The freelancing life can be a lonely one. As freelancers, we spend the majority of our days (and nights) hidden away in our offices, hunched over the glowing screens of our laptops with only books, podcasts and deadlines to keep us company. The media has painted the writer’s life as a solitary one. We’re reclusive. We’re loners. We’re… you know. But let’s forget the clichés. This is 2016. Being a freelancer doesn't have to be such a solitary and lonely pursuit. There are countless resources out there to help you survive and thrive while living the freelancing life. As a Philadelphia-based freelancer, I personally look to this list for the inspirational nudge I need. It’s easy to get lost in your work; that’s why it’s so important to get outside of the house and move past the local coffee shop when you’re craving human interaction. (Even though coffee shops are a total necessity, I promise you.) Here are eight things you can do to make freelancing a less solitary act: FREELANCE TIP 1: Phone Chats A weekly chat on the phone with a fellow writer can help to relieve the freelance blues. Schedule a short 10 to 30-minute phone chat into your weekly writing schedule. If you want to maximize efficiency, you can structure these weekly calls around a topic. For example, talk about what you have learned from dealing with your clients that week, or trade freelancing tips and tricks. A phone chat is a simple way to mix up the mundane and find inspiration from another entrepreneur. Who knows? Maybe you’ll come up with a great idea for a blog topic or two! FREELANCE TIP 2: Accountability Calls Accountability phone calls with other freelancers or writer friends can really help you stay on track. You can use the phone chats I already mentioned as an opportunity to check in on the goals you establish. We all have goals, but having someone to check in with can give us that extra push we need to achieve them on time. Are you trying to find new clients? Are you trying to attend more networking events? If so, you should set measurable short term and long term goals and have a friend you can call to keep you accountable. Check in on each other’s progress and keep each other company before returning back to work on the small screen. PRO TIP: Head to Pinterest to find awesome goal trackers. Create one and share it with your “accountabili-buddy” to keep you both aware, accountable and on the road to success. FREELANCE TIP 3: Online Writers’ Forums If you’re going to be spending time on the computer, make sure it’s time well spent. Invest your time in online writers’ forums, where you can find other freelancers, writers, bloggers, ghostwriters and content marketers just like you. Freelance forums and online writing communities are great way to virtually connect and network with freelancers with years of experience. The Freelance Writers Den and Freelance Success are two great online writers’ forums that you can subscribe to. There you can find answers to your burning questions, get advice, find support and learn about the best practices for freelancing. A virtual writing community can be a great source of support and an even better resource. FREELANCE TIP 4: In-person Writer Groups As I’ve said, writing really doesn’t have to be so solitary. Find out where the writers in your city are meeting, thinking and discussing, and then go there. In-person writer groups are another great way to turn freelancing into a multiplayer game. I’m constantly on the hunt for other writers to work and discuss with. You can check Meetup.com for writing groups in your city. If there isn’t one, form one! Other freelancers and writers will thank you. If you know several freelancers in your town, you can organize a weekly or monthly writing group where you meet over drinks to discuss and work… or just drink and discuss! FREELANCE TIP 5: Co-working Dates If you know another small business owner or have a friend that works from home, schedule a co-working date to help alleviate some of that loneliness that comes with sitting at your home desk all day. A co-working date can be as simple as meeting up at the local coffee shop, or you can alternate spreading your work across each other’s dining room tables. FREELANCE TIP 6: Co-working Spaces On a similar note, co-working spaces provide another solution to the creative burnout freelancers may feel from spending so many hours toiling away in solitude. Co-working spaces allow freelancers to rent desk space on a daily, monthly or short-term basis. These spaces are filled with other creatives and local entrepreneurs. A part-time membership to a co-working space could be just the thing to satisfy your craving for creativity and social interaction.
FREELANCE TIP 7: Get Your Coffee Fix If you’re feeling a case of cabin fever brewing, you should definitely take a trip to your favorite local coffee shop. Work at cafes when you're craving human connection; you’ll be surprised how much more productive you are. In fact, a study published in The Journal of Consumer Research found that the average level of ambient noise found in a bustling coffee shop (~70 decibels) actually heightens creativity, compared with the quieter level of 50 decibels. This local Philadelphia freelancer loves to bunker down at the ReAnimator Coffee Roastery and Elixr Coffee Roasters. These cozy spots are perfect for typing the day away with a quality brew while chatting with the locals. FREELANCE TIP 8: Attend a Writing Conference Not only do writing conferences provide excellent opportunities to rub elbows with your favorite author and hear inspiring speeches by accomplished writers, but they also provide the perfect excuse to get out and stretch your legs in a work-related fashion. Conferences are the ultimate combination of work and play, as they provide amazing opportunities for professional development and networking, along with awe-inspiring panelists. What do you do to make the freelance life less lonely? Give us a shout in the comments below. November may be the month for the novel, but it can also be a time to focus on the literary magazine. These literary collections serve as constant points of inspiration for writers, readers and loyal subscribers.
This NaNoWriMo, dive deep into the domain of independent publications, small presses, reviews and journals to find the strange, unique, genre-bending works that will inspire you in your artistic endeavors. Here’s a list of literary magazines that stand out from the thousands listed on databases and spread out at writer’s conferences. These literary journals feature experimental writing, inventive forms and seriously developed styles, so be sure to check them out! The Newer York The Newer York searches for different modes of expressing those universal truths our high school teachers drilled into our malleable minds. Browsing the Electronic Encyclopedia of Experimental Literature, the inventive interviews, and imaginative artifacts and lists of the Newer York will provide inspiration and motivation to any writer. Hopefully you’ll even be stirred to submit—after all, submissions are open year-round. This peculiar publication wants, “Your literary absurdities, your artifacts of stories.” A Bad Penny Review Out of all the tables at last year’s AWP, A Bad Penny Review was the one that I couldn’t stay away from. (I bought Daniel Citro’s Seas/Horse postcard series, which is now plastered to my walls, with a few magnetic poetry adjustments.) This publication focuses on form and non-form, on the unfamiliar, the experimental and transgressive. Scroll through the website or order last year’s hard copy of the journal for a thought-provoking collection of visual poetics, poetry and prose. escarp Instead of wasting time on social media reading mediocre Twitter poetry, check out escarp, a text-messaged based literary review that publishes brief poetry and prose. The publication only posts once a day, and when they do, “We like the work we publish to interrupt you—to remind you words exist.” The brief nature of the posts (140 characters or less) and the uniqueness of the publication make escarp one to follow. Burner Magazine Burner Magazine is a digital pop art magazine, with the ambitious aim to take the boring out of the literary and arts scenes. According to the site, “Burner is about science, art, truth, conspiracies, naturalism, cyborgs, music, beauty, sex and everything in between.” If any of those sound mildly interesting, you’ve found yet another literary magazine to subscribe to, bookmark, pin, or how ever else you save interesting internet finds these days. Either way, this visually-stunning, empowering publication promises to get your blood pumping. HOOT HOOT is a postcard review of miniature poetry and prose, published with the idea that current, quality literature can be both shareable and accessible. Study the art of brevity through a subscription to HOOT, where you’ll find fiction, non-fiction, poetry and book reviews at fewer than 150 words an issue. MadHat Lit MadHat Lit is just what you’d expect from a literary publication of such a name. It is rambunctious and defiant, eccentric and untamed. Within its pages one encounters literary surprises of all sorts: magical realism and surrealism, humor and satire. Peruse through this publication for stylistic inspiration. What are some of your favorite literary magazines? Let me know in the comments below! Last week I wrote a blogpost that highlighted several Spotify playlists that could serve as the soundtrack to your writing. I thought I’d continue with that theme this week and share some Spotify features that often go unnoticed. Little does the everyday Spotify user know, but this online music player also contains several playlists and categories that can be added to the writer’s toolbox. If you’re like me, then you love audiobooks. These Spotify playlists have all the benefits of audiobooks with the addition advantages of Spotify: they’re free, there’s more variety and the service is completely portable, so you can take your favorite writers with you on-the-go. You can download Spotify for free onto your phone, computer, tablet or other mobile device. One playlist that will certainly come in handy is Spotify’s How to Write.... Here listeners will find advice on writing everything from academic essays to poetry. The speakers also cover topics essential to any author’s career, such as the editor-author partnership, overcoming writer’s block and how to find inspiration. And just in time for NaNoWriMo, the playlist features several discussions on how to write the novel. Modern Poetry: On this playlist users will find over 150 selections of modern poetry, read by the authors themselves. Find inspiration from authors such as Edna St. Vincent Millay, E.E. Cummings and Ezra Pound. Short Stories: This collection of classic short stories by authors such as James Joyce and David Moore is sure to provide a much-needed creative boost, as well as a valuable lesson on craft. The Essential Edgar Allen Poe is composed of over 15 hours of mystery and macabre. This eerie collection caters to anyone interested in the literary gothic, the American Romantics and the everyday Poe aficionado. The Beats: Surround yourself in the surreal sounds of America’s anti-conformist movement spoken by the Beat Generation writers: Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs and Peter Orlovsky. The Beats’ art has caused much debate and discussion since its emergence in the 1950s. Join the discussion after listening to this playlist. Slow down and listen to The Poetry of Sylvia Plath, another free, handcrafted playlist for the writing community by Spotify. This playlist is best played while on a hike through the woods or sitting inside on a rainy day. It is Sylvia Plath, after all. The Robert Frost Reading Room playlist is a true hidden gem within Spotify's servers. In this playlist, readers can enjoy over two hours of American poet Robert Frost’s poetry read by both Robert Frost and his daughter, Lesley Frost. Editor's Choice: Fiction Speaking of eBooks, here you can listen to novels, short stories, plays and more. Among this list users can listen to Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, just to name a few. Just as a heads up, Hugh Laurie does, in fact, read one of the stories on this list, and it’s wonderful. Editor's Choice: Nonfiction: If you love nonfiction but oftentimes don’t know where to look among the cluttered bookshelves, competing literary magazines and websites, then this playlist is for you. The Editor’s Choice provides a “fresh and varied selection of nonfiction” that is updated weekly. This week’s featured authors are Noam Chomsky and Joseph Campbell, with a dash of Margaret Mead. It may only be November 3rd, but NaNoWriMo is already in high gear. Interactive writing tools are the writer’s (sometimes only) friend during this demanding time. While the majority of writers shut themselves off from society for the next 27 days, I’ll be here to provide writing tips and tools to help improve your writing.
Happy listening!
As artists, it's imperative we have our own creative space. This is no new idea. In fact, we've gotten a bit of a reputation over the years for being introverts or even recluses because we often require a hideaway set off from the masses where we can create. Yes, we’ve seen this concept before. Virginia Woolf brought it to light with her enduring1929 essay A Room of One's Own. "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." A creative space provides the writer the necessary room to synthesize ideas away from the distractions of daily life. It is within this space our product is free from the influences of others and the impressions of the constant technological buzz that hovers just above our ear. The times and the meaning behind things have certainly changed since the days of Woolf, but the need for a "room of one's own" has not. As individuals within the modern age, we have an inherent need to exert our individuality over our space, to personalize it and make it uniquely ours. As writers, we’re even more fastidious. Writers need a writing space that will be ours, armed and ready. It can be easy to create that much-needed private space, set apart from stressors and distractions, if you're willing to do a little DIY.
Here's how to create the perfect writer's room:
The Drunken Monkey Coffee Bar Comfortable couches, free Wi-Fi and fair trade, organic coffee make The Drunken Monkey "A Coffee Junkie's paradise," and also an ideal writing spot. Their food is always fresh, homemade, and delicious. They have plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, so everyone leaves happy. Austin’s Coffee & Film This is one Winter Park coffee shop where patrons can spend the whole day in a caffeinated comfort. Austin's Coffee is open 24 hours, 7 days a week, so it's the perfect place to spend those early morning hours. Write, read and relax throughout the day, and then enjoy live bands, art shows, independent films, live comedy and poetry once the sun goes down. Stardust Coffee & Video Stardust has been a staple of the Winter Park community since its founding in 1970. The Winter Park coffeehouse, cocktail lounge and indie performance venue plays host to all kinds of events and oddities. Stardust is a great spot to grab a cup of coffee or a beer and write or chat with friends. Dandelion Communitea Cafe Dandelion offers a gathering place for tea drinkers within a quaint 1920's house. It’s difficult to not be inspired while at Dandelion; the building housing the restaurant has a story of its own, the ceiling drips with something that could be stardust, the staff fosters a community spirit and local art hangs from the walls. Founder Julie Norris has somehow created a space that is both inspired and inspiring. The menu features organic, vegetarian and celiac-friendly options, so patrons are sure to feel great upon leaving. Downtown Credo This donations-only coffee shop in Orlando’s College Park leaves patrons feeling inspired and empowered as soon as they walk through the doors. Downtown Credo aims to develop an authentic community, inspire people to "live with meaning" and to improve the city of Orlando through its various projects and creative endeavors. Relax with a book or work on your writing thanks to Credo’s low-key, welcoming atmosphere. Bikes Beans and Bordeaux Bikes Beans and Bordeaux, the bike-themed cafe situated in Audubon Park, is a sanctuary for cyclists among the negligent streets of the greater Orlando area. Fine beans, top brews and soothing tunes make B3 another top café, though the lively atmosphere may deter those seeking aesthetic asylum and a quiet place to think. Vespr Craft Coffee & Allures If refuge is what one seeks, then the soothing, inspiring ambiance of this East Orlando coffeehouse will serve her well. Vespr is a hidden gem along Alafaya Trail, offering solace to those seeking a place to work and drink an imaginative, delicious drink. I was never a big fan of Twitter. I’ve been told numerous times it’s a “must” for writers. I’ve also never been a fan of things being referred to as a “must.” It’s not that I have a problem with authority— no, I grew out of that pseudo-anarchist stage by the time my breasts had already come and gone with that welcomed loss of pinchable “baby fat.” There I go with the quotation marks again, but that was a time where everyone kept telling me, “Don’t worry, it’s only baby fat. I guess the boobs were baby fat too, though.
Anyways, as a young writer, Twitter is an apparent must, or at least according to my teachers, my marketing professors, my writing friends and colleagues. So I have one, and it’s not that bad once you get to know it. I’m grateful to the Twitterverse because I stumbled upon a retweet of a retweet that told me David Sedaris was doing an AMA on Reddit. Now, for those of you who aren't as well-versed in internet acronyms, AMA stands for "Ask Me Anything." These forums provide a place where the mundane becomes fascinating, where the faceless masses of Web 2.0 can band together and marvel at the uncommon and the little things that make a person interesting. As a young, aspiring writer and also a fan of Mr. Sedaris, my interest was sparked by the AMA, titled, "I am ‘America’s Most Beloved Author’ David Sedaris. AMA." So naturally, I stopped what I was doing to record my thoughts as I read through the various questions and comments of the adoring masses.. 2:21 pm: Start I wonder what he's promoting? 2:22pm Ohhh, gotcha. It's a book tour. In that case, maybe I can spend Thanksgiving weekend with David Sedaris. Just kidding, he’ll be here in Florida, and it’s sold out. Drats. 2:24pm Why does everyone in this AMA begin their "questions" the same way? [Insert compliment about how you're my favorite author ever] [Question #1] [Question #2] There I go with the quotation marks again. I don’t normally use them so much. I must be feeling quite sarcastic today. It’s probably because I’m sitting on Reddit. RealDavidSedaris: I taught myself to type. And I always thought I would start with one finger, and then advance to the other 9, but I never did. AND I've been typing for... let's see...uh, 77,87,97,107, okay, 38 years, and I still have to look at the keyboard. 2:25p.m. Well, at least it isn’t his publicist typing, (for those of us who remember the Morgan Freeman incident of 2013), it’s "America’s Most Beloved Typist." 2:32p.m. ====== I wonder if he knows how parallel we are. Yes, I just used the word "parallel" to compare myself to "America’s Most Beloved Author." I wonder if there's a way David Sedaris could possibly know that I knew what dysfunction meant before I could spell it. That my family is full of-- something else. Let's call it a bitter want for normalcy. That even though something pushed me 1,000 miles south at seventeen, I still feel something pushing me forth. Back and forth. Onward, ho! Record the world around you. Read, write, be. But make it home for dinner once in a while. And bring that hammer. For everyone knows, "A house divided cannot stand." Just keep on moving. Parallel. I mean it in the way that you want to know them and understand them. Hell, I’ve been trying to my whole life. 2:40 p.m. Control F+ “real” That’s how I find him, the “RealDavidSedaris.” I find myself searching for “real,” and scanning for yellow highlights among the thousands of other users filling the forum with questions on everything from his stories and writing advice to missed moments at book signings and dating advice. I’m searching for something real within the notorious mob mentality and fan accounts of the interwebs; the catfish and the trolling of the Reddit black hole. I press control+f to find the "real" man (or rather his typist, but hey, it’s not his fault he suffers from one-fingeredness). So I search for real because America’s most loved author is real. And that’s why we love him. Hell, he’s the Real David Sedaris. He’s all honestly, self-deprecation and dysfunction. America’s Most Beloved Author. 2:46p.m. Writer's block and flying lawnmowers RealDavidSedaris: Sometimes when I'm stuck, I'll open an English textbook, and do the homework. There are a lot of college writing textbooks that will include essays and short stories, and after reading the story or essay, there will be questions such as "Have YOU Had any experience with a pedophile in YOUR family?" or "When was the last time you saw YOUR mother drunk?" and they're just really good at prompting stories. You answer the question, and sometimes that can spring into a story. You know, this is really good advice: I mean, I don't have advice to offer on many things, but THAT is good advice, and you're NOT gonna hear it from a lot of other places. Sometimes, I listen to... jazz. It can't be... music with words in it. But lately, I'm on a... let's see, I'm on a Bobby Enriquez kick. It doesn't have anything to do with writer's block. Well, where we live in Sussex, sometimes there are gliders over our house, and gliders don't make any noise, but the planes that tow them into the sky do, but I like to cover up the sound of the planes. It's like a flying lawnmower. That’s one way to make use of all those old textbooks filling up my bookshelves. But really, has anyone else noticed how wonderfully Victoria (his typist) captures his voice? And now off to write about the last time I saw MY mother drunk... 3:00pm On death Yasistahsass: What's the meanest thing you've ever said to anyone including yourself? RealDavidSedaris: "I hope you die alone." I said that to my father when I was 13. And I've thought about it ever since. I don't think he remembers it, because as a parent of 6 kids, you're gonna hear a lot of things like that. But my fear is that my father will die alone. And...I'll be forced, for the rest of my life, to think about that terrible thing that I said. Does anyone know a woman who might want to marry my father and stay by his side night and day? He's 92. I told you we were parallel. We run together but apart. There’s a whole world of time and ocean and experience between us— words yet to be written and families functioning on differing frequencies. But I’m not going to tell this to the Reddit world. Faceless screens only enable malice. And angsty teens are the cruelest of all. “I hope you crash and die tonight,” I told her as she left the house. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t want the seven of us to be left motherless, to be the burden of our milky-eyed, big-bellied, diabetic father. But I was mad, and I said something that has stayed with me. It has the weight of possibility, the grind of four wheels and my lonely father. For now I'll keep wondering and writing and jotting down my thoughts as I read random AMAs. Speaking of which, here's a list of upcoming AMAs. It seems like as a millennial you can’t really win in the eyes of our older counterparts. You know how it goes, “we’re entitled, we’re lazy, we lack work ethic, we’re technology-dependent.”
Or, we’re undefeatable; we work too much to conquer every possible skill so we’re ready for any position, any job. As millennials, many of us simultaneously work our day jobs and also moonlight as bloggers, social networkers, interns, volunteers and students. And of course there are also plenty of hobbies and extracurricular activities to fill the already sparse hours left in the day. In today’s job market, does a stack of degrees and a Linked In skill set a page long make you seem like you can’t commit to anything, or that you’re the ultimate Jack, or in this case, Jane of all trades? These days it’s important to be able to do a little bit of everything, as long as you can do it all well. Any employer is going to expect you to perform a skill if it’s listed on a resume or a Linked In, and they will expect it to be done professionally. If you can’t use Photoshop then don’t list it. Young adults, especially college-aged adults, have gotten a bad reputation in the past thanks to disgruntled parents complaining about the “five year plan.” They grumble about their children jumping from endeavor to endeavor, degree to degree, and never quite finishing anything. Well, I’m here to tell you, that sometimes it takes five years—or in my case four and a half—to accomplish something that will help you in the long run. What matters is that you find what you love along the way, and absorb as much of the information possible to utilize for your benefit. WHY TRAVEL ALONE
Step outside your comfort zone Solo travel allows you to step outside your comfort zone. To approach strangers as if they're already friends. In hostels, everyone is there for the same reason. We're all searching for something, you could say-- for adventure, excitement, life, love, something new and scary. We're all the same, no matter how different our accents may be. See what you're capable of It isn't until we have stepped out into the great unknown that we really see what we're capable of. Once we make that beautifully terrifying leap of faith, stupidity, or whatever you'd like to call it (for me it was a, "well, here goes nothing!") into the thing that scares you, you'll be unstoppable. But you can do it. You'll master public transit and foreign currency, exchange rates and bartering. And hey, you might even pick up bits of languages here and there. Had someone told me years ago that I'd be where I am today, a native Philadelphian living 1,000 miles away in sunny Florida, having just traveled the world alone, I wouldn't have believed them. Being alone is a beautiful thing I truly believe you have to be happy with yourself before you can be happy with another person. When wandering the sprawling labyrinths of Sevilla in the early morning hours or seated outside the Kafka cafe in Prague, there is no time to dwell on the past, be sad, or lonely; there is only the present moment and all its beauty. There is gratitude, awe, and wonder. There is curiosity and a deep comfort knowing you and all those around you too are part of this beautiful world, this moment. You're more open When traveling alone, there isn't any familiar conversation to hide behind. Without a friend or a phone to turn, you're more willing to make friends at the hostel, the cafe, the bar, or the event you're at. Plus, you seem more approachable and less intimidating, so go say hello! You're on your own schedule All the walking and sightseeing takes a lot out of a body. Sometimes it's nice to take the day off and relax at a cafe with a book and a notebook, to sit in a park, or by the river. Your itinerary just may not match up with a friend's, and that's just fine; this is your trip, after all, so listen to your body and your heart, and do what you want. "So why travel alone?" He asked me. He had one hand curled around the strap of his backpack and the other around the railing, steadying himself as the airport monorail t pulled us toward our final destinations. The bags at our feet held everything. Mine carried the extra weight of returning, of coming home after two months abroad.
"Why not?" I answered. I shrugged my aching shoulders and smiled with cracked lips, dry from the long flight. "But really, why?" "It was something I had to do. You have to be able to do something on your own, find out who you are apart from everything before you can really know who you are with another person." We laughed about how that answer had sounded rehearsed, but it wasn't. Many people had asked me the same question and I'd provided different versions of the same thing, but in the end I had finally figured it out. |
Alyssa ShainaWriter, reader, believer. Archives
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