More Than One Thing: A New Online Workshop!
[If you want to skip my bit about how this workshop came to be, here's the link to its page. I'm not insulted that you want to tape my mouth shut and just skip to the end. Really. Pretty much.] My dad once gave me some simple advice. “Kim,” he told me, “just become an expert in one thing.” Then my career would be made and things wouldn’t seem like such a slog all the time. From my commitment and hard work, the rest would follow. The thing is, that was the worst advice EVAR (for me, anyway) and I was miserable. No offense, Dad. I know where you were coming from....
Read MoreNot Starting Without an Exit Strategy
I feel like I’ve been talking with a lot of people lately about finding work. I mean, I think of it as finding work. Some of the people I’ve been talking with call it figuring out what they want to be when they grow up, or finding their passion, or getting paid to do something they believe in. Whatever you call it, I’ve been there. I told one friend, though I don’t think Twitter afforded me enough words and I’m not sure I made my point productively, that when I gave up trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I finally got happy. That was the day I...
Read MorePerspective
I’ve taken to walking in the woods. One morning a few weeks ago, I found myself scrutinizing the trail I was on and I remembered that when I was a teenager, I’d often find myself doing the opposite. As a kid, I was always looking at the sky. I had a lot on my mind the morning of this particular walk, and much of it had to do with how I was going to make money after my big editing contracts end. I was a bit at a loss, but at the same time I was excited by the open-ended opportunity. And, looking up from that trail, I rediscovered the cliché. (It doesn’t matter...
Read MoreNeil Gaiman is wise.
These last few weeks, I’ve been working on a huge side project on top of my regular work, and though I’m in love with this side project, it’s possible this has been the toughest month of work I’ve ever had. Somehow, before now, I always managed to have my big creative projects be my main work. And though I’m hoping this side project will become my main work, for now I’m living in an almost constant state of exhausted overwhelm. And tomorrow’s a big deadline that I not only have to meet, but that I have to own. I must achieve all the metaphors. I must...
Read MoreHow To Host a Poor-Man’s Knitting & Crochet Retreat
I’ve always wanted to go on a knitting retreat. Luscious setting, time with yarn, workshops, good food. But they’re (justifiably) expensive, and sometimes far away, and with money tight and a toddler at home, it’s an unrealistic dream for me for the next few years. And that’s okay. But last weekend Greg took Owen and Cleo to Whistler with his parents, and I stayed home. In my quiet, quiet house, alone for the first time in a year and a half. So I decided to host what I like to call a poor man’s retreat – a sleepover at my house. Now you might expect, since...
Read MoreRut Race, Day 1: Who’s With Me?
I’ve been in a rut since, oh, about January. Life’s been breathing hot and gross down my back, work’s been poking me in the side incessantly, and as a result I’m run down, burnt out and barely able to muster the energy to socialize, let alone be creative. My brain feels numb. My hands feel limp. And to be honest, I’m beginning to want to punch my own cranky self in the face. I’ve been here before. We’ve all been here before. But though I’ve spent the last few months feeling awful, and I’m well aware of many of the factors contributing to...
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I write here about creativity, business, crafts, books, pop culture and other stuff that forces its way out of my brain.
