re: novel writer wanted for an idiot

******Attention Screenwriters: Think ‘Twilight’ Meets ‘Saw’******

The mental image this headline evoked almost made up for the two hours of my life I lost watching the first Twilight movie.

Buy from stores that still use THIS cash register.

Seriously though, an article in Time Magazine cited a study that found that twice as much money spent at local businesses stays in the community when compared to money spent at chains.

I know what you’re thinking. Have I seen the prices at that boutique downtown? But actually, price differences fall to the wayside when you look at the big picture. Spending money in the local economy leads to local employment, which leads to more enterprise, which leads to a thriving local economy. Also, lower transportation costs are greener. See those big Wal-Mart 18-wheelers on the road all the time? Buy local and you’ll see them less and less. Plus, there’s no substitute for the relationships you build with merchants when buying local. Who knows? Those guys will probably need freelance writing services sometime or another.

In a nutshell, if you buy from a local business, chances are that they put that money right back into the local economy. They may need to purchase new supplies from a local vendor, purchase brochures from a local printer, purchase a website from a local web designer, etc. And the merchant and her employees take the money they’ve earned straight out into your local economy. As Time Magazine said, money is like blood. It needs to circulate to keep the body (i.e. the local economy) healthy.

In the spirit of the season, here are 10 ideas for buying local:

1.) Gift Certificate to a Locally Owned Restaurant – In this economy, going out to eat is a luxury. And so when people do get a little extra cash they often stick with what they know (i.e. chain restaurants) so they can be sure they’ll get bang for their buck. Buy your friends gift certificates to locally owned restaurants and get them out of their dining shells!

2.) Jewelry from a Local Artisan – Google your location +”jewelry maker” or head out to an arts and crafts fair to find these folks. They often sell their wares in local boutiques, as well. Locally made jewelry will often be unique, too! Don’t confine yourself to jewelry. Nip into an art gallery the next time you’re downtown and find out who your local painters, sculptors and woodworkers are, too.

3.) A Cleaning or Personal Organizing Service – Who couldn’t use a good deep cleaning in their house or a new organizational system for a room or two? Contact a local cleaning or organizing business and find out if they offer pre-paid services or gift certificates. Plus, low-income women – one of the groups hardest hit by layoffs – are starting businesses like these in droves. You could do a lot of good here – for your giftee and a local vendor.

4.) Locally Produced Food – Jams, jellies, salsas, sausages, cupcakes, beer, etc. Somewhere in your town somebody is brewing up something tasty right this second. Google, or head to a farmer’s market (sadly, usually closed during winter) or a locally owned restaurant. They can often put you in touch with the best local food vendors. And believe me – once you go local food, you never go back. (Whole Foods is another place to pinpoint who your local food vendors are, but try to buy straight from the source rather than through the mega-chain.)

5.) A Book by a Local Author – Now that more and more people are self-publishing, authors are becoming their own marketers and sellers. Even major publishing houses are slashing marketing budgets, meaning that there may be some great books by local authors that you’ve never heard of. It doesn’t help that newspapers are firing their book reviewers and small, local bookstores are going out of business. To find local authors, visit bookstores and ask for the “Local Author” section, visit book festivals or street festivals, or attend readings at indie bookstores. In my state, we have the Georgia Author of the Year Awards where many local authors are honored. Your state may very well have something similar. Sites like GoodReads.com and BookArmy.com also commonly have forums dedicated to local and regional authors.

6.) Music from a Local Artist – Sure it’s sometimes hard to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes from local music, but there are a lot of great musicians out there that are just waiting for their big break. Until then, they’re selling CD’s after their shows or out of the hatchback of their Chevettes. Visit local music blogs, ask a scenester friend, or better yet, head out to local shows yourself to find the most giftable local music.

7.) Local Web Hosting – It seems like everybody is in the web hosting game these days. Instead of putting more money in GoDaddy or 1and1’s pocket, check out a local host. Web hosting is a bit of a geeky gift, but I’m sure there are people on your list that will appreciate it.

8.) Membership to an Arts Organization – Stella Adler said, “Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” Sadly, arts funding is one of the first things to get slashed during a recession, and even private funders are giving fewer donations and grants to the arts these days. (Thanks, Bear, Sachs, Madoff and cronies.) If you want to keep the arts alive in your community, you need to patronize them. Buy an art lover a season pass to a local playhouse, or a membership to a locally-owned gallery or museum. Do it for your soul.

9.) Local Plant Life – You can’t get much more local than a tree species that has been growing in your area for thousands of years. Native plants adapted to your area for a reason, and when you plant them, they will need less watering and high-maintenance care than that snazzy Asian shrub that wilts every time you talk to it. Head to a local nursery and ask employees there what local species the gardener on your list will enjoy.

10.) A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Subscription – With community supported agriculture, you buy a “share” in a farmer’s crop. If the crop goes well, you get a basket of fresh fruits, veggies and other agricultural products produced on the farm every week during the growing season. The only downsides are that you see these for sale more often in the spring time and that CSA subscriptions usually start at $600+. (On the other hand, your recipient’s produce needs would be all taken care of for the entire summer.)

Do you have anything to add to this list? Please let me know in the comments. Happy shopping!

I chose a Liberal Arts major, so I could sit at tables like this. (Photo courtesy of srbichara via sxc.hu).

During my last semester in grad school, while I learned how to write grants and manage literary organizations, I also promised myself that I would build up my business over my classless (in more ways than one) summer.

And I did.

And now fall has arrived and I’m facing a new challenge.

My days are full enough as it is without adding 12 credit hours of work toward my Master’s in Professional Writing to the mix. Getting back to school means that I will have to be a super time management ninja and parcel my time wisely so that I can keep up with my commitments to my clients and to my 4.0. So which commitment comes first?

I should probably say something like “Well, both are equal commitments, one betters me as a person while the other give me by daily bread.” But no, I’m not going to say that. I’m going to firmly declare that my business comes first.

My business is a real world application. I do real work for real people who see real value from my work and give me real money in exchange. I plan on doing this long after I’ve tacked that M.A. onto my list of credentials, and in fact, I’m getting my M.A. so I can do this better. Therefore, the goal, not the means to the end (i.e. school) comes first.

Now, when it comes to school, my experience so far in my Master’s program has been absolutely invaluable. I’ve worked with published fiction authors, a writer for a major television show, a prolific playwright, and a preeminent writer with a major think tank. They’re giving me skills, contacts, hints, tricks and confidence. Am I going to give that up? Heck no. But I do what side my metaphorical bread is buttered on, and know that I will have to make my business my number one priority.

Also, little secret? I’m taking a class this semester where I have to adopt a business. Guess what business I adopted?

<– That’s me right now.

I’m working smarter and not harder, baby, (okay well, a little harder) and I’m determined to kick butt at both my business and my class work this semester.

Now please wish me luck and pile me up with as many time management tips as you think I can take, because my first class doesn’t even start for another few hours and I can already see I’m going to need it.

Paul Hemphill’s voice is lost. With his passing, like the passing of Larry Brown, we have lost something in Southern literature, a distinctly of-their-time perspective that’s hanging on by a thread in writers such as Harry Crews and Rick Bragg.

I, like many writers, have a “Quotes” file. This one, by Paul Hemphill, is near the top of a very long list:

The years following the Second World War represent the golden age of country music, written and performed by southern boys and girls not a day’s bus ride from the cotton fields or Appalachian hollows whence they had come. Except for the complicated rhythms of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, a cowboy’s version of the danceable swing of the time, there was nothing fancy about it. All you needed was a stand-up bass and a rhythm guitar to set the beat, a jaunty fiddle, a crying steel guitar, and a singer with an ache in his voice. The lyrics dealt not with true love and harvest moons and life as it should be, but rather with the way it had turned out: broken hearts, dead mamas, whiskey, knife fights, prison, graveyards, unrequited love, loneliness.

Paul Hemphill, Lovesick Blues

The Life and Times of a Freelance Writer will be back Monday with more “Quick and Dirty Guide to Landing Freelance Writing Jobs.”

Well, that will save me the time of writing my own obituary. I do have a lot of better paying work…

(I stuck it here since the CL ads I reference always seem to disappear on me before I can share them. Gawp at the real thing here.)

I suppose it took them here. I’m willing to be my rant against academic cheating post probably wasn’t exactly what they were looking for, but I oh so very glad that they stayed to read anyway. Good luck in your search, random stranger.