Thanks, MJITC! I can use the encouragement right now. I'm ready to back out of starting school, I'm so scared. I think I'm worried about timing, too, with my sister sick. I worry that she'll need me and I won't be nearby as much as I am nowadays. The hospice nurses are going to start coming in mid-August about the time I start school, so she won't be helpless, but I still worry about leaving her.

Binzhou, I'm not sure if I'm a good source for advice. The freelance writing I'd do would be speeches and/or marketing stuff like brochures and the like. Articles and editorial work don't tend to pay as much.

As far as travel writing's concerned, the best markets I've ever heard of are good-sized metropolitan newspapers that have travel sections. Magazines like Conde-Nast Traveler, National Geographic, or Travel & Leisure have their own staffs. But newspapers don't generally want to pay travel expenses, and so they welcome freelance contributions if they're good. It helps to know someone at the papers first so you have a potential contact. And if you don't know anyone, it's probably a good idea to write some query letters to inquire about whether there's a market. Find a few medium to large (the biggest, like the NYTimes and other big city papers will be less likely to welcome freelance contributions) papers that have travel sections you like and write them some query emails and send them a couple of sample sections of articles you've written so they can see what you're capable of. You have to be persistent and be OK with the fact that you'll probably get turned down a lot before you get something accepted. That's just the nature of the business. Good luck!
birdgirl73 Reviewed by birdgirl73 on . Do you work? hi, I was just wondering how many smokers here do the grind mon-fri.? If you don't, how do you support yourself? I'm just curious. As a person myself now looking for new employment, I'm curious to know what my fellow tokers do for a living. I, used to move boxes around a warehouse. Exciting, huh! :rolleyes: I did a 4month stint with a partner in a personal business, but that was only temp. So tell me, what do you do? Rating: 5