Sometimes it's fun: Writing about fortune cookies and halloween

I moan a lot on this blog about the challenges of trying to make a living as a freelance writer. I complain about low pay, unresponsive editors and publishers who always seem to make the worst possible decisions.

But then you take on an assignment that's actually fun. And everything seems worthwhile again.

That's happening now. I'm writing a series of short, short fact-based stories for a Chicago-area publisher. The stories will appear in a book of useless trivia. What could be more fun than useless trivia? I love useless trivia. In fact, I can tell you every baseball World Series winner since 1926, and every SuperBowl winner ever. And I can do it all in correct order.

To stick to the topic, though ... I'm writing about the history of fortune cookies and digging up interesting trivia about Halloween. The fortune cookie bit's pretty fun. Did you know that fortune cookies weren't even started in China? In fact, hardly anyone in China eats or serves fortune cookies. In the United States, though, 3 billion fortune cookies are produced each year. And did you know that Illinois, of all states, produces the most pumpkins every year? Or that the witch is the most popular costume choice among adults, with pirates second? Did you know that 90 percent of parents admit to sneaking candy from their children's trick-or-treat bags?

Now you do. And I do, too.

These stories are fun to write. They're easy. And they pay well.

It's easy to get down on this industry. But it's hard these days to think of any industry that's exactly thriving. An engineering friend of mine has to take 10 unpaid days off this year. Another friend of mine, who works for the city of Chicago, has to take 15 unpaid days off. A third friend works in the banking industry and is hanging onto his job for dear life.

Writing is stressful these days. But unlike most jobs, it can actually be fun at times.

Why don't the salesmen ever have to fix their own mistakes

I'm a freelance writer. But I also hold down a full-time writing job as the editor of a trade magazine covering commercial real estate. It's a bit of a drag, but it's provided me a steady income, and insurance benefits, for more than 10 years now.

The problem is, we're operating with a skeleton staff these days. The company laid off 2/3 of our editorial and sales staff earlier this year thanks to the bad economy. Because of this, everyone's handling several jobs at once. Mistakes slip through.

For instance, in our most recent issue, our advertising staff forgot to include an ad that was already paid for. That's a no-no at any time, but it's especially bad when every dollar counts, as it does today. The advertising staff also put in the wrong contact information on a second ad. Another no-no.

And who has to clean up the mess? The few writers left on staff, of course. You know, the folks who had absolutely nothing to do with the mistakes that were made.

For instance, I now have to interview officials at both companies that the sales department screwed over. Then I have to figure out how to weave these interviews into the stories I'm already working on for the issue. Sounds like a great time, no?

What makes all this worse is that the reason we're operating with a skeleton staff is because our sales men and women haven't been selling enough ads. And now we're all doing extra work because these same people keep screwing things up.

Nice job, everyone.