While I love being a freelancer, there are certain tasks that I don’t enjoy doing. For example, marketing. Or updating my website. I know I need to do them, but sometimes my motivation is lacking. It’s easy to keep kicking that can down the road: “I’ll do it later.” One way I get around this…
When I was living in Málaga, after more than a year of working hard to learn Spanish, I still didn’t understand a lot of what I overheard around me. This used to discourage me. I felt like I should be a lot further along, given the effort. Then one day I asked myself, “Is my…
Every now and then a topic comes up that gets a fair amount of discussion in freelance editor groups. One of these is the question of authors thanking their editors in the acknowledgments section of their book. And there are a lot of editors out there trying to convince indie authors that they have to…
As the main instructor at Club Ed, my goal isn’t just to help people learn the craft of editing but to help them learn how to run a freelance editing business. Running a freelance business is hard – I’ll be the first to say so. But there are some common reasons people don’t succeed, if…
Newer editors often tell me something along the lines of “I feel like I have Imposter Syndrome. I don’t feel confident about approaching publishers or other potential clients.” So, clear your schedule and make a cup of tea because I want to talk about these challenges, and I have a lot to say! You’ve probably…
My daughter likes the idea of dogs more than she actually likes the reality of them, sort of like me and home ownership. So we both enjoy these things safely at a distance. “What a cute house!” I say as I walk on by. “What a cute dog!” she says as she walks on by….
A while back, I was looking for an apartment to rent in Los Angeles and I found a possibility on one of the rental sites (you know, like Apartment.com or Zillow). The property described sounded like what I was looking for and the rent was about right for the age of the property, its amenities,…
Along with teaching at Club Ed, I freelance as an editor for publishing companies. And this time of year always comes with a crunch of deadlines as companies try to wrap up projects before the end of the year. And it reminds me of the perennial problem of keeping boundaries as a freelancer. I wanted…
The other day I was reading about a controversy inspired by the CEO of Salesforce. It was the usual “I once supported the values of the former president but now I support the values of the current president” kind of nonsense that owners and executives of large companies often (always?) spout in order to make…
The first time I had the entrepreneurial urge, I was about seven years old and I sold jokes, written on little scrolls and tied with string, to neighborhood kids for five cents each. As soon as my parents found out, they put a stop to it. The next time I had an entrepreneurial urge, I…