We’ll be back to business as usual upon my return — which includes the long-awaited book club post on The Wealthy Freelancer and the latest edition of Word Nerd News — but, before that happens, I wanted to leave you with a roundup of where I’ve been around the web.

Because, well, it seems I accomplished something other than this monster ebook project.

Over on Ebyline, I wrote a post on how to shut down your laptop and land new freelance assignments. The name of the game? Network like hell. And geez… try to have fun doing it.

I also popped up on Mashable, which I thought was exciting. The site’s been an invaluable resource for years and, thanks to the YEC (Young Entrepreneur Council), I’m on the site with my fellow members sharing tips for better startup marketing.

Also thanks to the YEC, I’m on Portfolio‘s website, sharing what I wish I knew about entrepreneurship five years ago.

Meanwhile, Alyssa Martino interviewed me for a post she did up over at Brazen Careerist, on getting your company to fund professional training and development. I’m a huge proponent of continuing education — in all its forms — so I urge you to check it out.

And because I’m a crazy cat lady (some of you may not fully realize the extent of my crazy), I’d like to share my very first Petside piece, on how I landed a husband despite loving my cats more than life itself. It has nothing to do with freelancing, but hopefully you’ll find it to be a fun read!

Finally, and just to prove that I do, in fact, leave my condo (on occasion), I traveled in to Williamsburg, Brooklyn last week to film a Late Night with Logan segment as part of the Trojan Vibrations Truck Tour. I haven’t seen the edited footage yet but, once I’ve ensured that it’s not horrifically embarrassing, I’ll be sure to share it with you. Maybe.

Whew! I have to do up two more blog posts, whip up a book proposal, send out some query letters, and squeeze in some yoga before I leave tomorrow. See you next week!

My new, improved head shot with my new, improved boobs (I was a late bloomer).

Over the past four years, you’ve revealed your fears to me regarding freelancing. You’ve talked about money issues. You’ve talked about health insurance. You’ve talked about the fear of failure. You’ve talked about self-doubt.

And I totally get all of those.

I, in turn, have always held the opinion that freelancing doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. You can write in the evenings, after coming home from your full-time job. You can supplement a part-time retail gig with a handful of copy editing projects. You can go permalance, or you can go whole hog. The right balance is different for everyone.

For me, the right balance was always a mix of part-time permalance, supplemented by a handful of other writing and copy editing projects.

Still, at times, I had an underlying feeling that my permalance gigs were holding me back. They were taking up the majority of the time, and at less than ideal rates. They were keeping me from really giving my other business pursuits my all. Sure, there was the promise of a regular paycheck. But could I possibly make more money without the security?

A couple of months ago, I decided to find out.

In late February, I resigned from my part-time permalance position at YourTango. The job had been a good one for me. It opened doors for me. It raised my visibility and helped me build up my portfolio. It helped me grow into my own as an editor, and it gave me a close look into the inner workings of an online magazine. It also got me connected with some pretty fantastic people.

But on my last day — March 31 — I celebrated by ordering in Chinese food and opening a bottle of Brut from Alba Vineyard.

The prospect of earning my keep without a regular paycheck is terrifying, but I’m already doing better than I was before, and these small successes make me giddy, and uber-excited for the future. Which is why I’m writing this post! I wanted to share my excitement with those of you who have been following my freelance journey from the very beginning, and let you know what’s in store for the future!

My first order of business was to get some professional head shots done up. I’ve been using a black-and-white photo from my wedding day for the past three or four years, and my husband told me it was probably time to move on. One of my tweeps hooked me up with the fabulous Amber Marlow, and voila! The photo above is my absolute fave.

At around the same time, I was also informed that I had been accepted into the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). Woo-hoo! Check me out looking all professional. It’s my hope that being a part of YEC will raise my visibility even further, and also give me the chance to meet some pretty damn talented entrepreneurs. Because lord knows I love a good collaboration. (Collaboration = increased accountability = me actually getting shit done.)

Soon after that, Jason H. Parker of Brazen Careerist contacted me about organizing a word nerd event on BC’s virtual Network Roulette platform. The first one was a success, and there’s a good chance this could become a monthly thing. And now that I have all this time on my hands, I’m hoping to start planning some more in-person events as well.

Aside from all that, I’ve been trying to send out a query a week and, thus far, have garnered additional writing assignments from a number of print and online publications, including three assignments from good ‘ol YourTango! (I’m totally on a roll.) Here’s the most recent one. I’ve also been chatting with several contacts about some much bigger projects, and have even had some copy editing projects fall into my lap. Need a writer or copy editor (or know someone who does)? Definitely e-mail me. I now have more time to take on projects I can get excited about.

On the coaching side of things, I’ve been trying to further my business education. I really enjoy one-on-one coaching (my clients never fail to inspire me, and I hope that I’m doing the same for them), and I want to be doing more of it! I recently completed a workshop from Dave Navarro, and have been updating my coaching page to focus more on my one-on-one services. If you or anyone you know would benefit from some query letter workshopping, some tips on how to build your online marketing platform, some advice on how to rock the freelance thing, or a really hard kick in the ass, contact me. Career Coaching for Word Nerds is obviously for you, and I think we’d have fun together!

And of course, I’m working on some other, personal projects. Singing funeral masses. Hoop dancing. Doing naked yoga in my living room. The usual.

God it feels good.

What have you been up to? Has your career been shifting in ways that have made you hella excited? Share in the comments! Keep the cycle of inspiration going! (Is that cheesy? Yes. But who cares.)

Related: Permalancing: The Good, the Bad, and the Mildly Horrific, Career Stalled? What You’re Doing Wrong, Wanted: The Career Equivalent og an Open Marriage, 10 Side Jobs for Freelancers, How To Juggle Multiple Careers, My 5 Favorite Things In: One Person/Multiple Careers

I also manage the site’s parenting blog: LoveMom. Not offering up your typical parenting advice, LoveMom instead presents personal narratives on how having children can affect our love relationships, and our sense of self.

At the moment, I have three regular bloggers. And I’m looking for more. If LoveMom sounds right up your writing alley — and if you think you could commit to writing one post a week — do e-mail me. I’d love to see some writing samples, and learn more about your parenting journey… your attempts to get preggers… your thoughts on moms in the news…

Want to familiarize yourself with LoveMom first? Here are some of my favorite posts (I’ve included many of my own because I am conceited):

• Moms Can Still Throw A Mean Party
• I Want My Husband To Feed Our Baby
• Planning For Kids Is Futile
• 5 Innovative Ways To Bond As A Family
• How Drinking Saved Our Marriage
• Eat, Argue, Pray At Times, Feel The Love, Repeat
• Will We Be Terrible Parents?
• Why I Take Time Off From My Family
• How I Know We’re Ready For Kids
• Managing Depression When You’re Trying To Conceive
• How To Get Pregnant When Your Sex Life Is Sub-Par
• 3 Zen Ways To Keep Connected After Having Kids
• How To Be A Mother, A Wife–And Yourself
• How To Fight In Front Of Your Children

Yet somehow, I ended up as the intern coordinator at YourTango.

On the one hand, it’s overwhelming: the posting of job ads, the weeding through of application letters, the interviews, the hiring, the training, and the managing…

On the other hand, it sort of reminds me of coaching. I get the chance to talk to those just starting out about their goals and dreams, and then I try to build an internship experience for them that will help them achieve that.

p.s. I’ve been told that I’m fabulous to work with.

So if you’re looking for experience at a web magazine, or looking to build up your portfolio (or both!), check out the editorial intern ad after the jump… or pass this post along to all you friends!

YourTango is a fast-growing web magazine providing content devoted to love and relationships. We’re seeking a motivated editorial intern to join the team. Responsibilities include:

- writing for our news/trends/celebrity blogs
- contributing content ideas for video, features, photo galleries, etc.
- photo research and editing
- social media marketing
- and content production.

Requirements:

—Excellent writing skills
—Photoshop experience
—Familiarity with online media (basic HTML, CMS experience, knowledge of SEO)

Our office is located in midtown Manhattan, but I’m open to applications from those willing and able to work on-site AND those who would only be able to work remotely. You may receive college credit for this internship, or instead opt to receive a small stipend, payable at the completion of your internship.

If you’re interested, you should e-mail me with your resume, cover letter, and a sample blog post (previously published blog posts are also accepted).

Any rising stars out there?

If you’ve been dying for a fix of Steph Auteri awesomeness (and of course you have), here are a few new places where you can get it.

1. My recently-launched Career Coaches for Word Nerds Facebook Fan Page. Because apparently, that’s where all the cool kids hang out. Come chat?

2. How To Be A Completely Authentic Tweep (Without Sending People Screaming in the Opposite Direction. Yes, I’m still giving advice on other people’s blog. Social media expert Marian Schembari was kind enough to allow me to do up this guest post at her online space.

3. 5 Time Management Tips for Workaholics. Another guest post, this time at Jesaka Long’s blog, a.k.a. writer. I don’t do vacations. I don’t do morning walks. Sometimes, I don’t even do lunch. Somehow? I still find balance.

4. Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans. Okay. Yes. I’m not actually a food writer. I did this one for fun.

5. Finally, I just wanted to remind y’all to sign up for 5 Weeks To Freelance Awesome. Because it will be. Awesome, that is.

Last week, I ran a contest here at Freelancedom, in which I asked you guys to share your number one freelance roadblock in order to be entered for the chance to win a free spot in my upcoming e-course: 5 Weeks To Freelance Awesome. The variety of responses I received made me even more excited for the course, and not because I sadistically enjoy watching others struggle. Rather, it quickly became obvious to me how much we could all learn and benefit from each other’s experiences, and I couldn’t wait to help each and every one of you.

I chose a contest winner at random over the weekend (congrats Susan!), but I wanted to remind you that, through August 17, you still have the chance to enroll at a deeply discounted price. After that, it’s back to regular price. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have about the schedule, platform, pricing, etc.

I hope to see many of you in my virtual classroom this fall. We have so much to talk about!

Related: It Only Takes 5 Weeks To Achieve Freelance Awesome

You guys. I’m so excited I could puke. Last night, my (darling, beloved, uber-talented, handsome) husband put the finishing touches on my new web platform, and then set it to go live. Ever since then, I’ve been gazing at it lovingly, clicking between the different tabs and feeling giddy.

I tasked my husband with this project back in the fall, when I first entered my career coaching certification program. My professional site was feeling a bit out of date, and I wanted a more comprehensive platform that would present me as a writer, editor, and coach in a fairly seamless manner. Voila. Would you like the grand tour?

My home page is fairly simple.

Michelle Rafter recently wrote a post on designing your brand, in which she stressed the importance of consistency across various platforms. I agree, which is why, on this page, I used the photo of myself that I use on all of my social media accounts. My site’s header also appears on my new business cards. Eventually, once I start collecting testimonials from my practicum clients and other writing and editing clients, those will also appear on the home page.

Next is an About page, which is also pretty straightforward.

After that (and this I love), I had Michael create separate writing and editing portfolio pages, in which I linked to just a selection of the articles and projects I’ve worked on in the past. I decided to scrap my resume entirely. If someone wants a copy of my most recent resume, they can request it. As a freelancer, though, the traditional resume seems to be becoming less and less relevant.

Next (and this also makes me so excited I want to pee my pants) is the page for Career Coaching for Word Nerds. I had Michael install Google Checkout so that people could pay for my coaching services — or pre-order my e-book (available in June 2010) — directly through the site. I’ll eventually throw up a sample excerpt of Job Hopping for Word Nerds, and Michael is working on a Word Nerd Community. Pretty rad, right?

After this, I have a blog page. Freelancedom feeds through to this, but I also plan on writing other career- and coaching-related posts over there…mostly so you’re not inundated with content you might have no interest in.

Finally, I have a Contact page, with a simple contact form (though apparently not the simplest thing in the world to build

Am I a happy customer? Dude. I love love love my new site. What do you think? Is there anything you think I’m missing?

Next up: Michael does some much-needed spring cleaning on this blog.

Related: How To Market Yourself: Strengthening Your Web Presence

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.

Still, I don’t want to lose sight of the big picture here: You. I want to give you what you most want and need.

So tell me:

• What do you most want to know about finding work in the midst of an industry in flux?
• What information has been lacking in the how-to content you’ve read?
• Which questions have you had trouble finding the answers to?
• What would be included in your ideal resource manual?

I’m writing this for you. Please help me get it right!

[Photo via]

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.

The feedback made me giddy. Many of you sent a lot of love my way, wishing me luck and congratulating me on the start of my new venture. Still more of you entered the contest, leading me to believe that I had made the right decision in going for my coaching certification: There is a market for this, and a lot of people are floundering, for a number of reasons.

I’m ridiculously excited to start coaching. I want others to be as gung-ho about their careers as I’ve been lately. So I hope you’ll excuse me for throwing more virtual confetti around as I announce the winners of my contest:

Kat Hasenauer of …On Being a Sports Girl, and

Maggie Marton

Hurrah!

For those still interested in career coaching, do check out the packages available on my website. I plan on adding another package for those interested solely in cover/query letter help, so feel free to use the form on that page if you’d like more information.

Okay. Commence with the confetti-throwing.

Related: Contest: Career Coaching for Word Nerds

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:

Breaking News Bloggers:

YourTango, a website for women about love and relationships, is hiring 1-2 breaking news bloggers, who will submit 5-10 300-word posts/month to our celebrity and news & trends blogs. Topics include breaking news about dating, marriage, sex, divorce, celebrity breakups & divorces, juicy celeb sex rumors, celebs who are dating each other, etc.

This position is about gaining maximum web exposure for YourTango; if you’re our blogger, you already know what this entails.

Requirements:

• You should be a web junkie who has an RSS reader full of love and relationship news that you’re constantly refreshing so you can easily find and break relevant relationship news on the web.
• You should have a firmly established presence on the web, including online clips, blogs and social media accounts including Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc.
• You should understand SEO and how people find and search for things on the web.
• Bloggers do their own production so you MUST be savvy with a CMS, photo editing and basic HTML.
• You need to be able to write quickly and professionally in YourTango’s voice: smart, playful and real. We are supportive, not snarky.

Payment is commensurate with experience.

Interested candidates should send resume, links to clips and cover letter to genevieve@yourtango.com.

Social Media Intern:

YourTango is hiring a social media intern to help mange and grow our presence on the web via social network and bookmarking sites.

Candidates must have strong writing and communication skills, a background in English or Journalism and experience in online media (basic HTML, CMS experience and knowledge of SEO). The social media intern will work directly with the Director of Strategy & Operations, so will have the opportunity to learn many tips and tricks of the trade.

The position is part-time for 4 months. A small stipend or college credit is available.

If you’re interested, please e-mail your resume and cover letter to Assistant Editor Steph Auteri (steph@yourtango.com).

Also! I wouldn’t mind hiring one more on-site editorial intern!