Please Give (part the first)

As most of you already know, once upon a time I was actually a paid critic. Granted, I wasn’t rolling in the dough, but I was able to make a few extra bucks by writing about movies for The Screengrab. Then, a little over a year ago, the Screengrab’s corporate overlord’s decided to shutter the site and let go of its writing staff. Since then, the archived content has disappeared into the ether, and the writers who once toiled for the Screengrab have been scattered.

Since then, things have been different for me. As I said before, I didn’t make a whole lot of money with my writing- hell, it was merely a part-time job for me. However, I definitely felt the pinch financially once they let me go. The loss of my Screengrab income didn’t break me, but it certainly required me to scrape in order to enjoy some of the comforts I’d had before.

Eventually, I decided that I couldn’t afford to do without that second income, so I took a part-time job. However, between the part-time job, my current full-time job, and the college courses I’m taking, it’s all begun to wear me down. I’m getting fewer chances to spend time with Ang and the Offspring, and even when we do spend time together I’m often too weary to do much or anything. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to juggle these aspects of my life while maintaining a solid relationship with the Offspring. Oh sure- he understands where I go in the evenings and on weekends, but it’s just not the same for him when I’m gone.

Likewise, my writing output has suffered drastically since I started the second job. I’m sure you noticed that this blog was more or less dead for several months after the Muriels concluded this spring. I managed to liven things up with the White Elephant Blogathon, and since then I’ve tried to keep the content fresh. But I can’t say how long I’ll be able to keep this going, especially since classes started up again last week.

You get my point, and I’m sure you can see where this is headed. Now, I’m not going to ask you guys for money. I’m just glad that you enjoy my writing, and I’m grateful that you’ve stuck with me all this time. However, I just want to put it out there that I’m on the lookout for some freelance film critic work, and if anyone reading this knows of a site or publication that’s looking for paid content, I’m available. I’m not necessarily looking to make lots of money out of this- Screengrab only paid me $10 a post, after all- but if I could find someone who’d pay me a couple of hundred per month to write about movies that would be awesome.

For better or worse, I think that if you sift through the blog you'll find my writing speaks for itself. So if you’d like me to write for you, drop me a line. And for everyone else, thanks for reading, and I hope that you’ll soon be able to read me elsewhere as well.