Cat's Corner of Montana

In case you are not aware, I make my living as a full-time freelance writer and artist. I am almost always accepting new projects and definitely always open to building long-term relationships with new clients. Please feel free to e-mail me any time with proposals, questions, or requests for more information on my services.

Areas of Special Expertise: Food, wine, art, astrology, history, animal medicine/pet care, health/fitness, travel, and education.

As a writer, I am extremely flexible. I can write coherently and convincingly on any topic. I am also a very thorough and diligent researcher so you can be sure that facts will be checked and re-checked multiple times before I dub a project "finished and accurate". I take great pride in my writing and in delivering the very best to my customers in a prompt and professional manner and at reasonable rates.

I am comfortable with and equipped to handle any kind of writing related job from copywriting, to creative writing, to poetry, to informative articles with or without SEO. I am also very well-versed in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, so I make an excellent editor. Relevant samples of both my informative and creative writing are available upon request.

As far as my rates go, I usually charge approximately $15-25 an hour for my time for work-by-the-hour type projects depending on what type of project is involved. For individual articles, I usually charge about $10-20 dollars per 500-750 word article depending on how much work the project covers, how difficult the articles will be to write, and how many revisions the client wants to reserve the right to ask for. Longer articles, or articles that require unusually extensive or time-consuming research would cost slightly more. However, I am willing to discuss your project further with you and negotiate.

For most general projects -- article writing, editing tasks, and so forth -- payment upon completion of the job and customer approval of the work done is perfectly fine. However, for tasks of a longer or ongoing duration over a number of weeks or months, I would require periodic payments made on a schedule that we can work out beforehand to the convenience of us both. If I have never worked with you before, I will very likely also require you to pay a portion of the fee up front as a show of good faith.

Areas of Special Expertise: Fantasy, surrealism, portraits, landscapes, and astrology/tarot related imagery.

I am also a professional artist. I specialize in digital mixed media art with a focus on fantasy, gothic, or fairy-tale related imagery. However, I am willing and able to illustrate any type of subject matter you like. I have been creating, marketing, and selling my own personal art for many years, as well as taking on commissions and private projects for clients.

I work in Photoshop CS2 and definitely know my way around the program. My work is digital mixed media. It combines resources such as stock photos with photomanipulation techniques and digital paintwork to create original and unique images. I also can produce detailed drawings or sketches in graphite if you prefer.

The fee charged for individual projects varies widely from project to project, so feel free to contact me with an overview of what you need done and I'll be happy to provide you with an estimate in regards to both cost and turnaround time.

If you wish to use one of my existing images for a project of your own -- whether it's commercial, non-profit, or personal -- you must pay me a licensing fee. Some commercial projects you may want to license an image for may include, but are not limited to, book covers, CD designs, web templates, or clothing design. Non-commercial projects you may want to license images for include avatars for forums, personal stationery, or My Space layouts. (Yes, you are required to pay for such things. Due to personal reasons, I no longer grant free permissions for use of my work in anything regardless of what it's for.)

As with other types of projects, the amount charged is completely dependent on the project itself, so please e-mail me with more information and I will be able to give you a quote, as well as answer any further questions you might have. Any and all licensing fees must be paid up front before any permissions will be granted or necessary files sent. No exceptions.

Business clients interested in custom fine art portraits or landscapes must be able to provide me with clear, high-res photographs to work from. Those interested in scenes similar to the ones in my portfolio may either provide me with stock photos they would like me to utilize or, if the scope of the project deems it necessary, provide me with a budget up front so that I can purchase the ones I need to complete the piece. I will be able to tell you whether or not that's required for your project once I have more information about it.

When it comes to fine art projects done for business or publication purposes, I will sometimes give the client an option in regards to copyright. Most clients prefer an exclusive copyright, meaning they own all rights to the work upon completion. This is perfectly fine with me. I also sometimes offer the option of sharing copyright with me at a discount if the work in question seems like something I might want to be able to show in my online gallery or offer as prints to people who follow my work. The choice is completely up to the customer and either is fine with me. Feel free to ask me more questions about this if you have them.

As far as payment goes, unless I have worked with you before, I will require you to pay half of the quoted service fee up front before any work is begun. The second half will be billed upon your approval of the final work. Once that is payed, your finished work will be handed over to you. If you are a regular with which I have already built a strong working relationship, we may possibly be able to work something else out at some point.

If you want an individual set of custom pieces for personal purposes, for instance to display in your home or give as a gift, neither exclusive nor shared copyright options are available. You will not have the right to reproduce or reuse my work without my permission and payment of a licensing fee. I retain the complete copyright to my own work whether it was done especially for you or not. If you want or require an alternative copyright agreement, you must make this clear to me at the time you contact me about your project.

Please note that the commission fee I quote you does not include prints, mugs, or any other products you may want printed with the image. It covers completion of the work only. If you want me to produce and ship a physical print for you, I will allow you to do this one time only at cost plus shipping upon completion of the project, meaning I will order it from you from my personal print service at the wholesale price I would pay if I were ordering something for myself. I only expect you to reimburse me.

Payment conditions are as follows. Upon the both of us agreeing on a price, a turnaround time, and a scope for the project, I will bill you for half of the commission fee quoted up front via Paypal. Once you pay that, I will begin work. The second half of the commission fee will be billed upon completion of the work to your satisfaction, along with the cost of any prints or products you may have requested. Once I receive payment for that, your finished work will be handed over to you and any requested products will be ordered and shipped.

-- WRITING RELATED --

- Article Writing
- Copywriting
- Editing
- Blogging
- Creative Writing (Both Poetry and Prose)
- Web Content Production
- Ghostwriting
- Travel Writing
- Business Writing
- Ebooks

--ART RELATED--

- Fine Art Portraits/Scenes
- Graphite Drawings/Sketches
- Illustration
- Photomanipulation
- Digital Photo Retouching
- Digital Photo Restoration

If there is a something you would like me to do for you that you don't see listed here, you are more than welcome to e-mail me with more information and I will let you know as soon as I receive your message. I'm always open to suggestions and special requests.

And now the fine print. It's not that I don't consider myself to be extremely lucky to be able to do what I do for a living, but any client/provider relationship is a two-way street on which I need you to meet me halfway.

• Please do not expect me to offer you my services either for free or at dirt-cheap prices. I'm not a fry cook or a cashier. I'm a professional artist and writer who is very good at what she does, so I expect to be paid more than minimum wage or below for my time.

• Pay me promptly upon completion of work I do for you. This isn't something I do for fun or on the side. Art and writing are how I make my full-time living and I depend on the money I pull in from my freelance jobs to actually pay my bills. When you don't pay me on time, it causes me hardship -- especially if money is tight at the time. Should you decide not to pay me at all, rest assured that I will turn you in to a collection agency or even sue you for the money, so please just save us a lot of trouble and pay me properly.

• Please be straightforward and up front with me at all times. If something is not working for you in regards to pricing, time frame, or work done, you need to tell me and ask for what you want so that we can reach an understanding. I'm always happy to negotiate or compromise with my clients and reach terms that we both feel are fair.