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How once woman went from being a SAHM of four to a published freelance science journalist |
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I'm revising this intro after more than 15 years to better reflect my intention When I started this blog in 2004, I was a stay at home mom to two small children, a college graduate with a degree in English and Astrophysics. By 2007, I had four small children, ages newborn, 2, 4, and 6. For several years, Writing.com was how I kept my sanity. This blog began, first as a way of staying connected. Later, when I worked on a novel, I used it to stoke the writing fires as I plotted out short stories and the next step of my novel. Ultimately, I moved my writing preparation to "Invalid Item"  In 2010, I became a single mom who had homeschooled her children for several years. I had a 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old and had never had a "real" full time job, since I was married while in college. Everyone told me that I would have to buckle down and take on a "real" job. Instead, I decided to attempt to live my dream: to make it as a writer. I knew that if I didn't try then, I would never really dive in. I counted my money and set a deadline. If I hadn't began making a decent (defined) amount of money after so many months, I would suck it up and get a J-O-B. After some thought, I decided to play to my strengths. I served an internship at Sky & Telescope magazine while in college and enjoyed writing about space and astronomy. With an astrophysics degree, I thought I would be able to sell myself more easily, and a small niche should be easier to penetrate. It's been about ten years since I was first paid for an article on Space.com. In that time, writing - journalism - has been my primary moneymaker. I've often thought about setting up a blog on my website - www.astrowriter.com - but just haven't gotten around to it. There are a few things I would like to share for those who are interested in scientific journalism in general. Now that I'm back on WDC, there's no reason not to combine the two and use the site blog for that sort of interaction. There are certainly plenty of folks on this site interested in the publication process. So while I'll probably meander around some, that's the intention of of this blog: to share some of my struggles as a published journalist and to help answer oft-asked questions. |
| So I am working an insane amount, bringing home something like $750 that should be going all to debt (that's the projection, anyway), which means it will take still close to forever, LOL. I can hope for big windfalls, though, right? I've also seen folks who work 60 hours on medical transcription; they say that they can bring home $5k in a month. That boggles my mind. I am trying to decide if I want to do that much application. Sixty hours of work in one week. Even if I did a flat 40 with the transcription, plus the 20 at the gym...that's a lot of work, though. That said, the hardest problem I am having is prioritizing with the kids. I am really only sort of doing this part time. All of the work. I want to play with my kids and have fun with them. But I have this work that needs to get done, first because I promised that it would, and second because we need the money. Okay, mind boggling moment. If I were to bring home $5k a month for six months - our debts would be gone. Maybe 7 months to cover 'other' expenses. Now, 5k is probably not realistic, but I wonder what would happen...see how this works? My poor kids. Alright, I have to pursue this line of thought, though. What if I did put the pedal to the metal and work 60 hours? What if I worked 40 hours doing transcription? Even over six days, that is just shy of 7 hours a day. That is a lot. My speed is picking up (remember, I get paid per note). Today I averaged $10.91/hour. I had some easier notes, though. For the past three days, I have averaged $8.24/hour. I'm keeping track, which gives me something to work towards. I don't know how that would work. If I average 40 hours a week at $8/hour, that is only $1280. Of course, if I get significantly faster...the girl that has done them for seven years can do 150 notes in two days. That's $150/day. That's $750/week, or about $3000 a month. That would have us out of debt in 10 months, more or less. Maybe I will give myself numeric goals. To finish 25 notes a day (that's $50/day). That's $250/week. But that's not a huge goal right now, I think that is close to where I am averaging. And I am not working enough. I worked 4.8 hours Thursday, 3.4 yesterday, and only 1.3 today (ran out of tape). I will go in on Monday and get a new tape. This will be my goal, then. I will start with 25 notes a day. Then maybe each week I will bump my goal up by 5 notes. Or, I could just change it to a time goal. I wouldn't sleep, but what if I actually worked 8 hours? That is how much I worked in the past three days, and that is nearly $80. That is basically one tape a day. What do you think would work better? Time or numbers? I think if I am spending 8 hours, the rest will follow. Of course, I still have to come up with 4 hours for the gym. I am going to do that in the morning. If I spend 8 hours and my speed increases, then I am set, right? So maybe that will be my goal - to up my per hour rate. If I do 8 hours an average $10/hour (next goal, to hit consistantly), that will...no, I like the idea of a set number of lines. It lets me 'plan' better. ARGH. It is too hard to plan. I am going to go for eight hours, and wherever it falls, it falls. Worst case, right now, at $8/hr, five days a week, that is $320/week. $384 if I work on Saturdays. About $1200 a month. Then we will see how it goes. Basically, no clue. But if I bust my backside and work hard for a little while, perhaps it will let me quit all the sooner. Which would be a great plan. |
| I am trying to pop in occasionally, but right now I am so sick of my computer, LOL. It is amazing how much Heavenly Father has blessed us of late. We have received so many different opportunities to make money (not get rich quick schemes, LOL) that is almost overwhelming. First, I believe I mentioned before that I am able to work from home from the gym. That is about 20 hours a week, give or take. Second, since I have last posted, someone has called me on a referral from a friend (the woman who pays me to fold her laundry, LOL) to do medical transcription. I have been looking around MT sites and found that apparently it is really tough for trained, qualified folks to get MT jobs because the market is so saturated. I, on the other hand, have no medical background. This has been a difficult week for me, BUT I am finally making it work. It pays by the note, $2, and I spent my first week struggling three hours plus on some notes. Now I am getting the hang of the terminology, have created a 'word sheet' for common drugs and diagnosis' (how do you pluralize that? LOL), and I am only using it now to double-check spelling. Most of the time, the last day or two, I have been right, so I will soon phase that out. I am now getting closer to $8/hr for that. Today it was $8.91/hr; yesterday it was about $7.50/hr. I am going to keep a running average, LOL. And you have to remember, some of that is child-interrupted time. Third, someone I talked to a long time ago, back in July or so of last year when they moved (maybe closer to May, actually), has called us about doing some work on the inside and outside of their house to get it ready to sell. They are in Texas and the house is in Georgia. They are willing to pay $15/hour. Go, dh, go! Fourth, a few months back, I put a note out in the Relief Society (women's group) email list from church. We have a lot of students and doctors in our ward. I noted that I could type approximately 80 wpm and would gladly do any typing. Earlier this week we got an email asking if we did dictation. Well, that's what I'm doing, without the medical stuff! DH said he could do that, since it wouldn't involve medical terms, so we can bring in a bit more income THAT way. Very cool. Oh, and fifth, my boss asked me if I wanted some more hours in the daycare, $7/hour. Not much (LOL about what I'm making) but it would be steady. That said, I have been quite spoiled by the ability to work my own hours and have no set times or schedules, and I think I am too frazzled as of late to handle twenty kids. Plus summer is coming, and I don't like working over the vacations (spring break) and summer. This one I am probably going to pass on. BUT I let him know if he wanted to give me more hours in the office, I was cool with that. I can only hope that we continue to get out of debt. Well, we are working very hard on it. I am working, right now, in excess of 40 hours a week, all of it at home. I am trying to shuffle the schedule so I play with the kids in the afternoon and give them all my attention, but I still have to do some work in the morning. But at least I am in the room with them, which is better than being far away. I am looking forward to having everything paid off and then being done with part time work henceforth and forever! Though the medical job is growing on me, and I do really like working at the gym. LOL I don't think I have the energy to keep up 40+ hours once the debt snowball is paid off, but we will see how things go. By the way, our Household bank credit card is paid off. One down! Three to go! Woohoo! I will keep you appraised as we roll. Sorry this has gotten a bit dull lately, but, well, that's my life. One of these days, I will be able to write again, but for now, I am working every moment that I am not playing with the kids. Correction: yesterday I took my bathing suit to the gym and sat in the jacuzzi (with a book, of course!) for about 20-30 mts. Well, I took a break and sat in the pool to cool down, but you get the idea. I am going to try to periodially walk on the treadmill for 15-20 mts at least once a week, maybe grow from there, then I can read and just chill. So a little bit of 'me' time. Right now, though, when the kids are sleeping, I am working. Actually, as soon as dh gets home, he takes the kids and I work. I am trying to take an hour off to sit with dh and watch tv, but if he is going to be working on dictation or helping paint the house...we'll see how that goes. I am going to stay encouraged! I see the light at the end of the tunnel - granted, a long tunnel, but being 100% debt free (well, except for the house) is an awesome goal. I am listening to Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com) on my MP3 player to stay focused when I do my housework, make dinner, fold laundry, etc. I can listen to it at the gym while I work, too. Love modern technology! Okay, I'm going to play a bit with my finances and see if we can slip our debts any more money this month! |
| Hi all, just wanted to let you know the hopeful good news. Right now, we have our house listed empty while we are renting the home we hope to buy. The owner is very understanding. Today at church, dh's cousin and her husband approached us about buying our house. They bought our van from us in August, and are currently renting a 2 bedroom apartment with three children under the age of 5. I don't know how they survive. They said that they won't be able to put any money down until they get their tax return in a month or two, which should be about $5000 (I can only imagine). Then they would like to buy our house. DH suggested they talk to their mutual uncle who is a mortgage broker about getting the financing all set up. If they get everything acceptably in place, dh says they can rent our house - currently standing empty on which we are making an $855/mos payment - for $600/month. This would be for about 2 mos. Then we would go ahead and sell it to them. This would, incidentally, get us out from under our real estate contract (since we found the buyer, don't think it's fair to pay fees, and she did actually say we would not have to pay fees if we found the buyer), which means we could cut the price back a little more. So it's possible that in another month or so we will stop going so negative (I can only imagine getting $600) overall. Then in about two months we will have our house sold. The idea completely boggles the mind. So please PLEASE keep us in your prayers, because I would just be so excited if our house sold. Right now it's only been shown twice. We also have a hope that we will be able to sell our van and get almost $1000 for it to go onto our debt. That will chink away a little bit more. I like chinks, LOL. Seriously, that would move us ahead a little faster and would pay off half of one of our credit cards. Alright, I am going to go. DH's parents and brother are coming over tonight for dinner. I need to get some things in order. Oh, writing. I really do miss it. Right now, I am working when the kids are sleeping. Work when they nap, work when they go to bed. It gives me the option of playing with them the rest of the time, though. But I do miss writing, and I want to find some way, some how, to build it back in. I think I mentioned that dh is working nights now so it's not even like he could watch the kids while I write. One nice thing about our new house, and new neighborhood, is that there is a beautiful trail around the park right across the street. I am thinking about running again. I miss running, too. When it gets a little more light in the morning, I would like to go running. Actually, I'd like to go now, but it's too dark, not safe, etc. I don't like running on the street. Anyway, maybe while I do some running, I can get some brain thoughts together for writing. Assuming I don't listen to my MP3 player of Dave Ramsey the whole time, LOL. Anyway, I need to figure out a way to get some life back, somehow. <sigh> Then again, I am determined to live like no one else NOW (ie tight, frugal, and getting gazelle about getting out of debt), so that later, we can live like no one else. And that means more time for writing because I won't have to work anymore. <sigh> I can only dream. |
Well, I thought I'd make another quick pit stop and answer the question burning a hole in everyone's mind: where is scottiegazelle?  I am, as previously stated, hyped about Dave Ramsey and being debt free. I wish I could say something half as encouraging as he does to encourage young folks especially to avoid credit card debt, to convince you that it *is* possible to buy a home with cash and with no 'credit'. Actually, I can tell you quick - you *can* buy a house with no credit score/FICO score, if you rent for two years and pay every month on time or early. And do manual underwriting. So I highly recommend that. As Dave says, too, if you didn't have to send all of your paycheck to credit cards and car payments and the mortgage, do you know what you'd have? MONEY! I will try to find the 'car payment millionaire' link, cuz I would love for Pixie and Jessie especially to see it. Basically, it says that if instead of making a real car payment, you start off at 18 with an inexpensive car, you can work your way up to paying cash for a 'nice' car in a few quick years. And you can bank over a million - or up to four depending on interest rates - dollars by the time you are 65. So, if your choice is retire a millionaire OR make car payments your whole life, and you choose car payments, "Hope you like the car!". Cuz no car is worth four million bucks IMO. So, I am working 20 hours a week, give or take, with the gym. Thankfully, over 75% of that is at home, while the kids are sleeping, basically on my terms. I am very excited because I am enjoying it, and I am thinking about 'going (even more) gazelle' and knocking it to these debts. Right now we have just over $29k in debt, $14,000 of which is student loans. So another $15,000 in credit card debt ($8k of that is the van). If we can somehow get seriously intense and plug away at it, we can be debt free in a year and a half, but I'm not sure we are going to be able to pull out $1000 a month to throw at it. DH is working part time at nights and on Saturdays building houses (pretty good pay, $10/hr) and it is keeping him busy. I am trying to throw some more money via my paycheck. The problem - well part of it - is that he is outside working so the early darkness is against us, as is the rain. BUT he is trying to do more inside work. BUT the homeowner just turned off the power recently to get the electrical inspection. Okay, I am going to go and try to plug away some more work. Hopefully I can get today's paperwork done tonight. Well, I'm sure I can, but I'd like to do it before DH and hte kids get home. Thankfully, I have my new MP3 player (Christmas present from my dad) so I can listen to Dave Ramsey and be motivated while I work. Keeps my head on straight, LOL. I really really wish I could encourage all of you to check out Dave's book, Total Money Makeover, and maybe tune into his show (broadcast free) at least on Friday. Listen to folks call in and scream "I'm debt free!" will totally encourage you and make you think, hey, I can do that! Every bit of work I do is more money I earn is sooner I break free from bondage...cuz I'm truly a slave to my debt! |
| I have so much to say, so much has happened, but I am working now, blech, and so I will be heading to bed soon. Early nights. I am working 20 hours in the office at our gym, a week, not full time but comes with daycare for my kids and I am only away for them for 4 hours, hypothetically. That said, my wonderful wonderful boss told me today that I can do most (probably half now and then the rest later) of the work from home, thus cutting back on the time. I am looking at a job for a phone person, which is also a work-at-home position. I can't think of the exact wording/title, but I am going to try for a couple spots. If I work 6-midnight (maybe 8-midnight) three or four days a week then I can bring some good money home. Also working towards being debt free, per Dave Ramsey and the Total Money Makeover. Counting student loans, we are about $400 shy of $30k in debt (plus the house); only half of that is credit cards. $14k is the SL. I highly encourage you, Pixie and Jessie, and whoever else is reading and prepping for college, to save what you can, scholarship some more (there are tons of scholarships out there) and work through the rest. I borrowed $13,000 and if I follow their happy schedule, I will be paying for a grand total of SIXTEEN YEARS, and I will be paying an ADDITIONAL $4000 in INTEREST. That's almost 25% of the debt in interest, and it sucks. In the meantime, if we 'go gazelle', we can have all $30k paid off in the next two years. Hence the extra jobs. Okay I have to go bond with dh in front of the tv. Hopefully the call center job will net me time to walk. Then again, hopefully I *won't* have time because I will be WORKING HARD since I would get paid by the minute while on the phone. |
Just wanted to drop in and say, yes, I'm alive. I'm smack dab in the middle of moving, and it's insane right now. I'll try to come back and post the details more fully; I'll be back to brag on my beautiful new comes-with-a-sunroom-huge-deck-and-jacuzzi house.  But I thought I'd let everyone know I'm not dead, and one day soon, I shall return! |
| Dear Ms <scottiegaz>, Please send this article. And I am frequently in the market for science essays for younger readers. Desired length is 500-1000 words. Regards, Woohoo! I'm excited! And nervous. Not only does this look positive, it also seems like a call for MORE of similar articles, KWIM? I am going to do the research/interview on Monday - well, try to, I have to time it so the kids go down - and then write up the article. This is a low-paying market, in the $1-5 + copies range, but at least I'll have a lovely article for my resume. I'm excited and maybe I can break into further science writing mags. In fact, I had a thought regarding similar science/home school mags. There have to be some out there. I'm going to attend the next HS convention if it kills me - and I am going to join a HS group soon. Okay, I am still on hiatus, and still feeling stretched. I had a lovely article on obsessing in mind, which I think I'll use for the next newsletter. Need to check on when that is due, but in the next two weeks, I think. I also need to find some submissions; hopefully my short story contest will provide great fodder. Just remembered I wanted to work with that. Argh. I am juggling right now. We are putting our house on the market on the 1st of November, we found a house we love and may rent it, until we buy it. I hate the 'two payment' idea, but dh and I have prayed about it and gotten a very strong feeling that we need to put our house on the market while vacant. Not only that, but as we considered real estate agents, we were praying together. While I was praying, I asked Heavenly Father to help us decide which real estate agent to use. As soon as I said those words - I mean, the second they escaped my mouth - a name that we had not even considered jumped into my mind. The real estate agent who helped us buy this house almost three years ago. I felt as though she is the person we should use. We also prayed and felt strongly that we should take the plunge and move into the 'new' house as renters before we put this on the market. I am putting everything in Heavenly Father's hands and hoping that His ways coincide with mine . I really have tried over the past few months to try to listen to what He wants me to do, so hopefully this is more of the same. Because I have to tell you, on my own, as much as I want this house, I would never seriously consider making a house payment and renting.Okay, I have to update my group for the short story contest and send out a note that I am going to start reading and judging on Monday. Right now we have fourteen entries, so hopefully we can pull some good ones. I'm excited again. My brain hurts. I have a monster headache. Blech. I am trying to think of a 'mommy funny' but nothing is coming to mind. Oh, I've got one: Today's Mommy funny: (okay, this is more of a 'daddy funny') My husband needed to take a tire off his Bronco in to patch it today. The Bronco is  on blocks in our back yard, sans wheels. The back yard is surrounded by a chainlink fence, maybe shoulder high, locked with a key to keep the kids from 'escaping'. So my husband takes the tire and tosses it over the fence, expecting it to land flat on the ground.Nope. It lands on its 'wheel' side, standing up. Then it rolls. We live on an enormous hill (one good reason for moving, btw). The tire rolls down, down, down...and hits the truck in the driveway across the street. Oops. Did I mention that we were part of a stakeout? An undercover cop was parked in my driveway watching the house across the street. Suspected drug dealer. That's when my desire to move caught fire again. Anyway, that's whose driveway the tire boinged into. But apparently there were no hard feelings. |
| Today's Mommy funny: My husband went to Missippi to help out with hurricane survivors. He helped someone completely gut their house. While he was gone, not only did I have three kids all to myself (I promise, this is difficult and hard on the mommy), I had company over on Saturday and Sunday. Even better. So Saturday I had to run to the grocery store to pick up something last minute , and there is a group/church in front of the store. As I rush in, two toddlers and a baby, the guy asks me if I would like to support the Katrina relief effort. Hectic, I say, "I've already given my husband." Well, I thought I'd swing by and let you know what's up. I'm still taking a time out from writing, and from the site, but it is brief, I promise. I need to check the mini port raid to see when I am coming back to raid Dreams portfolio. I am actually looking forward to that. I'd better check now...no date listed. Alright. Well, I am pulling the kids out of the group preschool, for a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is because they kicked Mookie out - too young. I won't comment here or mention the fact that one of the kids is only three months older than Mookie, or that they never gave him a chance to attend without me - and all of the kids act up more when their parents are around. I also won't mention that only one of the moms (out of five total, me included) objected to him. I'm okay with that, though, because I had already decided to homeschool. Plus we've been on the go too much, and I don't get much time to play with my kids. They come home from the gym (where I work part time) or from 'preschool', take naps, and then by the time they get up, it's cranky time for all, plus I have to do dinner. So we don't get to spend any actual time together, very sad. Lately we've been doing a few fun things, I've been making some file folder games - sounds boring but actually kind of cool. All I need is a laminating machine, so if anyone wants to send me one for Christmas... . That's my plan to make them last even longer.I'm destressing, just a few more down moments. I'm still recuperating from last weekend, when my husband went down to Missippi to help out. Three days, three kids, no help...I'd never survive as a single parent. |
| Today's Mommy funny: Everytime I go shopping, my kids clamor for the coupons in the red smartsource box. All day today, all I heard was, Mommy, I need a coupon! I've created two monsters! Wow, that was a bad idea. So here I was, about ready to give up on couponing, when I found this awesome forum that is far more helpful than any other forum thus examined. It literally breaks the deals down by store, each week, and gives you heads up for upcoming weeks!  WOW! So stayed up last night, poured through all the stores, cut (most of) the coupons I needed, and today I went to (and remember this was with three little kids):Publix CVS the bread store (day old bread outlet, .50/loaf or less) Walgreens Kroger WHEW! And at Kroger I just hit two - no three - things desperately needed. We got home at 2, having left at 10, and I gave the kids lunch. You'd think they would nap, being exhausted, but no, they are going strong, which is sad, because I need a nap! Quick rundown on my freebies:  free toilet paper (15 rolls, I didn't cut more coupons because they've been out of stock for 2 wks, <grr>) 40 cans Campbell's chicken noodle soup & 20 cans Campbell's tomato soup, .45 each + a coupon for $1 off next order for each 6 I bought, so .28 each six packs CVS diapers for what will ultimately be $3/pack 8 Eclipse mints - free 36 packs Dentyne gum - free one of each, free after rebate, but I used a coupon to make money on most, and will get an extra 10%; plus I used a store gift card from previous rebates - 1 Cura-heat pad, 1 Garnier Fructis styling product, 1 Oral B toothbrush 8 boxes of cereal for .50 a box - 2 Corn Pops, 3 Rice Krispies, 3 Frosted MiniWheats - I'll be getting more of this, too 8 boxes of cereal free after rebate, + I used a coupon to make .50 a box 3 boxes capri sun, on sale for $1.67 some sweet potatos 2 single serve boxes of Total cereal - they were .25/each and I used a .50 coupon that doubled so I made .75 a box; need more of those! some marked down meatTotal spent: $79.69 + $9.97 on walgreens gift card To be refunded: $28.72 + 13.17 on walgreens gift card I also will get a coupon for a free pack of diapers at CVS which will actually net me TWO free packs of diapers, as well! On writing, I liked that prompt but my brain is dead; I can't seem to process. I need a good competitive contest to get me going. Speaking of contests, I don't have enough entries, so please pop over to mine:
and enter. I'm desperate for entries! I need to think about my prompt so I can write tonight. I'll probably wind up blogging in my "new" journal so I can get those juices flowing. But I'll try to think as I balance the checkbook, pay the bills, and put away the groceries strewn across my floor. <sigh> I could also use some down time. LOL I'm really tired and could use a nap. Maybe I'll go take one. Still, I am pulled on by my new site, LOL, I want to read all about it. Did I give you the link? http://dealagogo.com/index.php? You should be able to find me, I'm scottiegazelle everywhere I go, LOL. |
| Hi all, just squeezing in here to tell you why I'm not writing, ha ha. I am having three women from my ward at church come over this evening to watch the Women's Conference satellite broadcast. I love having satellite and the BYU channel, as well as Tivo. So we can pause, rewind, or whatever, and record as we go. I love my Tivo! Anyway, I've been furiously cleaning this week, so there isn't a ton left to do today. Just some general upkeep. I was hoping to have it spotless, but I'm going to settle for just 'picked up'. The living room is a brand new site, the dining room - well, the table is cleared off and we've actually been eating our meals there, instead of where dh prefers, in front of the television  . The kitchen, ugh, but the worst of it is picked up. Hopefully no one will go into the kitchen. Or look into it. I love Darkin's new book, "Invalid Item" . I like the prompt listed here: "Invalid Entry" . It reads "Mom - I need cookies for the School Fair - TOMORROW" . Hmmm. I can see this for Jonathan, OR for Alex. I also had thoughts about Caroline. I could see her both asking or having to make them when Laura asks. Hmm. I like that idea. I like working with Caroline. I think this could be a fun one, maybe she could ask while she's young. Anyway, I'll think about it and move over to my 'story' journal.For now, more cleaning to do. |
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