I did it. It’s official. I am now employed only 3 days a week, and the other two work days are now writing days. Blissful days of words and commas, days spent in front of my computer with the cat sunning herself on the sill and metal music blaring from the stereo, days of wearing my pyjamas and my favourite clothes and being able to take a break to walk around the block if I feel the urge. Days of sipping tea in the garden and thanking the gods for all they have brought me.

I’m no full-time freelancer, and I make no secret of it. I love my “day job” and see no reason to go all-or-nothing right now. It offers numerous benefits – working for a non-profit whose work is deeply personal and hugely rewarding, flexible work schedule, cheap-as-chips gym membership, discounted fuel, desk next to a totally adorable and awesome chick who cracks me up every day, regular paycheck every two weeks, varied and interesting work, nice bosses – yep, definitely nothing to complain about.

Read On…

Hi everyone. I’ve been busy working on some incredible projects, but am just poking my head up out of the madness to point you in the direction of this fantastic and in-depth interview I did recently. My interviewer – Michelle Kaiser – is a pretty fascinating lady herself, and her site – Career Offroading – features interviews with women pursuing interesting careers. Here’s an extract from the interview.

How do you stay productive? (How do you stay in your chair and writing when you’d rather not?)

I love it. I’m compelled to do it. It feels right.

I also have an incredibly busy social life. You’d be horrified if you looked at my diary: concerts, parties, craft markets, evening classes, art gallery openings, live drawing events … and that’s just next week! All this stuff is fun, and I hate missing out on things, so I have to sit my butt down and say to myself “I have two hours to finish this before I head out the door, otherwise I’ll miss this fun thing!” And I always finish.

Do you have any advice for young writers?

1. You’re never too young to start. You have about 5 years of crappy writing to plow through before you approach anything near a professional level. So start now.

2. If you see a magazine / company and think “I’d love to work for them,” don’t just sit around believing you’re not good enough, ask! Be bold! I didn’t get my most lucrative and fun jobs from people calling me, but by contacting companies and saying “you’re cool and I’m cool. Let’s work together.”

3. Nothing is more important than a good writing soundtrack.

Hop over to Career Offroading to read the rest of my interview. And if you’ve got any questions for me, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer. And while you’re there you might want to check out Michelle’s other interviews – there’s one with animator Mel Rainsberger, anime artist Brooke Stephenson, and event planner Erin O’Neal.

Don’t miss all the fun! Sign up for the Grymm & Epic Gazette – you’ll get my FREE ebook “Unleash the Beast: Release Your Inner Creative Monster”, as well as a weekly dose of creative inspiration. Grymm!

For years I’ve been an advocate of a regular posting schedule for your blog. I reckon if you set a goal to write a post every day, or every week, and you work hard to stick with it, you become a better blogger. Because you’re forcing yourself to practice everyday – in the same way a guitarist noodles away every night no matter how shite his day at work was or how much he’d rather finish that George R. R. Martin book – you’re going to get better. Right?

Not necessarily. Sometimes you just get pissed off.

Sometimes you don’t have anything to write about. Sometimes you’re terrified of facing that blank page again. Sometimes you think, “Goddammit, if I have to write ANOTHER word about death metal/weddings/cat pictures/personal finances/zombies/tofu recipes/chicken coops today, I am going to stick that chicken coop so far up the universe’s backside it will be raining chickens in Russia.”

How many blogs do you actually read? I mean, really read? Not just add to your reader, skim the titles and think “oh, that sounds mildly interesting, I’ll come back to that”, and never do. How many writers are so awesome they create something new every day or every week that you have to devour, word by glorious word? How many?

Read On…

I swear by the gods there is a black hole in my stationary drawer.

Pens go in, and never come out. Art supplies are purchased and promptly lost into the abyss. Staplers that I SWEAR I saw in there only a few days ago disappear without a trace. After the umpteenth time I’ve barged into his office yelling accusations about stationary theft my husband (not-so)gently points out that maybe “they’re hiding somewhere underneath the piles of crap on your desk.”

“‘Piles of crap’? What ‘piles of crap’?” I cry in indignation.

Read On…

There isn’t going to be any business advice or funny stories about my cat in this post. I know you’ve got more important things to be doing right now than reading my rambles.

This is just a note to say thanks. Thank you for reading my blogs (any of them), admiring my artwork, laughing at my silly emails, and sticking with me as I build and define my own creative business.

Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for making wonderful things I buy and stick in my home or give away to friends. Thank you for sharing your talents and gifts. Thank you for being you.

I hope you have an relaxing holiday, filled with family, friends and food galore. I hope you can take the time to step back, take a breath, and be proud of what you’ve achieved this year. I know I am.

Here’s to 2011 – a year of adventures, challenges and some of the most exciting writing projects to date! To 2012 and whatever challenges it’s going to thrust at me, I say “Bring it the fuck on!”

Don’t miss all the fun! Sign up for the Grymm & Epic Gazette – you’ll get my FREE ebook “Unleash the Beast: Release Your Inner Creative Monster”, as well as a weekly dose of creative inspiration. Grymm!