Credit crunching
I know, because I hear it in the media and because our household bills keep going up and up and up, that there’s a crisis in the world financial markets. I hear the news of banks being shored up, interest rates rocketing, shares plummeting and governments flailing about wildly, and I sigh and tut. But until it really affects me, I mean really affects me, it’s still someone else’s problem.
And I’m lucky, because it hasn’t really affected me, not yet. T earns enough that we can still get by, even with the bills increasing almost daily and the children all needing new winter clothes. I contribute what and when I can with my freelance work; we’re not saving anything and we can’t afford to get the external woodwork painted on the house, but hey – we probably wouldn’t have done that anyway, because we’re a bit rubbish at being proactive about things like that.
But it is starting to affect friends of mine. Some close family friends have an elderly relative in a residential care home, and a year ago the capital from the sale of her home was put into shares as a future fund, to pay for her care for the rest of her life. Up until three months ago the capital was safe and increasing gradually, but suddenly the value of the shares has more than halved. She’s elderly but not infirm; there’s no reason why she shouldn’t still be alive in ten years’ time, by which time the remaining capital will have long since run out. So where does that leave her and our friends?
And my Canadian blog-buddy Steph is having problems. She posted here that she stands to lose her home if a meeting next Tuesday goes badly. This is scary – if Steph, who is a freelancer like me but is hugely more experienced and much better at it than I am, and who has just started a fantastic new editing business here, can’t make ends meet, then what chance do I have to kickstart a career in the current climate?
Terrifying, and depressing. And yet – things can only get so bad, can’t they? My friends’ relative will be cared for, somehow, and knowing Steph as I do I have great faith that she will bounce back from whatever the outcome of the meeting is. I have to believe that, because otherwise we’re all going to Hel in a handcart.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed, all the same…
Oh, Hawthorn. Thank you. Thanks for your concern and your faith in me. I do appreciate it and it does help to know people care.
But there’s nothing to say I’m much better at editing than you are, not even experience! And my failures will only indicate your own if you follow in my footsteps and don’t market yourself. Marketing and business scare the crap out of me. I’m trying to do things right with EditQuest this time around, but I’m hard-pressed to attend conferences and such and hand out business cards if I can’t afford the venues in the first place. And our small town…well, let’s just say most of them won’t even have heard of an editor let alone the alphabet.
So most of my marketing will be online. It’s one of the beauties of freelancing, that you can work for anyone in the world. I’ll attach myself to forums, post on the blog, hobnob with publishers and other places I might be able to find clients.
I admit, though, unlike Arthur Dent, I’ve felt like throwing in my towel. I’ve been applying for jobs from managing editor right down to the gym and Shoppers Drug Mart. My schooling feels like a waste, my years of trying to keep my occupation relevant to my schooling, the same. The irony is, we’re in this situation because of our schooling costs, which after ten years still plague us and have never allowed us to get ahead or save. We’d be just fine, otherwise.
As for kickstarting a career in the current climate, all the experts say it’s the best time ever to start a business. I don’t remember why because I’m too busy being self-absorbed and thinking negatively, but yeah, apparently, it’s a great time. So don’t worry, there. And all the publishing agents are scoffing the countless articles announcing the death of publishing. Which I find heartening.
Keeping my fingers crossed with you…