A random assortment of stuff on my mind right now:
I turned in my manuscript of Off the Clock to my editor. The book will be published on May 29, 2018. Timelines in traditional publishing are fairly long, but the upside is that I have the next 10 months to grow my platform, and try to introduce more people to my work, so when the book comes out next spring, there’s a ready audience for it. I welcome suggestions on ways to find potential readers.
I need to remind myself to pause to celebrate a bit. The thing about self-employment is there’s not really a group celebration when milestones are reached. Indeed, it’s usually on to the next thing, but it is nice to have it off my plate (for now).
One next thing: I’m giving a commencement address next week celebrating the end (!) of a summer internship program in Washington DC. The young people have been there since early June, working various places and taking classes. I’ve been working on the speech, and practicing it. It’s bringing back all kinds of memories of the summers I’ve spent in DC. Four of them! I spent a lot of time interning, but then that was kind of it for the normal working world. I was first there when I was 19 years old, and a lot was really new for me: writing rent checks, buying a pan so I could cook (a lot of ramen — though I’m not entirely sure why. I was earning pretty decent money compared with my expenses. That was less the case during my year long internship, though then I figured out the whole earning extra on the side thing.)
I’ve been doing some yoga poses I found in Runner’s World that are specifically designed for runners. It’s amazing how tight one’s hips and hamstrings can get. The magazine suggested holding the poses for 10 minutes (!) but that is not happening. Hopefully there are benefits gained from, say, 1 minute.
In the mail this week, I got advanced copies of two books that will be out this fall, and I suspect will be of interest to lots of readers here. One, Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies, will be on sale in September, and deals with how people respond to expectations. The other, Dorie Clark’s Entrepreneurial You, discusses how to monetize your expertise and make multiple streams of income. It will be out in October. I’m looking forward to digging into both, and sharing more about them when they’re published.
Next week all three big kids will be in different camps. Fortunately, I’m only traveling one night, and the camps end at different times (3:30, 4, 4:15). Two start at 9 a.m., but we’ll have two drivers much of the time. Logistics!
We are taking the three big kids to Benihana tonight. Eating at restaurants with the 2-year-old is just traumatic, but we’ve taken the big kids to places occasionally, and it generally goes well. Here’s hoping tonight does too.
On the agenda next week: working on the photo book I’m creating to celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. My plan is to use some old photos we’ve pulled together, and snippets from the StoryWorth posts they’ve done. There are some really fun shots of my parents in swimsuits in the 1970s.
Have a great weekend!
Congratulations on turning in your next book! I am really looking forward to reading it, it’s difficult not to want to when you’ve shared your progress here. I hope you can dream up a fun way to celebrate 🙂
Readership idea: Guest post on Bullish Society!
I love Gretchen Rubin’s books. I first learned about you when I read an interview with you on her blog around 2010ish. That interview got me reading “168 Hours” and I’ve been following you ever since. Maybe you could do an interview on her Happier podcast. Feeling “Off the Clock” would definitely add to happiness.
Linda M, you took the words out of my mouth! An interview on the Happier podcast would have really broad reach.
Platform suggestion – have you thought about making your site and email template mobile-friendly? I know it can be a pain to make your site and emails responsive, but it would really make your content easier to consume.
@Aimee- we are working on it, trust me!