A sense of humor

From the tenor of these posts, one might get the impression that there's no joy to be found in freelance writing or editing. Or if there is joy, then it's the sardonic kind. While freelancing does indeed have its ups and downs like any other profession, occasionally I entertain myself with weird word associations and connections that make me giggle.

This week I was assigned to write an article on data driven marketing. For some weird reason, my wayward mind connected that to the 4-cycle compression engine process--intake, compression, ignition, and exhaust--to describe the writing process. Of course, I went with the vernacular expression because it made me laugh: suck, squeeze, bang, blow. Hey, I made the analogy work.

Blog writing assignments comprise the bulk of my freelance work, although I continually seek out editing and creative writing projects. The drawback of writing blog after blog is that I seem to have trained myself to quit thinking after a thousand words. That makes continuing the narrative of a book a challenge. It's a challenge I'm facing as I work to finish Russian Dawn. The solution? I look at each chapter as a blog article.

Let's hope that works.

In other news, my alter ego Holly Bargo will be featured on Laura Lu's Book Reviews. The site is launching a new author showcase. My spotlight article will appear on February 17.

I have drafted a cover for Russian Dawn. Before I reveal the cover, it needs to sit and marinate for a while. When I go back to it, I'll be better able to decide whether it's going to work.

And, finally, I've been hired as the editor for the new newsletter for the World Public Library. This awesome organization encourages literacy and offers a thousand years' of public domain work for digital download. Check it out.

That's all for this week. I've been busy, busy, busy. That's a good problem to have.