It hit me about a year ago, starting with little clues and whispers and ending with a great, big bang. The recession had slammed educational publishing, and was wiping the floor with freelancers like me.

I was wrapping up three projects, all from major, longstanding clients, when emails from colleagues began landing in my inbox:

"Hey Becky, it's Lisa. Do you think the recession is affecting the textbook industry? Because I haven't had work in over a month. No calls, nothing. Hope it's just a cyclical downturn. Call me!"

 "Hi Becky. Gee, I don't think we've worked together since those Harcourt Leveled Readers. Do you have any project leads? I'd really appreciate your help, because I'm not hearing anything. It's sort of scary."

Denial filed these inklings in the back drawer of my brain cabinet. I had deadlines to make, a daughter to coax through the final months of Senior Year, and a sadness to mask about her impending departure. Things changed when, two weeks later, I began sending out the customary queries:

 "Dear Sue: Loved working with you on those novel study guides. I've just finished up a few projects and am looking for work in April and beyond. Do you have any assignments either now or in the near future?"

First to respond was one of my major publishing clients. This company had provided more than half my annual income for the past three years.

"Dear Becky: We will be handling all of our writing and editing needs in-house this year. Therefore, I do not foresee any future freelance assignments. Best of luck!"

 Each new response carried similar news. Some clients didn't even bother to write back. Then the grapevine lit up with a stomach-twisting item: Two "developers"—outsourcers contracted by publishers to create most of their products—had gone bankrupt. Besides wiping two clients off my list, these casualties sent scores of in-house editors onto the streets to compete with us freelancers for a slice of the practically nonexistent pie.

Mentally, I flipped through my finances. This took all of thirty seconds. Even when juggling multiple projects,  the best I could do was tread water. As the sole provider of a two-child household in Brookline, Massachusetts, 50 to 60 hour workweeks never provided enough. I owned no property, had no savings, and was behind on my taxes. Without another project—and soon—my bank account would read Empty in about six weeks. That's when my thoughts turned to unemployment insurance.

Even though I've worked hard for the past ten years, I had a feeling help would not be forthcoming. And it took just a couple of clicks on mass.gov's Division of Unemployment Assistance page to confirm that I was, indeed, out of luck. Not that luck had anything to do with it. The fact is, I, like most private contractors, wasn't considered a "traditional" employee.  Employers who hire freelancers don't have to kick in the required 7.5% per employee Social Security payment. (Meaning we have to pay the entire 15% ourselves.) Nor do our clients have to shell out the fee that, when matched by the government, becomes the benefit that keeps workers afloat during layoffs.

Still, I couldn't believe it. Could it be that I really had no safety net? And, weren't there millions of other telecommuting, private-contracting souls like me out there? What were they all doing? And, come to think of it, just how many of us were there? My first search led me to the NYC-based Freelancers Union, which recently updated its 2005 report on "independent workers." Here are some sobering facts from their survey, "Independent, Innovative, and Unprotected":

• Freelancers comprise one-third of America's modern workforce. These 42 million people are not counted in federal unemployment statistics.

• Despite the trend toward a "flexible, temporary workforce," the social safety net that was structured to support "full-time W2 employees" hasn't evolved to meet 21st-century needs.

• During the recession, 81% of independent workers have suffered joblessness or underemployment—without access to aid.

Over the past year, I've discovered quite a bit more. I've researched relevant laws in various states, spoken to state and federal officials, and studied the few actions that have been proposed to help freelancers. I've also interviewed a variety of independent workers and drawn several conclusions about why people risk going it alone. In the weeks to come, I'll be writing more about this topic.

Yeah, about that . . . I find it particularly frustrating that Congress and the media have paid almost no attention to this subject. Finally last week, The Huffington Post published an article by Arthur Delaney called, "New Deal Safety Net Not Catching Today's Middle Class." And last month, Business Week, in "America's Backdoor Layoffs," noted corporations' trend toward increasing the use of this shifting workforce.

Still, Ed Schultz isn't yelling about it, and the freelancers' plight has yet to hit Keith Olbermann's Special Comment radar. So, I remain astonished at the void that has prompted me to begin writing about this issue. And, as an unemployed freelancer who has taken to selling her possessions on craigslist, I sure wish that someone would pay me to do it.