Freelancing again

In the past couple of months, I had come to conclusion that my freelance fact-checking gig, which I've had since the summer of 2005, had come to an end. It's been a few months since I've gotten any assignments, and I'd heard word that the magazine was cutting back, with fact-checkers among the first to go (they were still fact-checking their articles, of course, but they were getting in-house editors to do it instead of outsourcing to freelancers). I was saddened to hear this, since I enjoy the work as well as the money -- the magazine is bi-monthly, and I usually make around $200 per issue (which I immediately deposit into my savings, of course).

I've looked around for other freelance opportunities with no luck, which is to be expected in the economic situation we're in here. But, today I received an email from my contact at the magazine asking me to check a short piece by Friday. It'll probably only take a couple of hours, but I'm hoping things are picking up and she'll continue to send me stories over the next few months. It would be nice to have the extra money coming in, especially at this time of year when budgeting seems futile.