A Lull

I attended a seminar on personal reinvention last night, presented by a local author, Claire Cooke, Must Love Dogs, Summer Blow Out, and Wildwater Walking Club. Not thinking that she has six published books to her name as well as a feature movie created from one, I wandered out the door last night to make a ten minute ride with about fifteen minutes to spare. Oops. As I drove by the little blue bookstore holding the event, a line of humanity snaked down the front path. Once I joined the queue, I noticed a camera man pointing his lens out the front door. All in good time we realized that The Today Show was filming a segment on the author and would be covering her presentation last night. Hmmm. As the camera swung toward me, I artfully stepped behind a taller woman in front. Yes, I’m in the process of reinventing myself, but until I’m a bit further along, I prefer to do it away from national TV.

Due to the crowd and the camera crew, things were pretty tight--the author graciously stepped outside after the filming was complete and conducted the rest of her seminar from the steps of the book store to the group outside. If you haven’t read Claire Cook’s first book Must Love Dogs, then you don’t know that she used to be a teacher, and that she completed that first novel while sitting in the car, waiting for her daughter to finish swim practice. Last night she called that writing period her “guilty pleasure,” the time she did what she wasn’t supposed to be doing. Aha, I can relate.

Here are all the things I have not done in the last three weeks, while I have continued (with some disruption due to company) my guilty pleasure, which is writing this blog:

I have not finished The Copywriter’s Handbook. I did however, read Blessings, by Anna Quindlen.

I have not identified other freelance writers with whom to network. I did request to join two freelance writers groups on LinkedIn but to date I have not received acceptances from the group administrators. It’s been over a week, I’m feeling deflated.

I have not identified a course to take to further my writing career. Writers’ Digest is offering a 20% discount for the month of July. Several topics intrigue me…but none of them cover business writing. I did complete a long stalled essay, it is now out in the black hole of editor-land, and now I spend my time second guessing it.

I have not networked to find someone to help me develop a website (I’ll trade services if you need me to write your copy). I did find a little exercise on About.com and created my own first website. It says: “This is my first website.” That’s as far as I got.

I have not come up with a name for my potential business, and I have not opened a small business account. It goes without saying that I don’t have business cards.

When Claire Cook said: “Every day there is a really good reason not to get your work done” I thought to myself, I am getting work done. It’s the paying work that's a struggle.

Sigh. Today I’m scheduled to go back to the outplacement office. Perhaps that will get me back on track.