As the economy has gotten worse, I’ve noticed an upswing in the number of people asking me to work for free.  I don’t think these organizations quite understand that I make my living writing and speaking, so when I do these things for no pay, I don’t eat.  They rationalize that they are paying me in exposure – meaning that more people ...

An online friend of mine scored a great gig as a columnist for a popular portal site, but has recently had to cope with negative comments that readers are posting after her pieces.  Some of the comments contain nuggets of constructive criticism that my friend can keep in mind for future columns, but others don’t add much to the conversation ...