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Now Appearing Elsewhere

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People sometimes politely ask “how’s it going”, meaning, “are you finding any work”?
I always feel like I’m letting them down when I say “not really”, so it’s nice to have something tangible to point to every now and then. I’ve managed to complete a couple of freelance projects, which are now housed at different places online.

The Line, an online magazine, posted this article I wrote about the University of Minnesota’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory – a highly prestigious research facility on the Mississippi River. I was happy to get this assignment, as I have a lot of admiration for scientists. We media people tend to think we’re pretty important but it’s the careful peer-reviewed work going on in laboratories all over the world that will have real meaning over time, while radio and TV programs, magazine articles and yes, blogs, will fade away very, very quickly.

The first time through, I wrote the article as a straight-ahead bit of reporting with a rather neutral and somewhat distant sounding “voice”. As I re-read my work, it seemed a bit dry. So on a lark I wrote a second version with a more casual, smart alecky, non-scientific style of narration, and submitted them both. Guess which one the editor chose?

There’s a strong chance that no responsible scientist will ever speak to me again.

The other project was a half hour radio profile of one of my favorite local music groups – The Brass Kings. I put this piece together for a fine community station, KFAI. In my previous professional life, (spent under the wing of a large, very polished media organization), whenever I needed recording equipment I merely had to ask and something that was state-of-the-art and in flawless condition would quickly be provided. This time I had to go out and buy a digital audio recorder and teach myself how to use it. As anyone I’ve interviewed can tell you, I’m still learning.

I also had to find a way to edit the work on my home computer using something other than the very expensive and temperamental “industry standard” sound mixing program – Pro Tools. I found one that was available for free – a really useful and effective program from Denmark called Hindenburg. Again, it took some learning with more confusion yet to come, but I think it turned out all right.

You can hear the result here.

I’ve picked up a few tricks and met some very nice folks over the past few months, but it is just beginning to dawn on me how hard people have to work when they are living from project to project. Patience, faith and persistence are three necessities in any freelancer’s toolbox.

What is your most marketable talent?

63 thoughts on “Now Appearing Elsewhere”

  1. Good morning to all,

    I am kind of a generalist and have a number of things I am interested in doing. A lot of what I am good at is focused on agriculture. I often don’t have the answer to something in agriculture, but know enough to be able put together the information needed. That was before, when I was not retired. Now I am only involved in agriculture as a volunteer and mostly help with organizing things for the Sustainable Farming Association as well as doing my own food production in my garden and doing seed saving.

    Dale, I listen to the show you did for KFAI, using the link, and also read your latest offering in The Line Media. I like both of those efforts very much. I think it is great that you have found work to do like this.

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    1. Thanks Jim.
      Your sustainable farming work and seed saving benefit everybody. It’s great that you found a way to apply your talents to things that interest you AND can also make a difference in the world!

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  2. Git yer red bums outa bed Baboonis!

    I am still feeling heavily influenced by yesterday’s dip into crime and “family-hood.” I just completed reading yesterday’s entries because work was very busy. I hate that. It interferes with my participation on the blog. Oh, wait. Are my priorities quite right?

    Go Dale! I hope you keep getting small projects and fashion yourself a new career. I still think there is a larger place for a folk music forum in this community, similar to what you have been doing. You shaped my musical interests more than you can possibly know. Certain very notable people (Garrison Keillor, Jim Ed Poole aka Tom Keith, and a guy named Dale Connelly) did that for years. I would love to hear your voice coming out of the radio in my car again. Later today I will listen to what you recorded.

    Marketable skills? I guess it is the form of psychotherapy I do and my ability to work with teens and adults with ADHD–once they finally remember to show up for their appointments, that is. Other marketable skills in my past: answering the telephone and directing calls, delivering fast food meals to cars (car hop), keypunching now known as “data entry,” babysitting, teaching social workers.

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    1. Thanks for the support, Jacque.
      If any billionaires reading this blog would like to buy a Twin Cities radio station and turn it over to a 24 hour Folk/Americana music format, I would definitely ask to be involved. Too bad the Hubbard family just spent their savings on a bunch of stations in other towns that do the usual things radio stations do.

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      1. I liked it. It was so nice to hear you doing what you do best! It reminded me of the show you were doing Saturday nights on MPR, but they had the WRONG TIME PLACEMENT.

        I think you are on the right track here.

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      2. Great interview with the Brass Kings, Dale. Love their sound! It was very cool to to learn about their involvement with people in need. Charlie Parr too.

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  3. I have several “semi” skills…I suppose mediocre is another word for them…that I have experience attempting but can’t call expertise — such as milking goats, selling anything, teaching young children, drawing & painting, training horses, researching people, cooking, making cheese, baking bread, gardening, directing plays. So far haven’t had to attempt a living at any of them…thank goodness.

    Heard on the radio this week about being an elder…and when do you become an “Elder” who can mentor and impart wisdom…realized I’m not there yet…maybe another 20 years?

    Happy Saturday, folks.

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  4. Thanks for the update, Dale, and may you get many more free lance gigs till the next big thing shows up.

    Support staff. About the only thing I’ve done for a living wage was Admin. Asst. or Office Manager. Oh yeah, and teaching (which was so long ago I sometimes forget). I tried teaching folk dance, but the pay is… let me say you need a day job.

    Company coming for brunch, will have to read the links later…

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  5. Thanks for both pieces, Dale. Steve Kaul and I talk to each other briefly on the phone almost every day in our “day job” capacities. Nice to hear what he is like in “real life”.

    I’m too cantankerous (or independently minded, if you want to be nice) to be truly marketable.

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  6. I’m highly impressed—but not surprised—Dale by the skill you show in assembling these two stories. I’ve been enjoying your expressive abilities since the old straight radio reporting days. The Brass Kings piece in particular shows growth. Tom Keith is a sound engineer who morphed into an entertainer. Dale Connelly is now a reporter/entertainer who has morphed into his own sound engineer. Such radical change is never easy.

    I was forced by circumstances beyond my control into becoming a freelance writer/photographer. Looking back, I regret that decision more than ever. Some people flourish in that setting. Others are constituted so that steady employment is a far better personal and professional fit. It isn’t hard to tell the difference. If someone is paying you for the minutes you spend in the bathroom, you are employed. If that time is strictly on you, you are a freelancer. It is particularly desirable for a humorist to be securely employed, for humor has such potential to annoy and threaten others that a humorist often needs the sheltering cover of a home institution.

    The question—what I can do that others will pay for—is ironic in view of all the difficult strategizing I did yesterday to try to plan a retirement that does not involve an appliance box and some space under a bridge. The answer seems to be that people will pay me to write and take photographs, but they won’t pay me much for either.

    Your new work is a joy to hear, Dale. I hope it leads to more and more freelance assignments. Even better, I hope it leads to employment.

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    1. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Steve.
      It’s a shame that freelancing is more difficult than being on a payroll, and you’re right about that fundamental difference in when you’re earning money under one employment scenario as opposed to the other. Perhaps we in the Untethered Workforce could get the government to pay us a little stipend for going to the bathroom! After all, with no profit incentive for visiting the biffy, some freelancers might quit going altogether, which would lead to serious medical problems for them and eventually much higher health care costs for everyone else.

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    2. I think many people are brilliant and creative and very productive when left alone to their own devices, but they find working in a bureaucracy and following the procedures required for work in large institutions very difficult. Being required to follow procedures and conforming all the time can put a real crimp in your ability to be creative. I’ve seen this situation limit or end the career of some really intelligent and creative people who had something valuable to contribute. I think it’s natural for large institutions to become structured and bureaucratic but I think it’s sad that creativity is lost in this process.

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  7. thanks for the update, Dale! your writing style should nail something for you soon, i’m thinking. and your interviewing abilities truly set you apart. hope soon things pile up into “what neat thing should i do next?” piles so you don’t have to wonder.

    no real talents. i’ve said it before- i’m not that good at anything but i’m not afraid to fail. so i’ll try most anything that interests me. in retirement my interests have revolved around caring for the goats and what i can make with their milk. and because i just love those animals, i am a good promoter of dairy goats. Steve, my friends, Cynthia and the others in our Goat Ladies Club will tell you that i never stop talking about them. but, well, you know that 🙂

    a gracious good morning to You All – i’m off to promote dairy goats at our local sustainable farming assoc. annual meeting

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  8. Morning all! Left early to get the teenager to the gym and then ran errands.

    I saw your Line piece a couple of days ago… not sure who mentioned it now. Very nice. I prefer the sassy piece… we get plenty of straight stuff in our lives!

    Like Jim, I am a little good and a whole lot of things and very good at a few things. My strongest skill is organization — I can get anything organized in a short period of time. I got alot of this skill from my mother. I am also an excellent “finder-outer”… I love trying to find stuff out, searching secrets out and learning. If I could afford to be a full-time student, I would be enrolled someplace in a heart beat!

    Have fun today everyone… I’m off to the gym (City Conference today) so won’t be able to read the rest of the day until later tonight. Keep warm!

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    1. Thanks Sherrilee.
      I also liked the “sassy” approach but I really do appreciate it when someone can write an engaging “straight” science report without joking around. It sometimes feels like there’s too much writer-personality in the things we read. Does that go back to Hunter S. Thompson? It seemed like everything was about him, first and foremost, and then the subject, peripherally. Maybe I’m mis-remembering it. But people like people, and they like to laugh, so what’s the real harm?

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      1. I think Hunter S. Thompson was really the master of writing with a specific “editorial voice” – and writing things in a way that folks want to read the piece as much (or more) for the editorial voice of the writer. He was certainly of a generation that lead that style of writing into vogue. And this style has continued. Folks like David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell are the beneficiaries of this trend. You could be, too, Dale. You certainly have a distinct and highly readable editorial voice. While freelancing doesn’t pay you to go to the loo, maybe it does leave enough time for honing the editorial voice and writing something longer that might even pay for a whole new loo. 🙂

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  9. I think my most marketable skill is the ability to communicate clearly and succinctly. It helps when I have to testify in court as an expert witness, as well as getting the point across in therapy and evaluation reports. Dale, I expect that your work activity will increase steadily, and it won’t be long before you find yourself busier than you could imagine a few months ago.

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      2. Dale, I like to think we keep you on your toes and that your daily post ensures that your writing skills remain finely honed. You provide us with more than you can really appreciate. Thank you for your humanity and wit.

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  10. When I was in my own period of, um, unplanned sabbatical, I had a friend ask me (yes, he’s in marketing), “what’s your tag line?” He was trying to get me to figure out how to tell people what it is I’m good at – given my somewhat random career trajectory (think Acme rocket from an old Warner Bros cartoon shooting willy nilly across the desert), this required some thought. How to tie together theater, student loan claim processing, volunteer coordination, running an academic summer camp, technical writing and web content development…hmm. “Gathering pieces and fitting them together,” is what I came up with – even put it on a business card. I can take a random bunch of pieces (lumber and cloth, data sets, business people, processes) and turn them into something useful (a stage set, reports, a schedule of presentations, a user guide, respectively). Hard to quantify for the HR-types, but a good skill none-the-less. Thankfully I keep finding weird little niche jobs that call for this skill, and it seems to be pretty adaptable to different settings.

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    1. Perhaps you could assist legislative bodies. Our own state legislature appears a bit rough. Then there is the U.S. Senate and House. The child management skills required by the summer camp might be particularly useful there.

      Meow.

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      2. No, not from Corrections. It doesn’t surprise me at all. They are bureaucratic in the extreme and these processes take time. The longer they wait, though, the colder my feet.

        I had a very nice thing happen to me last week. The Chief of DNR Section of Fisheries came to our staff meeting and told me after the meeting that they (DNR Fisheries) would like me to stay in Waterville and not leave. He said a number of nice and positive things to me. While that means nothing career-wise, it means quite a lot personally. It was something he did not have to say at all but he went out of his way to say it.

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      4. That’s wonderful, Krista.

        Now you can’t lose. If you get the new job, it will be because they CHOSE you. If you keep the old job, it will be with the knowledge that people there respect and like you. You are in a lovely place.

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      5. congrats for the pat on the back . we all know it, you in your heart of hearts know it but it is wonderful that the big boss goes out of his way to make sure you know you are appreciated. feels like all the bs form the past however long is worthwhile huh? if when we are all done with the stuff we work through each day there is a warm feeling and a sense of worth it helps.

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    1. That’s the technical writer in me – find a different way to explain what is going on (e.g., translate the “techie/developer talk” to everyday user language…). Useful for documentation, poetry and resumes. 🙂

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  12. I’m a good cook, according to my family and friends, but rather slow, so I could work in a restaurant where customers wouldn’t mind waiting 30 minutes for a hamburger or sandwich, and up to an hour for something more complicated like soup, fish, sauteed meats, etc. You’d only come to my restaurant when you had no plans immediately after dinner.

    But on the bright side, I know more about wine than about 99% of the people in the world (maybe 95% of Americans), so while you’re waiting for your food, I’d sell you a very terrific glass of wine for a pleasantly surprising price (I don’t believe in 200% markups above retail of wine sold in a restaurant.)

    In my youth, I also happened to be a very good housepainter, albeit a slow one. (There seems to be a pattern emerging here. 🙂 ) Unfortunately, my 50-something body (mainly my back) couldn’t handle the physical nature of the work very well, so that leaves me with being the house-painting supervisor, I guess.

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. Chris, there’s got to be a market for a fast wine/slow food restaurant. Get the wine to the table quick and keep it coming! The food will take care of itself.

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    2. got a good pinot grigio for me? i am doing trader joes and it is passable but if i wanted blow your face off what would you suggest?

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      2. Tim,
        Pinot Grigio is probably my least favorite white wine for no explainable reason other than I find Viognier, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Torrontes, Sauvignon Blanc and the Rhone whites and blends so much more interesting. Also, I drink mostly reds anyway.

        That said, try Mirassou Vineyards for a budget PG. Better would be something from Oregon’s Willamette Valley (Pinot Gris up there). Producers to try there would be Duck Pond, Erath, Rex Goliath (budget), Bethel Heights, Elk Cove.

        I’m not sure there is such a thing as a ‘blow your face off’ PG, but if you can find it, Lange Estate Winery makes a Pinot Gris that was pretty darn impressive- as are all of their wines. They were my favorite vineyard overall of the ones my wife and I visited in Oregon last fall.

        Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio has a good reputation as far as Italian producers go, but you’ll probably get what you pay for. Cheaper Italian PGs tend to be on the bland side. Not that the Oregon PGs are a steal; most will cost more than $10 (maybe less than that on sale).

        My best advice has always been- start with the cheaper ones and work your way up until you find something that matches your taste and budget. Generally, domestic wineries in CA, OR and WA are pretty consistent year-to-year, so if you find a wine and a winemaker you like, you won’t usually be disappointed in quality from one vintage to the next. The same goes for Australian and New Zealand wines. European wines are more at the mercy of weather. Hope I’ve helped.

        Cheers,
        Chris

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  13. Is there a market for over analyzing and second guessing yourself? I’m very competent in those skills. The website, Tiny Buddha, has some good stuff about decision making. Here’s an example: “You are not who you were yesterday and you are not who you will be tomorrow. So, make peace with that. Life is full of second chances. We are always in a state of evolution.”

    All in all, I think I’m a pretty good teacher. It doesn’t pay too well, but what the hell. Hey! That rhymes!

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  14. Yay, Dale! Gee, but it’s good to hear your voice! You did a great job on the interview. I love the Brass Kings. They were one of our headliners at Rock Bend last year. It’s so cool to hear their story – and even cooler to hear you tell it! Loved it!

    I enjoyed your articles in The Line too; both of them were very good. I’m glad they chose the humorous tone. I’ll bet those scientists can even laugh at themselves a little.

    When I take a minute to think about it, I’m fortunate because I think I have several marketable skills, most of which I’ve used at one point or another to make money. Not big money, mind you, but I have a roof over my head, food, clothes and a spoiled dog, so I haven’t been a total failure. I have very good nursing skills and medical instincts, having come from a family of doctors. I have a little musical talent and ability and I guess it’s been marketable because I’ve been paid to play and sing. I can type, proofread and edit very well. I’m lousy at filing and organization, though. (Why put something away when you’re just going to pull it out and use it again?)

    I get paid to wander down the hall and use the restroom, but my job has also given me a certain amount of stress and, I think, a loss of ability to be spontaneous and creative. There are trade-offs. I’m glad I have the job and the security it provides but sometimes I’d like some time to reinvent myself just a tiny little bit.

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  16. bill bryson does a nice job of making you smile while giving you non fiction. good information presented in a way that makes you appreciate it. the guy who wrote zen and the art of motorcycle maintanance was dry as a popcorn fart. he had a background of writing technical stuff and the story telling was an interesting subject but told without a smile. bill bryson talks about different topics but with a brain that makes it a pleasure. dale your treatment of the st anthony falls labratory is an absolute delight. makes me want to go and see these geeks and the falling down weird building i have looked at ont he river 100 times without ever giving a second thought.
    the brass kings are a group who you have honored with your paintbrush of an interview. keep it up and please do more….
    my talent is in the ability to be a visionary of things possible and some that are not but deserve envisioning anyway. if i had a crew of 400 i would keep them all busy with wonderful projects that would benifit all involved. i can find things of interest everywhere i go and have ideas of how to tweak something someway to make it fit my thought.

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  17. Saw so much art in Santa Fe to day I am burned out on it. Will read the blog back in our room. Best part of day–100 native artists, jewelers mostly–were vending their art on the plaza. What beautiful people they Pueblo, Zuni, Hopi, and Navaho people are.

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  18. Greetings! Such a diverse, talented and interesting group of baboons we have here.

    Dale – I read your article and listened to the Brass Kings piece – great work! Such an interesting group — funny how they just “fell together” and don’t even rehearse, and yet have a textured, yet tight sound. I’m sure more projects will come your way. It was comforting to hear your voice and style on my speakers again!

    Parlaying skills into a marketable, paying job is a difficult skill in and of itself which I certainly haven’t mastered. Let’s see, talents I have: dancer, martial artist, typist, proofreader, mother, data entry, theater major, listener, nutritional & wellness knowledge, blogger, etc. But what does it all add up to?

    Anna – I like how you put everything together and have made a nice career of it. Krista — good on ya! It’s always nice to hear those kudos from your boss. Clyde – happy trails and drive safe. Sounds like you had an amazing day of Native American artwork and hand crafts. I’d probably come home with an armload of jewelry. Jim – I rather envy your housekeeping, cooking and gardening skills. I’m rather lame in those departments, even though I must do them everyday.

    We had a karate demo at the Becker Business Expo today — I always enjoy doing those and showing off. I even saw some folks from work who enjoyed our demo. Then we had our karate competition team practice — so now I’m tired and ready for a hot bath. Later baboons ….

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  19. Onto a drive through my favorite place I have ever been: out of Santa Fe, up to Los Alamos, across past an old caldera, down the Jimez Valley, and then up to Farmington. Northern New Mexico is wonderful, except foe the altitude at this point in my life.
    Here is a list of all marketable talents:

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    3. How wonderful. They are beautiful to look at and also have such a rich culture to refer to. Their approach to life is beautiful also. Keep up the reports looking for vignettes

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    4. Clyde, when you get to Farmington you will at the place where my Dad finished his last job as a power plant engineer. He supervised the completing of the stack on the Four Corners Power Plant that scrubs ash and other polutants out of the smoke leaving the plant. I visited my parents there and remember driving through the area and seeing homes of the Navajos widely spaced in the wide open landscape including some traditional hogan houses.

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      1. You cannot NOT see those stacks. And we are here. A wonderful day. The day of the trip I most looked forward to and it was all I wanted. Took my wife to see my favorite place I have ever been.

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      2. The plant is to west of Farmington. Probably too far from Farmington to see.

        Good luck with your travels, Clyde.

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      3. I have been here many times before; it is very prominent once you head west as we will do tomorrow. I have not seen it this time just remembering it. I remember great details for places I have not been to for years. Wish I could find a way to make money off of that. I have not been in Farmington for about 8 years but can navigate around it with ease. Stupid memory trick of mine.

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  22. i have never been to either sedona or the grand canyon. enjoy it.
    you know you are from Minnesota when you step outside and it’s warm, then you find out it’s zero. i love it when the blood thickens.

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