Making the Move to a Newbie

["Lynn Rye" <Lmrye2 -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

I am one course away from retraining myself for a career change. I have a 
degree I have not used and am taking courses in technical writing through 
the local community college. I have been handling  writing assignments for 
several years and I wanted to legitmize my skills.

For an Independent Study class this summer, I had to get some practical 
"real world" experience. My employer was thrilled to have my talents 
available to them. They had me revamp their hourly and salaried employee 
handbooks from legal-eze to a more pesonalized "warm-fuzzy" (as the HR 
Director put it) version to let the new employee know they were wanted.

The course has been completed, they were thrilled with my work, and I got 
an "A" for the course. Now I am in the process of trying to make the move 
from Administrative Assistant to Technical Writer. I have idenitfied 
several departments who really want to use me as a writer. A request has 
been made for me to work on an environmental procedures handbook and saftey 
procedures, WHILE I continue to work in my current position. (Don't get me 
wrong, I am not complaining--- I have finally found something I love to do, 
and I feel this is a good chance for me to "show my stuff" and move into a 
writer position, I am willing to bide my time until they see I am needed in 
a full-time capacity as a Technical Writer.

My question is, when it comes to the "money" question, does any one have a 
suggestion for me to propose for my compensation?  Would it be better to 
track my hours since I will continue to work in my current position? And if 
I DO track my hours, how much per hour should I try to negotiate for?