Welcome, artists and artistes, writers and bloggers, creatives and crafters, to our Thursday series focusing on the coolest and creative-est freelancers around!

What’s inspiring in our pursuits of passion? Sure, it’s awe-inspiring to look at the greats, the writers who matter, and soak in their awesomeness and quiet rebel-ness. Sure, it’s occasionally helpful to consult a rebellious resource or two for tips, tricks and treats on the way to creative success. Sometimes a skewed view or some Word Porn is all you need to get your ass moving. You know what else is inspiring? Looking at the writers who live and work around us, the folks that may not have hit it big (yet) but are making a career, pursuing some outlandish dreams, and putting po’ boys and pudding on the table. The writers that inevitably break some rules along the way. I draw tremendous inspiration from these folks, our peers in this creative journey that we’ve embarked upon.

Today’s freelancer is inspiring. And hilarious. And naughty. She’s a whirlwind of fresh air in the writing blogosphere, and a gutsy, ballsy, boobsy lass who has a ridiculously cool first name.

Amy Derby was a paralegal until the daily grind of the work world nearly made her batshit crazy. In 2004 she broke the biggest rule of all by quitting the “corporate American suckfest” to make a freelance career, focusing on writing and researching in the legal field. Today she concentrates primarily on legal blogging. In addition to her burgeoning career, Amy also writes the Write From Home blog, a site named to Michael Stelzner’s list of Top 10 Blogs for Writers in 2007/2008 (and a finalist in 2008/2009). At Write From Home, Amy takes on the excitement and frustration of being a writer and blogger, offers real tips (like her Punk Duck series), calls out stupid rules in the field, and creates a thriving, boisterous and rule-breaking community.

I talked with Amy through the magical powers of the interwebs, covering suckiness, snark, and satisfaction in writing and blogging. A few excerpts and lessons learned: (Want the whole interview? Scroll down to click through)

On the lure of freelancing:

Unfortunately, most of my time in office life was spent trying to remember billing codes and attending videoconferences. And wearing pantyhose. I was working about 80 hours a week and commuting three hours each day. At some point in 2004 I went mad and quit. Then I had to figure out what to do next. Freelancing sounded good. I was told I could wear pajamas…

On the love of words:

My favorite word today is suckfest. Former favorites include dumbfuckage and bullshitedness. Oh, did you want real words? Lovely is nice. I use lovely a lot. Words I hate: anything I can’t type properly on the first try. Like fascinating or consciousness.

On creating a community:

I decided to turn write-from-home.com into a blog. And it’s evolved a lot. Into what, I’m not sure. But it’s not a serious site anymore. It’s just kind of my own personal snarkfest where other writer-types hang out. It’s a nice gathering of folks I would invite over to drink coffee and rock the world with if they lived in my hood.

Discover the coolness of Amy Derby at:
Write From Home
Twitter

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Want more from the conversation? Click on through to the other side…

Quiet Rebel Writer: Tell me a bit about your freelancing. What do you focus on, and how did you get that focus?

Amy Derby: My current focus is blogging for lawyers. With my background as a
paralegal, it was a natural choice.

QRW: Why writing? What is about you that drew you to writing, and then to freelancing?

AD: I’ve always enjoyed writing and researching. As a paralegal, the most fun parts of my job were the ones that involved both. Unfortunately, most of my time in office life was spent trying to remember billing codes and attending videoconferences. And wearing pantyhose. I was working about 80 hours a week and commuting three hours each day. At some point in 2004 I went mad and quit. Then I had to figure out what to do next. Freelancing sounded good. I was told I could wear pajamas…

QRW: The rumor is true. PJs rock. Ok, tell me why and how you started Write From Home.

AD: I won the domain name write-from-home.com through a contest. Then I thought, “What the hell am I going to do with this?” I decided to make a website geared toward beginners, because at that time (2006) most of the writer sites I visited were more focused on folks who already knew what they were doing. So I put out a call for submissions. It was sort of a webzine type of thing. Then the hosting provider I was on (through this contest I won) went bankrupt or something and forgot to tell anybody, so I lost everything and had to start over because I hadn’t backed anything up. I decided to turn write-from-home.com into a blog. And it’s evolved a lot. Into what, I’m not sure. But it’s not a serious site anymore. It’s just kind of my own personal snarkfest where other writer-types hang out. It’s a nice gathering of folks I would invite over to drink coffee and rock the world with if they lived in my hood.

QRW: How does your blogging inform your freelancing, and vice versa?

AD: The blogging I do at Write From Home is really just an outlet. It’s not a client-getting scheme or anything like that. I just do it because it’s fun, and I don’t have much of a social life. I like the Blogland illusion of having friends. I’m currently in the process of
starting a blog for my law firm blogging, which will be more geared
toward business. You know, less cussing and stripping, and more about
what I actually do.

QRW: Don’t forgo the stripping! That’s good shit. So, any big dreams for where to go from here? Do you see yourself writing books, branching out, etc?

AD: I’m writing an ebook about lawyer blogging now. I’ve considered writing an ebook for Write From Home, but there are already so many ebooks out there that I would really want it to be different. There’s only so much you can do before people get bored and fall into comas. So I’m not so sure it’s a good idea. I’m also writing a novel, which has nothing to do with blogging or business except that it was inspired by my leaving the corporate American suckfest. Stay tuned. At this rate I should be finished editing it in 2020.

QRW: I’ll mark it down. What’s your day-to-day, or is there any such thing?

AD: Day to day… I get up, drink about a pot of coffee, head to my volunteering gig for a couple hours. Come home, read through the emails and the blog comments, hook myself up to the Twitter IV-drip (because Twitter = crack), then get to work. It’s about noon by then. I work and play online till about 4 or 5pm, sometimes take a few hour break. Around 8 pm I get a second wind. Sometimes I work (and blog and Twitter) till midnight. Or till 3am. I don’t sleep much. Occasionally I eat or take a pill.

QRW: What do you love about writing, and what do you hate about it?

AD: I love to create. And I like the idea of reaching folks via the internet who I would never get to talk to otherwise. What do I hate? Grammar. Spelling. The Great Platitudists of Blogland. People who email me to tell me I suck.

QRW: Shudder at the thought! Who do you admire?

AD: Bloggers? That would be an extremely long list. David Lat at Above the Law, Brian Clark at Copyblogger, the Pen Men, Naomi Dunford at IttyBiz, Liz Strauss at
Successful Blog, to name a few.

QRW: What are some of your screw-ups? Successes?

AD: Besides using a dashed domain name so that whenever anyone asks me my blog I have to say “write dash from dash home dot com”? Try saying that three times fast. Or once, if you’re dyslexic. Um… not planning. Just jumping into things because they seem like a good idea at 3am, but not really thinking them through. That’s what I’ve done with Write From Home, and it shows. Business screw-ups? Trying to do everything myself. Running myself into the ground until I got so sick I couldn’t work at all for a while there. Successes? Learning from those mistakes so that hopefully I will suck less in the future.

QRW: Favorite books? Writers?

AD:My favorite writer is Charles de Lint. My favorite books are anything he has written. Not a business writer, but he’ll teach you everything you ever needed to know about mythical fiction. Which, ironically, can be applied to business. I mean, who couldn’t use a doppelganger in business?

QRW: True. What about favorite words? What words do you hate?

AD: My favorite word today is suckfest. Former favorites include dumbfuckage and bullshitedness. Oh, did you want real words? Lovely is nice. I use lovely a lot. Words I hate: anything I can’t type properly on the first try. Like fascinating or consciousness.

QRW: How do you indulge yourself?

AD: Oh, now you’re just baiting me. Ahem. Ok, I’ll be good. For me, my blog is an indulgence. Beyond the internet? Anything creative. My inner-brat is about 4 years old. This weekend she carved pumpkins. Of course I held the knife for her. But seriously, I make time every day to create. Even if it’s just a few minutes. I make collages, journals, beaded stuffs. I’m a mad doodler. I also have three pet rabbits.
Sometimes they indulge me.