In my spare time, such as it may be, I've been working on my claim for the class action settlement. Here's the deal. In March, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, The National Writers Union, and the Authors Guild won an $18 million class-action settlement for freelance writers whose works had been sold to electronic databases without their consent.

If you wrote something after 1977, if you did not sign away the electronic rights, and if it appears in one of the databases operated by the defendants, you may be eligible for some money. If you registered your copyright with the Library of Congress, you may be eligible for even more.

To see the lists of publications involved and if you qualify, go to the Copyright Class Action site. Your first deadline is July 15, so get cracking!