Merry Christmas! My 12 Favorite Freelance Tools and Resources

My gift to you. Go ahead. Open it.

Just yesterday, Deb Ng wrote a fantastic post on the 10 Ways to Give Back to Your Favorite Bloggers for the Holidays. I loved it because I’ve always felt that generosity toward your fellow freelancers was key in achieving career success… and in experiencing the warm fuzzies. In fact, I’d advise all of you to show generosity to your fellow freelancers year-round, with feedback, advice, contacts, support, resources, and more.

In that spirit, I’d like to leave you guys a Christmas gift before shutting down my laptop for the holidays and gorging myself on Candy Cane Kisses and eggnog.

I eschewed fancy wrapping paper, as my cats tend to eat any curling ribbon I  leave languishing beneath the Christmas tree. (And then they puke it up later. Fun!) But even though my gift’s not super-fancy, I hope you’ll find it helpful.

Go ahead. From me to you, my 12 favorite freelance tools and resources. May they bring you career success, and/or make your day-to-day freelance life a bit more bearable.

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Happy Holidays! From Me To You, the Gift of Gluttony

Is it just me, or are the holidays seriously kicking ass this year? And by “kicking ass,” I mean “kicking my ass.” Just this past Sunday, I spent seven hours (yes, seven hours) baking Christmas cookies with my mom. We made tassies, crescents, cookie bars, magic cookie bars, and butter cookies. Back in the days when I used to refuse to help my mother in the kitchen, the baking of the Christmas cookies was the only thing that got me to roll up my sleeves and wield the hand mixer. Now, it’s a tradition I can’t live without.

I know that this has absolutely nothing to do with freelancing, but I wanted to thank you all for being here for me. For sharing insights, advice, and your own personal stories. It means a lot to me.

So here it is. The recipe for Tassies, my most favorite cookie of all time (and that’s saying a lot, because I’m pretty much a human garbage disposal):

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