Neuer Gedankengang!

I'm the Boss!

Tomorrow is the first day that I work for myself! This week I begin working part time at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, and for now my schedule is to work half day on Tuesday and all day on Wednesday and Thursday. That gives me the other half of Tuesday to do research at other locations if needed, and then Monday and Friday to work in my own office!

I took some pictures to include with this posting, but tonight my dial up connection is apparently too clogged up to upload them. I tried twice and let the process go on for about 15 minutes each time, but no luck. Having only dial up to use here may be something I have to remedy at some point. First, however, I will have to earn enough money working for myself to afford the monthly fee for Comcast Cable, as DSL isn't available where I live yet.

I know how important being disciplined about this process is going to be. That's what I hoped to show with the pictures - my write-on calendar on a yellow bulletin board, a white board/bulletin board with projects listed and sticky notes of to-do's on it. I have plans for each of the days that I will be self-employed this week.

Tomorrow my tasks are to finalize my CV and send it to at least five people, and then to work on my entry on German immigration for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. That last one will earn a modest stipend when I get it turned in and through the editorial process; the other part is just to get the word out there and hopefully drum up some paying work!

Tuesday I will do some research at the UALR library for the history of Coleman Creek I am working on for the Coleman Creek Greenway Committee. That is volunteer work, but a lot of people will see it and will know that I wrote it.

Friday I will work on the script for a living history character. If it works out, and if I can perform it, and if they are interested, I will do living history from time to time at the Historic Arkansas Museum. It pays well, and the work is usually pretty light.

Actually I also have an appointment on Wednesday with the head of the Library to talk about some more extensive contract work. I am both excited and apprehensive about that. In fact, I am both excited and apprehensive about the whole process!

It is exactly what I want to do - it feels much more like when I was in school and could work on projects in my own way and on my own schedule. And by choosing classes that interested me, I could control to a certain extent what kind of projects I had to do. The difference here is that, instead of working for a grade or just the satisfaction of doing a good job (be honest, Shirley - you worked for the grade!), now I will be working for pay, and it is a substantial portion of my livelihood!

Nevertheless, I feel strongly that this is the way for me to go, and the time is right to do it. In a few days (when I figure out how to do it!), I will post my CV here, in the hopes that interested people will see it, and or that some who read these pages will remember it when they learn of work that I might pursue. So keep me in mind, friends!

posted by Shirley Schuette @ 8:40 PM