The inspiring and delightful Kristen Fischer.  I am so honored to be in her book Creatively Self-Employed:  How Writers and Artists Deal With Career Ups and Downs.  Kristen's Creatively Self Employed website and blog are both filled to the brim with advice, tips, resources, links and other inspiring and helpful bits & pieces.  She's a GIVER!

[January 25, 2008 Interview]  

Happy New Year Kristen...It looks like you are off to a great start!  Tell us about your new book - what is it about and when can we get our hands on it?
Happy New Year, Christine! My new book, Ramen Noodles, Rent and Resumes: An After-College Guide to Life, will be out this spring. I am so excited. It’s a bit different in topic than the first, but certainly a useful book for 20-somethings. I’ve always enjoyed being in my 20s and this is my last year as a 20-something—so I figured I’d wrap up a decade with a book.

Your first book was self-published, and your upcoming book was picked up by another publisher—talk about the pros and cons of each of these experiences.
When I was working to get Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs with a publisher or agent, I had submitted another “fluke idea” to another publisher. Super College LLC was looking to expand its line of college-related reference books into more real-world applications. They loved my idea, and boom—there was my first book contract. I had been trying to promote my book idea for so long that when the college book was accepted, it just seemed so ironic.

CSE wasn’t getting much love at the time, so I had decided to self-publish it. I was already finishing that up when the new book contract came along. But there were a few months overlapped when I was writing two books. Honestly, I still don’t know how on earth I did it. Two books at one time. It was like being told I was having twins—a double blessing!

Honestly, I never wanted to self-publish CSE. I really wanted a publisher who would at least open up more promotion avenues. But I wholeheartedly trust God that CSE was supposed to happen as it did—a self-published effort. I’m open to it getting picked up by a publisher, but I’m okay if it doesn’t. It’s certainly opened doors for me and provided valuable insight for all who are courageous enough to read it! I would like to write another book on the topic some time in the future. Right now, I’m not writing any books and it’s very weird, I have to say!

In addition to writing wonderful books, what else do you do?
I’m a copywriter and editor. So my typical day is working up some content for a website or a brochure. I write resumes, too. Most of my work isn’t writing—it’s marketing. Staying afloat as a freelancer is tough so I am always interacting with others (mostly over the Web) to build my little empire.

What was your inspiration for Creative Self Employment?
I had actually been working on a memoir during my early 20s and I was so sick of it. I wanted to write about what I knew. At the time I was working the 5 p.m. to 1 p.m. shift as a copy editor at a newspaper on a part-time basis while I was building my business. I knew that being creatively self-employed was so hard. I knew a lot about dealing with it, so that’s when I decided it would be easy to write the book since the topic was so innate to me.

I think it is incredibly important for us creatively self employed people to have practical tools that keep us focused on the business side of our work as well.  What piece of advice would you give to help a right-brained individual strengthen their left-brained skills?
Keep marketing! I am recently coming out of a little slump because I was so busy working for a few major clients that I didn’t come up for air. When you lose a regular gig as a freelancer, it can hit you like a million bricks. I always want to make sure I have enough work so if I lost a huge client, I would still land on my feet.

By marketing, I mean getting out there. Approaching businesses with your service. Sending out resumes. Networking. Sending out a direct mail piece. All of those things you were taught to do. Devote time to marketing—your leads will reappear when you least expect it, and probably need it most!

How did you go from an environmental science degree to copywriting?
That’s a good question. I always say that I didn’t want to be in the mud. But that’s true!

When I graduated college, all of the jobs were for techs, which is why I flocked to being a journalist. I was a strong writer, and had a few people take a chance on me. Even though I did “use” my degree for two years in the environmental industry, it was as a communications consultant—so I was still writing. After that, I knew that I was meant to write—and that I still didn’t want to get dirty doing field work!

What do you love most about being creatively self-employed?
I love doing things during the day. If I’m out between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., I am always thinking of my days stuck in a cubicle. That makes me feel so grateful just to be out in the middle of the day. I mostly like to be able to go get tea, drive to the beach or workout during the day. It still fascinates me that all the world is at work and I am living the dream, yanno?

What inspires you most?
Honestly? Blogs like yours. I am very much into design and find anything visual a pleasure. Seeing others’ lives through blogs is very inspiring. I also love to keep up with the creatives that were featured in the book. Hearing about somebody getting a huge job for a major company or hosting their own art show is inspiring. In fact, when Claudine Hellmuth was on Martha Stewart’s show a few months back, I was bragging about her like she was my kid. And tearing up when she was on TV. I was so happy for her and so honored she was in my book.

When I’m non-hermitlike and leave the house, the beach always inspires me. I can return there time after time and I find it a constant inspiration in a busy world. It helps me connect spiritually.

Thank you again for “chatting” with me for Sparkletopia, and good luck with the finishing touches of your next book!
It is being printed as I type!

Thanks so much for having me! I adore your new blog!