I bought a Christmas candle a couple days ago, but I couldn’t wait ’til Christmas to light it.

It smells very “evergreen tree” in here now!

 

I’m in the holiday spirit waaaaayyyy early this year. It isn’t even Thanksgiving yet!  I need to remember to send out my holiday newsletter right after Thanksgiving. I wrote it over a month ago, but that was too early to send it.

 

In Other News: 

 

Tomorrow I go get my tooth flipper so I have a full set of teeth in front again when I smile.  I’ve been one tooth shy for almost three months now. (Thank goodness for masks, is all I have to say. Very few people have seen my smile since I lost it.)  I’m very much looking forward to getting my smile back!

 

There will be a break in the wet weather later so I’ll be able to walk this afternoon.  I’ve walked every day for the past four days straight, four miles each time, so I’m on track and keeping my weight from going up.  I’m at 195. I want to get down to 180 over time.  I’ll be extremely happy if I can achieve that goal. I’m already pleased with what has happened so far. I bought several more pairs of size 34 pants (stretch fabric, Buffalo brand aka Archer: I wouldn’t fit into denim 34’s now) at Costco the other day.  I have to wear a belt on the 36s I bought over a month ago now. They fall right down if I don’t. So I’m heading in the right direction, for sure! Yay!

 

My most recent assignment was an article about animals, so I was in seventh heaven writing it.  I hope the client loves it as much as I do.  If not, I may repurpose it and put it in my animal blog at KrisandKritters.com. I need to put something there again pretty soon. I’ve been neglecting it and YellowBalloonPublications.com for far too long.  Everything I write that isn’t for someone else goes here, whether it fits or not. EVEN when it fits another blog better.  Yeah, I need to correct that… but I don’t like making this blog all about the writing business. I’d get bored writing on the same subject all the time.  And not too many people who hire me care about the writing business; they just care about the writing, period, and whether it will create magic for them. That’s always my goal!

 

In fact, this is the sign on my office/den door:

 

and on my back wall just behind me is this sign:

 

I can’t take total credit for my abilities. 

Although I have worked long and hard all my life since grade school to get where I am now as a communicator-on-paper, what happens inside this room and between my brain and fingers is truly some kind of collaboration between me and what other people have called their Muse. 

 

These days, it feels more like channeling than creating.  The words just come, I don’t have to summon them, or even think very hard about them.  For the past 15 years, ever since I became a copy/content writer (come-hell-or-high-water!), they have usually just arrived after I take the time to free associate with the subject matter and/or review the source materials or talking points.  I’ve been writing forever, it seems, so there is no self-consciousness involved anymore.  I used to worry words and sentences the way a dog worries a bone or a rag.  I couldn’t let them be.

 

But when I hung my shingle as a pro writer, I didn’t have the luxury of time anymore.  I decided I only needed to make what I write good enough that I’d proudly put my own name under it before sending it off to the client as the first draft, and in the vast majority of cases, only minor tweaks (usually less than 5 minutes worth) were required. So I quickly learned and understood that I’m up to snuff as a communicator. My reviews have always been uniformly wonderful. (Some have put me in tears.)

 

I’m a relational/conversational writer, which is what most copy and content requires these days. In fact, I turn down projects that are too corporate and impersonal even though that’s where the Big Money is for copy/content writers. I want people to actually enjoy what I’ve written, not just get the message that’s in a piece. Life is too short to make people slog through boring copy and content. I’m taking their precious time: it had better feel to them like it was worth it!

 

And I only work on projects that truly float my boat. That’s why I can embrace the Dr. Seuss quote above.  I want whoever I’m serving to get something better/greater than what they would have had without my help.

 

There is very little ego in any of this because, again, I don’t take full credit for the talent.  I embraced my efforts to improve, I put in the work, but so do a lot of other people and they never get to the point where Muse kicks in and starts dictating.  It’s almost like a writer has to get out of their own way, once they have the fundamentals down pat, so they can receive the divine guidance that hangs in the atmosphere ready to descend when we become humble enough to realize it ain’t about us — it’s about the message!

 

One thing I tell wannabe copywriters, every time, is “Write to express, not to impress!” The minute anyone tries to impress anyone else, they’re operating from ego.  When people write to express they’re in their hearts and souls, not in their egoic heads.

 

Maybe that’s another reason why staying on the topic of writing is so off-putting to me.  It’s hard to come off as an expert in anything without risking coming off sounding arrogant and ego-driven.  Self-confidence can be off-putting to insecure readers. They chalk it up to ego.

 

I gave up my ego a long time ago. It was just too much trouble. These days I operate 99% of the time out of enthusiasm and love.  I love what I do and the people I do it for. That makes it pure joy to me!

 

I hope you have work that does the same for you and those you love.  It sure makes the workday easier!