From Bunny Slippers to Business Plans
Bringing good vibes to all the good boys and girls...
I don’t usually promote events here that don’t have a direct link to writing, freelancing, or entrepreneurship, but writing brought me to this odd spot, so I wanted to share.
This coming Friday, July 29, I will be a guest on Late Night with Logan, hosted by sex educator Logan Levkoff. The topic? Oh, the usual. Vibrators. Sex. That kinda thing. The venue? The Trojan Vibrations Truck.
About four years ago, I walked into my publisher’s office and handed him a resignation letter.
I didn’t do it as a negotiation tactic. I wasn’t trying to force his hand. All I wanted was to give this freelancing thing a shot: to be my own boss, pick and choose my own projects, and have the time and energy to write more of my own stuff.
No salary range… no full-time dream job… could have lured me back to the corporate workforce.
The thing is, many people in my life just assumed I was looking for something better. They didn’t see freelancing as a viable career option. One well-meaning friend even offered to treat me on all future meals: “… just until you find a new job,” she said.
“This is my new job!” I replied.
You may have noticed that, recently, I put a pretty, pretty new banner ad up in my sidebar for something called Sweat EquiTees. While I typically wouldn’t advertise for apparel on Freelancedom (despite the fact that “shopping for pretty things” is totally at the top of my my top 5 list of favorite hobbies), Sweat EquiTees is different. Their mission is directly aligned with that of Freelancedom, and with everything I’ve been trying to do with my career lately.
Last week — while in the midst of ghostwriting an ebook, and having just landed another, regular blog ghostwriting gig — I posted about my writerly motivations, and about how I slowly warmed up to ghostwriting as a viable career option.
Now, as a major deadline approaches (the first draft of this ebook is due on Friday), I thought I’d take a break (I’m such a procrastinator) and share how you can rock the ghostwriting process.
There was a time when seeing my name in the newspaper, or in a glossy magazine, was enough to make me squee.
I hated assignments that didn’t offer author credit, and generally avoided them. What’s in it for me? I thought, not even considering the possibility that a paycheck could be enough.
In fact, when I first began writing about sex and my editor brought up pen names, I shrugged off his suggestion. I wanted the credit, no matter how kinky the content.
(Which is why my Playgirl debut was particularly thrilling. They ran a cartoonified head shot of me next to my article… and directly below a drawing of what appeared to be an orgy. My mom made copies and handed them out to friends.)
So how did I end up ghostwriting ebooks and blog posts?
The very first session of the Freelancedom Book Club didn’t go as I’d hoped, but I saw it coming. As soon as I opened my copy of The It Factor and started reading, my first thought was : Oh crap. What have I done!? This man is insufferable!
But this month will be different. I promise you. I’ve already started reading my next pick — The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle –Â and it has me excited. Twenty-five pages in and I’m already 100 percent sure I’m going to love it.
Why?
