 "Freelancing
Felines"
By
Stacy Mantle
People seem to worry about me a lot. Not
for all the normal reasons, like “Am I getting enough to eat?”
or “Do
I need more sleep?” No – their main concern is
that I work in an isolated environment, namely – my home office.
And I write. All day long, I write. My tools consist of
computers and dictionaries and pens. My wardrobe has morphed from
blazers, dress pants and heels to shorts, tank tops and flip-flops
(Arizona is HOT all year long and I mean ALL year long). My
work lunches have gone from pasta at a five-star restaurant to a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
These things don’t really concern
people, though. It’s my coworkers that concern them.
You see, I share my home office with 18
cats, three
dogs and 3
tanks of fish. Oh, and a turtle. (The turtle
has been in hibernation for the last 5 months, so he often escapes
my mind. He’s the best pet…)
My loved ones believe that I am too
isolated, and that sharing my home office with my pets could
eventually create, shall we say, an “alternate reality” for me.
To put it more frankly, they are afraid I will go insane if I
continue in this manner.
I object to this theory. First of
all, anyone who is in a creative occupation knows firsthand that
there is a fine line between genius and insanity. It’s been
proven throughout history in all creative endeavors. Picasso,
Beethoven, Poe,
Hemmingway (and his CATS), Shakespeare, Wolff, Dickinson, even
military geniuses such as Alexander the Great had a very fine line
to walk when it came to their talents. Now I’m certainly in
no position to compare myself to these brilliant minds, however I do
have to make a point. Each of these talented men and women had
an incredible ability to walk that “fine line” and they did so
with ease and grace. Many of them did so with animals by their side.
While I was once smack dab in the middle
of the corporate world facing impending deadlines, dealing with
impossible people, and hostile work environments, I can now sit
behind my computer and choose to deal with them, or choose not to
deal with them. When I do choose to deal with these
situations, it is primarily for the entertainment (or financial)
value, and I am able to handle them with a new calm. I am
slowly (very slowly) developing the ability to understand who is
actually the insane person when someone is screaming at me over the
phone on a conference call at the life and death importance of a
piece of paper reaching their desk in the next 24 hours, as my cat
walks across the keyboard and my computer program flips on in the
nick of time with a low voice which warns the cat to “Get
off of the keyboard.” Honestly, who is the crazy one?
The person who is threatening my life over a piece of paper, or me
– who has the power to present that piece of paper if the
person would just ask nicely? Who is the one wasting the most
time? The one screaming for an hour over the phone, or the one who
could be writing what that person wants if they would just stop
yelling at them? Personally I think that the one doing the yelling
is the one who is insane. I’ve been working on being the person
who can produce that little piece of paper, which causes all the
grief.
And now I am that person.
Currently I, who once had a crippling fear of the numbers 9 and 5,
am now able to work from 5 am to 5 pm with little to no effort,
because it no longer feels like work. My lunches, when I take
them, are often spent sitting in the backyard beside our little
pond, listening to the water as it cascades over the rocks, and
watching the dogs as they splash into the “new lake” that has
miraculously sprouted from the ground “just for them.”
My “catty” coworkers are now exactly
that – cats. Don’t get me wrong, they still don’t listen
to a word I say, they take none of my suggestions for improvement,
they still talk behind my back and most of them still sleep on the
job while I do all the work, but it just doesn’t bother me
anymore.
The “dogs” that I used to work with
are now literally dogs. They still whine all the time, they
can’t make up their minds about a single thing; they want in, they
want out. They still show up in my cubicle and continually
harass me for food. They never let me get any work done until
I tell them in no uncertain terms to leave me alone, and all they
want to do is play games. But again, it just doesn’t bother
me anymore.
I no longer swim with the sharks.
Instead, I watch them swim around in the 50-gallon aquariums
we have set up throughout the house, and trust me when I say it’s
much more relaxing to watch than to be in the midst of them.
My commute time has been cut from two
hours to two minutes. My fuel consumption has gone from
filling the tank of my truck up every three days to every 3 weeks.
I’m actually helping the environment. Now when I drive,
it’s down to the grocery store, not up to work. I have to
say that my tolerance level for drivers has dramatically decreased.
It’s amazing how insane some of the drivers out there actually are
when you’re not on the road all day!
My stress levels have decreased, I
think. Maybe they have just changed, because when you change
over to freelance work, you take on a different set of stresses.
It’s no longer a stress of, “When will they fire me?” or
“How long will it take for this company to go under?”
It’s now a stress of “When will the next job come in?” or
“How much longer can I afford to freelance and be in this
incredible position?
So perhaps the stress hasn’t actually
decreased, but has taken on a different form. Either way – I like
it a lot better than before.
I make my own hours, more or less, but I
do work a lot harder for a lot less money. However, I now have
a sense of accomplishment in what I do, something I didn’t really
have in a corporate setting. I now take pride in my work.
Of course, everything has a down side,
and freelancing does as well. You have to be a certain type of
person to make this work. You have to be able to get along
without much human contact, live on sporadic paychecks, have a very
understanding spouse, and (in my case) a lot of entertaining
animals to watch when the work isn’t coming in.
And you have to have a good sense of
self. Knowing that you are okay no matter what happens, or
where things go. But, most important of all, it’s important
to have a very entertaining, very great friend to vent to –
preferably someone in the same position that you are and can
understand those times when you have to cross
over the line for awhile. My good friend has arisen
in the form of an artist, and together we form one
of the best creative teams I’ve ever seen.
Another important thing to have, besides a great
spouse, a great friend and entertaining pets, is a wonderful
family and if at all possible, a mini-me.
Mini-mes' (miniature copies of yourself) are very difficult to
obtain. My mini-me comes in the form of my sister, Meggin.
They take years of grooming, decades to train, and are difficult to
keep around. However, once you obtain a Mini-me, they are
priceless.
So go ahead, take the plunge. Make
sure you have the tools you need at your disposal: an amazing
spouse, a
great friend, a supportive
family, a mini-me
and lots of entertaining
animals. And don’t forget your computer…
That’s your link to the outside world, and you’ll need at least
one of those in good working order at all times!
About
the Author
Stacy Mantle is a
freelance writer who currently resides in the southwestern deserts
of Arizona with a number of cats, a coyote/wolf hybrid, and a very
understanding husband. Her writing has appeared in publications such
as Pacific Yachting Magazine, The Arabian Horse Times,
Today’s AZ Woman, and Pets Illustrated. She now has
monthly columns in Jackson Parents magazine and online at www.thecatsite.com. Many of her stories
and articles have been translated into several languages, and now
reach an international audience. Quickly becoming known as "…the
Erma Bombeck of animals", her writing has skyrocketed to
new heights as she records the stories of those she loves, inspiring
the reader to learn why we have all come to love the animals we
share our lives with. She is the author of Conquering the Food
Chain: Living Amongst Animals (Without Becoming One),
which is available in Barnes & Noble bookstores nationwide, as
well as online at www.bn.com or www.amazon.com.
Other
Stories: How
To Pill A Cat, Freelancing
Felines, Teaching
A Coyote to Fetch,
Once Upon A Midnight Dreary,
Feral Cat Day, Computer
Guide for Cat Lovers, Just
Wait 'Till You Have Children of Your Own, Diary
of A Cog, How
To Pill A Cat, Herding
Cats, Sleeping With
the Enemy, A
Fish Tale, Do
Animals Have Souls, The
Problem With Kittens, Counterproductive
Behavior in Dogs, Counterproductive
Behavior in Cats, Cody
is My Sister's Dog, Diary
of A Cog, Free Kittuns, Pet
Theft, On With The Show, Making
Noodles with A Kitten
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