As a professional writer for hire, it isn’t always easy to tell how a changing business environment will affect my business from day to day or week to week.

 

I’m used to having “peak seasons” and “weak seasons,” but they’re usually predictable and, as such, survivable.

 

But in the case of the recent corona virus pandemic and it’s convulsive damage to businesses, large and small, and to the stock market, we’re all in unprecedented troubled waters.

 

Very few people are still alive who remember the extended upheaval called the Great Depression.

 

The rest of us have survived a recession or two, including the Great Recession of 2008 (and beyond), and we got through those by the skin of the teeth.

 

2008, in fact, was the first year I hung my shingle as a professional copywriter after a year in the trenches with an on-hold message production studio, so it was mighty slow going for me, but through dogged diligence and determination, I prevailed and have been writing for clients ever since.

 

During the first part of this pandemic, I was kept pretty busy because one of my long-time clients works with schools across the country and in Canada. But as schools began to close, I turned to helping write or edit the company’s pandemic responses, letting employees and others know what was being done to protect them and offset the furloughs that were happening across the board.

 

When that fire was put out, and nothing else came, I put an ad on craigslist letting people know I’m available to help with writing and editing tasks.

 

Crickets.

 

I did the same on Facebook.

 

Crickets.  (Actually, the FB ad was rejected because the words COVID-19 or corona virus was in the headline.  GRRRR!!!)

 

So now I’m in the third week of the COVID-19 shut down (I’m in Washington State, where the pandemic was first identified and tackled, so we’re several weeks ahead of most other states as far as our remediation and “shelter in place” activities go), and I’m beginning to understand that this may not end well for me in the short term.

 

Fortunately,  the new stimulus package just passed by Congress has money in it for gig and independent workers like me, so I’ve applied for help.  I’m also on Social Security, and I understand its recipients will get be getting more soon as a result of the pandemic.

 

If I can cobble it all together for the duration of this crisis, all will be well.   That’s a big IF, but I realize I’m in better shape than a lot of people, and I’m counting my blessings. I didn’t get fired or furloughed. I’m remote and isolated from the virus. I’m still here, ready, able and willing to do what I’ve been doing since 2008.

 

I know Bernie Sanders is working his tail off to make sure the next stimulus package will go farther toward helping those who truly need it. I also know Mitch McConnell, having gotten the billions he sought for the #1 in the recent bill, will be in no hurry now to extend benefits to other hurting Americans, so I expect future help to be sporadic and more anemic than it would otherwise be.

 

(I wish Kentucky would get with the program and vote out their so-called representatives in Congress, who are representing not them but oligarchs and plutocrats in high places. McConnell, Massie, Rand Paul. )

 

In the meantime, I’m doing what little I can with my limited funds to help local businesses and entrepreneurs stay in business. I’m ordering out twice a week, visiting a local produce stand, and steering clear of big box stores as best I can.  I shop once a week for groceries at Albertson’s (where employees have received a bump in pay as hazard wages). Otherwise, I stay home.

 

I don’t know who out there has a need for a writer or editor at this time. If you do, or if you know someone else who does, please send them my way.

 

It’s up to us to help each other.  If there’s something I can do for you from the relative safety of my home, please let me know. I’m certainly available!

 

Wash Your Hands. Limit Travel. Save Lives!