Fellow freelance journalists--helllllp!

[Arabica]

Have been freelancer for five years and have been in luxurious position of hardly ever needing to submit features ideas as I had 'regulars' who came to me with commissions. However, everyone seems to be leaving/getting promoted/replaced by commissioners with their own pet writers. I've been working from home for so long, I feel terribly out of the loop, too. Has this happened to anyone else--and how did you cope?

Hi there arabica..
can't help you as I'm a bit of a fresher on this front, but bumping for you so the other 'pro's" can advise.

And can I add my own gripe/query.. non payment of invoices, when do you submit them and when do they pay you?

Tell me about it. Will email you.

Unicorn, I submit as early as I feel is feasible, with THIS INVOICE IS SUBJECT TO THE LATE PAYMENT OF DEBTS wossname on them, and then I wait, and then I chase pathetically, and then if it's a publication like some they don't pay me till it's been published. And in between I hassle, humiliatingly, with phone calls. It's a bugger.

MI, have you been paid by large publishing company with four-letter acronym yet?

Oh yes, Edam, I have.

Am going to starve in gutter, obviously, when have got through current month of lots of work. Current month the first one in ages - well, since last year just after I came back from maternity leave - when earnings dropped dramatically. I blame DP's two weeks off when we lounged around and went for drunken lunches.

Relieved to hear you've been paid, anyway.
Does dp's contribution to earnings dip mean he should pay you? Just a thought.... .

Pheww! Got some commissions. They're like f buses!

I was going to say that! The minute you start to panic is when you get too much work. Try to enjoy the lulls (instead of, say, fantasising about starving in gutters ) If you do feel out of the loop, try meeting up with your fave editors for a drink after work or something. Or send them some ideas for stuff you don't even want to do so you won't feel rejected. Try to have a chat with comm eds - a friendly approach can be useful in making you feel more part of things. Ie about your kids and stuff.

I do send pics of my kids. Well, I send them to everyone, actually

Oooh you creep!

Take my fave eds for a drink? Great idea Aloha, but I've been out of the loop for so long I've never actually met them in person. Maybe I should suggest it. But I've always been ridiculously shy with bosses.

Maybe start by when you email ideas or copy, add a bit of chat - not loads, but just how good you thought the last issue was etc or that you saw their circulation had gone up so congratulations. When I was a features ed one very successful writer used to send me postcards after a feature went it thanking me for commissioning it and for editing it sensitively etc. She's now a friend! It's not essential by any means but I think it improves your working relationship. Going to the odd launch or press conference type thing can sometimes help you put names to faces too. Where have all your contacts gone?

Gone freelance, gone home in disgrace, gone travelling, gone on maternity leave, gone bonkers...the usual! I do have one new commissioning ed who I am big email mates with though. And just after I asked how her pregnancy was going, she emailed me back with 2 commissions so that's vg advice there Aloha!

Thread hijack - but can anyone recommend something for taping telephone conversations? Need to record interviews and can't remember the make of the thing I used to use at the BBC.

Aha! I have the box right here in my desk. Bought from an office supplies shop in Holborn that sells dictaphones but am sure any office supplies shop will have. It's a Pearlcorder telephone recording pickup privacy microphone. You stick one end in your tape recorder and the other end in the ear you're using for the phone.
Made by Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. Works pretty well but you have to make sure you've got fresh batteries in your tape recorder or it'll come out too quiet.

I could be out of date on this, but I think there used to be a legal requirement to inform people if you are taping the phone call. Obviously most interviewees wouldn't mind, but probably worth mentioning.
Aloha's right about adding a bit of chat, too. And obviously all the usual stuff about reading the mag to which you are pitching, and their rivals, so you know what kind of thing their readers are into and the right tone of voice.
Good luck!

Thanks edam. Shortly after my whinge, I got five commissions and almost started a new thread called 'I'm snowed under!' so just goes to show the power of mumsnet.

Willow2, what kind of recording set-up did you go for and are you happy with it? My tape player really has seen better days and am thinking of getting something new.

phonapart 2 way telephone coversation recorder £50 from Maplins - seems to work really well. Wouldn't be any good for interviews though as a bit bulky to bung in your bag.

I only tape face to face interviews - just use a sony recorder from Dixons which is fine. Dh uses a mini-disk (a boys' toy to Luddite me) and uses a plug in adapter to record phone interviews.

Arabica,
I find this can be a bit cyclical actually, which is why I always start getting nervous when I have too cushy a set-up. The classic one is the features ed who loves you leaving to freelance herself, or have a baby. That's happened to me so often. The good thing is they can often pop up somewhere new and contact you again. You just have to get out there again, plugging away with ideas. Sucks, doesn't it?

Oops, sorry, didn;t read the whole thread. Glad you've got some work now. Feast or famine, innit?