Well, $%^#, where’d the year go?

Well, clearly my plan to blog about my work every month went to pot. But as Fred and Ginger say: Pick yourself up, brush yourself off, start all over again.

I’m reevaluating whether this monthly tactic is best for 2022, or if another way will work better, but for now, here are some of the highlights that happened in the last quarter of 2021:

• Worked on several stories for the College of Education at the University of Maryland, one of my longest-term clients. After our interview about a lecture he gave, Professor Cam Scribner told me: “you really nailed down all of the exact sort of complexities that I would have brought up if we were teaching in a graduate seminar.”

• Wrote a story for Goucher College on alumni entrepreneurs in the food business. I used to write a lot of food stories in my newspaper days, then I wrote for the now-defunct food section of Paste Magazine, but I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to write content marketing or copy about food. It’s a topic near and dear to my heart, so I’d love to get back into it.

• My friend Melanie Padgett Powers, who is the managing editor of Dateline Federation Magazine for the Hemophilia Federation of America, recruited me for a piece on hemophilia families and adoptions. It was a pleasure getting to speak to the families.

• I wrote a piece for marketing recruitment agency Torchlight Hire on what to know about paying a freelance writer. Writers are notoriously undervalued, and I hope marketing directors will pay attention and heed my words. For example, promising “great exposure,” but no/meager pay just doesn’t work. You wouldn’t expect your plumber/dentist/hairdresser to work for “exposure,” would you?

• Wrote two pieces for ASJA Magazine, and continued my work as editor of the Weekly newsletter. One member described it as: “Lots of meaty information told in a brief, breezy style.”

• Continued working as blog editor and strategist with designer Christy Batta. I love helping a business, whether a solo business or a large corporation, tell its stories. And as much as I enjoy doing the actual writing myself, I love the process of guiding and supporting someone else through the process of just as much.

In 2022, my goals include doing more content strategy, diving back into the food niche, continuing to build a niche in ad tech, writing even more stories about interesting people doing fascinating things, and building great relationships with clients and fellow writers and editors. You can email me at hello@redpeneditorial.co, or find me on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Wishing you a happy, healthy New Year.

June is Bustin' Out All Over

God bless any opportunity for a good classic musical reference.

June started out rough. I did that thing where you take on ALL THE WORK, thanks to the feast or famine mentality that many of us independent business owners are trying to shed, and found myself very much — cue up your best Paul Hollywood — overworked. Fortunately, all’s well that end’s well. Here’s what happened in the month of the pearl and the rose.

• Completed work on my current project with Client Z, editing a sustainability and DE&I report.

• Wrote a story for the University of Maryland College of Education, a longtime client, on graduating during a pandemic. Publication date pending.

• Wrote a story for another longtime client, Northern Virginia Magazine, on something that’s on the mind of every parent of a baby or toddler — tips for finding good daycare.

• In honor of Pride Month, supported editing client Christy Batta as she explored five LGBTQ+ designers she admires.

• Through ASJA, the Association of Journalists & Authors, where I serve as editor of the weekly newsletter, I was referred to marketing recruitment agency Torchlight Hire. This referral resulted in an assignment, writing a blog post on what hiring managers need to know about paying a freelance writer.

• Completed a story for CASE, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, on advancement offices’ plans for the September return to on-campus work.

• Got my second COVID-19 vaccine shot. If you haven’t done so, get vaccinated, get vaccinated, get vaccinated.

Then Came the Last Days of May

May was a busy month. I began work with two clients I’d been courting for a long time. Running a freelance business takes a lot of patience, which is not necessarily a natural gift for me. Obviously, I’m still catching up on these blog posts. The goal is to be up to date by mid-September, then continue monthly from there. Any feedback on what is or is not helpful to let you get to know me better as a business owner, freelancer, writer/editor, and person is appreciated. Without further ado, here’s how May shaped up:

• Helped graphic designer Christy Batta of Christy Batta Designs go behind the scenes of her work creating a logo for Discover Bonifant, a coalition of small businesses in Silver Spring, Maryland. I love my collaboration with Christy. My role is to help guide her through creating her monthly blogs — asking questions, giving feedback, making suggestions — from the incarnation to the publication. It’s a combination of coach and editor, almost like a blogging doula.

• Continued working to edit DE&I and sustainability reports for a major media corporation through my aforementioned (see April entry) NDA client, henceforth referred to as Client Z. And at another juncture, we’ll talk about NDAs. Throughout the process, a lot of questions about conscious language arose, such as whether the term BIPOC or person of color is preferable. I offered to create a conscious language guide for the company to have as a resource for clients who might not have set standards on certain usages.

• Began working on a feature story for CASE, Council for Advancement and Support of Education. I did some copy editing and fact-checking for CASE a few years ago and have since kept in touch, through a few rounds of editors, but this was my first time writing for them. Freelancing can be a long game, which is hard when you like instant gratification (who doesn’t?!)

• Edited weekly newsletters for ASJA, the American Society of Journalists and Authors. This is a volunteer position, and the ONLY work I do for no pay. I consider it a contribution to my community and an investment of time into networking.

• Wrote a pillar page on leveraging audio advertising for Viant by Adelphic, an omni demand-side platform. I started working with Viant in late 2020. The content manager is a friend and was a classmate at Medill. It’s my first foray into ad tech writing and though I admit I’m a little intimidated, I hope to continue to develop this niche.

• Began work with a new client, American Communities Project, on a story about the challenges faced by parents in the urban suburb of Silver Spring, MD (where I happen to live) to find affordable childcare. I first connected with the editor of ACP, Ari Pinkus, in 2017 as she was departing the National Association of Independent Schools. Since then we’ve stayed in touch intermittently. We were glad to finally have an opportunity to work together. This is definitely an example of how so much of the key to growing your freelance business is building relationships.

• On the note of relationships, through ASJA I randomly reconnected with a former colleague I’d worked with almost 20 years ago. I love these small world moments.

• Also through ASJA I participated in TeleConnections, which provides members with the opportunity to sign up for fast (9-minute!) introductory phone calls with the leaders of numerous publications, content marketing agencies, and publishing houses. I felt like my calls all went well, but my biggest challenge is probably going to be coming up with pitches. I often find pitch culture to be discouraging.

• Wrote and submitted a story to the University of Pennsylvania on alumnus Chris Bennett, founder of Wonderschool — a platform and software to support early education programs and microschools.

I’m still catching up and getting the hang of these monthly summary posts, figuring out the best use to make of this blog. Get in touch with me at hello@redpeneditorial.co.

Countdown to 40

March 29, 2019: My 39th birthday. This means I have entered my 40th year of life. That’s what a birthday is. A completion of a year. It’s the last year before a big milestone (supposedly).

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d like to set fire to all the mental and physical lists of things we “should” have “achieved” by the time we’re X years old. Those things are designed to breed feelings of inadequecy. See, all of those artificial timelines and “30 things you should have by the time you’re 30,” and “40 under 40” lists … those are terrible, terrible things.

So why am I making a 40 things list? And why am I writing about it on my business website?

Well, first, this list is strictly for me. You’re welcome to borrow anything you want off it, but this isn’t me telling you “this is what you ought to do,” it’s “this is how I’d like to spend the last year of my 30s.”

Second, as a freelance business owner, you have to think a lot about mindset. In the first episode of her new podcast, Deliberate Freelancer, Melanie Padgett Powers discusses the mindset of acknowledging oneself as a business owner.

I’ve been freelancing since 2013 — we’ll talk about the origins of that at another time — but I never thought of myself as a business owner. In June of 2018, six months pregnant with my daughter, I launched Red Pen Editorial Services. Did the clients come pouring in? No. But now instead of just going from gig to gig, I am building something. Slowly, stumblingly, sometimes painfully. And you can’t deny that the better your personal mindset, the better your business one.

This idea was inspired, in part, by listening to an interview with author James Clear on the High Income Business Writing podcast, hosted by Ed Gandia. If you’re a freelancer, or freelance business owner, or a person who wants be “good at life,” these are names you should know. Clear’s theory of atomic habits talks about creating better life/work systems by improving just a little each day. I might be getting that wrong.

Ten years ago, on my 29th birthday, a friend asked me what I’d learned in the past year. Three hundred and sixty-five days from now, I’d like to have a good answer to that question. This list is about a lot of small steps. Some things are to be built over time, others will be done all at once. Some are personal. There are others that are too personal to put online. Some are business. I hope most will inform both. My ultimate goal, the one thing I truly want to learn: How to be someone my daughter can be proud of.

Anyway, here we go … 40 Things to Learn, Books to Read, Plans to Set, Habits to Make or Break, and A Bunch of Other Crap to Do and/or Work Toward By the Time I Turn 40 — A 365 Day Countdown:

1) Actually read “Atomic Habits,” by James Clear
2) Get in bed before midnight on weekdays
3) Be able to get out of bed without pain
4) Read for pleasure every day
5) Get my daughter’s baby journal up to date
6) Reread “Little Women”
7) Pay my bills on the same day every month
8) Learn to bake macarons
9) Wait 30 minutes in the morning before looking at the internet
10) Sell something I knitted (knit? What’s the past tense of knit?)
11) Drink more water
12) Ask for better rates without feeling guilty
13) Actually declutter. Like, the full Kondo.
14) Find some clothes that “spark joy” — even on my post-baby body
15) Plan and prepare meals ahead of time
16) Get away from the computer/phone an hour before I go to sleep
17) Reduce my use of verbal fillers
18) Finish reading “Writing Without Bullshit” by Josh Bernoff
19) Learn how to not only write without, but live without bullshit. Okay, less. Less bullshit. Reduce bullshit. Minimize bullshit.
20) Try mindfulness. Again. For 30 days. For 3 minutes a day for 30 days. Then if I still feel like it’s not the thing for me, be good with saying so.
21) Grasp some concept of what SEO means, beyond the actual defintion
22) Post at least one blog a month. Hopefully more, but small steps
23) Find an anchor client that PAYS WELL
24) Bake my daughter a birthday cake from scratch
25) Get comfortable (ish) driving alone with my baby
26) Learn how to be comfortable saying some version of “if you forgive me for not answering that, I’ll forgive you for asking it.”
27) Pitch five stories to national magazines (pitching SUCKS — topic for another day)
28) Read “Dreyer’s English” by Benjamin Dreyer
29) Get (and use) a Met Opera On Demand subscription (I miss New York! If you’re there and you’ve never been, go to the opera)
30) Learn how to plant and grow something
31) Attend a conference for work (I’m thinking ACES: The Society for Editing)
32) Start therapy again
33) Compile a honeymoon photo album (we went in 2017 — oops)
34) Ask for (and earn) at least $100/hour
35) Volunteer
36) Stop allowing people (and myself) to make me “feel inferior without my consent” - Eleanor Roosevelt
37) Learn the basics of using a sewing machine
38) Be sought out by clients
39) Plan a family vacation
40) Reread Jane Austen

Future Teacher Never Stops Learning

“Many of these young people are not receiving the educational resources they should, and they don't even know that they should receive these resources. I believe education should give young folks the ability to critically question and engage with the world around them. I've been very fortunate to have had opportunities to work with young people who are able to say, "I don't like this. What if we did it this way instead?"

- Landon Wilson, University of Maryland College of Education Class of 2019, Philip Merrill Presidential Scholar 

A Purpose-Driven Couple

On its face, this was a pretty straightforward assignment I received from Goucher College: Write a short profile of an alum. He founded a strategy risk and insurance advisory firm. He's married to another Goucher alumna. Go to. 

In reality, working on the story was a good reminder of some of the lessons I've picked up in my years as a writer and journalist:

• Don't be afraid to ask the dumb questions: I have no earthly idea what "strategy risk and insurance advisory firm" means. 
• Don't be stymied by the assignment. Find a way to make the story interesting to a wide readership. He works in risk management. Okay. I could ask him some very dry, technical questions ... or I could ask what sort of role risk has played in his personal life. Hey, it's not a trade magazine. 
• Find the romance. Who's not a sucker for a love story? The fact that the story set up my primary subject's partner to be an equal participant was fortuitous. And with a line like "we disliked each other immediately," I knew there was a good story there. 
• Find the humanity. I don't care for stories that are just about someone's job. I want to know about the person behind the job. I had a colleague who used to ask subjects "what's your origin story?" I shamelessly stole that move, and I use it in as many interviews as I can. I don't want to just know what you do, I want to know what drives you to do it. 

I'm fairly pleased with how the story turned out. But read it for yourself. 

https://blogs.goucher.edu/magazine/living-lives-of-purpose/

Women Who Break Things

Okay, not "things," like dishes. Codes. Women who break codes. 

I had the pleasure of writing about "code girls" for Goucher College. In the 1940's, young women from a number of schools, including Goucher, were recruited as code breakers to decipher complex messages from the German Enigma machines. Their work, often overlooked, contributed directly to the Allied victory in Europe in World War II. 

If you watched The Bletchley Circle on PBS, it's a little like that but with less murder (hopefully) and fewer English accents. 

See the full story below or link here: Goucher's Secret 'Code Girls' Helped End World War II

Note: This story is not bylined. 

Young Artist and Entrepreneur Cuts Her Own Path

This is my latest for the Kogod School of Business at American University: A profile of alumna Lillian Cutts, a young musician, graphic designer and virtual reality enthusiast who is using the marketing and entrepreneurial skills she learned in school to create her customized career. 

Cutting Her Own Path