Swamped in a good way
28Sep2007 Filed under: The Story of My Life Author: DawnI have a lot to do. Lots. Tons. Very much doing to do. I’m a little shocked by it all because it’s all due between now and 10/15. I’m counting up on my fat little fingers right now and I’ve got nine jobs between now and then. Nine! So far!
I told my sister that I don’t see a lot of work coming from direct contacts — some but not a lot. Most of the work has come sideways from unexpected places. Like I do some meeting way back when and they recommend me to someone and then they show up with work in hand. Or I pitch an article and get an assignment completely unrelated to it. (I just got a job for a publication I like very much. I’ve written for them twice — both book reviews. I saw the editors hanging out on my clip site — by my stats program — and then they assigned me a much meatier article after they apparently talked themselves into believing I could do it. That felt pretty great.)
I’m writing all this to tell those of you following along that you have to have faith in the process. You keep your head up and keep working at it and it’ll all start coming together. If you give up at the beginning because you’re not seeing results, you’re giving up too soon. It’s been six months since I well and truly started to try to make an actual living and it’s taken that long to be able to see the long-term impact all that running around has made. And I’m still figuring it out so I fully anticipate it getting better and more lucrative.
There are still scary parts. Right now the scariest part is wondering how in the heck I’m going to get it all done but I figure I can just give up leisure time for awhile. It’s still easier than trying to do it without childcare. At least now when I take a breather I’m not afraid that I’ve just doomed myself to missed deadlines.
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About Me
I have two kids and a delightfully odd husband, Brett. My children are Noah (born to us in 1997) and Madison (born to her first mom, Pennie, in 2004 and brought to our family through a domestic, open adoption). They are my inspiration and also the reason I don't get more done around here.
I'm a writer and sometimes I get published, which is a nice thing. I write for joy, I write for money and when I'm very lucky, both things happen at the same time. My work appears in national publications including Yoga Journal, Disney's Family.com, Utne, Wondertime, Brain Child and Salon. Currently I am working on a book about my daughter's adoption and seeking representation for the proposal. I also own Smart Cookie Communications with my husband.
Twitter:
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- Test fireworks going off at game. Kids are getting antsy.
- Off to the clippers
- @mombrain CONGRATULATIONS! Glad that bus finally hit you! :)
- Fresh blog: It's raining http://www.thiswomanswork.com/?p=3442
- @larak: We had an old jukebox growing up so for me it's Abba, Disco Duck, Conway Twitty & don't it make my brown eyes blue.
kelly
September 28th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
I’m so glad it’s starting to really flow back to you! If anyone deserves a successful writing career, it’s you.
Riderone
September 28th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
So proud of you!
Julia
September 29th, 2007 at 12:58 am
Remember? We talked about what gets me through busy times? Take a break and add up how much you will be invoicing for the job you are working on.
Good for you.
But I always knew you had it in you. You’ve done an incredible job staying focused on getting your name out. You could write a case study about what you have done marketing wise to increase awareness about you, and how it worked (by getting new clients and varied business industries) and use it as an example on your web site that you know what you are doing.
And kudos to Brett too - for making this happen too. You guys are a great team…
I think you should….nevermind.
michaela
October 1st, 2007 at 1:50 pm
i am so impressed, dawn! i’ve been lurking forever, and you’re totally my hero. i’ve gone back to look at your posts on the market studies you do on pubs you want to break into… i know you’re not doing so much of that these days, but it’s been incredibly helpful to me. and now the girl is up from her nap and so i must go. but kudos to you!
dawn
October 1st, 2007 at 1:53 pm
I still do market reports on places I want to write — I just have fewer places I’m aiming for these days. I’m glad it’s a help!!!