So excited that In My World, the picture  book I created with Barbara Edelston Peterson, founder of  Whole Champion Foundation, and Carla Hachul Burattini is finally in stores. You can get your copy, in either paperback or hardback, from Barnes and Noble by clicking the link on the word stores, or go to Amazon or wherever you buy books. In My World makes a great gift for children ages birth through 8 or for the young at heart of any age.  

Also this month, Jill L. Ferguson's essay about her late cattle dog Nacho was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul's All You Need Is Love: 101 Tales of Romance and Happily Ever After. If you are looking for inspirational stories that tug at your heart, this may be the book for you. 

Course Description: This course is for writers of narrative nonfiction including memoirs, narrative poetry, and fiction, and it explores the advice of the writing masters—Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Margaret Atwood, and more—and then how to incorporate that advice into your own work.  
 
The course is structured as a workshop with plenty of time to read your work and get feedback on it and there will be homework assigned each week. 
 
May 30, 2023, Week One: Elmore Leonard and Anne Enright
 
June 13, 2023, Week Two: Stephen King and A.L. Kennedy
 
June 27, 2023, Week Three: Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel 
 
July 11, 2023, Week Four: Henry Miller and Mark Twain
 
July 25, 2023, Week Five: Jack Kerouac and Jonathan Franzen 
 
Starts live and online May 30, 2023 at 4 p.m. PST to 6 p.m. PST. Link provided after registration.

You can grab your place in this course by clicking this link. 
​

This new five-week class, Writers' Workshop: Middles, Endings, Revisions, and Editing was created due to the demand and suggestions of past students from The Structure of a Story course and the Dialogue, Description, and Dynamic Beginnings course Jill L. Ferguson taught this year.

Writers' Workshop will begin live and online on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 4 p.m. PST to 6 p.m. PST, and will run each Tuesday through May 23.

Here are the details of the course and the things we will cover:

Course Description: This course is for writers of narrative nonfiction including memoirs, narrative poetry, and fiction, and it explores pitfalls to avoid in the middle of stories, how to craft memorable endings, and how to tackle revisions and edits in ways they won’t seem overwhelming.
 
The course is structured as a workshop with plenty of time to read your work and get feedback on it and there will be homework assigned each week. 
 
Week One: Let’s talk some grammar and punctuation basics. That vs. which. Commas (Oxford or not) vs. semi-colons. Commas vs. parentheses vs. dashes. Adjectives and adverbs and their order in a series. 
 
Week Two: Nobody likes bloated middles. How to keep your story middles engaging, moving, and on track towards stellar…
 
Week Three: Endings. Writing to the last page in a way that makes the reader feel satisfied or blown away, and makes you feel like you’ve accomplished a work finely crafted. 
 
Week Four: Revising and editing in a way that doesn’t make you bored and doesn’t seem overwhelming. 
 
Week Five: The wrap-up. Share your stories and critique. We’ll also cover some genre basics. 
 
Writers' Workshop is for writers and want-to-be writers at all skill levels. 

Registration is discounted to $129 until April 14. (Afterwards, the full registration price is $179.) Click here to reserve your spot today. We cap the course at 10 people.

Course Description: This course is for writers of narrative nonfiction including memoirs, narrative poetry, and fiction, and it explores all possible ways of telling of a story so that the writer can choose the best way for their particular project. In the course of this discussion, we will cover plot, characters, backstory, the difference between showing and telling, how to keep the interest of the reader, pitfalls to avoid in story, and much more. 
 
The course is structured as a workshop with plenty of time to read your work and get feedback on it and there will be homework assigned each week. 

Week One: It’s all copy. Where to find stories and how to go from idea to an extended narrative without stalling. All types of story structures will be discussed and various ways of telling a story will, too, including a “mixed media” approach. 
 
Week Two: Characters and Back Story. (Even if you are the main character, and we know we are all characters. 😊 ) Showing versus telling, how to do it, and why it is important). 
 
Week Three: Plot, Inciting Incidents, Climax, Falling and Rising Action, Resolutions/Denouement.  
 
Week Four: Pitfalls to avoid. Specifics to know if you want to be published, including the nuts and bolts of formatting. 
 
Week Five: The wrap-up. Bringing characters and plot, description, dialogue, and all story components together from beginning to end in a way that keeps the reader engaged.  

Starts live and online February 28 at 4 p.m. PST to 6 p.m. PST. and runs every Tuesday until the end of March. 

Cost: $129 if you register before February 20. $179 if you register after. 

Click here to reserve your space. 

Congratulations to our client Danielle L. Brooks on the publishing of her latest book The Extraordinary Ordinary You: A Manual for Self Discovery. As she writes about the book: "Today, most of us create our realities unconsciously from the programs embedded into us by our ancestors or the world around us. Our lives are the result of negative thought forms, limiting belief structures, and the untrue story that we are just flawed, unworthy humans, not the divine incarnate. This book speaks the truth about who you are and what you are beyond the constructs of fear, doubt, judgment, guilt and shame. Most importantly, this book shows you how to let go of what you are not and be that which you are beyond the constructs."

We had a blast and an education going on the writing and publishing journey with Dani, and we are grateful she chose us to partner with her in seeing this creation come into existence. The book is available in hard back, paperback, and electronic forms. 

Also this week, our client author Amy Harris  had a personal essay published by Calla Press. Titled "Favored," the piece explores how we all go through discouragement and defeat but we are all favored in God's eyes. Amy explores what that means as we travel life's path. 

And today, Creating the Freelance Career's founder Jill L. Ferguson was quoted in an article in Staples Connect. Titled "Achieving Print Perfection: Expert Tips for Creating Perfect Prints Every Time," the article explores print materials as marketing tools (in addition to digital marketing tools). Jill stresses that all materials should be compelling and create a positive impression. "When you choose higher-end papers such as beautiful card stock with a texture, it sends a message about your business and helps support that you are worth what you charge," Ferguson said. 

Jill L. Ferguson also has a forthcoming article in Sierra Magazine this weekend on dog food sustainability. 

We are thrilled for all of the success at this company and for our clients. 

Help! My Company Swiped Left! is the latest book from Jill L. Ferguson and Laura C. Browne, and the book came about due to the increase in clients who had recently been laid off both women were coaching through their businesses. Ferguson and Browne understand that work and corporate America can  be brutal, and that companies who claim "everyone is a family" really don't care about their employees  and are mainly focused on the bottom line. Ferguson and Browne have both been in career situations that were precarious at best and toxic at their worst. They used this experience to write a sometimes snarky but always informative and helpful short read for anyone who has just experienced a lay-off, been furloughed, or been fired. 

Check out the beginning of book's introduction to see if this book is for you:

"WELCOME TO THIS BOOK. If the title made you laugh r cringe or coil in fear, you may be in the right place. We ve in a time when companies, like people, aren’t very oyal. They expect a lot from those who receive their direct eposited paychecks, and at the first sign of trouble, they may look for people and places to cut. Just as some people ee relationships at the first bit of rockiness, companies may dump individual contributors, whole departments or ivisions, and/or the bottom percentage of its salesforce at any given time.

And when your company breaks up with you, it hurts. It hurts a lot. And you may wonder, was it me? Or was it them?
We’re here to help you navigate through the unknown and the difficult times. And why, you may wonder. Well, we’ve been there. Laura has spent many years in corporate human resources and was let go unexpectedly twice, including one time when she was laid off by a manager who left her a brief voicemail saying her job was eliminated and that was her last day. This was only slightly better than being broken up with over text or social media. But it still stung. Rejection of any kind is painful. And somehow when the person dumping you lacks the cojones to tell you to your face, the rejection feels worse. It’s like you aren’t important enough for them to make the time.

Jill’s experience came in her 20s, during a high level job that ended when it was discovered that the past executive stole and laundered money through the organization and created such a complicated mess that the nonprofit was forced to close its doors forever. The ex-exec was sent to federal prison in Texas, while the people she left behind at the company were out of their jobs.

Regardless of how it happens to you or under what circumstances, suddenly losing your job sucks. It makes you question life, what you could have done differently, your value as a worker and a person of knowledge and action, and sometimes even your worth.

Having your company swipe left can invoke a serious pity party. But before we break out too many Kleenex, pints of ice cream, or drink too much wine or hard seltzer, let’s figure out a way to make the best of a shitty situation.

​Take a deep, cleansing breath. Repeat: it’s those mo- fos and not me. It’s those mo-fos and not me. It’s those mo-fos and not me. And read on."

​Description, Dialogue, and Dynamic Beginnings: A Five-Week Workshop

Beginning January 3 at 4 pm PST and every Tuesday during the month of January
 
Week One: To paraphrase a song from the Sound of Music, “We’ll begin at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start.” When we write we begin with A-B-C…What makes beginnings dynamic? What are the A-B-C’s of powerful beginnings? Workshop and beginnings assignment.
 
Week Two:  Bring to class your written exercise assigned during week one. We will go over these in class, plus anything else you’d like to share/have critiqued. Start of Description and description assignment.
 
Week Three: Bring to class your written exercise assigned during week two. Continue description discussion. Do in-class assignment.  Take home assignment: Description exercise #2. Share/Critique time. 
 
Week Four: Bring to class your completed Description exercise #2, plus any other writing you want to share/have critiqued. Discussion on Dialogue. Dialogue assignment.
 
Week Five: Bring to class your completed Dialogue assignment, plus any other writing you want to share/have critiqued. Complete dialogue discussion and discuss “endings”.

Facilitator’s  Background: Jill L. Ferguson is the award-winning writer more than 2000 published articles, essays, and poems in Architectural Digest, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Sierra Magazine, and many more. She is the author of 15 books published under her own name and she has ghostwritten more than a dozen books for others. She also works as a book and business coach and is the founder of Creating the Freelance Career. ​

Register before November 15 at $129.
After November 15, the course price is $179. 

​Boredom, let’s talk about it. Boredom may seem like a strange topic to discuss here at Creating the Freelance Career, but the fact is I’ve seen too many people start to write books, to launch businesses, and talk about expanding their one-person operations and then get bored and discouraged.
 
In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes, “The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. We get bored with habits that stop delighting us.” Clear continues with this derails progress and causes us to jump from one thing to another. 
 
As someone who has started numerous businesses and written way more things than I’ve published, I can relate to his point. It’s not when things become a challenge that I want to stop and move onto something else. It is when my mind feels numb and unengaged. 
 
Almost thirty years ago I was in talks with a publisher who was interested in a book idea I had. The book was tentatively titled How to Research Anything and was a deep-dive on the topic of where to go to find the information you sought, whether you were a student, a journalist, a law enforcement agent, or anyone. And I had done tons of interviews and research to write about this topic. 
 
Then I started writing the book. The intro and chapter one were solid. Chapter two was sailing alone, but by chapter three, I was boring myself to sleep. I tried every way I could think of to infuse life into what really was a rather dry topic. Anecdotes helped a little but much of the content was straightforward and dry, as how-to manuals before the fun and enthusiasm of YouTube video, were prone to be. 
 
Finally, I wrote the publisher back and said, “I’m sorry but I can’t finish this book. I’m so bored writing it that I’m sure no one will be interested in reading it.” In some ways, I consider this event a failure, but I also consider it a major learning experience. I don’t want to experience boredom, especially not for any length of time. 
 
And most others don’t either. It’s why people fill time scrolling the Internet or spending way too much time on social media platforms or watching cat videos or binge watching streaming shows. We want something that entertains us and chases away our boredom before it turns into blues. 
 
Boredom in work or with a task at hand can signal that we are doing something where we like the idea of the end-result but we may either not feel committed to getting there or the process we are going through to get there may not be the best process for us. (As James Clear says, we all have different genes and different skills and interests so maybe we need to a find a way to do whatever we want to do that feels the best to us.) 
 
7 Ways to Overcome Boredom

1. The first way is to do what I referenced above: Find the best way for you to get the end result. For example, maybe you want to write a book. But sitting and typing at a computer is boring you and the white blank page seems like it is mocking your attempts. Instead, try a dictation software if you like to talk as opposed to type, or collaborate with a friend to make the writing more fun. Or work out your plot structure while you are walking your dog or climbing the wall at your gym or rowing your kayak around a slough. Writing doesn’t have to happen at a computer in an office or indoors. 
2. Take breaks from whatever you are trying to accomplish and set up a reward system for yourself. For example, if I send five e-mails or messages to five potential clients, I get to (fill in the blank with your favorite activity, snack, or item) for a certain set of minutes. Then it is back at it for another round plus the reward. 
3. Go outside and do something activity to clear your head, work your body, and boost your adrenaline. Walk around the block, shoot some hoops, do some yoga or stretches. All of these things release tension (which is what boredom becomes) increase your endorphins so you feel more “pumped” and happy.
4. Reorganize your space and clean clutter. Sometimes it is hard to focus and easy to get distracted when our spaces vie for our attention due to piles of papers and books, too much clutter or chores calling our names. 
5. Understand that boredom can be a result of inadequate rest or nutrition, doing tasks with low levels of mental stimulation, or tasks that feel like they take forever. To counteract these reasons for boredom: make sure you are well-rested (and take a short power nap if you aren’t), make sure you are well-hydrated and eat healthy foods, try to increase the activity so that it is more creative and mentally exciting, and set a timer and do the task in “sprints”. Having to race against the clock will turn the activity into a game.
6. If you are bored because the end-goal seems too large and overwhelming, break the task down into manageable and fun (or at least more interesting) “chunks”. As I said before, doing sprints is more exhilarating for many people than the idea of running a marathon or three. 
7. Hire a coach or partner with a colleague for accountability. Getting through the tough or boring times is easier if you can talk about it with someone you trust and with someone who has been there. An accountability partner or coach can help motivate you, see other ways for you to do the things that are boring you, and encourage you to go, go, go through the rough patch to accomplish whatever you want to do. 

 

It's been a busy summer at Creating the Freelance Career.  On May 31,  Jill L. Ferguson was quoted in an article on Staples Connect about the best career advice she ever received. And if you know anything about her work experience you probably won't be surprised about the advice she gave. Check it out by clicking the link on the words "Staples Connect." 

In late June and early July, Rockitecture released in hardback and paperback after Barry Schweiger worked with us for almost three years on his book project. The finished product is beautiful, educational, and awe-inspiring. You can check it out here at Amazon or order it from your favorite local bookseller. 

On August 9, Jill L. Ferguson was a guest on Word of Mom radio.  Dori DeCarlo and Jill had a great discussion on what it's like to write books, coach clients, and start businesses, and they had many laughs, too. Tune in to check it out wherever you listen to podcasts and streaming radio programs. 

Other wins this summer include the return of three clients from previous years. They loved working with us so much, they have asked to do so again. :)  

And of course, every week, Jill supports the work of Whole Champion Foundation, which includes helping its founder Barbara Edelston Peterson set the strategic direction of the organization, fundraise, create new materials (books, blogs, social media posts, curricula), establish a more robust board of directors, and help the organization expand and grow.  Be on the lookout this autumn for Barbara and Jill's latest collaboration, a children's picture book titled In My World​. 

For more than two years we at Creating the Freelance Career have been working with retired architect Barry Schweiger on his book Rockitecture: The Symphony of River Rocks and the Men Who Listened to Their Music.  As Paul Haddad said, "This is a book that is long overfue, and Barry Schweiger is the only person who could have written it. Rockiecture is an eloquent love letter to the stone structures of Schweiger's youth combined with the kind of insightful perspective one can only get from renowned architect—all infused with a sense of mystery." 
​
To read the book is to go on a journey of Southern California's indigenous architecture, river rock homes, churches, castles, waiting stations and water troughs. All of which were crafted in the late 1800s and early 1900s, until building codes changed.

Rockitecture celebrates and pays tribute to history, ancestors, native landscapes, and craftsmanship that endures for generations. It is filled with notable photos and educational and commemorating text. 337 pages.

​Available at fine bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.   And stay tuned for the sequel that covers Northen California river rock homes and buildings.