Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Mir Kamin was not yet a blogger at Work It, Mom! But, having been great admirers of her work, we asked her if we could interview her about her life as a freelance writer and mother of a daughter and son. Of course, then we swooped in and gathered her up for our very own, and you can read her blog The Cornered Office here weekly at Work It, Mom! She also blogs regularly at Want Not, Ty’s Toy Box, Maya’s Mom, and Drool,icio.us. In her own words, here is a closer look at Mir.
Can you tell us a little bit about your job -– what does it entail, how long have you been in this industry and position?
After writing "on the side, for fun" for many years, two years ago I finally decided to take the plunge and write full-time as a freelancer. It took about a year to get up to what I would consider full speed and a reasonable (translation: livable) income. Now I make money in three different ways:
1) I blog for hire (a set amount of payment per post) for various sites
2) I run two personal blogs, both of which generate ad revenue, and one of which also generates affiliate shopping revenue
3) I write "conventional" assignments, like articles, ad copy, etc.
Can you briefly describe your usual day?
Nope. Ha! There is no "usual" day for me, as it depends on where my kids are and what they need and what projects I'm doing at the moment. But right now, I get up at 6 with the kids, get them off to school and am back at my desk by about 7:30, work until about 2, do the afternoon stuff with the kids, sneak in maybe another hour of work before dinner, have the kids in bed by 8, and then -- if it's been a really good/productive day and I'm not swamped -- I only have another hour or so of work before I get to bed. If I'm working on additional projects, I might work as much as another 5 or 6 hours before I get to sleep. I try not to do that too often.
Best thing about your job:
I'm living the dream. I'm writing for a living, and I'm still waiting for someone to figure out that this should be illegal, liking what you do so much. Plus I get to be my own boss.
Most challenging thing about your job:
Well this is what I tend to write about for Cornered Office, the dilemma of how great it is to work from home and have flexibility vs. feeling like you never really get to leave the office. Sometimes I feel like I'm ALWAYS working. And usually that's because I AM always working, and my life/work balance is off-kilter. I think I'll always struggle with that.
