Long Time, No See!

That’s probably what you all think of me. Right? My apologies! I’m currently on my way to Denver to visit my bestie, and thought I would update you on things while I have a three hour layover.

So what have I been up to? Tons!! As far as writing goes I took on a huge project this month which up until today had me working weekends and late into the night. It didn’t help that despite the tight deadline, more work was added at the last minute. But I still managed to get it done before I went away. In fact, I finished it an hour before leaving for the airport. This month I have literally been going at a break neck speed with writing. On top of said huge project, I kept up the work I do monthly with my regular clients and I have to say this month has worn me out! I am oh so grateful for a short getaway to Denver even if it’s just for three days. This month has got me thinking that it’s time I slow down and maybe occasionally start saying no. While I will enjoy a record month in income this month, starting next month I need to think about me and make time to relax. At four and a half months pregnant, I can’t keep up the break neck speed.

Other things I have been up to aside from work. Well, obviously I’m taking a short trip. I’m, on my way to Denver to visit my best friend and can’t wait to see her. This is probably my last trip without a child, so I jumped at the chance to go. I’m happy to say, we have nothing planned and I’m thrilled to just lounge around and catch up with her for a few days.

On the baby front, I’m four and a half months pregnant already. Man has it gone fast!! I can’t believe it – it feels like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant. I have to say the first trimester was hard. I literally felt like puking 24/7 – which was SO not fun. It’s definitely better now and I feel much more normal aside from the occasional mood swing or headache. I’m starting to show a little bit and finally broke down and bought some maternity clothes. Let me just say shopping for maternity clothes was not so fun, but god love Old Navy as it was the only place I found clothes I liked and that were actually a decent price. We’ve heard the heartbeat a few times now and it is so amazing every time that I get all emotional and cry. I can’t help it! Also, we find out the sex in September and I can’t wait! I haven’t even started planning the nursery yet because I want to know what it will be first. Every day I wake up and the first thing that comes to mind is whether or not I’m having a boy or a girl. I have no idea how people wait to be surprised! No waiting here – I want to know!

I’m getting very excited to be a mom and to hold my baby. It finally feels real and January cannot come fast enough! There are some things I need to work out as far as work goes. I’m not giving up any of my clients, but I think when the baby arrives I will need to cut back initially then ease back into things.

Okay, now you should be all caught up with me. I’ll be back sooner than later, I promise. For now, enjoy your weekend – I know I will!

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun!

With all the baby excitement going on in my house lately a very important anniversary passed me by without me taking notice. Last week was my one year anniversary of freelance writing full time. I can’t believe it’s been an entire year. It truly feels like just yesterday I quit my full time job. Isn’t it funny how time just flies by when you’re doing something you truly love?!

As many of you who read this blog know it’s been a very good first year and I’ve had some opportunities lately that have made it even better. Here are a few things that I’ve been up to lately on top of my regular client work.

I sold an article!

That’s right, to a real magazine! This is huge for me because I rarely pitch to magazines, as in maybe if I’m lucky I’ll send out three to five pitches a month. That’s certainly not enough – but the best I can do while juggling my clients that keep me busy full time. It’s also a big deal because it’s only the second time I’ve sold an article to a magazine. I was pretty excited! The article doesn’t come out for a while still, so I’m not going to share anymore details until it’s all complete, but I will say it’s for a writer’s magazine.

I’m going to be on the Washington Post blog!

My second huge opportunity is through one of my clients. I got hooked up writing two articles for the Washington Post blog. This is huge to me and I’m so excited to contribute to the legend that is the Washington Post! Both articles focus on back to school, so they should be up in the next month or two. One article I already submitted and once I hear back I’ll start work on the second. I’ll be sure to put the links here when they’re up so you can check them out.

Income wise for my first year things have been pretty good. I’m not making exactly what I was making in my full time office job, but overall I’m making an income I can live off of and it’s very comparable to what I was making.

I’m very proud that in the past year I’ve built up a wonderful list of clients that are happy with my work and keep me very busy most months. Plus I’m very proud that I’ve managed to figure out the business side of things like bookkeeping and setting up my own website.

Overall, this year was a huge success – much more of a success than I thought it would be when I started. I’m truly happy with what I’ve done and how far I’ve come, and I’m completely convinced that this is what I was meant to do with my career.  

Guess What?!?

I’m pregnant. I’ve been putting off this blog post for a while now just because I wanted to make sure our families knew first, but now that the news is spreading it’s time to announce it here. I found out at the end of May and I am currently 11 weeks along. My due date is January 28^th and my husband and I couldn’t be more thrilled! Before you ask, yes we were trying – no accidents here although since it only took a month I am grateful there have never been any accidents before.

Immediately upon finding out there were so many thoughts that started flooding my mind. Names, things we’ll need, how to tell people, what to tell my clients, what we need to do to get our house ready and more. One thing I knew for sure right off the bat was that I was going to keep up my work and all of my client work – I’m not giving up my career that I have worked so hard for, no way.

With everything that there is to think about in terms of preparing for a baby my husband and I are trying really hard not to get overwhelmed. We have taken the attitude that although we have no clue what we’re doing we’ll do the best we can and figure it out along the way and everything will turn out fine. Taking this attitude has made for a so far stress free pregnancy and left plenty of room for us to be completely excited.

I have to say that morning sickness is not fun. For the past two months or so it has been my constant companion, but I’m told that it eases up around 12 weeks. Here’s to hoping it does! Feeling crummy has made me realize how truly blessed I am to have my freelancing business. While I’m still completing the same level and amount of work that I was pre-pregnancy my hours have varied and because I work for myself it’s so easy to work when I feel well and not work when I feel bad. I can’t say enough how much I love what I do and am so thankful for it!

We will find out the sex of the baby – there is no way I could wait on that one! We have picked out some names we like, but we’ll keep them under wraps until we decide for sure.

Aside from baby stuff and the holiday weekend July has been a busy work month so far, stay tuned for my next post to see what I’ve been up to work wise including a few awesome opportunities that have come my way!

Happy Independence Day!

I just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a very happy Independence Day and long 4^th of July holiday weekend. While we all enjoy our various cookouts and firework shows, may we be thankful of the wonderful country that we live in and of all the freedoms that we enjoy. Here’s to you America and all of my family and friends. Be safe and enjoy!

List Making Fun

So my last post was a little blah, forgive me I really don’t like birthdays. On a good note this birthday has to rank up there with one of my best. My husband really outdid himself and made me feel very special. Much applause to him!

On to today’s topic: list making. I’m an obsessive compulsive list maker. I make grocery lists, blog idea lists, magazine pitching lists, household chore lists, book lists, recipes to try lists, and on and on. There is almost nothing as gratifying to me as crossing items off my list. It’s like proof of my accomplishments. I think the joy I get from list making is more of a control thing than anything. When I feel really stressed, that’s when the lists get cranked out. It helps me break down tasks, get from point A to point B, feel organized and it helps me control what often feels out of control.

Sometimes I make lists for my husband. He usually rolls his eyes, but eventually crosses things off his lists too. Well, I have a confession to make. This weekend I made the list of all lists. Usually my lists are simple, jotted down quickly on scrap paper in pen. This weekend I’m not sure why, but I sat down and made a HUGE list of EVERYTHING I want to do for our house in the next year. This includes adding shelving to closets, removing a ceiling fan, organizing the dreaded basement, setting up a home gym, ordering a sleeper sofa for the office, lining the kitchen cabinets, and oh so much more. And this is no ordinary list – it’s an entire Excel spreadsheet complete with an estimated cost column, a completion goal column and an actual completed date column. I feel like my list making has stepped into the big time.

Said list actually makes me feel quite happy. When I’ve had free time this week I’ve referred to it and I’ve gotten two things crossed off already – I’m very proud. My husband hasn’t seen this doozie-of-a-list yet, but I’m sure he’ll be thrilled (sarcasm) with it especially since some of the items are only things he can do.

What about you? Do you make lists? How do they help you?

Aging Gracefully

My birthday is coming up and I have to admit I’m not one of those people who ages gracefully. I’ve always admired those people – you know who I’m talking about, the ones who truly believe they get better with age and that each birthday is an opportunity for a whole new year of possibilities. That is so not me. No my birthday goes more like this: the week of my birthday everyone starts asking me what I want for my birthday and what I want to do to celebrate and I end up crying. By the time my birthday actually arrives I have puffy eyes, am in a bad mood and have made no plans. My husband says I’m a little dramatic.

My last good birthday was 21. At 21 I was so happy because I could finally legally drink, but when the hangover wore off it was like well, now I don’t want to have anymore birthdays. There is nothing to look forward to birthday wise after 21. My husband (then only my boyfriend) nicely pointed out that when I turned 25 I could rent a car. Guess how exciting that is? I’ve still never rented a car.

I remember on my 25^th birthday, I had a mini breakdown. People thought I was crazy, but I just remember thinking I’m halfway to 50 and it will go too fast. And you know what? Now that I’m turning 29 it feels like my 25^th birthday was really just yesterday – I mean where did the last four years go? This is what is so depressing to me about birthdays, it seems like the older we get the faster the time slips by and before I know it I’ll be sitting in a nursing home remembering the good old days and wondering how it all went so fast. Sometimes when someone asks me how old I am I actually forget. It’s not on purpose, but I find myself almost saying 27 – is this a sign of old age setting in?

Here’s the thing, I don’t hate my birthday because I’m unhappy with where my life is. Quite the contrary, I love my career, I love my husband, I love that we have a wonderful house, and that we are surrounded by incredible friends and family. I hate my birthday because I am terrified of old age and all the problems that come with it. I like my life the way it is and the way I look and feel right now – and if it changes I want it to be by my own means and something I control, not the whole out of control aging thing.

On that note, enjoy your week and I’ll try to enjoy mine by pretending I’m not actually having a birthday. Maybe by next year I’ll have figured out how to age gracefully….

Race for the Cure

My sister, my mom and me at the Race for the Cure.

About two weeks ago I got a team together to participate in our local Race for the Cure. The Columbus, Ohio affiliate race raised $2.5 million for breast cancer research and treatment with 50,396 participants. The day was beautiful – sunny and a nice 75 degrees. We couldn’t have asked for better weather and everyone was in good spirits.

Every year, the Race for the Cure is emotional, just because of the beauty of the survivors and the people willing to give to help the cause. This year it was especially emotional because I was personally touched by breast cancer. The biggest highlight was walking across the finish line with my mom and sister. My mom is officially a one year survivor! It was a very touching experience and one that I hope we repeat for many years to come.

The thousands of people walking to raise money for breast cancer.

The back of my race shirt dedicated to my mom.

Technical Issues

This week has been not so great. It started out with some awesome news, but has since spiraled into a pretty crappy week. To make a long story short, I’ve had some technical issues lately and my laptop is in the shop as we speak being scanned for a virus – although at this point it’s just a suspicion and fingers crossed it’s nothing! It’s been running slow for a few months and today one of my clients got a virus (hopefully not from me!). I decided it was time to get the laptop checked out just to be safe on the virus front and to find out why it’s been moving so slow. One of the major downfalls of freelancing is having to fill all the business roles like accountant and IT and I’ll be the first to admit I’m not very good at either, especially IT issues. So to say I have reached my boiling point with IT issues would be an understatement – let’s just say my laptop is lucky I haven’t gone Office Space on it.

On a brighter note, work has been picking up and I even agreed to an assignment over the weekend (before I knew I might not have my laptop). As it is the end of the month I have several projects that must get finished, so I’ll have a busy day tomorrow and work part of the weekend. I’ve also gotten several magazine pitches out this week and am hoping I’ll get a bite. The ideas are flowing more freely as I actively work on developing ideas daily.

It’s a short post this week and while I have some good post ideas, I’ve had to deal with other things this week. Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!

**Update: I got my laptop back. It got a clean bill of health and doesn’t have any viruses. They also did some updates to it so hopefully it will be running smoother now.

Standing at a Crossroads

Sounds like a song, doesn’t it?

Lately I’ve been feeling kind of stuck. Granted, this has been a slooow month, so I’ve had more time on my hands to reflect on where I’m going and what I want out of this career, but I’m feeling very indecisive. I’m at a crossroads and am not sure which way to go.

I’ve always been indecisive about things that really matter, ask anyone that knows me. For example, we’re getting our house painted this summer and I have literally 10 paint samples painted on the back of our house that I stare at every day and still can’t decide. It’s like the bigger results a decision will yield, the harder time I have making an actual decision. And let’s face it paint color on the exterior of a house is huge – I’ll have to live with it for as long as we live in this house. I was also very indecisive about leaving a full-time job to freelance full-time. This blog is a testament to that. So, it’s no wonder that deciding which direction to take my freelancing career has me really stumped.

Here’s what I’m indecisive about. Where to focus my time – let me explain. I need to make money to maintain my lifestyle. That was my first goal in my freelance writing career. Check that one off the list, I’ve done it and continue to do so. Great! Now that I have that down and know how to continue to do it, there are other things I want to do in addition to sustaining myself on this career. Two of my goals from the beginning have been to write for magazines and to run a successful blog. I have done neither so far, but to be fair, I haven’t focused a lot of my time on either one. Now a new ambition has entered the ring: I want to write a book – a fiction book. So here is my crossroads, where do I start? Do I brainstorm new blog ideas and focus all of my free time on building a following? Or do I study magazines and query, query, query? Or do I forget about all of that and start in on a book?

I’m not going to lie – money does play a role here. As stated above, I need to sustain myself. The fear of failure is also at play. A new blog may never take off, magazines may never pick up my ideas and a book may never sell. I’m pretty sure all three options will take a lot of time before they are profitable and I’ll probably fail several times trying – but which is the most attainable for me? And which of the three do I want the most? That I don’t know and to tell you the truth I really want to try all three even if I’m poor trying them and an utter failure at first.

What about you? Have you ever been at a major crossroads? How did you decide the best way to go?

And then it was Silent….

It’s been a quiet week for me. In fact, I can’t believe its Thursday – I’m really wondering what I have done with my week. After the last few whirlwind months and April being a great financial month, but very busy, suddenly May started and I’ve got nothing. Well not nothing, but a very light workload. It seems most of my regular clients have less work right now which translates to me having less work right now.

I’ve spent most of the week scanning the job boards and finding very little of interest. I’ve managed to drag out the few projects I have been given but still ended up finishing them yesterday. Now it’s Thursday and I have nothing on the agenda for the next two days and next week to be honest – but I’m still holding out hope that stuff will start coming in.

I briefly thought about signing onto Demand Studios and doing a few articles, but that doesn’t sound appealing at all. In a conversation with a friend yesterday it occurred to me that it’s been a long time since I’ve had any free time in my freelance writing life. It also occurred to me that somehow I should spend this time wisely in a way that will positively impact my career. I love my clients and think they are the best, but I realized that I can only get so far and make so much with clients. I need to work on some things in my career that are purely for me and that perhaps can help me be successful in my own right. Some things that I’m interested in are blogging – duh, writing a fiction book and again writing magazine pieces.

Also I decided to dig out the goals I made at the beginning of this year. I’m proud to say I’ve met a lot of them, but I realized that they focus mostly around my clients. Which is great and I want to keep my clients and keep them happy, but I need to do something for myself too. So I’ve revised my goals to add in some personal projects too.

I’m not going to panic about money right now. I’ve had several great months in a row and have things financially in order. What I am going to do is focus on personal projects for a bit. The hard part is figuring out where to start. My plan for today and tomorrow is to explore what direction I want to go and dig in. I’ll let you know how it goes!