Moonlighting

Lately, as the economy's been tanking (gulp) and Ed's been having to count out his pennies in order to cover a venti skinny latte (vanilla, please!) he's been racking his brain for some creative ways to rake in the cash.

Obviously, there's bartending, and more than a few of Ed's mag friends leave the office on Fridays to head to shift #2. There's also babysitting, dog walking, cat sitting, personal training . . . all part time jobs Ed's friends have held while trying to climb the magazine ladder.

Finally, there's writing. Some of Ed's ultra-word driven pals spend their evenings and weekends furiously typing out query letters, essays, articles, and even books in order to rake in enough dough to cover their New York lifestyle. After all, a shiny $2 a word assignment at a magazine can really help pad a bank account. While most of these get the A-OK and well wishes from their boss, some of these staffers also fly under the the radar—using fake names or dropping bylines—because of rules prohibiting freelancing at their current mag.

Ed believes that honesty is the best policy, and talking over your goals and writing with your editor is the best way to get what you want, both in your writing life and in your work life. What do you think, Edsters? Do you have rules prohibiting freelancing? And what have you done about it?

xo, Ed