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.

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.

What's Going On... and what will be

So, it’s been a while. Between client work, marketing, and parenting an increasingly active toddler, actually doing work on my own content seems to be the thing that falls by the wayside. I would really like to fix this.

Last week, I was listening to the 100th episode of my favorite freelancing podcast, Deliberate Freelancer, hosted by fellow writer and editor Melanie Padgett Powers (who also happens to be a neighbor and a real life friend). She was interviewing another freelance writing heroine, Jennifer Goforth Gregory, and they were talking about keeping portfolios updated. Melanie, who as a managing editor, often hires writers, made a good point that she wants to know what folks have been publishing recently. It makes perfect sense.

I, you may have noticed, organize my clips by topic. And since I have more than a thousand bylines to my name, and no one wants me to share all of those, I limit my clips to highlights. But after listening to the Deliberate Freelancer episode, I’ve decided to add a “Recent Clips” section to my work page. So that’s something new coming up here at Red Pen Editorial Services.

But here’s the tiny glitch (besides the fact that I’m not always good about diligently updating my portfolio). As the company name suggests, I provide additional services beyond writing, i.e. editing. Even when I am writing, not all of my work is bylined. And some of my clients don’t even allow me to state publicly that I’ve written for them, or edited their work. That’s a whole ball of wax we’ll dive into at a later date. Frankly, I think it’s a lot of piffle, but with clients and toddlers, you learn to pick your battles.

Which leads to Goal #2. Each month, I want to write a post to share what I’ve been up to, in a way that doesn’t violate any of my contract terms. For instance, this spring, a few of my projects included copy editing DE&I and sustainability reports for a major media company, writing a feature for an education association and a couple of profiles for alumni magazines (all of which I can link upon publication), writing a blog post on addressable TV advertising vs OTT advertising for an ad tech company (which earned a featured snippet on Google), publishing a piece for one of my regular clients, Northern Virginia Magazine, on preparing children for the return to school, and have continued to serve as the volunteer editor of the ASJA Weekly newsletter editor for the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

I also hope to share interesting articles I’ve read, learning experiences (such as attending the ASJA virtual conference), and maybe even some lessons and frustrations. I’m excited to keep you updated! In advance, thanks for riding along with me.

All the best,

Holly