A Continuing Education in Drawing Up Contracts

Things I Am Good At: Writing about sex. Banging out listicles. Line editing. Connecting with other writers and editors. Making lemon pound cake. Singing in the shower. Mimicking the sounds my cats make. Things I Am Not Good At: Covering my ass when I draw up and/or sign a contract. I’ve been a full-time freelancer [...]

What Kind of Writer Are You?

My writing partner once told me I was the most business-y writer she knew. To be honest, it hadn’t occurred to me that there was any other way to be. That was why, when I sent out an LOI last month in response to a call for book reviewers and learned that the position was [...]

Why Your Goals Aren’t Good Enough

Earlier 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

10 Word Nerdy Tips for Frankenstorm Apocalypse Preparedness

I lay awake in bed at 5:30 this morning as the windows shuddered and the wind howled. The cats prowled restlessly and the old radiators whistled and creaked. Back issues of Creative Nonfiction, the latest issues of Esquire and Vanity Fair, my new copy of The New New Journalism were in a loose pile next to the bed. My Kindle was plugged in [...]

Where Are All the NJ Word Nerds Hanging Out?

Maybe 15 years ago, back when the Montclair Book Center was still the Page One Café, I barely stepped into my local Barnes & Noble. Why would I? Instead, I spent hours browsing the books — old and new — on the left side of Page One. On the right side, there was a café. [...]

How to Find the Right Balance Between Connected Writer and Crazy Recluse

I crossed and recrossed my legs uncomfortably, picked cat hair off my skirt, and leaned away from the passenger sitting beside me as the 195 bus made its way in fits and starts into the city. Only several hours before, I’d been having a Skype video chat with fellow writer and YEC member Dave Ursillo [...]

Which Books Have Inspired Your Writing?

When I was a 5-year-old aspiring poet, I devoured books of poetry by Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe, memorizing lines that spoke to the part of me that knew I’d one day work with words. Later on, as a teenager, I read Bill Ervolino‘s humor column religiously, soaking in his words over breakfast while seated [...]

Choosing to Change Course Doesn’t Mean I Failed… Right?

<— This brilliant illustration perfectly conveys exactly how I’ve been feeling these past couple of months. I posted about my depression / career-related identity crisis just last week, and am still struggling to scramble my way out of that hole. Yesterday, I took my laptop to my favorite local cafe and tried to co-work with [...]