Writing, and Other Ways of Coping

painting with heart

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This past month, after three years away, I returned to my old church choir. I wasn’t back for good. Rather, I sang with them as a show of support for the choir director, who was being replaced after over 30 years of service to the parish (a decision from higher up that none of us were happy with). We sang the “Hallelujah Chorus” as our last hurrah, the high Gs and As exploding out of us from our stomachs, our lungs, our chests, our hearts.

The other month, I sang my grandfather’s funeral as well. It was a way to hold myself together, but it was also a gift I wanted to give both to him and to my family. I threw my entire body into that music and — though I was a boogery, sobbing mess at points — it felt good.

Writing does the same thing for me.

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Bringing More Life To These Writerly Life Lessons

[Obviously, this is what I look like when I work from home.]

The other day, I tweeted about how I’d been making preparations to sell my condo. Specifically, I said: “Our condo has never looked better. But do u think buyers will be scared away by the ‘intimate portraits’ in the bedroom?” And then I linked to this old post from my now-defunct personal blog, containing pictures of said “intimate portraits.” The post itself was about new things I had experienced lately thanks to various writing assignments.

Reading back through that post made me realize that my blogging had been missing something crucial for quite some time now: the personal. Is that why I’d been feeling so stuck lately? (Well. Aside from the whole being-too-busy-to-blog thing.)

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Help Me Make Career Coaching for Word Nerds Awesome(r)!

Hey there guys. I’ve finally carved out some time to build up my coaching practice. Before giving things a big marketing push, though, I’d like to evaluate everything I’m offering, and make sure it’s everything I could and should be offering.

So I drew up a market research survey, and I’d really appreciate it if you could fill it out for me. It would be a huge help.

And feel free to pass it along to anyone you think might be interested, or in need of my services.

Thanks. You’re a peach. 🙂

Shameless Self-Promotion: My New Mom Blog

My life has been pretty full lately. A little too full. But in case you were wondering what I looked forward to most in the course of my work week (aside from the moment when the lights go out and my head hits the pillow), I thought I’d share with you one of my latest projects.

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Link Love: May 20, 2010

It has been over a month since my last Link Love. In lieu of the Hail Marys and the Our Fathers, I’m finally going to own up to the fact that something’s gotta give.

I mean, my grandfather died. And then I started a new copy editing gig. And then I launched a mom blog over at YourTango. And Michael and I started making plans to go hang gliding, maybe go on a French wine cruise, clean out our condo and sell it, buy a house.

Things fell by the wayside. My plans to do market research for my career coaching practice. My e-book. This blog.

Something has to give, but I don’t want to give up any of it. Which is why, at the very least, I can at least stop feeling guilty over the infrequency of my blog posts. At least for now.

Last night, I attended a callanetics class with my mom. I’ve been going every week for the past 11 years (give or take the few years I was away at college). It typically serves to simultaneously relax and invigorate me, both stretching me out and strengthening my core. Last night, however, I had a panic attack during class, and started crying on the drive home. I just felt so overwhelmed.

So yes. I’m going to try to feel less guilty. I’m going to try to acknowledge that I am merely human. I am not going to give up this blog. But I will be here less often. If you’d like to stock up on some reading material in the meantime…

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GQueues: Making It Easier for Me To Run My Life on Google

A few weeks ago, I read a blog post over at Zen Habits about going Google-free. Leo’s post proposed that it could be dangerous to give all of your information to, and rely so heavily on, one corporation.

While I found the post interesting, I obviously have no such reservations about allowing Google to run my life. I rely heavily on Google Search throughout the work day (in fact, I just used Google’s blog search function in order to track down Leo’s post so that I could link to it here). I keep track of all of my blog subscriptions with Google Reader. And, when researching practice management services the other month, I came to the conclusion that it would be most cost-effective (aka “free”) to run my business using a mix of Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs.

And now, there’s GQueues.

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Coffee Break: Burnt Out or Blessed?

Oh hey guys. What’s up? What? What’s that? Why yes, I did run a brilliant guest post by Susan Johnston in mid-April and then drop off the face of the planet. You’re absolutely right. God, I’m like the poster child for worst blogging practices ever. (By the way, did any of you buy her e-book yet?)

Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know that my grandfather died last Friday. It hit me pretty hard and, instead of working through it, I spent the past week watching TV, eating Cheez-Its, and taking Xanax. (I also sang my grandfather’s funeral mass and learned that yes, it is possible to belt out hymnals while you’re leaking tears and snot.)

Yesterday was my first day back at work. And yeah, it was a bit overwhelming. I ended the day feeling cranky, stressed out, and emotionally drained. Thinking about all the work I still had on my plate made me want to curl up in bed and pass out for the next year or so.

But then I forced myself to remember my humble freelancer beginnings, a time when I had so few projects on my plate that I spent entire days watching America’s Next Top Model marathons. And I forced myself to consider the fact that my grandfather would be super-pissed if I devolved into reclusive couch potato-dom on account of his death.

And so, here’s a look at things to come now that I’ve ruled out hibernation:

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12 Ways To Market An Ebook

You guys. I’m feeling a little verklempt right now, for a number of reasons. 1. This is the first guest post I’ve ever run on my blog. 2. It’s written by Susan Johnston (of The Urban Muse), one of my very first readers here at Freelancedom, and a constant source of inspiration, resources, and damn good advice. And 3. She wrote it as part of a marketing campaign for her forthcoming ebook — The Urban Muse Guide to Online Writing Markets — which I’m excited as hell to finally be able to purchase this coming Monday.

Okay. I’ll shut up now. Soak in the brilliance:

*****

The good news about self-publishing an ebook is that you have almost complete control over the content and distribution methods. The bad news? You’ll need to market the #*%$ out of it if you want to turn a profit. My ebook launches this coming Monday. Hopefully, my initial marketing push will pay off. For everyone else working on their own ebooks, here’s a glimpse at my marketing plan. Not all of these ideas will make sense for all ebook authors and, in fact, I chose to skip a few of them for the sake of my sanity. But this list should give you plenty of ideas for reaching potential readers.

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How To Get Your Book Published Before the Age of 25

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You want the lowdown on how to get your book published…the sooner the better? Let me lay it out for you. First: Catch the writing bug. You know the one I’m talking about. The one where you can’t see yourself doing anything else and so spend your every free moment putting word to page, churning out three novels in as many years, yet coming up against rejection after rejection. Next: Experience desperation and disillusionment. Take on a mind-numbing job writing about things you care nothing about. At least you’ll have a steady paycheck, and can say that — technically — you’re a published writer. After that: Decide to do something crazy, like writing a book about writing a book, in the hopes that said book will actually be published. Swiftly realize that such a prospect is completely unwieldy, and utterly insane. And yet: Find yourself an agent, and then an editor, willing to give you a chance. Actually publish said book.

And there you have it.

Oh wait…I suppose that’s not how it’s always been done. But that’s how Stephen Markley did it.

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Link Love: April 10, 2010

I feel as if this week was a perfect example of how much I was missing when I was playing recluse for the past year. (The positively balmy weather didn’t hurt.)

On Tuesday, I went to the #nyblogout — a happy hour for NYC dating bloggers — and met a few people I had previously only known online. On Friday afternoon, I went to an open dress rehearsal for Armida at the Metropolitan Opera, and then went to a Ben Folds concert in the evening. And today, I went to the local university to rehearse a choral piece an old high school friend had composed for his grad school recital. It felt good to get away from the computer screen.

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