If you want me to write for you

I started writing here in 2009 and have steadily watched the number of folks, like yourself, who read my blog, grow. It has been fantastic to hear from you in emails, read your comments and see you liking the Facebook page.

It is my responsibility to you that I have a blog that you want to come and read. Writing is based on relationships and shared experiences and connecting with one another and I take that seriously when I post. Writing is not my full-time job. It's not even my second full-time job (mom) or third on my list of priorities (I sit on a few boards and committees) but I love it and that is why I do it.

I have had the privilege of writing for Downeast Magazine and I have my monthly column in the Northwoods Sporting Journal. I am excited to share my stories and thoughts with other people.

That is why when a larger media outlet contacted me and asked me to be a freelance writer for them, I got excited. It was a chance for more people to read my writing and ideally come here to read more about me and my adventures. We agreed to a start date in October but no end date so that I could freelance for them and write as many or as few articles as we agreed upon. We signed the contract, emailed a few times and within a week, I had produced three articles for them.

It was fantastic to see my articles posted. I emailed my third article on November 1 and asked for more topics to write about. The next day, I got this reply "Great— received, thank you so much! I'm going to look at our conversation spreadsheet, and send you some topics to see if any spark your interest!" I waited. Deer season wrapped up and Thanksgiving came and went. Six weeks after the above email, I reached out again and asked about topics as well as when I could expect to get paid (it was closing in on 60 days since I had sent the invoice.) Nothing. I waited a week and resent the email. No reply. I waited two more weeks and emailed the CEO along with my contact there. I asked why I had not gotten paid when they had used all three of my articles. We had signed a contact and yet they were not following through on their end. No response.

Two weeks later and 2.5 months after receiving my last communication from them, I received an email. They hoped to pay me the follow Tuesday. That was two weeks ago. They continue to promote my articles on their social media platforms and have them up on their website. And I continue to be a little shell shocked at how a company could blatantly lie and cut off communication. I also know that I am not the only person that this has happened to. It just amazes me and let this be a lesson to anyone who wants to hire freelance writers: don't piss off people who write and already have a public forum (and readers) because if you can find us to ask us to write for you, others can find us and read about why we are not writing for you.

So, lesson learned and now, I have two simple guidelines for writing:
1. If I can not drive to your office, you pay me a deposit before I turn over my work.
2. I own my content. Always.

I will let you know if I ever get paid by this company but in my experiences with them, I am pretty sure that I am SOL.

Live and Learn

So much to celebrate - let's give away stuff!

As you know from my last post, this month I am celebrating the one year anniversary of this blog, 10 years of hunting with my Dad and a milestone birthday. In honor of all three, I want to give away some great Maine stuff to all of you! Rules: 1. Leave a comment 2. On Oct 28 (my big bday), Dad will pick a number and the corresponding post will win. What will you win? A big basket of great Maine and outdoor things! Such as: fly fishing flies, blueberry something, Maine maple syrup, apple butter (to be made by me on Tuesday), something related to deer hunting and a couple of great books signed by local authors. (Pictures will be posted when I am back at a computer). So thank you for your support and for helping my celebrate such a great month!!

Where are the women?

This week, my interview with Steve at The Maine Outdoorsman went live. Steve said yesterday 200 people hit his site viewing over 500 pages. That is a lot of people reading about little ole me and hunting. Why? When I think of women who are in the general public's eye and hunt, I can think of 2 - Country singer Miranda Lambert and Sarah Palin. Why only two? Why is the female hunter such a fascinating thing? (I should probably note that I do not have cable so any and all female hunters on the hunting stations are lost to me. I'll keep it to the general public because that's what I am familiar with.) People/media were fascinated by the fact that they could get footage of Palin and her gun, shooting (and gutting) animals but I feel like the nostalgia would be lost if they had the same footage of McCain. Lambert and her hubby Blake Shelton tweet photos of their kills, and comment on what/where they are hunting. I only know this because I follow both. That's it.

So much for respectable stand placement

Dad has hunted on the land that houses the Sky Condo for the better part of his life. About six years ago, we built the SC and started hunting there full time. At that time, there were no other hunters near by. A few years ago, a hunter bought a bordering piece of property, re-did the old camp that was there and brought his buddies along. We haven't had a lot of incidents with them (trespassing last year, putting pink ribbon on my tree seat and lying to us when we asked them what they shot - a search through the list at the tagging station said an 8-point buck). Two years ago, Dad bought a piece of land that is separated from the Sky Condo property by a powerline and a driveway that is privately owned by our hunting neighbor. The land was bought in May and once October came, our neighbor put a treestand up along the edge of the powerline, facing our new piece of property and right next to our traveling path. We were cautious from that point on, making sure we were not se

and a strong cup of coffee

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