This afternoon I wrote my last Editorial as the Owner/Publisher of the Similkameen News Leader. I didn't have a subject in mind because, as usually is the case, something happens or I see or hear something that inspires the column a day before I sit down to write it. Because this would be the last one published as we shut down production of our weekly community newspaper I knew it was going to have some kind of a good bye message in it.

​What I didn't expect was the realization of something very important through a conversation conducted in a video I had planned earlier in the day. The start of the actual feeling of closure for me began this week as I started to experience weekly tasks and chores that I normally do but would this week be for the last time. Maybe for you that would mean nothing but for me, this was a big deal.

I have wanted to bring people along for the ride as we enter the shut down phase as customers had requested we keep them informed of our activities. I also saw doing a series of videos tracing these steps as being good for me and my wife, Brenda to ease our tension and assist with the whole roller coaster of emotions we are off and on these days. 

One of the big steps for me was to donate the complete archives of our newspaper to the local museum. I have always believed in what our museum society has been doing in preserving the history of our region. I even volunteered as a weekend host at the facility many, many years ago. The museum has always been a special place to me so I thought of no other place to essentially become the final resting place for my baby - the newspaper.

The museum was thrilled to receive our collection and I knew I had to do this before our last issue was published to get me thinking about the actual steps leading to our final closure. So, I set up a short video interview with the Princeton Museum Manager, Robin Irwin. Robin and I have worked together on various projects within the community and have put a lot of time into promoting activities connected to the museum.

During the interview I had the realization that inspired my final Editorial. By delivering the News Leader archives to the Museum I have actually completed a chapter of the history of Princeton. The News Leader and the contributions made by those of us involved in the paper will live on forever in local history long after the paper - and us - are gone.

That told me in an instant that I was doing the right thing and as such, provided researchers and historians of the future snapshots of my version of what Princeton was like while I was living it. That was always my focus during my time as owner and publisher - to be aware of what I was leaving behind and to be as accurate as possible. 

That made my very last Editorial one of the easiest ones I have written over the past 16 1/2 years. I thank Princeton Museum for all the support they have given me and my business over the years. It is because of that I am ever so proud to see that all the work we had put into our small weekly paper will be preserved and cherished.

You can view the video interview here: ​youtu.be/lMdaSKhY7dI

If you are just starting out in the freelance world, you may have a different approach than I do. I will say that when I started about 2 1/2 years ago I bid on just about every job I could find that sounded like something I could do. Now that I have well over 100 jobs under my belt, I'm a little more picky as to what freelance jobs I'll consider.

I enjoy small 'piece work' jobs that may be for just a single long article or a few smaller articles. I also look for jobs that could lead to long term ongoing work (the listing usually indicate this) as well as unusual items I may be able to finish in a single sitting. One example was for a job I bid on last week. The description was that the client was looking for a short (only a few pages) eBook on Zombies. The idea was to use an online source that translates English to Zombie (there are a few) and to keep it brief but funny.

I'm a fan of zombies. I used to have my 3rd Gen iPod Touch loaded with zombie game apps and just enjoyed a brainless (pun intended) few minutes here and there pumping lead into zombies at the touch of my screen. So I submitted a bid with a few suggested headlines I would use to write about in the eBook (as was requested). A few days passed and I had not heard anything. Typically I will withdraw a proposal after a week.

Yesterday afternoon I was going to yank that particular bid. I don't normally have more than three active bids at any time. For some reason I got sidetracked and never removed my bid. Later in the day I received word that I was chosen to write this eBook. A couple of messages were passed back and forth to confirm minor details and I was told to "have fun with it."

So, I sat down last night in front of my laptop and started pounding out a short survival manual on how to identify zombies in your workplace, family and love life. It didn't take long to complete. I proofread it a few times, ran it through SpellCheck and submitted it to the client later in the evening.

This afternoon I received a notice that I had been paid for the job, plus a 30% bonus and later received a message from the client. She was extremely happy with the product I submitted and mentioned she started laughing three paragraphs in. That was just one of those jobs that jumped out at me that I thought I could fit into my steady stream of work and still do something reasonably good.

Clearly I did. 

I have an eBook I published with more tips and tricks on how to land a freelance writing job. It is available at Amazon at this link: "Write Like Me!"

This week has been an interesting one in the freelance writing department. I have a handful (six or seven) clients in Australia I do the bulk of my web content for. It wasn't planned that way - it just sort of happened. I started writing for one Aussie over two years ago and had a great working relationship. Over the years I have also worked for various Americans and a couple of Canadians. For some reason, the Aussies always stood out as great clients so I started bidding on writing jobs I could see were being posted by Australians.

The time difference has always been interesting for me because, on average, most of my clients Down Under are three quarters of a day ahead of me - if I did the math correctly. For example, 10:00 PM Tuesday for me is 3:00 PM Wednesday for one of my Australian clients. 

What I think I love most about the Aussie connections I've made is that a bunch of them like sharing my services. I have received referrals and picked up additional work/clients from a small core group of website entrepreneurs who all know each other and have requested my services. I find this part of my work to be rewarding as I am able to assist other entrepreneurs with their business by providing the most important element to their online presence - the content.

The content is the articles, reviews, blog posts and general information you find on a website. Someone has to write all of that and it has to be interesting. I'm one of those guys writing the content. As I stated earlier it has been an interesting week of web content for me. I just finished a set of articles on false teeth and dentures. I'm working on a set on baby cribs and baby mattresses. A few days ago I finished a set on dehumidifiers. It is always different.

It has also taught me that you really can find out about absolutely anything you can imagine on the internet. It has changed how we gather information. It has changed how we shop. It has changed how we communicate with each other. What the internet has done for me in particular is shown me that the world is not so big after all. Australia is not far away when you can text or video chat with clients in real time to get things done.

​It has, in a way, brought us all just a little bit closer.