So this being my first post, I will give you some background before I get down to the task at hand in future posts – writing. I spent 14 years in Entertainment, mostly doing marketing for major cable networks. It was not nearly as glamorous as it sounds, though I did spend many a night in a luxury hotel and ate many fine meals. But the hours were terrible, the pay more so, and frankly, I always wanted to write.

I’ve written some screenplays, one which even was an award-finalist, had some published articles and just always found that the written word came very easily to me. I am that person who writes letters of complaint and gets free repairs, plane tickets or new products. I always appreciated the power of words.

After the birth of my son, I was working 4 days in the office and one from home. This was wonderful until they changed my role from Copywriter to Marketing Manager. There went my creative outlet. Instead of crafting programming descriptions and content, I was trying to work as an advocate for the network. Bo-ring! Hated it. Took another job as a Marketing Director where I thought I would have more creative control. Yeah, not so fast. And they wanted me in the office 5 days. That lasted 7 months.
When that job did not work out, I knew it was now or never. I could try and go freelance as a writer and enjoy quality time with my son, or I could continue on the path to misery. You can see where the story leads. Over a year and a half later I am still freelancing and have never been happier. Not only do I get to pick the projects I work on, they are diverse and short-lived. If I don’t like the client or the content, I know there is an end in sight. Though, honestly, that rarely happens, because like I said, I get to choose who I work for.

Plus I also get to spend time on my other passion – Baby Fish Mouth. This is my infant and toddler t-shirt company that takes famous movie lines and puts a “baby” spin on them. A friend from college and I launched this in 2007. I love being able to create something that people like and coming up with the slogans and writing the content fuel my creative fire.

All this goes back to creativity. All of us have it, we just need to tap into it. And we have to be ready and at the right time in our lives to do it. I could never have gone freelance  before I had children. Giving birth and being a Mom has given me this sense of self and blistering confidence that allows me to speak with authority to my clients and charge the rates I do. If I can raise a child and get him to eat broccoli, I can certainly talk to the CEO of a company about his website content. Not even on the same level.

Plus my desire to be home fuels me in ways I never could have predicted. I also work about 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, but it is such a different type of work than being in an office. I make my own schedule. Work when I want and know what I need to do to get things done. Hmm, I think I am an adult. How did that happen?

Ok, so enough about me. Future posts will feature advice, stories, information and general BS about writing, working from home and that kind of stuff. You know what I mean. We’re buds already, I can tell. I promise to offer some value all the time and a lot of humor. Sometimes more of one and less of another.

So go find your passion, fuel your creativity and find your sense of worth. If you don’t, no one will do it for you.