All the Little Things Creeping Up
I’m trying to figure out what I want on my new business cards.
They’re going to be all about the www.jennydecki.com site, but by the time they are ordered I’ll have the Non-Toxic Networking book ready for purchase online. (I was going to do a book proposal, but have reconsidered and think I’m going to go through Lulu.)
The index for the book was completed last night! An index! For the book! Randy did it. Went through the book page by page – goodness only knows how because I’m just not that good at the tedious work. The index is what’s going to allow the book to be marketable to libraries – I want my book in a library more than anything.
But I don’t know if I can get away with having a freelance writing business card and merge a book on there. Writer and author sound good on the surface, but…it’s selling two different things. Writing services vs. Networking skills.
Gak.
Which stinks because I kind of know exactly how I want the cards to look and it’s going to be very similar to the banner on the jennydecki page. Simple, right? Well I’m all about the simplicity!
Ok, I’m done rambling. I just have to figure out if I’m making one business card or two business cards. I also kind of need to redo the website so it looks good. Maybe I’ll put it on the jennydecki site and then have the domain forward with masking to that same page. Not sure. Still working it through.
First, I’m going to go lay down for a few minutes. I’m exhausted.
Too many things that need to get done – all of which I’ve avoided while being buried in work. Now they are rearing their ugly heads and making me realize why I’ve buried myself so completely in work.
Oh. I could just add the book to the front page of the jennydecki site. Right now there is an RSS feed there for all three blogs, but that could be a book cover and a blurb in ten minutes.
So many things to think about! Yikes.
I Tripped Over My Tongue – Hope I Didn’t Blow It
I belong to a list called Help A Reporter Out (HARO) – there are media queries every day and I’ve replied to maybe three out of over a hundred that have come into my inbox.
It’s that whole integrity thing. I don’t lie to get a quote, because it would be pointless and I’d spend all day writing fiction instead of my one true love, non-fiction.
I just received a fact-checking call from Glamour magazine. After talking to the very nice lady I asked her if she was a freelance writer or if she was an employee. She turns out to be an editor. So I, realizing I might not get this chance again, ask her, “If you like my writing, I’m a freelance writer and would be happy to help out if you need it anytime.” Then quickly followed up with, “That’s not bad to say, is it?”
She assured me it wasn’t bad and that she’d let me know.
While I’m pretty sure she will never darken my caller-id (I sounded kind of foolish on the phone because I was really nervous) I’m wondering if I did something that breaks some freelance writer rule I wasn’t aware of.
Worse yet, I hope that telling her I was a writer doesn’t cause her to doubt my story. (My story that was, in fact, 100% true) and if sending an email letting her know it was true might make her suspicious it was not, just by the very nature of telling her.
Confused. That’s what I am right now. Gosh, I wonder if there was a better way to handle that opportunity. What do you think?
I Guess I’m Making a Commitment
I’m generally very commitment averse. I tried to convince my husband that we could live together without having to get married (obviously since I call him husband you see how well I made that argument) and I don’t like to shop for clothing for fear it will go out of style thirty seconds after my Debit card is swiped.
There are a myriad of other small examples of how I fear commitment but I’m sparing you the psycho-babble portion of the program to bring you news.
At Barnes & Noble over the weekend, with birthday money, I purchased the 2009 Writer’s Market
With its noble silver cover and one-year subscription to the Writer’s Market online, this is my way of saying, “World, I may not think you’re ready for this jelly – but we will see!” Crappy song lyrics aside, I want to see if I can come out of hiding from behind the company that has been really lucrative over the past few months and try to break into writing for dead trees.
There are a few reasons for this:
Portfolio Reasons
The work I do currently does not include a byline, credit, or my name in lights. While this does not bother me and I’d have no problem with a newspaper putting someone else’s name on my work, there is a pay to recognition difference. If my name isn’t on it, I’d like to get paid as if it were. Hey, a girl can dream.
Personal Reasons
As I’ve mentioned before, my great-grandmother thinks the Internet is a fad. As such, telling her you can find me on the Chicago Sun Times Online holds no water with her. Since she raised me and I want to make her proud, I want to hand her a newspaper or magazine she’s heard of and say, “Look ma! No hands!” Or some other cute quip that makes her realize that what I’m doing is professional writing.
Building the Book Platform
Even though most of the people I talk to about the book feel that I have an amazing platform, I want to make it more robust by being able to scan little pieces of paper (clips) for the website I’m building rather than put links to stuff online. While links online are super-important, everyone still has a love of dead-tree publications (including me) and being in one or a few will really boost my perceived value as both a speaker and an author.
So I’m going to spend a few sweltering summer nights getting acquainted with my new one true love and we’ll see where it goes. I saw in the sample query letter section that I’m actually doing a few things wrong, but they’re minor and easily fixable. Since I haven’t sent any actual queries out yet (except this one…I don’t know what happened to it…) I’m not too worried that I may have burned all my bridges.
If you’re looking to get some publicity I’d like to recommend a fantastic website called Help a Reporter Out (HARO) – not only have I found a query to submit myself as an expert for, there are LOTS of calls for queries every day. Nothing helps a small business, or anyone really, like seeing your name in lights. Go and join as an expert (or a reporter if that’s what you are!) and you will receive three e-mails a day with queries. (This isn’t an affiliate link, because the service is free!)
Are you a freelance writer? Do you have any advice? I’d love a link to a good online blog or website dedicated to awesome query letters. Asking strangers for love is not my strong suit. I get to know them a little first (you know, the networking thing) but that’s not how this works.
I love learning new things!
Finished My Work - Taking Monday Off!
If you need anything from me, it’s going to have to wait.
Well, I have a call scheduled today at 2:30pm CST - but that’s for someone that might be able to help me with the book, I think. Not me work for them.
I finished my project last night at 6:30am, which means I finished in the morning. While I’ve become quite a fan of AP Style through the last two weeks and the last two projects, I think I’m still going to continue using a hybrid on this blog while I get the hang of it.
The weird thing is, having the AP Stylebook Online Subscription (ap.org) is not the same as having the book. I think I may need to own both. Hope I didn’t say that in my last post, I’m so tired. I got one. Count it…ONE hour of sleep last night.
If I took a nap while the kids are sleeping (aka now) I’d sleep so deeply I wouldn’t wake up when they did and then they’d take the house apart and have it in an utter shambles by the time I woke up. Not worth the trouble. Randy stayed up with me until about 4:30am to be supportive (I know, awwwww!) he only got three hours of sleep so we’ll both be going to bed old-people early tonight. Hopefully the kids comply and go to bed when we put them down.
In other news, I’m going to be having a giveaway next week on MommyBlog Reviews so stay tuned - a link is going to be going up in the menu bar to get you over to the review site. It’s still a little sparse, but I hope that the lack of eighteen-hundred posts is made up for in quality. I’m trying to write a consistent, high-quality set of reviews of products. I also have a co-blogger. I am so excited about it. Her name is Rebecca Froebe and she is a mom business owner as well. Except she has real products as opposed to my freelance writing gigs.
She’s the one that likes Jane Austen, but I decided we could be friends anyway. I’m a giver like that.
That’s about all that’s in my head right now. I’m exhausted beyond belief and am counting the hours until Randy gets home from work and we can have dinner and all go to bed and sleep the sleep of the well-worked and soon-to-be paid.
