Technically, I’ve completed my single-item bucket list. I’ve written at least one complete story, taken characters on a journey from beginning to end. My first “book” began coming to life when I was in college. It’s about being in college (shockingly) and what it means to find optimism at that stage of life. It’s a great story, but it’s not done. It’s still in the “shitty first draft” phase Anne Lamont talks about in Bird by Bird. The voice is wrong and I’m just realizing that the story...

You may not think there’s any difference between simply working from home and having a freelance career, but having now done both, I can say there are fewer similarities than I expected.

Firstly, I want to dispel the belief that working out of the home, regardless of what you do, means you approach work in a super-casual way, like in your pajamas. (While some people might do this, I never have.) Working from home is a more casual situation, but one doesn’t necessarily check out from...

Before I took the leap to become a freelancer, I spent 15 years in the same industry, at the same company, working in various marketing roles in higher education publishing. I spent my career not only marketing educational textbooks and online resources, but working directly with college professors. I attended workshops and conferences that focused on issues influencing trends in higher education, eventually managing online communities comprised of a combination of all these areas. Without...

More than once in my career, I’ve heard the advice to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. This somewhat confusing statement had me in business-appropriate attire the majority of my professional life. Even when I began working from home, I still made sure the part of me that would show up on video conferences looked just as put together as the rest of me would have if I was actually in the office.

With this statement mulling around in my head, imagine my confusion when I...

When your income is tied to freelancing, you don’t have built-in vacation days where you still get paid. Taking time off means you don’t make money. Not only that, but being unavailable means you can potentially miss lucrative opportunities for work.

So, how do you get that much needed time off? Here are some ways I’ve managed to make it work without worrying that my freelancing career is suffering.

Snag a long weekend

After seven months freelancing without taking a day off, I was in...