I've opted not to show you the flour- and batter-spattered countertops.

It’s five days until Christmas, and Holiday Brain has reached a fever pitch.

Yesterday, I baked two Nutella Swirl Pound Cakes while my Christmas mix played and the tree lights twinkled. It was so effing cozy and festively charming that my brain almost imploded. This morning, I baked a lemon pound cake and, tonight, I’ll be doing up five varieties of holiday cookies with my mom and brother.

I still have two more pound cakes to go.

I’ve also spent the past three weekends driving around with my husband and looking at holiday light displays whilst sipping eggnog lattes and mint hot chocolate. And doing up ridiculous holiday e-cards that heavily feature my cats being forced to wear holiday outfits. And planning holiday dinner parties and party parties.

Clearly, my mind is on one thing, and one thing only.*

Don’t worry. I won’t hold out on you. Here. Let me share one of my favorite holiday recipes:

Freelance Success:

- 3 oz. passion for an industry, profession, or talent you happen to have

- 1/4 lb. willingness to educate yourself on the aforementioned passion

- 1 c. bravery; you’ll need it to go full-time freelance

- 1.5 c. willingness to network your damn ass off, and maintain those connections you make

- 2 tbsp. innovation and creativity

- 2 tsp. knowledge that you can’t just create; you have to sell yourself, too

- 1 c. self-discipline

Mix all of these ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for five or so years. Hint: The flavor changes the longer you let it bake. Just take care not to burn yourself out.

If you need some help in the kitchen, there are 11 days left for you to purchase my special holiday coaching package: One Hour to a Word Nerd Action Plan.

If you’d prefer the recipe to either the Nutella Swirl or lemon pound cakes, feel free to contact me.

Good luck and happy holidays!

*Though for some reason, I still haven’t wrapped a single one of my presents.

Related: Happy Holidays! From Me to You, the Gift of Gluttony, How to Keep Up the Momentum During the Holidays

Is it something in the air? Have our work cycles somehow become synced up? Are all of our regular clients just too damn busy stringing up twinkle lights and hanging stockings to bother with assigning out new work?

Part of it is the conclusion of another fiscal year. Large projects are ending. Annual budgets are drying up. Clients are holding back until 2012… fiddling with their editorial calendars… treading water until they feel safe spending money again.

Another part of it is Holiday Brain. Between all of those projects we just wrapped up, all of those pound cakes and soups we just made for Thanksgiving, and all of that holiday shopping we now have to do, we completely forgot about marketing ourselves. I mean, who has time to hustle when there are catnip candy canes and glittery tree ornaments to be bought!?

Unfortunately, considering how much money we tend to spend during the holiday season (buying a third ceramic Christmas tree was totally worth it), we need new income now more than ever.

So how can you make the holidays work for you?

Give one last end-of-the-year, holiday-themed marketing push:

• throw an industry holiday party, at which all attendees leave with a stocking full of business cards, coupons, and candy cane kisses.
• hold a workshop for writers, teach an e-course, or throw together a teleclass on targeting your pitches toward the (other) holidays.
• speaking of targeted pitches, start brainstorming… for the fourth of July.
• throw a holiday sale on your most popular products and/or services.
• hold a holiday contest… look to relevant companies and collaborators in order to put together a kick-ass list of prizes.
• gift your favorite clients with a holiday discount… or even with a small gift just to show you appreciate them. (Susan Johnston recently shared her own gift ideas here.)
• make like Santa and gift every blog in your particular universe with a guest post. Well. Assuming they want one.
• instead of a cookie swap or Secret Santa extravaganza, organize a product/service swap among those within your professional network. Watch new professional relationships bloom.
• volunteer your time (and promote yourself as an expert) by answering questions on sites like Brazen Careerist or LinkedIn, or responding to reporters’ queries on HARO.
• crash all the other holiday industry parties in your general area.
• go caroling with local freelancers, and end with hot cocoa and career-related brainstorming for the new year back at your place.
• [INSERT ANY OTHER FUN, SILLY, RIDICULOUS, HOLIDAY-RELATED THING YOU CAN THINK OF. GET CREATIVE, YO!]

Whew! Now I really want to go caroling.

ANYway.

I plan on doing a whole slew of these. But for the moment, I’d like to let you know about my own holiday sale, over at Career Coaching for Word Nerds. Most of you already know that I already offer three career coaching packages at various price points, for those who want to commit to either four sessions, 12 sessions, or 24 sessions of coaching.

From now until December 31, I will be offering One Hour to a Word Nerd Action Plan, a single, one-hour session in which we lay out your plans for the coming year, after which you’ll receive a packet containing all of the action steps we discussed, plus a list of relevant resources.

Note: This does not mean you must schedule your session in the midst of this crazy-as-hell holiday season. It just means you have to purchase this package by the 31st, after which it will wink out of existence, much like the twinkle lights all over your neighborhood. (Um. Unless you have the sort of neighbors who leave that shit up through April.)

Interesting in purchasing the gift that will keep on giving? Head on over to my coaching page and scroll to the bottom for this holiday package.

Then get your ass in gear and start marketing, word nerds!

How have you gotten creative with marketing during holidays past?

Related: How To Market the Crap Out of Yourself

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.

1. Books. Some go to journalism school. Others hire writing coaches. And still others juggle six internships and invest in continuing education courses. All viable options, but I learned the most about freelance writing from reading a shit-ton of business books. (Well, that and just diving right in… the best way to learn, in my opinion.) My favorite career-related books? Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears’s The Boss of You; Michelle Goodman’s The Anti 9 to 5 Guide; and Michelle Goodman’s My So-Called Freelance Life.

2. WordPress. Okay. WordPress is nothing new, but it deserves some serious recognition for its role in helping me build up my freelance business. Using it for Freelancedom has widened my freelance network exponentially, and my husband also used it to build me a super-pretty professional site. But I don’t always need my husband to update my sites. WordPress is so intuitive, and has such a great community of users willing to help out, that I can figure out a lot on my own. This Plugin Directory alone is worth its weight in gold. And when I want to pretty up my posts? I use stock photography sites like stock.xchng, Flickr, iStockphoto, and Thinkstock.

3. Twitter. I am amazed by everyone out there who can successfully juggle 10 different social media accounts. Not me! While I have accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Brazen Careerist, and other sites, Twitter is top dog on my list. My favorite Twitter app? Hootsuite, both because I can use it to manage multiple accounts, and because it offers that nifty, URL-shortening Hootlet bookmarklet. ANYways, I’m a little bit addicted to Twitter. It allows me to promote my own work, share and find great content, and connect with other word nerds. For a peek at my favorite word nerds on Twitter, check out this list I created.

4. Gmail. I know this is another no-duh entry, but I love labeling my e-mails into organized submission, and I also have multiple Gmail accounts: my personal account, my YourTango account, my Frisky account, and my career coaching account. Want to create

The first site I visit every day, obvs.

a separate business e-mail? Gmail makes it easy.

5. GQueues. This is not a Google application, but it does sync up with Google Calendar. I use GQueues to create to-do lists for the different areas of my life: marketing tactics for my career coaching biz… blog post ideas for Freelancedom and LoveMom… I even use the e-mail alert feature to remind myself to pay my bills on time. You can read more on one of my favorite apps of all time right here.

6. Skype. I only started using Skype about a year ago (I know; I am so behind the times), because the folks at YourTango use it to keep in contact with each other. Now I also use it to harass my husband while he’s at work, conduct video chats with coaching clients and other business contacts, and hold conference calls. And according to the e-book I co-wrote with Ian Kerner, you can also use it for webcam sex. Just sayin’!

7. MailChimp. When I tweeted out a call for suggestions on the best e-newsletter clients, the majority of people told me to try MailChimp. Sold! I now use it to send out my monthly Word Nerd Newsletter, and the process couldn’t be smoother. I love how customizable it is, how easy it is to create e-mail templates and web forms, how helpful the MailChimp team is… if you’re considering starting up your own e-mail newsletter as a means of building your business, I highly recommend it.

8. Freshbooks. Because you all like to get paid… At YourTango, I happen to be in charge of organizing freelancer invoices. And every single one of those freelancers sends their invoice along in an unformatted Word document or Excel spreadsheet. Which is fine, but if you’re juggling a ton of clients — and a ton of projects — it might be nice to have access to a program that lets you store client and project information, track your time, generate invoices, run expense reports, and more. I like Freshbooks.

9. Dropbox. My husband made me install Dropbox after a virus began running rampant on my laptop. He wanted my files backed up in case he needed to reformat my hard drive. Now, not only are my most important files secure, but I can also access said files on any computer I download the program to.

10. Letter templates. I give good e-mail. It’s one of my primary skills. In fact, a post I wrote on cover letters back in 2008 remains my most highly trafficked post ever. (Math on the other hand… forget it.) My gift to you? Letter templates for those looking to resign

Soon, you shall be mine.

from their jobs in order to become full-time freelancers, and for those looking to request a remote work arrangement. Download the goods here.

11. Coffee. I know. I’m such a cliché.  But this magic can’t happen without my morning brew! Which is why I’m giving myself a gift in 2011: membership in the Citizen Bean coffee-of-the-month club. Citizen Bean sends out sustainable and complex roasts from small roasters around the country every month. I swear this isn’t a paid advertorial. It’s just that I’ve been reading about them all over the damn place lately, and I’m ridiculously excited to splurge on this in the new year. Maybe the splurge would be worth it for you, too?

12. You. You guys have helped me so much over the past three years. I want this to be a reminder that it’s always okay to lean on others. And if you need to lean on me a little bit harder… well… that’s what my coaching biz is all about. It was your comments and e-mails that inspired me to go ahead and earn my career coaching certification, and eventually launch a business designed to help freelance writers and other publishing professionals. Thanks guys!

Related: The Road To Freelance Success Is Paved with Good Karma, Bring In New Projects Without Lifting a Finger, How I Write

A dramatic reenactment of my marriage, by a woman way cuter than me, and a man not nearly as cute as my husband.

My husband and I are incredibly different people. I’m an antisocial introvert; he’s a social butterfly. I love fresh eggplant and tomatoes; he loves Slim Jims and energy drinks. I love cheesy dance music; he loves slacker rock. One thing we do have in common? We’re both ambitious workaholics.

What this means is that we often put our work before our relationship, and that’s a dangerous thing. I’m always working through the weekend, loath to do dinner with his family or go on day-long outings. I have a neverending to-do list, and leaving work behind for an exercise class or friendly happy hour makes me anxious. I also hate low-key, “relaxing” vacations. If I’m not doing something action-packed or hands-on, I’d rather be spending my time being productive.

Michael, meanwhile, is one of those insufferably rude smartphone addicts. He checks his e-mail and answers texts and phone calls when we’re out to dinner together… when we’re watching TV together… when we have company over. He lets both his employer and his clients walk all over him, responding to messages immediately, and working in his off hours (without additional pay). One time, while on a weekend trip in celebration of our three-year anniversary, he popped open his laptop and started doing some work for his full-time employer. Despite the fact that he had taken a vacation day. Despite the fact that he was supposed to be celebrating with me. I was livid.

Because — while I do find it difficult to step away — I force myself to do it way more than he does, for the sake of our relationship, and for the sake of my sanity. I don’t want to be perpetually connected. I don’t want to be held captive by my clients’ every whim (though I do all that I can to take care of them during my working hours). I want a healthy work/life balance, and I want my family to come first.

Deb Ng — a blogger I truly admire — once wrote a post titled Dear Freelance Writer: While You Were Partying, I Stole Your Client. In it, she wrote about how she made time during the holidays, and while on vacation, to continue working and, because of that, she never lost work to other eager beaver freelancers. Kudos to her but, if a client is so quick to drop me because I took time for myself and my family, I don’t want ‘em.

Here’s the thing: If you don’t respect yourself and your time, no one else will either.

Going further with this, my career coaching mentor — Valerie Plis — taught me this: Your perceived value will go through the roof the more unavailable you are. It’s that old rule of supply and demand.

Not to say that you should only make yourself available several afternoon hours a day, or that you should wait a week to respond to e-mails. There are less insane ways to set boundaries:

First of all, you should set some work hours, despite that freewheeling, freelance lifestyle of yours. I’m not suggesting that you stick to a strict, 9-to-5 work schedule. After all, isn’t that one of the reasons you left the life of the corporate staffer? Because the 9-to-5 chafed? But it does make sense to make yourself available when everyone else on the planet is also getting work done, at least to some extent. Whatever schedule you do decide upon, the point is to stick with it. Make sure that clients are aware of your work hours. That way, they won’t expect you to answer the phone at 1:26 a.m., or to do a rush job without some extra compensation.

Extra compensation? Yes. Set some rush work rates, and by god stick to them. If a client balks, let them know that you have other projects on your plate, and other limits on your time, and that being able to deliver what they want when they want will require some extra effort on your part. Effort that should be duly compensated.

Going back to boundaries, allow phone calls to go to voice mail when you’re otherwise occupied, and respond to them later. And you don’t have to respond to texts and e-mails immediately either. (Do be sure, however, to respond to them within 24 hours; taking any longer would show a lack of professionalism.) Being constantly available could set up unrealistic expectations with your clients.

If you are going to be unavailable for more than one business day, do warn regular clients beforehand. Also, set up an out-of-the-office auto-response e-mail, so that new prospects are aware that your response time may be a little longer than usual. And for the love of god, don’t schedule vacations that interfere with your already-existing workload, or take on additional projects that would require you to work at a time you know might be impossible. Like Christmas Eve.

Of course, all of this boundary-setting will be way easier if you’ve been working smarter, rather than harder (and Deb Ng happened to write a fabulous post on this as well).

What this means is that you’ve been charging rates that reflect your actual value, and creating sources of passive income. It means that you’ve been up-selling existing clients, and landing more work via word of mouth than through aggressive marketing.

It means that you’re less frantic and, when you’re less frantic, you don’t have to jump through hoops to bring in the dough.

It means that you have more time to spend with your lovely wife, or your darling husband.

Or your cats.

So. Are your clients walking all over you?

I’m sorry. That’s your fault. It means you’ve been setting them up with unrealistic expectations, and failing to create boundaries.

So yeah. Do something about that.

Related: Career Stalled? What You’re Doing Wrong, Why Write? It Could Save Your Marriage, Coffee Break: Working on the Weekend

So my mom called me this morning just to tell me that it was Poem In Your Pocket Day. Basically, in honor of National Poetry Month, you’re supposed to carry a poem around in your pocket (obvs), sharing it with those you encounter throughout the day.

As one of those word nerd sorts — who used to write absolutely hideous poetry as a child…and…um…a college student — my favorite poem is unsurprisingly related to writing…or at least to the power of words:

“A word is dead

when it is said

some say.

I say it just

begins to live

that day.”

- Emily Dickinson

In these six lines, Dickinson manages to encompass everything that inspires me as a writer: the message I’m trying to convey with my words, the connections I’m hoping to make with my readers, the blind hope that the words I put out there won’t disappear into a black void of nothingness.

I’ve loved this poem since elementary school, and I still thrill in seeing it engraved on the sidewalk leading up to the NY Public Library. In the same way, I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer (even though I also considered alternative careers: ballerina, actress, archaeologist, psychologist). It’s so gratifying to see myself doing today what I always wanted to do.

Did you carry a poem in your pocket today?

I’ve always chafed at the conventions of the corporate world, which is why I eventually jumped ship. Why is it, then, that I cling so tightly to holiday traditions?

Perhaps it’s because — much like my career — these traditions belong to me and, by extension, my family.

Here’s a list of the holiday traditions I can’t get enough of:

- We’ve always decorated together, as a family. With my mother has the taskmaster — a perfectionist when it comes to ornament placement — the decorating almost always devolves into shouting, temper tantrums, and slamming doors. I find this humorous. My husband now tells me that I’m becoming more like my mother every year…especially when it comes to ornament placement. I think he’s a little bit scared of both of us. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

- As far as the ornaments go, my parents have always bought a new one every year for me and my brother. As has my uncle. As a result, I have a large collection of Barbie ornaments (don’t ask), Ferrande ornaments, and a trillion others. It’s a miracle they all fit on the tree. In order to continue this tradition, my husband and I have begun exchanging ornaments every year.

- My mother probably wishes she never got me involved in the cookie baking, because I never let it slide, no matter how busy we are from year to year. Every Christmas, we bake five different varieties of cookie: tassies, spritzes, crescents, cookie bars, and magic cookie bars (the magic derives from the ability to make you gain 10 pounds instantly).

- If we’re involved in any of the above, Christmas music must be playing. My mom’s partial to her “Christmas Shoes” album, and New Kids on the Block’s Merry Merry Christmas. I prefer Bing Crosby, the Carpenters, the Peanuts album, and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” on repeat.

- When I was young, my parents took us to the children’s mass. We all brought bells to ring during the course of the mass, and Santa would show up the end to hand out candy canes and toys. After college, I joined the church choir, and soon I was singing at four Christmas masses a year! This is my first year as a non-choir member. Last night, I went to the Christmas Eve mass. It’s not Christmas for me without hearing the choir sing all of my favorite songs.

- Top 5 Favorite Christmas Movies: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Elf, A Muppet Family Christmas, Holiday Inn, and Love Actually. I try to watch them all, if I have the time.

- The food is the most established part of our yearly Christmas celebration: It always includes filet mignon, potato pie, mushrooms, veggie casserole, artichokes, pudding pie, peanut butter pie, and all those cookies we baked. I feel nauseous just typing it all out. Nauseous in a good way.

…

Leave your own holiday traditions in the comments, no matter which holiday you’re celebrating this year! Hope you all have an extra special one!

Okay, you’ve caught me. Freelancedom has been quiet lately, aside from a couple of product placement posts. Aside from the fact that I’m obsessed with Christmas, I feel as if everything has come due at the same time. Suddenly, I’ve had articles to complete, blogger applications to read through, end-of-year posts to plan, copy editing tests to complete, test drive posts to do up…I’ve been a stressed-out mess!

Conversely, I haven’t succumbed to holiday season stress at all. Indulging in Christmasy things is like a respite for me, and not one bit of it has been done begrudgingly (though I did lose a huge chunk of my life just in stringing up the lights on two Christmas trees).

Perhaps I should have applied my holiday prep tactics to my business practices. After the jump, 5 things I learned about business management while Christmas shopping:

1. Plan Ahead:

I’m sure you all know by now about my reliance on lists. I’m no different when it comes to Christmas. Before Thanksgiving had even arrived (yes, I’m one of those), I’d drawn up a list of every person I needed to shop for, accompanied by a list of their hobbies, and then accompanied by a list of possible gift ideas based upon these hobbies. I also drew up a list of tasks to be completed, such as putting up the decorations and buying new scented candles, dishes to be made, and ingredients needed for said dishes. Seeing everything in list form made it infinitely less overwhelming.

If only I hadn’t started slacking on my work-related to-do lists.

2. Pace Yourself:

The day after Thanksgiving, I demanded of my husband that we put all of the decorations up, immediately, including the tree, knick-knacks, new scented candles, stockings, etc. He was forced to rein me in considerably, so that the decorating actually took closer to a week. After that, I let things unfold at a more leisurely pace. I purchased most of my gifts online. I put aside a day for wrapping gifts. Another day involved a trip to the supermarket, and I spent two other evenings baking cookies with my mom. It was very low-key.

Similarly, you should lay out your schedule so that different projects can be handled on different days. When you try to accomplish everything at once, it’s easy to get burned out and, as a result, your work will suffer. Why torture yourself?

3. Don’t Procrastinate:

This one is tied in closely with pacing yourself.

Everyone knows that the closer you get to the eleventh hour, the more insanely crowded the malls, shops, and supermarkets are. The other day, my mother asked me — last-second — to do up roasted Brussels sprouts with pecans, and pimiento cheese dip, for Christmas day. I ended up going to both ShopRite (twice) and Whole Foods on Monday, at which point I wondered if anyone worked at all. Despite being the middle of the work day, the parking lots and streets were completely full. Stressful! Wasn’t I glad that the rest of my shopping and wrapping had been done weeks ago!

My work is another story entirely. At times, I have trouble really sitting down and focusing on a project until I know that I’m out of time. At which point I become She-Ra, Princess of Power, doing up five projects in a single bound! The funny thing is, I’ll let myself stress about all the things I have to work on for weeks on end…but when I finally get down to it, it’s never as awful or involved as I imagined it would be. I would have felt much better if only I had gotten things out of the way earlier. Also, starting in on things earlier allows time for emergency situations, such as disappearing interview subjects, corrupt file issues, etc.

4. Follow the Path of Least Resistance:

Even if it’s two months till Christmas I still avoid the mall. This year, I did the bulk of my shopping online. After all, as a products blogger, I’m a pro now (or should be) at finding the perfect, quirky, original gifts for people…the types of gifts you can’t find in your neighborhood department store. I also decided to take some of the pressure off by going the e-card route. My husband and I did up a (somewhat-creepy but still hilarious) elf yourself card.

Remember this mantra: The customer is always right. Though I’m prone to thinking that the customer just doesn’t know any better, and that some standards of work are worth fighting for, don’t knock yourself out spending three hours copy editing a newsletter when the client expects you to finish it all within a half hour. Obviously, the tweaks they’re looking for from you are far less involved than the massive rewriting you wish you could do.

5. Revel in This Moment:

This is my favorite part. I spent an hour in early December just wandering around Fortunoff, looking at the glittering decorations and tiny electrical train sets. It made me giddy, and excited for the coming holiday season. A couple weekends ago, I traveled up to Boston for an eggnog party, and we took a side trip to Portsmouth, NH for a holiday-themed candlelight stroll at Strawbery Banke, where we learned about the making of wreaths, tried out roasted chestnuts, sipped hot cider while listening to a musical trio, and warmed ourselves in front of a bonfire. It was so charming! Nowadays, when I’m stuck at home and feeling lonely, I turn on the Christmas tree lights and play Bing Crosby songs. This time of year always seems so magical to me.

You know what else is pretty magical? The fact that we’re making it as freelancers…making money doing something we love, and enjoying the flexibility of being our own bosses. Whether that involves wearing slippers to work, taking a break for a walk to the park, or taking a time out for reality TV with a side of lunch, revel in it! We sometimes forget how good we have it. Remind yourself why you first became a freelancer. Did you do it so you could concentrate on the work you love? So that you could have more time for personal projects or outings with your loved ones? Don’t lose sight of that. Our lives and careers are pretty magical.

[$15, Old Navy]

I know that I just wrote about doing without, but I can’t help myself. I have a wish list every Christmas, and this year is no different. And besides. It’s Product Placement Tuesday (for at least four more hours, anyway).

After the jump, some business-related gifts I wouldn’t mind receiving, like the slipper boots above, which would keep my tootsies nice and toasty whilst working from home. Leave your own wish list items in the comments!

[$11.33, Amazon]

A book on “how to get ahead, save your ass, and land a job in any economy.”

[$96.94, Amazon]

The best backpack for your gadgetry. I’d be much less averse to carrying my D40X around if I had this on hand.

[$19.79, Amazon]

Lifehacker is already a huge presence in my Google Reader. I wouldn’t mind a reference book on “working smarter, faster, better” to mark up.

[$11.20, Amazon]

I am such a sucker for these career-oriented self-help books.

[Amazon]

An awesome thesaurus/dictionary/glossary hybrid. Only available used, apparently. Recommended in Spunk & Bite.

[$13.57, Amazon]

Because who wouldn’t want a four-hour work week!?

Also:

I’d like to be signed up for eFax, Freelance Success, and this career coaching certification program.

I know! That’s why it’s called a wish list

…and by freelancedom, I mean my somewhat charmed lifestyle, in which I actually enjoy my work to the extent that I have trouble calling it a day, and in which I get to wear my Cookie Monster pants and fuzzy socks all. day. long if I so choose.

Though by all means. Place Freelancedom on your list of things to be thankful for this year.

Some other things I’m thankful for:

• how lucky I’ve been in such a short time as a full-time freelancer
• my main blogging gig
• my new network cable and virus scan software
• the most supportive husband ever
• my three cats, who are my only source of face-to-face conversation during the day
• Bavarian chocolate coffee from Gourmet Garage
• my lovely readers, who are constantly sharing their super-helpful tips, and reminding me that I’m not typing into a void

Check out what Jenny of the Golden Pencil and Susan of the Urban Muse are thankful for this Thanksgiving, and then share your own list in the comments!