A Magazine by the Society of Professional Journalists



January 31st, 2010 • Quill Archives, Freelance Toolbox
Freelance Toolbox

You operate out of a corner of your house. A coffee shop is your conference room. Should you turn yourself into a corporation? I decided at the end of 2006 to form 89 Peanuts Inc. (the name is an inside joke) with the assistance of Tom Bartlett, a registered tax preparer and certified financial planner with Royal Alliance Associates Inc.


June 30th, 2006 • Quill Archives
Sabbatical a good way to recharge batteries

In the spring of 2005, I found myself holed up in a guesthouse apartment deep in the Hollywood Hills, contemplating what to do next after all my dreams for happiness came crashing down. Although my new digs were a writer’s paradise with an ocean view in one of L.A.’s


March 30th, 2006 • Quill Archives
Health alert: Never overlook ergonomics

The enormous pressure to meet a seemingly endless series of deadlines with both speed and accuracy can take its toll on any journalist. It’s an occupational hazard that we’ve all faced. And at a time when we’re expected to work smarter than ever before, none of us can afford to ignore proper ergonomics — an applied science examining the fit between workers and their environment.


March 1st, 2006 • Quill Archives
Striking balance between work and life no easy task

The life of a freelance writer means constantly redrawing that proverbial line in the sand separating work from play. Nowhere was this issue more visible than during a panel discussion — on the business of freelance writing — that I had the pleasure of speaking at during SPJ’s 2005 National Convention in October.