Caution: change is coming.

It’s been almost two years since I launched WordCount: Freelancing in the Digital Age as a way to get back into the writing business after an extended break, get myself up to speed on changes in the media industry, and continue a passion for writing on a weekly or biweekly basis I’ve held since the time I worked as a newspaper tech columnist.

A lot’s happened in the past 20 months. The start of this blog coincided with the biggest upheaval the media businesses has seen in my lifetime (and I’m no spring chicken), thanks to the twin whammies of the Internet and the recession. Those changes have wreaked havoc on newspaper and magazine advertising and employment. More to the point of this blog, it’s pulled the rug out from under independent writers who aspire to work for them. Old markets are drying up, and new ones emerging.

As my favorite TV character says, change isn’t good or bad. It just is (thanks Don).

So just as freelancers have to change to keep up with the times, WordCount does too. In short order, expect to see a new look here as well as some revamped content and other additions.

What I won’t be changing is my exploration of what it means to be a journalist and independent writer today.

When I started out, I thought of blogging as a solitary experience. It isn’t. Good blogs are like good conversations – stimulating, provocative – and two-sided. That lesson hit home recently in the very lively debates that have happened here over content sites and the rates they pay.

Since I value the WordCount community – including everyone who visits here and leaves comments, as well as my freelance tribes and my blogathon buddies – I’d love to hear what topics you’d like to see covered in coming months. Let me know by taking a minute to fill out this quick poll. Your reward – a preview of the new WordCount logo.

I’m coming out from behind the computer screen for a couple speaking engagements in coming weeks and thought it’d be fun to share what I’m doing. I put up a new page called Live & In Person; it’s there near the top of the column at the right side of the blog. Use it to keep tabs on my whereabouts. If you’re bound for the same seminar, conference or convention, let me know – I love meeting fellow freelancers and other WordCount readers in person.

Hello 2009! New Year’s Day marked WordCount’s first anniversary.  Last year was good for both of us and I’m can’t wait to see what happens in 2009.

Before then, here’s a look back at the top WordCount posts of 2008, based on the total number of page views.

Some interesting things about the most popular posts: a few of them got lots of traffic because Google searches caught the images I’d included, such as the post on Tina Brown launching The Daily Beast and a post on my trip to New York City to visit editors that I paired with an image of the Manhattan skyline.

Other popular blog posts covered areas near and dear to freelancers figuring out how they need to change their businesses or skills to keep up with the times. Here’s a baker’s dozen of the best:

Best blogs for writers – Far and away my most popular blog post ever. Stay tuned for an update in February.

Tina Brown to head ONA September conference – When it comes to page views, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

I’m in a New York State of mind – Another popular picture.

Asking the hard question – top 10 interview tips – A version of this post appeared in The New Writer’s Handbook 2008, published by Scarletta Press in August.

What freelancers should know about SEO – A lot, as it turns out.

10 ways to promote your freelance writing – List posts are always popular, and this one was no exception.

Promote yourself through your email signature – Some writers have turned the humble email sig into an art form.

Freelancers’ strategies for prospering in bad times – Good advise from writers of all backgrounds.

Paging Dr. Sawaya, Milton is hip again – I’d like to think this paean to a favorite college professor was popular because it was so well written but I think the traffic had more to do with the picture of an old copy of “Paradise Lost” I included.

Guest post: Going freelance in a down economy – The Urban Muse blogger Susan Johnston weighs in on what led to her decision to leave a full-time job and why she’s never been happier.

10 top Web tools for freelancers – Google News Alerts, Delicious and a whole lot more.

Avoiding data disasters – Links to a story I wrote with a great photo of a really old mainframe computer.

How writers can use LinkedIn, Part 1 – LinkedIn transformed my business and this helps explain why.

Portland gets white just in time for Christmas

WordCount is busy celebrating the season and playing in the snow. Beginning  Monday, Dec. 29, I’ll spend a week rerunning some of the year’s most popular posts on freelancing, digital media and the news business. Until then, Merry Christmas!

This month marks the first anniversary of re-launching my freelance writing career – and what a difference a year makes.

In the past 12 months, I’ve written for close to a dozen magazines and Websites, reconnected with former colleagues I hadn’t talked to in years, discovered LinkedIn and Facebook, started this blog, joined a writer’s group, went to New York to visit editors, sold a blog post to a writer’s anthology, and met up with a handful of fellow freelancers in their travels here to Portland. And those are just the highlights.

I had taken off the better part of seven years to help raise my family, so the thought of re-establishing my professional career was more than a little daunting.

During my time away, thought, I never completely stopped writing. I wrote and produced auction catalogs for my kids’ school fundraisers. I wrote weekly newsletters for schools, sports teams and other groups. I also taught a graduate-level journalism class for a semester, served as communications committee chair for a non-profit group, helped family and friends with writing and editing projects, and even wrote a few obituaries.

None of it was as intellectually challenging as the paid work I was used to. But it kept the old brain cells from atrophying completely. And I bring it up as a way of pointing out that, if you need to take time off for family or other reasons, there are ways to do it and at least keep the pilot lit on your writing.

Now that I’m back, it feels like I never left. Bad economy or not, here’s the the next 12 months.

Change is in the wind. It’s a new season, we’re about to get a new president, and it’s time for WordCount to get a face lift.

Starting this week, I’ve switched to a cleaner, more traditional design with black type on a white background. It’s got a newspaper feel to it that should make it easier to read. For those of you who read WordCount via your RSS feed, check it out at michellerafter.wordpress.com. The design is based on WordPress’ Journalist v1.9 theme, which debuted recently.

I’ve also added a paged called About WordCount to explain the mission of the blog, and made a few other changes.

If you like WordPress, you’ll be interested in hearing that Automattic is getting ready to launch a new version of the popular blogging software. The expected release date is Nov. 10. According to Lorelle on WordPress, expect to see a new Administration panel interface, Comments panel overhaul and lots more.

Here in Portland, WordPress users are gathering to celebrate the event. The organizers of the recent WordCamp Portland conference are holding a WordPress 2.7 release party on Nov. 10 at Cubespace, the shared workspace on S.E. Grand. Read more about the event here.

On Thursday when I got the Industry Standard’s weekly e-newsletter, which always runs 1 or 2 predictions at the very top of its other news stories, and read their guess that the Dow would fall below 9,000 this month I thought “No way.”

Then it happened. That very day. For the first time since 2003.

I am finally and officially worried.

And if I’m worried, I have to assume a lot of other self-employed writers are too.

So I put together the WordCount Bad Economy Emergency Survival Kit. In it you’ll find a hit parade of WordCount blog posts about what writers can do to ride out bad times. It includes some of the most popular posts I’ve written this year, based on the number of page views received.

Happy reading. Here’s hoping the market recovers next week.

Freelancers’ strategies for prospering in bad times - Suggestions from a variety of freelancers about steps they’re taking to strengthen their businesses this year.

Going freelance in a down economy – Susan Johnston’s choice to leave a full-time job to work for herself coincided with the start of the current down turn. Read how and why she did it in this guest post from the author of the popular Urban Muse blog.

Marketing your freelance business in bad times – Advice from a marketing expert and assistant professor of business at Oregon State University about what self-employed writers can do to promote their services.

Bad times are good for new media’s business news writers – While more newspapers are trimming their business sections, business news Websites are popping up all over the place, giving freelancers who cover business more places to pitch.

10 things freelancers can do to save money in a bad economy – Although I just wrote it this week, this post on simple things you can do to cut costs and save money is already proving popular – and has elicited some great comments.

10 things writers can do right now to feel better about the economy – More advice, this time on simple activities like updating your resume, joining social networks and calling editors, that could boost your sales.

Taking my own advice on beating bad times – How I’m practicing what I preach.