News And Updates
Hey there guys — I need your help. Here’s the story: I’m working on an ebook. It’s called Job Hopping for Word Nerds, and I’m writing it with the intention of creating a go-to resource for those interested in finding work within the publishing industry…anywhere in the publishing industry. I plan on including descriptions of the positions available in book publishing, magazines, newspapers, etc. More importantly, I want to create a monster resource manual, filled with links to professional organizations, databases, job sites, blogs, powerful tweeps, and more. In short: I have a vision. :) The resource appendices of self-help books have typically been my favorite part of said books, and that’s what I want to focus on here.
It’s been a long, ridiculously busy week and, I must admit, I’m feeling a bit burnt out. Which is why, last night, I forced myself to step away from my laptop and indulge in an evening of Netflix+hot cocoa. Still, work goes on, and I completed a copywriting project for a new client, had my very first career coaching appointment, and got back into the bloggy swing of things. I’d still like to write up a guest post, organize the content for my new online portfolio, and make some headway on my e-book but, you know…we’ll see how that goes. :) In the meantime:
For the past six or seven weeks, I’ve been participating in Freelance Success’s Query Challenge.
The last time I participated, I broke into new markets and gained a whole lot of momentum in my freelance writing career. This time around, I’m floundering. A lot of that is due to the fact that I’m juggling so many different things right now: I work in NYC three days a week, have various copywriting gigs on my plate, and am in the midst of launching my career coaching practice/taking on practicum clients. For these reasons (and because I’m finding that–more and more often–work is coming to me), sending out queries is just a much smaller part of my freelance life at this point.
But the other reason I’m floundering–both in this query challenge and on my blog lately–is because I haven’t been generating new ideas.
So apparently, just about everyone in my Twitter feed was at South by Southwest (SXSW) this past week, a conference (and seemingly non-stop party) that somehow brings together “music, independent films, and emerging technologies.” It’s that last that is of greatest interest to me and, as the web developers, bloggers, content producers, and new media entrepreneurs in my feed live-tweeted talks and workshops, party-hopped, and networked, I started to feel that I was totally missing out.
What a week! I announced the winners of my Career Coaching for Word Nerds contest, and have my very first appointment scheduled for this coming Wednesday. I’m way excited to start helping people find career fulfillment, and am also interested in seeing how the balance of editing, writing, and coaching shifts in my own life.
Not only that, but I managed to tear myself away from the computer twice this week in order grab drinky drinks with fellow entrepreneurs. On Monday, I met up with a former colleague who just resigned from her full-time job in order to throw herself into full-time freelance writing. As we’ve both been on the editing and writing sides of the table, I had a great time talking freelance strategy with her, and sharing on-the-job stories. And on Thursday, I headed to Ginger Man for happy hour with two fellow tweeps who had driven up from NC for a short vacation. So great to put faces to tweets!
I’m not sure yet whether this Sunday will be lazy or productive (I have an ebook to work on, and a new copywriting client) but, before I decide, let me give you some weekend reading:
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You guys! Two weeks ago, I announced the launch of my career coaching practice, Career Coaching for Word Nerds. To kick things off, I held a contest here on my blog, so that two lucky readers could win a month’s worth of career coaching, completely gratis.
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:
The other day, I wrote a post on mentors, and where you can find them. I wrote it as part of a round table Holly Hoffman was putting together on her blog, WorkLoveLife. Well, the round table is finally up! Head on over to read 21 other posts about mentors. Among my favorites:
- Renewabelle’s Of Mentors and Countrypeople…
- The Blisscipline’s Mentors: How Important Are They To Your Success?
- To Undertake To Express’s My Mentor
- Restless Like Me’s Give Me Failure, or Give Me Death
Related: 6 Ways To Find Your Next Mentor
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Back in January, Betsy Lerner — brilliant author of The Forest for the Trees – wrote up a quick post in which she remembered two of her early mentors. And then, a week ago, Holly Hoffman brought up the topic again. All this mentor-talk got me thinking back on my own favorites, and how important they’ve been to my career success.
I myself have never had one single, larger-than-life figure playing the part of mentor (talk about pressure). Rather, I’ve approached mentorship in much the same way career expert Marci Alboher does: as an ever-shifting collection of people I surround myself with…people I feel I can learn from, no matter what stage they’re at in their career. I highly recommend this approach.
Why do you need a mentor? Because you shouldn’t be working in a vacuum, stumbling along your career path without outside inspiration or guidance. Why do you need multiple mentors? Because it’s silly to rely on a single person, when an entire community can provide much better support, and a greater diversity of insight and advice.
So where can you find this army of advisers?
It’s been a busy week, what with the training of new interns at YourTango, my short stint at Vogue, my back-and-forth negotiation with a new client, and the launching of my coaching practice. And there’s still so much to do! (I’m hoping to make major headway on my copywriting project today, and also get some pitches out there.) But before I get started, I wanted to thank you all for the supportive comments you left on my career coaching contest post. I’m so excited to jump into things, and also super-nervous, and it helps to have such an amazing community of freelancers and writers and freelance writers cheering me on. Okay. Let’s not get emotional. Without further ado, here’s this week’s link love: