Archives for December 2012

Why Your Goals Aren’t Good Enough

iStock_000014911902XSmallEarlier this month, I met up with Susan Johnston of the Urban Muse at the Holiday Shops at Bryant Park. We don’t get to see each other often — she lives in Boston, I live in NJ, and the last time we saw each other was at the ASJA conference back in April — but when we do get together, we often end up chatting about where we are with our freelance writing careers. We take stock of where we’ve been and try to figure out where we’re going.

At the time I saw Susan, I was ghost-tweeting for one client, creating a series of blog posts for another, and ghostwriting a book with a couples counselor. I was also collaborating on an ebook with a fellow word nerd, coaching a beginning freelance writer, and revising my book proposal. As busy as I was, though, I felt adrift.

“What are your goals for 2013?” Susan asked me, and it was a tough question. Finally, I settled upon four:

1. Land a book deal.

2. Start writing the type of stuff I could submit to lit mags.

3. Earn my yoga teaching certification and start teaching classes and planning workshops.

4. Get pregnant.

They were good, solid goals but, out of the four, I’d already set out to achieve two of them in 2012. And I’d failed. [Read more…]

I’m Not Really Much of an Entrepreneur, Am I?

About two years ago, Ryan Paugh approached me about becoming one of the founding members of the Young Entrepreneur Council.

At the time, I had just left behind a permalance gig to focus on building my career coaching practice. Still, I was also juggling a number of writing and copyediting assignments, and singing at funerals for money. I considered myself more of a freelancer than an entrepreneur.

Despite this, I joined the YEC and tried not to compare myself to the other, more awesome members, such as the CEO of DISQUS, the founder and CEO of Klout, the CEO of Hootsuite, the co-founder and CEO of Indiegogo, and the founder of Threadless. I slowly grew into my entrepreneur identity. I created a more cohesive online platform, and brainstormed ways in which I could build out the Word Nerd brand.

Another year passed and I was interviewed by a reporter for the Atlantic, who was doing up an article on solopreneurship.

“Do you consider yourself a solopreneur?” he asked me.

“Absolutely,” I said.

Still, not a month had ever gone by in which I hadn’t experienced Impostor Syndrome. [Read more…]

Taking Stock of the Books That Brought Me Here

My husband and I recently moved out of the one-bedroom condo we’d been trying to sell for the past two and a half years and into a four-bedroom house 10 minutes away.

On moving day, I was giddy at the sight of the boxes upon boxes (upon boxes) of books that made their way to my new home office. Reunited at last! I thought, as they had been in storage this entire time. My TBR pile was ridiculous — and my Amazon Wish List was eight pages long — but I was suddenly seized by the desire to re-read every single book in those boxes.

Yesterday, I finally got the chance to open up those boxes and place my books on the gorgeous new double bookcase my husband and brother strong-armed into place against the wall. (I think it’s actually supposed to be a china cabinet, but watch me not care.) As I alphabetized my books by author’s last name, I was mindful of the limited space I had, and of how my collection of books might grow in the future.

Several weeks ago, I received a review copy of Jane Mount’s My Ideal Bookshelf. Mount paints “portraits of people through the spines of their favorite books: the ones that changed your life, that defined who you are, that you read again and again.” I had admired Mount’s artwork for years, and had been coveting my own custom painting. Getting my hands on a copy of the book — filled with the ideal bookshelves of a slew of notable creatives — allowed me to at least experience a vicarious thrill.

Flipping through the book, and reading the accompanying first-person essays by the book owners, also made me think about why we love the books we love, and how they change the course of our lives. What would be on my ideal bookshelf? How could I possibly pare down my collection to the handful of books that truly define me as a person? [Read more…]