When the less fun practicalities of writing for food rear their heads.
“Surprisingly freelance life management wasn’t ever covered in my Art History of the Northern Renaissance class.”
“See, if we’re talking about the usefulness of our university coursework, I can tell you I definitely utilize my saxophone-performance-with-secondary-study-in-ballet-performance EVERY day. You should have been more practical when choosing your major, like I was.”
– C. and Katarina
When one of us is writing a YA novel and the other is bad at sympathy.
“So, I have put off revising (or completely rewriting) my synopsis for [name of project redacted to protect the author], but in order to query the next few agencies on my list I need to have it. And I SERIOUSLY am hitting a wall here. Everything sounds incredibly dumb when boiled down to two pages in the third person.”
“Boiling down the theory of the multiverse, the best way someone ever explained it to me was to compare it to either bread slices or Swiss cheese. But that doesn’t make it dumb!”
– Katarina and C.
“I’m leaving because the weather is too good. I hate London when it’s not raining.”
-Groucho Marx
This week has turned things around in a big way and much has been done, all of it . I had another cowork day with Alanna (who might soon be upping sticks on an adventure of her own), completed lots of freelance work, went to a book launch (more on that later) and had an impromptu date night with Jeff. All things considered, that’s a banner week. Here are your links, kittens – short and dirty this week, so do link anything else worth knowing in the comments. For the benefit of the minion coterie, you understand!
I’ve only got six (!) working days left at the Franklin House, so there’s been a lot of gearing up for the Next Big Thing here at Small Dog headquaters, which of course includes a new round of pitches to editors. Here’s my confession: pitching irrationally terrifies me. It’s not at all as scary as my brain builds it up to be, which I understand intellectually, and I’ve got some new recent and impressive clips now to help me out, but still. Scary. Which is why this kick-in-the-pants post from Linda Formichelli was quite timely!
Another timely read from Garance.
One dad has made some artwork based on the crazy things he has said because of his children, and some of them are pretty giggle worthy. Parents, weigh in. Accurate or not?
I’m a little bit in love with these animal pun illustrations for cards, etc.
My inner five year old is thrilled, a new gigantic dinosaur fossil has been unearthed in Argentina and to dates it’s the largest dinosaur ever discovered.
Pineapple earrings. Which might be necessary to my happiness, as my birthday is just over a week away…
As a person with a hard won and complex relationship with faith and spirituality, I found this short Buzzfeed piece written by a young woman who has lost hers interesting.
Janssen’s Summer 2014 Tell Me What To Read list has begun over at Everyday Reading. I love her reviews and she influences my own To Read list heavily, but her comment threads are also excellent places to pick up recommendations.
“There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear — the city of London and the South Seas.”
-Herman Melville
This has been one of those weeks that mixes fantastic highs with crippling self-doubt. Imposter syndrome is alive, well, and living in London, my friends. But enough with the first world problems, they’re nothing hard work and gumption won’t cure, on to links. They’re all quick and dirty this week. Share anything worth knowing in the comments and let me know what you’re getting up to this weekend.
(Feeling rather like the goose!)
Pantone before there was Pantone. By which I mean the 17th century.
My love for the blogging pair Tom and Lorenzo is well documented, so I loved this interview with them in Bitch Magazine.
I would play the heck out of this. House rules, you cannot ask questions about physical appearance. Terrible life choices, House allegiances, potential terrible fates only.
This new cartoon find amuses me greatly: (mostly) conversations betwixt inner organs and body parts, without being nearly as gross as it sounds. For example, the irritable bowel is…irritable.
A photography project to make you smile.
Either everything is a conspiracy or nothing has meaning. You decide.
Nate Silver, a quantifiably intelligent guy, has some interesting thoughts and data on the 2014 election. Vote, people, you lose your right to complain otherwise.
Sick of Buzzfeed quizzes? Here’s a new, kind of trippy alternative one h/t of Katarina, and it nailed us both.
Paging all book loving minions – which is the vast majority of you, let’s be honest. I’m a bit in love with this little boutique collection. Someone with an iPhone get that cover so I can live vicariously and enthuse about your purchase with you.
“The greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.”
“I was a little excited but mostly blorft. “Blorft” is an adjective I just made up that means ‘Completely overwhelmed but proceeding as if everything is fine and reacting to the stress with the torpor of a possum.’ I have been blorft every day for the past seven years.”
― Tina Fey, Bossypants
The last few months have been one of the happiest and most positively productive periods of my life, but it’s also been one of the most stressful. A move to another continent, even one that you’re excited for, is not easy to organize or manage. Setting up a household in a new country is expensive. Pursuing your life’s ambition is incredible, but it can also be exhausting. And finances? Well, those are tightly managed. Times are tough out there for writers and anyone who says differently is lying.
Lately I’ve been so driven to follow as many opportunities as possible that I’ve felt unable to say “no,” even to things that perhaps I should have. Not just because of a genuine enthusiasm for new opps, but occasionally because of a genuine (and somewhat well founded) fear that if I do, an opportunity won’t come around again. But in spite of the triumphs, of which I’m lucky to have found so many, I’m starting to feel a bit depleted and stress is taking a very real toll on my health. Even if it’s for a job or in a field you love, doing work without pay is grueling, on the soul as well as the body. And spending time working on those projects has the very real potential to impact my freelancing work negatively – no one’s at the top of their game when chronically sleep deprived.
But on top of all this, I have a confession: I can be bad, as in really terrible, at self care in times of stress. The first thing to go are exercise and a balanced diet, followed quickly by wise time management and regular sleep. Add to that a shot of self-medicating with too much sugar and a chaser of self-flagellation when I feel even the merest whisper of overwhelm. Freelancers should know better than anyone than busyness in no way correlates to success, and yet I fear I’ve fallen into that trap a bit.
It’s not just unhealthy, it’s the textbook definition of unsustainable. So I’m putting out the call for help. I need some advice for self care best practices as I fight to “make it,” as the kids say in the Big City. What negative effects do stress have on you, and what are some of the best ways you’ve found to keep yourself healthy when you’ve stretched yourself?
“I like the spirit of this great London which I feel around me. Who but a coward would pass his whole life in hamlets; and for ever abandon his faculties to the eating rust of obscurity?”
-Charlotte Brontë
Alas, my (truly excellent) work experience ends today, but it’s been an incredible run. I’ve been very lucky in that it’s been a hectic week and the writers and editors I worked with gave me a lot of assignments and opportunities to help out. I’ve written lots of different kinds of copy and interviewed some really interesting people on some equally interesting pieces. Plus I asked the editor about pitching pieces for her in the future and she told me to go right ahead and stay in regular contact. I’ve been on a high all week.
Now, how can I turn this into a regular job somewhere? Any British weekly publications (which are fun to work on in a completely different way than monthlies, and I’ve found it slightly addictive) need a plucky junior features writer?
While I scheme along those lines, here’s an extra long list of links for you to enjoy this weekend. As always, minions are encouraged to weigh in in the comments and link to other worthy of notice and note. Have a good weekend, and let me know what you’re getting up to!
Playing this (admittedly charming) game for real.
I unabashedly adored the Little House books as a child, but yikes! I’ve known for years that they walk the blurred, heavily edited line of fiction and nonfiction, but some pretty serious stuff was ruthlessly cut by Wilder’s daughter, who was the driving force in getting the stories written. I confess, I’d love to read the unedited manuscripts and get another POV of pioneer and prairie life.
The science behind clickbait. More interesting than you’d think. (See what I did there?)
Answering the age old question, or at least the one much of the Western press has been asking since Prince George was taken on his first tour and his baby cheeks became a meme.
Worth reading and considering, is irony ruining our culture?
Great and interesting piece on the importance of storytelling and narrative!
I’ve worked on a crowd funding campaign for a freelance client that was a really great and interesting project with a lot of future work planned, but it’s opened my eyes a lot to what that sort of funding can do. This fashion line, for instance, is making some waves and I think it might be an interesting way to open it and other traditionally closed and hard to break into industries in new ways.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that I know a lot of amazingly talented writers. I first met Ellie when our plays were being produced by Theatre Virginia as teenagers, she now works for Marvel comics and just released her second novel via ebook. Go check it out!
Leila, yet another awesome writer friend (of the sci-fi/fantasy variety) posted this useful guide the vernacularly fraught world of “yeah” and associates.
3D printing is a mesmerizing, weird, cool, intimidating (hi, guy who printed a gun), and totally innovative technology, but I think this 3D printing pen might be the most interesting design tool I’ve seen all month.
I’ve decided that being like Baroness Trumpington in my old age would be a worthy goal. I also want to read her new memoir.
The recent lawsuit surrounding AirBnB is sort of strange to me. Thoughts? Everybody I know sings its praises. Thoughts?
I found this art project interesting (and the link the rest of the artist’s work is well worth following).
Though I thought the now-famed Atlantic Piece, The Confidence Gap addressed some good points, I think this response, filled with suggestions, is pretty much spot on.
Emma Stone is my girlcrush of the week for this performance alone. (Confession, she is frequently my girlcrush for lots of reasons, not the least of which because she seems down right hilarious.)
Oh, Idaho. Having lived nearby I can totally see this happening.
Speaking of crushes, I’m personally and politically loving this initiative and PSA against sexual assault. Victim blaming, check. Speaking up when you see something wrong, check. Consent, check.
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
― Louis L’Amour
I just realized the other day that I was coming up on the first anniversary of going into full time freelance work and so I thought we needed to mark the occasion. One year ago today was my last working full time at the police department. I have no idea where the time has gone, it’s been such an intense year and a half of change that the months have flown by. Time for some recap and reflection!
In January of 2013, an offer of virtual assisting work (combined with training and invaluable mentoring) with friend and Friend of the Blog, Caitlin Kelly was my first chance at freelance work – look out for a couple of hopefully upcoming pieces about this on other sites! This led to other VA work, which led to content production work, which is (slowly but surely) leading to pitch work. Currently I’m working with authors, two entrepreneurial start-ups, and am subcontracted through other freelancers with multiple businesses. My writing is starting to appear on some external sites as well as I’ve learned how to pitch publications and organizations better.
I love freelance work, I love writing, and there are times I have to pinch myself to be convinced that it all isn’t a dream, joke, or prank. It’s been an uphill battle at times, but looking back, I’m really proud of where I’ve been able to get in 15 months.
I admit, sometimes there are days when I still manage to feel totally bogged down or even despondent. Student loans are still a worry, we have to budget things tightly, and there have been plenty of late nights where I’ve tried to put in as much work as possible in order to make ends meet. As I type this I’m nursing a semi-sore throat from one too many past-midnight work sessions since one of my major clients was on vacation last week and had turned over the majority of her content commitments to me to manage, in conjunction with the design team. An exciting (though thankfully temporary) jump in responsibilities that gave me a lot of good experience, but it certainly upped some of my stress levels.
And yet, in spite of financial or other worries, when I emerge from my work fog or To Do lists and look up, I’m unbelievably grateful – and totally overwhelmed by how much change a year and half has brought. I got what so many people needed: an opportunity to try and learn and attempt the kind of work I wanted. A foot in the door. And it has made all the difference. A year ago, I never would have guessed I’d be working, however temporarily, in a major magazine office today.
I was talking to an old schoolmate the other day. Back in middle school we both toted notebooks around (a la Harriet the Spy) which we filled and replaced regularly with day-to-day observations, ideas, whole short stories and – very bad – poetry. We read and critiqued one others work, encouraged each other, and both dreamed of the day when we would make our living by our pens.
Fifteen years later, we’re doing it. She works for a major cultural heritage institution drafting all kinds of content, from letters to grant proposals…and is querying her first novel. I write website copy, social media campaigns, research summations…and my articles, both personal and professional, are being seriously considered and published. It’s not at all what we thought our lives would look like at 13 years old. I think it’s better.
Today’s notebook, the inheritor of teenage ambition. A bit battered, but still stuffed full of ideas and goals – though sans bad poetry.
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
― Stephen King
As you might have read or heard , I’m doing another magazine work experience this week. I scribble this to you, well beloved minions, from the offices of LOOK magazine (nestled in between Women and Home, and InStyle). I’m conducting an interview for a potential feature later today and have the the Shard for a view directly to my left.
By damn kittens, there are days I feel like I’m going to make it.
(Followed, inevitably by a long dark night of the soul and a crushing fear of failure, but golly the highs make it all worth it!)
“Friendship,” said Christopher Robin, “is a very comforting thing to have.”
― A.A. Milne
In a typical work environment you’re thrown in together and meeting new people all the time. You’re making friends (or not making friends, as it happens) with all sorts, tackling projects, exchanging information and swapping ideas. When you work from home, that rapport simply doesn’t work the same way and if that sort of connection is important to you, it’s largely up to you to find ways of creating it.
Freelancing for me, based on the nature of the majority of the sort of tasks I do, is largely a one-person show. I don’t mind this exactly, I’m a nice mix of introvert and extrovert who is perfectly capable of amusing and entertaining herself, or going out and enjoying the crowds. But I’ve found that long term, the solitary nature of my work affects me in interesting ways that I have to be proactive about noticing and correcting.
One of the reasons I decided to seek some volunteer work, apart from experience in a field I love and hope to support in some capacity in one way or another for the rest of my life, was that I was realized I was becoming emotionally and verbally out of touch. Six months into living in London, I was working from home six days a week and doing the bulk of my communicating via email. 99% of my conversations were happening with my husband – who is a great person to talk to, I stress lest you think otherwise – and I was noticing that in a very real way, I was losing the skill of being able to meet and connect with new people. In short I was becoming awkward. Not awkward in they shy and retiring way, awkward in, “Oh hi, so nice to meet you, let’s be friends immediately!” hyper way that instantly throws many off. With some people, such enthusiasm can be cute. I am not one of them…
Luckily, working at the museum is staggeringly fun. Not only am I feeling re-socialized, I’ve also been introduced to a number of publications I’m considering pitching. Most importantly, I’ve made some lovely new friends (like Georgina – another up and coming novelist and all around whip smart girl who I genuinely adore. We bonded over classics and Roman history, which is always a stable foundation for buddy-hood). Having friends, whom I not married to an interact with in places other than my flat, has been tremendously important in keeping my life happy and balanced.
Speaking of, another thing that’s been interesting to recognize is how much inspiration comes from other people. “Duh, C., you idiot,” I hear you say. But I’m not just talking about big ideas and big inspiration, I’m talking about the often small things that jumpstart you and keep you motivated as a person.
I met Alanna at a networking event a couple of months ago and I instantly thought she was one of the neatest people I’ve come across in a long time. She runs a consulting service that specifically works with social innovation, women’s development, and international development. We’ve started co-working together about once a month, and I always look forward to it because it’s easily one of my most productive days in that week. Just being around another person engaged in solid, innovative work is inspiring in and of itself and having another person in the room helps keep me accountable and not goofing off. Not only that, we’re able to swap ideas. Last time we worked together I helped her develop possible pitches to different publications about one of her upcoming projects and she introduced me to a number of sites and online tools that have made her life as a freelancer easier and more productive. Oh, and that swanky new blog logo I’m enjoying? She whipped that up in five minutes just for fun, without my even asking, just because she said she needed something creative to do as a break!
Simply being around people who succeed at freelancing, entrepreneurship, writing, blogging, design work, or just learning new skills personally gives me a tremendous boost of confidence. Seeing others succeed encourages me to think that I can too, in a way that I don’t always feel slumped over my desk grudgingly at one in the morning.
Another example. The other week Andrea and I finally got the chance to meet up (she’s been in Morocco, I’ve been in Paris – I know, our lives are such a trial, right?) for a long overdue hangout. We took in a free photographer’s gallery and then spent a couple of hours sipping tea and swapping stories and our experiences with freelancing and expat life. It’s amazingly relieving to hear that, even though your work might be solitary, your personal problems definitely aren’t unique! Not only that, about every ten minutes one of us said to the other, “That’s a really interesting story, you should pitch that.” Just by chatting and enjoying one others company we were coming up with really great ideas left and right, I came home and scribbled down half a dozen. I can’t wait to go on another girl date with her, not just because she is everything hilarious, delightful and interesting, but seeing her work ethic really gave a boost to my own.
I always believed that people are important to me, personally and professionally. I just never realized how much until this first year of freelancing.
Sharing time! Who are your people, and how do they inspire you? Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Have you had to get proactive to change unforeseen emotional adjustments due to self-employment? I’m nosy and want to know!
“Freelancing…is an on-spec life and it is full of what can only be described as insane serendipity (or serendipitous insanity).”
― Richard Morgan
This week I put to bed phase one of a major freelance project, a separate project has seen some setbacks due to travel and family concerns (theirs, not mine) but still progress, and life at the museum has gotten crazy as the Easter holiday descends and tourist season begins in earnest. I’m still recovering from my hedonistic lost weekend with Caitlin, but I also got to have a gorgeous tea with a longtime online friend who happened to be in London, meet up with Andrea from This New View to talk freelance writing, and had another spectacularly productive coworking day with Alanna.
I don’t think I’ve ever been this consistently scheduled in my life as I’ve been since the start of 2014. Sure I’ve had busy work, and stressful periods at my old office, but there is a massive difference between being busy and getting things done, I’ve discovered. And in spite of occasional sleep deprivation, or periods of crunch time, I don’t think I’ve every been this professionally content either. Life is simply very good.
Also, you may have noticed, there’s been a few changes in the Small Dog vicinity. Once again, I’ve learned new skills and am practicing away (heck, I’m even learning about branded images up in here, thanks to Alanna!). Let me know what you think and please do give me your feedback.
Here are your links, tell me what you’re up to this weekend, ducklings.
A bit stretched, but vastly contented, kittens.
Interesting news in publishing summed up on the always brilliant brain pickings.
5 a day? Ha! Up your expectations and health plans accordingly.
Excellent! I am 100% done about people complaining about leggings (also known as the most comfy things ever invented that you will pull from my cold, dead hands, society). Oh! That would make an excellent Incendiary post! Quick minions, to the comments, and let’s have a vigorous debate on the merits of alternative types of leg wear!
I once was able to hear YA author Shannon Hale speak about rejection, she brought a scroll of every single one of her rejection letters, laminated together in a way that stretched across a conference room. Perspective.
You wanted to read an article about the art and history of tapestries, especially as relates to media culture, right? I knew it!
These bracelets are amazing, and I need them desperately to make these beauties in my postcode already!
As an accidental minimalist myself, I find these homes fascinating.
How charming are these photos! From a nature photographer with a touch for the miniature.
Henry VIII was a complete jerk, this is historically well established. His marital troubles reshaped Europe, led to the Civil War, heightened religious mania and persecution and resulted in an astonishing amount of historical fiction on the subject – some good, some bad. But how long was he actually married to each of the women in his life? Twitter to the rescue!
New project, visit and read in all of these spaces?
We’ve been trying to sort out what makes human beings substantially different from other animal species for centuries now, but one of the most interesting theories (debunked, by the way) was that it was primarily based on our capacity for language. Not only has that been disproved but some research is suggesting that not only do many animal species communicate, they do so with self-awareness. Some even seem to have names and the ability to identify and talk about themselves!
Presented without further commentary, the headline of the week: These Backpacks For Cows Collect Their Fart Gas And Store It For Energy.
As if we ever really needed an excuse to look at a retrospective of gorgeous ball gowns.
Small Dog Syndrome 