve all made fun of a website with poorly written copy or a company spokesman unable to communicate properly. There’s no reason that we should be uncomfortable with helping a company improve their communications.

PR work pays good money and, to be honest, it’s easier to build a writing business on press releases and copy writing than it is on long form magazine articles.