Maximizing my interests

One of the biggest worries my dad had when I confidently told him that I was giving up my plan of being a lawyer to pursue my passion of writing was that I would forever struggle to make ends meet. Though I have only been in the field of journalism for two months, I can already see why he was a bit worried. Currently, I am still living at home, which has its advantages, but I have been searching for apartments in DC for about a month and a half now.While I have not found a place yet, I have already accepted that I am not going to be able to save nearly as much this year as I would have liked. A large percentage of my paycheck will be going to rent, food and other bills, leaving very little left for savings, let alone "fun money." The lesson I am learning from this is that I am going to need to get creative and "maximize my interests" if I want to be able to have that extra bit of wiggle room financially.

Luckily, journalists have quite a few options when it comes to making side incomes. I have chosen to pursue two of these paths: freelancing and photography. A few months ago a good friend of mine, Alison Fallecker, introduced me to a financial magazine called Brass that is dedicated to helping young adults better understand finances and is written entirely by young adults. I applied to begin freelancing for the company and had my first article published in the magazine a few days ago:  Conning The Con Men: Be a savvy consumer and avoid the scam It was a pretty great feeling when I received that first pay check. It was the first time that I really felt like a real writer! I have also agreed to freelance for a new local online publication called Patch, that is run by my childhood friend, Lauren Jost, and will be officially launching on August 20th. Check back for the site address in a couple weeks. My first two assignments for Patch could not be more perfect for me! I will be writing a story recapping our minor league baseball team's season! If you didn't know already, I am a major baseball nut and I have been going to games at this minor league stadium since I was old enough to talk. I am probably way more excited than I should be about interviewing the coaches and players of this team, but I accepted long ago that when it comes to baseball, I am a little nutty. My second story will be a recap of the summer swim seasons of our local teams. Again, perfection, considering I was a competitive swimmer my entire life and spent 13 summers swimming for my local team. The Westridge Waves.

As of late photography has become one of my favorite pastimes. While I am definitely a beginner and still have a lot to learn, I think my first attempts at photography have shown that I have somewhat of a talent. I am really hoping to take a class at George Mason so that I can start to study this new interest. I am also lucky to have several close friends who are wonderful photographers that I can learn from, including my best roomie and my cousin. I absolutely love looking at both their photos and learning from them by studying the kinds of moments they choose to capture. My best friend recently got married and was kind enough to let me practice photography by taking her engagement pictures. They are by no means fantastic, but she was pleased with how they turned out, and that was all I cared about. It was such a joy being able to contribute something to my best friend's big day! I am going to continue practicing and building my portfolio by offering to take free pictures of friends and families special moments and I can't wait to see how the journey unfolds!

Charles and Tashina Harris, engagement shots