natalieburg

March 17, 2014Self-Employment Writing

Leash training, freelancing and the art of improvisation

At 10am today, I was congratulating myself for being so on top of things on a Monday morning. Just two hours in, I had one task nearly done, and the rest so carefully planned that I was already reveling in my success. Wee! I’m the best at this!

It’s now 1pm, and, like many Mondays, nothing has gone according to my brilliant plans and I’m failing at everything. Don’t feel too sad for me. This happens all the time, and I (nearly) always pull it all off anyway. That’s what freelancing is: working without a net. Building a parachute on the way down.

March 13, 2014General Life Whatnot Self-Employment

Something Right

Bad decisions seem to travel in packs. Staying up too late to read. Turning off the alarm and sleeping in. Starting work late. Not responding to emails promptly. Ugh. I’m blaming it on the time change. So at least I can trace the inciting bad decision back to Benjamin Franklin. Thanks, Benji.

Eventually the cycle will stop and my ratio of poor decisions to logical ones will start tipping in the right direction. I think. I hope. But here’s something to think about until then:

During the guest lecture Mike and I recently gave at Western Michigan University, I skipped out for a minute to use the bathroom while Mike was speaking. He was giving the students an overview of his cover gigs, and I could hear him play a bit of Drake’s song, “Hold On, We’re Going Home” from the hallway.

As I walked back in he was saying, “You might have noticed I changed the last line of the chorus from ‘I know exactly who you could be’ because, I mean, come on, Drake. Who are you to tell a woman who she should be?”

So I did that right. I married that guy. I can probably manage to replicate that kind of decision making this week. (There’s 1.5 more days to this week left. I can do it.)

March 11, 2014March 11, 2014General Life Whatnot Writing

Swedish Lessons news, Swedish Lessons event!

…Well, time is a monster that moves differently depending on who is holding its leash, and to me, it seems like we’ve walked to Antarctica and back since Swedish Lessons came into being. Perhaps that’s why, when I suddenly have a day full of book news, it feels like a delightful and startling event. Today, it’s all that times two.

First, I’m absolutely giddy to share that Swedish Lessons was among the 19 books honored in the First Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published e-Book Awards. Of more than 500 entries, Swedish Lessons was one of four Honorable Mentions in the Nonfiction category. If you’ll notice, my name is first after the 1st and 2nd place lines, which could be because they’re in alphabetical order, but WHO KNOWS?!