Publishing Insights — February 2025

The Year 2024 is a tough act to follow.

I know, I know. I’m pretty reflective this time of year, but these winter months are perfect for resetting, planning, and making goals. While I’m getting a slow start on inspiration, I have to crow about what a great year I had in 2024! It was exceptional on a number of levels. So, 2025, you’re under some pressure.

Professionally, it was the year of doing big things! I wrote a great cookbook for a private client, wrote a business book for another client, and worked with US and UK publishers on a wide variety of books, some of which are getting some great notices right now! I crafted non-fiction book proposals and guided contracted authors through developing manuscripts to meet their publisher deadlines. I moderated education groups for international audiences and learned I could work remotely while seamlessly learning new tech and platforms. All-in-all, it was a year of projects I loved for which I just happened to get paid! (Don’t miss my 2024 Quotes and Favorite Books of the Year.)

Balance. It’s on my Mind: This past month, I’ve been struggling with balance. Feeling guilty I’m not pushing harder versus taking some time to recharge my creative batteries. Feeling unmotivated versus feeling pressure to get moving. The good news is we can give ourselves permission to take a break. Q1 is the time of change and many of us are experiencing it. Being asked to get back to the office? Maybe your partner is going back to the office and you’re not. Maybe a new class or meeting has thrown off your schedule. Take this time to reset and find new ways to find your own balance of productivity and creative time.

The Waiting Season:  Feeling like you’re having a slow start to the year? You’re not alone. Over at Creatives Anonymous, they call it The Waiting Season, that time between accomplishment and getting ready for what’s next. That time when the seeds you’ve planted need time to come up.  It’s a time of faith that direction and inspiration will strike. It’s a tough time and many of us have tricks to get through it – planning, restoration, rest, exercising those creative muscles. Just remember that it’s a natural part of the cycle – so hang in there.  (And check out the excellent newsletter at Creatives Anonymous.)

The Benefits of a Reset or What I Learned Working Remotely: Last year, I lived and worked for a month in France and learned some things! I’d been cautious about what I could accomplish because I still wanted to enjoy being there but I also had some deliverables and a few meetings. When I got home, I was able to come up with some tips for working remotely in an office that’s not your own.

• Set Your Tech: We’re all in the cloud now, and it’s a game changer when it comes to working from anywhere. Not only did I have access to my entire desktop file system, I also found how much work I do is web based now. While I had to puzzle through a few uploads, I was never stuck for a document or function I needed. From Slack to Figma to WordPress, I had access to it all.
• What to bring: I brought a Chromebook instead of a heavy laptop, skipped the iPad, and left a laptop stand at home because it was just too big. While I brought my paper planner/calendar, I consolidated my work notebooks, journals, and trip info into one notebook. It was a great lesson in going paperless. I didn’t use a VPN, but easily could have. I brought great pens and a legal pad, just because.
• The morning reset: At home, I have a morning routine, like all of us. Coffee, desk, email, calendar, notes if I’m reading something for work. I tried to set a morning routine on the road, too. Over coffee, I’d journal and make a work plan, set and track goals. Write down ideas. When sharing a small space with other people, I also tried to make sure my work area was clean, tidy, and organized.
• Project based work – Every day, I’d try to identify one major piece of work to complete – a chapter edited or writing to finish. It helped me to focus on finishing my list each day, being mindful about rolling anything over, and setting boundaries. When working remotely, you may not get everything done but you can find the space to give yourself permission to enjoy where you are.
• A workspace/desk/comfortable chair: So, I love the little apartment we frequently rent, but we are usually so busy, we never noticed there’s no comfortable place to sit or work! I learned I can work from anywhere, but I really need a desk or table and comfortable chair (don’t we all) next time.
• Stop and smell the roses: Keep in mind where you are! When you’re in a foreign country, sometimes you have to set work aside for a trip to the wine shop, a wine tasting appointment, a favorite restaurant, or apero on the deck if the weather is nice. And bonus, for lunches and leisure time, you’re in a foreign country! Try the language. Live like a local. Soak it in!

So You Think You Want to Freelance? A colleague recently asked to chat about freelance editing as she’s considering a few options for work. In preparation, I wrote down a few tips that I thought might help her.  These are things I’ve learned about myself and my projects, especially as I find what I enjoy most!

1. How do you work? Know yourself. Do you need deadlines? Can you space your work out?  Do you need some sort of pressure or can you work on your own? Do you like working with people or on your own? How do you communicate best?
2. Treat it like a business. Many writers and editors hate the business aspects of what they do, but the fact is it’s a reality. Keep up with your invoices.  Keep up with your accounting. Keep up with your taxes.  Keep a cushion so you’re not sweating bills every month.  It doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but it’s a great way to measure progress.
3. Diversify. Don’t be everything to everybody. However, you can have more than one specialty or genres. I love editing cookbooks and writing about wine, but can I make a living at it?  Nope. So I also love ghostwriting business books and working with authors on a variety of other topics.  Being a generalist is good!
4. Do the math. Can you afford it? What do you need to make every month? What do you need to bill? Are there enough hours in the day?
5. Respect the Cycle. Every creative knows there are ups and downs in the market. There are weeks where you have a million ideas and weeks where you can’t find a good idea anywhere. The same goes for freelancing. Some weeks will give you multiple opportunities while you may go weeks before you see another. Are you comfortable with this? Can you keep the faith (and the lights on) during the slow times?  It all circles back to #1 – Know Yourself.
6. Read.  Read everything.
7. Network. Sow the seeds. They will come up.

Personal Connections: I love handwritten notes. I love sending them, getting them, buying cards for them, and writing them as that small personal touch that makes an interaction special. In 2020, in what came to be an ironic twist, I had a goal to send 200 handwritten notes for the year. I loved that project and since then, have wished had more excuses just to send a note to say “hey, I was thinking about you” to friends far and wide. So, in 2025, I’m doing it again! The goal?  To send 225 handwritten notes over the course of the year and encourage connections of all kinds. Let me know if you want me to add you to my list!

Goals for 2025: Speaking of goals, have you set yours? Did you review your 2024? What big things do you want to happen in 2025? Have you been thinking about breaking through to that next level for your own practice? Rebranding or honing your niche? What does break through to that next stage of your work look like for you? For me? It means leveling up – taking on bigger projects, bigger clients, and bigger topics. Plus, creating more art and getting outside more. With 6 books ghostwritten for amazing clients, a host of proposals created for stellar experts in both general business and special areas (like cooking and wine), I’m ready to help you make your project a reality.

What can I do for you?  Agents, publishers, and authors, let’s make your project a reality. Publishers or agents, need a manuscript overhauled or some help getting it put together?  Authors, pitched an idea to an agent who wants a detailed proposal? Need a custom book or project for clients, partners or your corporate community?  Let’s make it happen – from concept to proposal to manuscript.  Want to create a cookbook or business book for your corporate community? Need a navigator for the publishing process?  I can help. Let’s talk and we can schedule a one-on-one.

Looking forward to working with you in 2025! For more on my areas of expertise and a contact form, visit my website.

What I’m Reading:  Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments. Really prescient – and the writing is sublime.

What I’m Learning: How to make pasta! Lots of measuring, trial and error, and experimenting with cook times and thickness, but a great lesson in slowing down.

Best Thing I Saw Last Month:  The sunset from Turtle Beach on Marco Island with my toes in the sand.

What I’ve Been Working On:  An in-depth analysis of the philosophical themes of Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris.