From Bunny Slippers to Business Plans
I know it seems as if all I do lately is futz around on various social media platforms.
But I swear to you. I’m getting shit done.
It’s just that…
I’m always looking for new and fun ways to build my brand, and to build my word nerd community, and I’ve been seeing various small businesses do interesting things online lately.
My latest obsession?
Pinterest. (Yeah, you and everyone else, Steph.) [Read more…]
I'm quoted in here, yo.
I create content for online magazines. I blog here at Freelancedom. I spend way too much time on Twitter. I get all my news from whatever I happen to be subscribed to in Google Reader. I spend my days seated in front of this laptop and, when my phone rings, I get confused. Why didn’t they just text or email? I wonder. (God I’m a recluse.)
My husband, meanwhile, works full-time for SocialFlow, a social media startup that optimizes tweets. He has a web development business on the side. He’s always glued to his Droid, and he uses Foursquare even when we’re at the goddamn recycling center.
His best friend says we’re “so Web 2.0.”
Yet I avoid Facebook. I’m not as active on LinkedIn as I should be. And when Google+ launched, I wanted to flee the country (or at least my inbox). Am I missing marketing opportunities?
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…
[Image via]
Oh my god, you guys. The other week, I asked for suggestions on what I should include in my Job Hopping for Word Nerds e-book. Heather of CraftLit provided me with a goldmine of great suggestions, some of which I deemed outside the scope of my book. Still, I thought they would make for some great blog post fodder. So today, I decided to address this one:
How can I use social media without being swallowed by it?
So I opened up my Freelancedom dashboard, typed in the title of this post, aaand… then proceeded to spend the next four hours on Twitter.
Oy.
Once again, I’m posting on behalf of YourTango.com, a web magazine with a focus on love and relationships. I happen to work there three days a week, as their Assistant Editor, and I’m pretty darn happy there. Not even the NJ-NY commute gets me down. Much.
So of course, I want all of you to work there with me as well. So it’s pretty fortuitous that we happen to be hiring:
[Image via]
I don’t typically write about writing here. Or at least I try not to. Not directly.
I try to keep my content inclusive to all freelancers, despite how obvious it is that I’m a total booktard, and a slave to producing content.
But this past Monday marked the beginning of the FLX Query Challenge, a friendly, biannual competition in which teams rack up points depending upon how many queries they send out each week, and how many assignments they land. I’ve been on a pitching hiatus for awhile now — due to my new job at YourTango, my career coaching certification program, and an ongoing copywriting project — but I’m excited to start putting out feelers again … especially since I’m a team leader this time around.
So for all those writers out there — writers who are trying to get back into the pitching rhythm, writers who have been pitching all along (show-offs), and writers who are just starting out — I thought I’d put up a refresher on the pitch process.
This past weekend, I did something truly revolutionary: I didn’t do a damn bit of work. Instead, I spent a day cleaning the condo. I threw a party. I caught up with people I hadn’t seen in eons, due to my all-encompassing absorption with my work. I took down the Christmas decorations. I even enjoyed a leisurely lunch out with my husband. Tonight? My husband and I are meeting up with a group of friends to see Avatar at the IMAX theater. Work? What work? I’ve been completely unproductive. But it’s nice to feel a part of the world again.
Before I head out to the theater, here’s your weekly link love:
Whew! Friday already, and I am wiped. Though the week started out as a major time-suck (eight hours of the Game Show Network on Sunday…don’t ask), I ended up sending out multiple pitches and letters of interest, got myself another copy editing project and another article assignment, got new clips up at the Frisky and Nerve, and managed to be pretty consistent with the blogging. Go me!
Of course, all that productivity didn’t stop me from obsessively checking my Google Reader and Twitter feeds for updates. The best of what I’ve read lately:
Link Love: October 23
I broke my promise. One of my October goals was to post to Freelancedom at least three times a week. But this week turned out a little…crazy.
On the I’m-so-stressed end of things, I found blood in my cat’s urine, and had to take him on an emergency trip to the vet. Him: Not thrilled. Me: Freaking out. Vet: It’s no biggie. Whew! [Read more…]