In at least some of the so-called news there is a sense that somehow the end of the writer’s strike is not a good thing for writers. Take, for example, an article today in The New York Times called: Who Won the Writers Strike? Although the article certainly calls the strike a win for the long haul, there’s also a lot of talk about how, in the short term, Hollywood writers are hurting.
Ye gods, what does the Times and the writers expect? Of course it hurts in the short term, but look at the gains! For the very first time …read more

I heard something on the news this morning about movement in the writer’s strike, but I was looking up jobs or making coffee or something and didn’t hear the whole clip. Once the jobs were finished, the newsletter sent and the job entry made, I used Google News to try to catch up. What I got was more confusion. Here are the headlines at the moment:
LA story: $1.5 billion lost due to the strike – MSNBC I’d label this one almost a fear piece about the economic impact of the strike, because of the way it’s framed. The subhead is …read more

Care2.com one of the bigger sites on the web that promotes progressive causes has a petition site where they are asking people to “Send a message to Hollywood executives: It’s time to treat your writers fairly.” If you support the writer’s strike, this is one way you can participate.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.

Mike Sieber, who blogs at The Word Wrangler, is opposed to the writer’s strike and spells out his thinking in a post called: Why I Don’t Support the Writer’s Strike Goddess I appreciate clear writing, and Mike makes his position abundantly clear.
He’s a conservative who believes we all are in charge of our own destiny. I guess that means, and he didn’t say this, that he also believes we all start on something close to a level playing field. The thing I never understand about this sort of argument is how I, as an individual, am on a level playing …read more

Yesterday I wrote a post called: Writers Strike and the Myth of the Free Market
John Hewitt who runs the excellent and comprehensive Writer’s Resource Center responded with my question about how we could support the strike with an excellent article of his own, called: Three Reasons to Support the WGA Strike and Three Ways You Can Do It
He points out some things there I didn’t know, like how the copyrights for screenwriters differ from those of us who blog or write for print, and how small the number of employers for movie scripts has actually become – it’s down to …read more

Much of the magic of the United States has been a more-or-less democracy that allowed and even encouraged the growth of a solid middle class. But that middle class didn’t happen automatically. Even though the frame work for economic justice can be found in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights, it took people who organized to push back against the power of corporations to get things we don’t even think about today like:

A (mostly) 40 hour work week (with paid overtime).
Laws against child labor.
Workplace safety, including everything from mines to offices
Laws against sexual discrimination.
Etc. etc. etc… the list …read more

Believe it or not, I don’t have a television set. I raised my kids without one and have found that I truly don’t enjoy it. So the writer’s strike is, well, not much in my consciousness. This morning I heard a talk show host riffing on last night’s Letterman show and the possibility there won’t be an Oscar celebration this year because of the strike, but mostly I don’t know much.
So, are you a writer on strike? If so, how’s it going?
How is the writer’s strike showing up (or not) in your life?

Be my eyes and ears and tell us …read more

Chris Garrett, who blogs at chrisg.com has a good post called: The Myth of Freelance Pay. The gist is that many people have an inflated idea of how great we freelancers have it when it comes to our income.
But it’s the comments that really fascinated me, particularly the one by Nathania Johnson. She says, among other things that It would be crazy of me to ask my clients for a percentage of every sale of every page I write web content for. I accept my salary and I do my work..
Of course, I get a revenue share here, and …read more

If you’re in the U.S., unless you’ve been under the figurative rock, you know writers in Hollywood are striking. The strike, called by the Writers Guild of America is working to get writers more money and more royalties – a good thought in my not very humble opinion on this subject.
Trying to organize the rest of us is a nightmare, of course. There is, however, a union for us too. It’s the National Writer Union. The offer a surprising number of benefits and have been successful helping writers with contracts. They are definitely worth a look.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant …read more