Excited about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday? Ready to blissfully forget your anxieties about the crappy economy, layoffs and lack of freelance work? Desperately jonesing for some time to recharge and relax?

Awesome. Now just follow these steps, and it won’t happen! You can have the stressful, aggravating, and self-esteem killing holiday break that’s become part of our culture! Read on!

• Bring your laptop, iPhone, Blackberry, Treo, and hell, your old-school Franklin planner too, on your trip. Sure, you want to disconnect and break loose as you travel to Grandma’s or Mom’s or Step-Half-Great-Aunt Lola’s house. But the entire world will collapse if you don’t answer each of your calls and emails. Your professional life will certainly crumple up and die if you don’t bring 50 pounds of technology on the flight. You can’t risk it. So bring everything!
• Having a carefree moment? Let guilt slip in! Sure, you’re having a calm, enjoyable time sipping on some nog, watching the 90210 marathon on the Soap channel, and noshing on leftover stuffing. But hark! Is that the creeping tentacles of guilt, grabbing hold of your contentment, squeezing it to suffocation, and convincing you that if you don’t bring out your laptop and do some work, you will regret it FOREVER? Well hell, let that creepy bastard on in! I mean, you really should be multi-tasking. Slacker.
• Introduce the economy, the recent election and the current religumoral climate as family dinner conversation. Sure, you want to put distance between the ever-worsening news of economic conflict, and hold on to that precious hope you felt on election night. But what’s a family gathering without some heated conflict? How better to relax and enjoy Thanksgiving than pouring the wine, unbuttoning the top pants button, and mixing it up with your neocon brother, radical vegan cousin, Jehovah’s Witness uncle, and coked-out sister? Let’s party, bitches, and create lasting familial discord!
• Set strict rules for your eating and drinking behavior, and then proceed to gorge with abandon. Sure, you want to prevent that holiday pudge that gets the best of us. So the best thing to do is restrict yourself to one brew and a tiny slice of turkey. And then, when the inevitable occurs and you down a case, bogart the turkey, and inhale an entire bowl of mashed potatoes, you’ll feel really great about yourself. There’s nothing like self-loathing at your lack of discipline to make it a relaxing, fun-filled weekend.
• Let the spirit of the holidays move you, and spend a shitload on shopping. Sure, money is tight, and your goal was to keep Christmas spending to reasonable, smart levels this year. So go ahead and join the crazy family and friends that want to go mall hopping at midnight on Thursday. Get swept away on a tide of credit card purchases for inflatable Baby Jesuses and cheese-of-the-month subscriptions for lactose intolerant parents. You’ll be financially solvent when you’re dead, right? Right?

It’s a strong start, kids! Following these tips will ensure that you return to work next Monday completely frazzled, hungover, bloated, broke, and nursing an inferiority complex the size of Atlas’ burden. Yay vacation!

But there’s certain to be more ways to eff up your relaxing break. What have you done in the past that’s turned your Thanksgiving break from relaxing to ridiculously stressful? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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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 freelancers. The bloggers. The aspiring novelists, published writers, and creative innovators. The folks that are making a career and a path for themselves unlike anyone else. 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. And that’s why I profile them in this continuing series.

Jenni Prokopy likes surprising people. How else to explain a career that’s defied traditional journalistic logic, pushed past stupid writing rules, and turned what might have been a debilitating diagnosis into big, inspiring business?

On her way to creating a successful freelance writing business in 2002, Jenni’s writing work ran the gamut of fields and foci, including a long and fruitful stint writing about concrete. Ignoring the naysayers that told her launching a freelance career in a shitty economy would be suicide, Jenni cut the cord and created a client base from that industrial world, but also in health and wellness. It’s an area and topic she’s compelled to write on: After years of frustrating medical visits and symptoms, she was finally diagnosed with a slew of “invisible” conditions, including fibromyalgia, Raynaud’s phenomenon, and more.

Jenni is inspiring because she turned this experience, along with her frustration, sadness and determination, into something incredible. At Chronic Babe, Jenni speaks to the lasses (and lads) that may be sick, but are still sexy, vibrant and powerful. She’s touched a major chord, gaining a rabid fan base and a growing platform.

Jenni is also a writer to learn from because of her straightforward, genuine and caring nature, and her role as a mentor to other freelancers. Knowing that her transition to freelancing was enjoyable but also a bit lonely, she formed a group of Chicago creatives that convene monthly to chat, share tips and tricks, and support one another in this unusual path. When I began freelancing, and learned about this group, Jenni welcomed me with open arms, and has taught me a thing or two about many things or two.

I talked with Jenni on a morning that was cold and crappy, a morning she later said started off exhausting but ended up energizing. Never underestimate the power of talking about your achievements and “amazing” feats to get excited and recommitted to our crazy careers! A few excerpts from our convo: (Want the whole interview? Scroll down to click through)

On regurgitation as a salve for writer’s block:

What I hate about writing is the blank page. I think that’s really common. In that first moment of getting started, I so often have to psych myself up. It’s so intimidating. I really like Anne Lamott, and she says you have to barf it all out on the page. You have to start with whatever you have. Spew, and get something down, and then you can change and manipulate stuff later. I love that idea and I’m trying to start doing that.

On the asinine nature of corporate America:

I’ve never been good at working in an office where I have to follow orders. I don’t work well with that construct. I had a few terrific bosses I respect and admire and worked well with, but for the most part when you’re working in corporate America, you’re under someone’s thumb. That never sat right with me. I’d rather work with teams where you’re considered peers and equals. When I work on projects with clients, we work on that same level with common goals.

On breakin’ rules and crackin’ heads:

Another rule I break is about querying pubs. I blow past that step and make a phone call. I’m not shy about doing that. We bring value to our clients! We give them something they can’t make themselves! Instead of viewing our assignments as simply doing someone else’s work, but rather creating something no one can get elsewhere, we can have confidence to break all those all rules we’ve learned and read about. All those rules are pretty much bullshit. You can’t multiple query? That’s not how the world works! The world moves a lot faster now, so there’s no reason why we have to sit and wait.

On word dilution:

I hate the word amazing. Everyone uses it. It’s the new awesome. “That bagel is amazing!” It’s not amazing! It’s a fucking bagel! You put butter on it and eat it. Obama getting elected – that’s amazing. That’s a mind blower. It really speaks to the laziness in our spoken vocabulary right now.

Want more Jenni? Find her at:
OrangeGrove Media
Chronic Babe
IdeaXChange
Twitter

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I began with the best of intentions, fully prepared to write often and even write well. I was going to crank out those 50,000 words, and frak anyone or anything that got in my way. I was on a mission! I was makin’ words! I was ready for some literal, nonmusical blood, sweat and tears! I’m unstoppable, suckas!!

And then I dropped out.

How did intention and energy and drive all get dashed? It wasn’t lack of preparation. I intended to use this month’s mad noveling sprint to get a ginormous head start on my second novel, and as such I had pages and pages of notes. I have my characters plotted out, as well as notations on key scenes for each. I have ideas on where it will start and where it will end. I was prepared, dammit, so much more so than with my first painful novel writing experience.

And it showed. The writing I did do at the beginning of this month was easier, more enjoyable, and infinitely more novel-like than the first 6,000 words of the other novel. It was almost like I was a novelist, yo!

But then life intervened. I had last minute deadlines for freelance projects. I had a few new client meetings and proposals to prepare. I spent four days in LA for a friend’s wedding. I was sick. And as the days passed with no writing completed, and the amount of words I would need to catch up increased to eye-popping levels, I made an executive decision. I dropped out. (And for some reason I can’t get “Beauty School Dropout” out of my head…)

I write this post for several reasons. Some of you lovely readers are everyday readers, and knew I was engaging in this marathon of the mind and fingers. I owed you an update. But I also write this for the other dropouts, real or imagined or planned. You’re probably feeling a little pissed at yourself, like me. You’re probably feeling a little sad, and worried about your ability to hack it as a novelist. You’re probably feeling a little angry, and lashing out at the entire idea. (”Who can write a fucking novel in a month?? Stupid NaNoWriMo…”)

Sometimes quitting is necessary for sanity. But you can still feel pretty wretched about it. You know how I make this OK in my head, and how you can too? I dropped out with a condition for myself. I can’t write everyday, even for a month. I’m writing for work, I’m writing for my blogs, I’m marketing myself and examining new business directions, and I’m still making some revisions and queries for my first novel. But what I can do is write a few days a week. I’m dropping out of NaNoWriMo on the condition that I write three days a week in my new novel. I’m aiming for 2,000 words at each sitting, and with that I’ll be writing around 6,000 words at week. That’s a good, rigorous, challenging, but doable schedule for me.

So I made a deal with myself, and now I embark upon fulfilling that promise. At this rate I’ll complete this second novel in 3-4 months. I may miss out on the NaNoWriMo festivities and community, but I’ll get where I want to go. And you can too.

What do you think? Any dropouts out there? Any deals you’ve made with yourselves? Tell us about it in the comments!

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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 freelancers. The bloggers. The aspiring novelists, published writers, and creative innovators. The folks that are making a career and a path for themselves unlike anyone else. 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. And that’s why I profile them in this continuing series.

Anyone who’s taken a gander around the writing blogosphere will recognize the presence and contributions of John Hewitt of PoeWar. John has been a technical writer for much of his 20-year career, but has run the gamut of writing roles: newspaper editor, literary magazine editor, reporter, public/governmental relations writer, freelance writer, proposal writer, copywriter, web developer and paste-up artist. Whew! John first made himself a leader in the “writing on writing” web in 1993 (yeah, that’s right, all us newbies should scream a “We’re not worthy!” right about now), with the early version of what would become his indispensable site on writing tips, advice, job links, and much more.

John is inspiring because of his unwavering dedication to exploring and improving the craft of writing. His blog is a pleasure to read, a pleasure that rewards upon consistent and continual viewing. His community is a comfortable and energizing place, one in which experts and novices mingle and learn from one another.

I talked with John on the Saturday beginning NaNoWriMo month, covering career and blog longevity, marathon writing, and fitting a niche. A few excerpts and lessons learned: (Want the whole interview? Scroll down to click through)

On getting personal to a bunch of strangers:

My greatest success is what I’ve managed to do, over the past year, in connecting with readers. I’ve written a lot of articles that were very objective and devoid of personality. No one knew who I was. I’ve been trying to embrace that act of showing some of my personality, allowing myself to open up to readers. As a fairly private person, opening myself up to public criticism was a big move. My series about my technical writing career was an example. I opened up and was very blunt about my mistakes.

On the frustrating tendency for shit to sell:

What I hate about writing is a lot about the industry. I don’t like the fact that publishing is all about the next big hit. No one cares about actual literature. If everyone bought the really great literature it would sell better, but the book industry knows they can get Britney Spears to write crap and it will sell. The kind of book about a wandering traveler won’t. It’s fine with me. That’s why I love the internet. If I write this novel, and decide to share it, I can put it out as an ebook. I may not get the massive readership, but I will get more than banging my head against the wall trying to get a publisher.

On keeping it simple, stupid:

The site itself is its own goal. I created it because I enjoy it. If it never grew beyond where it is now, it won’t bother me because I make a really good living outside of it. PoeWar provides some nice extra money, and it would be great if it ever did pay the bills. But I don’t have a lot of high expectations.

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Greetings, QRW readers! Behind on NaNoWriMo, like me? Looking for some inspiration, ideas, and ideals? I got your fix, right here.

The idea behind this (semi) weekly series is to highlight those masochists that followed their novel (or screenplay, or poetry, or nonfiction) writing dreams, despite years of toil and precious little reward. I highlight folks that give us righteous reads, whose names may sound familiar but aren’t yet favorites, or who might be (by now) officially famous. But all of them are quirky. Rule breakers. Risk takers.

And isn’t that what we’re doing, after all? All of us who write or create for profit or passion? We’re choosing a path for which people try their damndest to make and protect rules, but a path in which the carcasses of those rules are scattered behind a creator’s success. An individual, highly personal and independent path that might one day earn us a spot alongside such masters as these folks listed here. A path that may cause us pain and pleasure at the same time, especially in November.

So let’s look at some mighty Writers Who Matter, delve into what makes them tick, examine some of their best work, and give ourselves a little juice for the NaNoWriMo road:

• Octavia Butler
• Cormac McCarthy
• Joss Whedon
• Philip Pullman
• Tim O’Brien
• Elie Wiesel
• Mikhail Bulgakov

Now it’s your turn. Who are your Writers Who Matter? Who would you like to see profiled here in future posts?

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