Tweet {flickr photo} This story got me out of a temporary blogging hiatus. I just had to write about it… Shea Gunther, writer and owner of a new clean-tech website launching in May, sent out a mass email to 900 applicants who wanted to write for him. 900!! Instead of the sober, formal reply writers often get that basically say, “Unfortunately we decided to hire another writer,” this one included a 3,000 word rejection letter stating in detail why each and every person didn’t get the job. This sparked a ton of anger for the recipients as well as for the…
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Tweet “I’m a writer and I have low self-esteem.” That’s what I said on Penn & Teller’s Showtime show Bullshit. It was part true, part Hollywood. But I think anyone would agree that writing for a living can break your heart at times, into itty-bitty tiny shattered pieces. And that’s just on a good day. On a bad day, getting rejected or getting no response, can feel worse than working at a job you hate, for a boss you dislike, in a cubicle that feels suffocating. It can feel like hell-a place where there’s no mercy. Why? Because as full-time work…
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Tweet The “Perfect” Movie McCabe & Mrs. Miller is among my favorite movies of all time. I think it’s better than any of the other revisionist westerns of the early 70s. I love the way Robert Altman allows dialog to overlap. I think the Leonard Cohen soundtrack is perfect. I can’t think of anything else Warren Beatty has done to compare to McCabe and Doctor Zhivago is the only reason I can’t say the same thing about Julie Christie. I’m not alone. Roger Ebert considers McCabe & Mrs. Miller a perfect movie. It scores an impressive 89% freshness rating at…
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Tweet You might read the title and blow it off. I mean come on, one secret! One secret to a success! There’s no way or is there? Here’s what I know for sure: While there are no easy ways to success, there is a simple way. And it’s one thing you can do now that will help you down the road to success. In the almost year long path that I’ve been on a pursuit to follow my freelance writing dreams, I’ve learned a few things.
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Tweet It’s Day 4 of the 2010 WordCount Blogathon. Here’s a bit of info in case you haven’t heard of it. Reporter, writer, blogger, basically media/publishing entrepreneur, Michelle Rafter created a challenge for herself. In 2008, she blogged every day for the entire month of May. Asking others to join in the fun, she created the WordCount Blogathon to gather a community of bloggers with the mission to learn, write and have a great time doing it. I just joined this year and have been secretly blogging every day on this site as well as my other blogs (not2shabby and…
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Tweet I go to a once a week Meetup for professional women who work at home. In the group, one of the main issues everyone can agree on is how isolating it is. One person made a comment that the only person she talks to on some days is the UPS guy. Do I hear a Amen?! Many freelance writers love the flexibility of their job and the creativity with dreaming up their own life. But the downside? No more 15 minute coffee breaks with your pal in the next cubicle. Ever watch The Office and actually feel pangs of…
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Tweet photo by: kevindooley It’s the end of another long week freelancers. And on this freelance Friday, I must ask, “What do you do to decompress?” I know how it goes. You’re toiling away at your computer, making phone calls, coming up with creative queries, networking, marketing your services and spending the spare time you have left on Facebook or Twitter. With all of that and your ever growing to-do list, do you ever make time for yourself? In Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance (Artist’s Way), author Julia Cameron suggests artists make a weekly date with themselves, write daily in…
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Tweet The December issue of The Writer magazine inspired this holiday post on goods to grab especially for writers. If you’re bewildered about what to get your fellow writer friend or you’re jonesing for a few writer gifts yourself, keep reading for my Top 5 List of Christmas Gifts for Writers:
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Tweet When you’re staring at a blank screen all day and listening to nothing but the sound of time passing by, it’s difficult to be a freelance writer. Then you get days like today. By some stroke of luck I had the chance to connect with one of my writing idols. Can you imagine my excitement when contributing editor and columnist for Writer’s Digest magazine and fiction writer Jordan E. Rosenfeld invited me (!!!) to chat with her over tea and dreams? Yeah, pretty surreal! Fortunately I got some of her inspiring words down here, which I think is great…