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Work For Hire is a Bad Ideal

Authors should never write as “Work For Hire” because it demeans their aesthetic and demands they are nothing more than ordinary laborers with no investment in the future profitability of the project.

It is hard to persuade new writers away from the “Work For Hire” carrot because the initial, solitary, payment can be more immediately enticing than lower upfront money against a future royalty percentage.

If you get royalties you are in partnership with your publisher.  If you are “Work For Hire” you’re used up when you’re done writing.

Publishers live to exploit that hungry author desire for fast money now — and in the process of the “Work For Hire” hiring — the author not only loses a potential profit bonanza, but also sells out their self-respect, self-worth, and fellow authors.

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Til Sick Days Do Us Part

This week I have been dealing with my mortality. Is being in good health an inalienable right or not?
I found it pressing to learn in America many people are not allowed paid Sick Days even if they are full time employees. If you get sick on the job, you go to the job and you do the job.

The reality, for a surprising percentage of the U.S. population, is more like the 19th century. Nearly half of all full-time private sector workers in the U.S. get no paid sick days. None. If one of those workers woke up with excruciating pains in his or her chest and had to be rushed to a hospital — well, no pay for that day.

For many of these workers, the cost of an illness could be the loss of their job.
The situation is ridiculous for those in the lowest quarter of U.S. wage earners. Nearly 80 percent of those workers — the very ones who can least afford to lose a day’s pay — get no paid sick days at all.

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The Multitasking Myth

In our current, modern, lives — where we are ruled by our still untamed electronic frontier — we are led to believe more is more and less is not enough.

Instead of concentrating on one thing as our ancestors did — making a fire, milking the cows, mowing the lawn — we are now expected to do three things simultaneously and do them all well.

This push to do everything at the same time is called Multitasking and scientific research is beginning to prove that doing more than one thing at a time divides us, shears away our attention and actually creates messy work in the end:

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Office Husbands and Work Wives

I learned a couple of new terms the other day and they were new to me because I am self-employed and I work alone all day and I answer to only myself because I often talk to myself. I am a tough boss and a hard worker. I would give myself a raise and a bonus if I weren’t such a taskmaster. The new terms I learned were “Office Husband” and “Work Wife” and I want to know if you have one or not!

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The Technological Tether and the 18 Hour Workday Noose

In the comments for my Seven Days on WordPress.com article, I said the following in a comment when asked about using my BlackBerry during 18 hour workdays:

Continue reading → The Technological Tether and the 18 Hour Workday Noose