Quiet Rebel Writer

Hello QRW readers and fans. As you may have noticed, I’ve been a little lax over the last week with my posting. Sure, I’ve got a few big deadlines that are grabbing my attention and energy. Sure, I’ve been feverishly cleaning up the new joint for our first boarder, a dear friend from out of […]

What the hell is this post about?

Insecurity: The freelancing and creativity plague
Intimidation: The killer of business success and creativity
Why insecurity and intimidation suck
The QRW Weekly Theme

The challenges freelancers face in establishing and continuing a successful writing biz are pretty overwhelming. The challenges those who strive to be more creative face are equally as numerous. […]

For the most part, freelancing is glorious. The annoyances and problems that do inherently occur are outweighed with the kickassness of the career. Taxes? Sure, they blow as a free agent. Feast and famine? Sure, it’s painful when you’re this close to reinstituting the ramen diet from college. But I can deal.
But there’s one […]

Part of making your own way as a writer and a person involves a bit of stubbornness. I don’t like to admit weakness. I don’t like to learn that I was wrong about something. No one really does, I’m sure, but it seems especially hard for folks like independent writers, those who have broken the […]

We can often be a hesitant bunch, us writers. Shaky when taking criticism, shy when contemplating networking, and downright stupefied when discussing fees and money. It’s this last hesitancy that could damage us the most.
I’ve wondered at the reasons why writers are notoriously insecure about money on this blog, proposing that we are often […]

I have never been a coffee drinker. It seems heresy – a writer (or otherwise functioning adult) who doesn’t drink coffee? Aren’t we a society built on the unrealistic energy high of caffeine? How on earth have I survived this far?
In college, I took this discord to heart. I couldn’t be a proper college […]

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 […]

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 became a feminist after reading Cosmopolitan. And that’s why I’ll never write for women’s magazines as part of my freelance career.
One day in mid-college I flipped through my latest issue of Cosmo, fresh from the mail. I was just exiting my ill-advised sorority phase, when I thought I wanted to be someone, anyone […]