Quiet Rebel Writer

I hate the phone.
Remember as a teenager when you liked the phone? Each ring represented possibility. It could be a friend you were dying to talk to about all that had transpired during the day, or it could be that boy you were hoping would ask you to some nameless dance, even though said […]

Welcome to the week, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! For all you Chicagoans, you know this past weekend was a people watcher paradise, with drunk people garbed in green falling on sidewalks, packing bars, and vomiting in restaurants. Ah, what a good time. My own weekend was spent around people giddy not from alcohol but […]

Yes, gentle readers, there was a lost day this week. No posting occurred on QRW yesterday, but for good reason. Tales of that momentous occasion involving Chicago, exorbitant fees, and glorious new property, will be saved for another time.
But a lack of posting yesterday means a double whammy today. You get a two-for-one post, […]

I like to think that I’m a pretty egalitarian sort of gal. I’m all about individual spirit and performance, the success of the underdog, the joys of meritocracy. But when it comes to publishing a book, I think I’m a little, um, elitist.
Personal enterprise and entrepreneurship are fantastic, but I can’t quite get behind […]

For those of us, the lucky ones, who have never experienced the death of a spouse or significant other, it’s not something we like to think about. When I consider what would happen if I lost J, I focus on the practical. How I would have to sell our new loft and find a smaller […]

This week’s links tackle the nosediving financial environment, freelance blog resources, types of freelance clients, ways to improve your writing, and (uncomfortable) ways to boost your income.
A much needed reality check for independents anxious about the tanking economy at Golden Pencil: Writers and a Slowed Economy.
Check out the Top 100 Freelancer Blogs for […]

I often write for companies in the medical realm, where the term “pipeline” is all-important. Companies focus on the here and now, selling their products and increasing brand awareness and loyalty, all for the goal of making profit. But they also keep an eye on the future. They invest much time and money in creating […]

I like knowing what to expect. Call me a creature of habit, but I like knowing that almost every Wednesday night I have date night with J, that Friday nights we’re probably going to order sushi, that Saturday afternoons we hit LaBamba for a burrito lunch and then go book shopping. Patterns and routines can […]

I can’t say that I like a lot of poetry. I try to. I really do. But when I think of poetry I think of my massive anthology of Romantic Poets from a lit class in college. In the midst of reading those dense, 20-page epic poems by Blake or Shelley my eyes would cross, […]

Welcome to the weekend! We move our clocks forward this weekend, normally a sure sign of spring. But here in Chicago, it’s still cold as balls. Snow that won’t melt, ice that trips us up, runny noses, cold feet, and crabby, exasperated people on the CTA. Ah, home.
So what do we need to face […]