The copy editor, a traditionally marginalised figure, is now in strong demand. If you are well-connected through social media, can isolate what your writing has to offer and get the message noticed by a reading public, you can probably manage the marketing of your work. The one thing it’s really hard to do is self-edit. Long ago publishers outsourced copy editing, relying on the freelance labour market – and freelancers are now being actively sought by self-publishing authors too. The price for services for which there is both high demand and scarce supply tends to rise.

It was only a couple of years ago that typos abounded in both print and electronic books. I’d be interested in seeing recent data on whether or not quality has improved since 2011, as well as how much of copy editing is outsourced by publishers. But at least it sounds like editors are being valued more — maybe this is what editing making a comeback looks like.

Google has a couple of tricks this year for April Fool’s Day. Check out Google Nose, the latest addition to Search that will have many stopping to smell their screens. Afterwards, hunt for treasure in the new layer of Google Maps. Be sure to zoom in to street view to get the full experience.

What’s your favorite tech fool this year?

Professional Writing was the obvious choice.

And now, out of school and working full-time in Greenville, South Carolina, I have a job I love working as a Project Manager in the Marketing department of a mega-church. It’s crazy how life turns out. I spend four days a week (I know, I get three day weekends because I work 10 hour days, it’s basically the bomb) managing and organizing the Marketing department. I do everything from doling out work and keeping the schedules of our designs to ordering items to writing synopses for the CDs and DVDs we sell. And that’s maybe an eighth of what I do.

But here’s the thing—I still want to be a novelist. I still want to, someday, become a self-sufficient writer career wise, and if that’s going to happen I have to work toward it on a regular basis.

Let’s face the facts, people. I work 4 days a week, sure, but they are 10 hour days. I don’t get home until 6:30 – 7pm, and if I go to the gym let’s make that 8pm. I’ve sent anywhere from 80 to 100 emails that day (I am not exaggerating), and the last thing I want to do is sit down and write a novel. I’d much rather eat some ice cream and catch up on How I Met Your Mother.

But I have goals. I don’t have time for any of that.

Here’s what you might be asking—not just how do you find the time, but how do you stay inspired? How do you balance being a professional writer at work and come home and do blogging, book reviews, and creative writing?

Determination. And time management.

That’s the short way to describe it. It helps that I love writing, and if I get myself in the right mindset I can force myself to write. And after about ten minutes of forcing myself to write, eighty percent of the time I’m not forcing myself anymore. I’m deep into whatever I’m writing and I’m excited.

Sometimes this might take a beer or three. Sometimes it takes a cupcake. Sometimes it takes watching How I Met Your Mother before even attempting. And sometimes it takes determination.

Time management is incredibly important for me. When I get home, and let’s say I haven’t worked out so I’m home at 6:30, I need to eat. By the time I’ve finished and done dishes, it’s 7:30. I’m mentally exhausted, so I watch 30 minutes of mindless TV. The hardest part is forcing myself to turn it off and get to work. From there, I always say that I’ll just write for a little bit. Then I pick the thing that I want to work on most, and I dive in.

Some days I get about one hundred words in and give up and go back to my library book or some TV, but most days I’m in it for the long haul. I write for a while, usually until I know I need to do some other stuff. Then I work on stuff I didn’t really want to do. Maybe a blog post, maybe some blog reading about queries (who likes to read about queries?). Sometimes, if I’m feeling ambitious, I try to do a little French, since I’m trying to pick up the language again.

By the time I’m done, it’s usually 10 – 11pm. Time for a shower, maybe a little reading, and bed. Then I wake up and do it all over again, but not always in the same order.

Something that is incredibly important for me is inspiration. And so is taking the time to find it. For me, inspiration comes in all forms. Reading is the big one—anything from blogs to novels to poetry. A blog about how a certain writer approaches outlines might inspire me. A poem about a cat might make me think that I want to write about a cat. Pinterest is another big source of inspiration, both writing and not writing (cooking and DIY stuff I will probably never do). I’ve always found photography to be hugely inspirational, and many a time if I need a prompt to write something I pick a photo and write the story behind it. If I feel blah or stupid or like my writing is dumb, reading helps, and so does Pinterest, and sometimes so does wine.

There’s no right way to balance your work ambitions and your personal ambitions—everyone does it differently. I write lists. I check things off. I read blogs (a lot of blogs) about writing and the publishing industry, trying to keep up to speed. I’m always thinking about the next step, both professionally and personally. Being lazy is okay sometimes—the other day I spent a whole three hours watching That 70s Show. Such things are necessary. Reading for fun is necessary too. How else am I going to get inspiration for everything on my to-do list?

For me, the key is balance. When I’m at work for 10 or often 11 hours, I spend about thirty minutes a day working on a blog post that isn’t about work. It frees up my brain halfway through the day and allows me to unwind, and when I jump back into work I’m so much more focused. It helps me be able to make the switch from professional to creative writing that much easier. Not everyone has time to do this, but I highly suggest it.

One thing I’m still working on is waking up an hour early to write. I can barely wake up ten minutes early to do my makeup nicely. Someday I’ll be badass enough to do it and not complain.

About the Author

Vanessa Levin-Pompetzki is an alumni of the Professional Writing program at Michigan State University. She currently works as the Marketing Project Manager at Redemption (please excuse the website, they’re redesigning) in Greenville, South Carolina. Tweet her at @vanessalevpom or check out her blog.

Love it! Follow the blog for more editing humor.

What kind of stories can you tell with the help of 1.8 million Twitter followers? That’s what author Neil Gaiman is finding out through a new partnership with Blackberry. Gaiman, who tweets @neilhimself, is tapping into his community of readers on Twitter to create stories and art for charity.

The result will be A Calendar of Tales, a print (and possibly digital) calendar with stories by Gaiman that were inspired by tweets in response to questions. For example, when Gaiman asked, “What is the most unusual thing you have ever seen in July?” this is the tweet he selected to prompt his writing:

@neilhimself #KeepMoving #JulTale …an igloo made of books.

— Carla Mendoza (@mendozacarla) February 6, 2013

Gaiman then spent a few days writing all 12 stories, which are now available for download (PDF).

The project is now in stage two and people are invited to submit artwork inspired by the stories:

Whether it’s a sketch, photo or doodle, using paint, ink or collage, upload your artwork for a chance to feature in the digital showcase and the printed, limited edition of A Calendar of Tales.

This is a very creative way to demonstrate the power of collaborative writing and art. The many tweets generated by Gaiman’s questions are moving, funny, clever — and great writing prompts. I encourage you to browse through the #KeepMoving and month-specific hashtags if you need some writing inspiration, and head over to the project’s site to read the stories, share your art, and get involved in this creative collaboration.

I don’t want to be blocked, I want to be open. And part of that is being in a place where you just let yourself be whatever you are that day. […] Being in a place where you’re feeling good about your work and confident about your ability to execute your next idea is important, especially if you’re in the business of making art for a living. We need to draw from all these different parts of ourselves to make what we make every day.

The interview is 45 minutes long, but it’s definitely worth watching (or listening to — GLP offers an mp3 as well).

To check out some of Lisa’s work, I recommend starting with her most recently completed Daily Project, 365 Days of Lettering, which is being published in a collection in 2014. Also, keep an eye out for this year’s project, The Reconstructionists. It’s a collaboration with Maria Popov of Brain Pickings that combines illustrated portraits of trailblazing women with hand-lettered quotes and micro-essays.

I don’t think you can achieve anything remarkable without some risk. Risk is actually a rather tricky word because humans aren’t wired to tolerate it very much. The reptilian part of our brains wants to keep us safe. Anytime you try something that doesn’t have any certainty associated with it, you’re risking something, but what other way is there to live?

The first ten years of my career were very much organized around avoiding failure, but my inadequacies were completely self-constructed. Nobody told me that I couldn’t do something; nobody told me that I couldn’t succeed; I had convinced myself and lived in that self-imposed reality. I think a lot of people do this. They self-sabotage and create all sorts of reasons for not doing things under the misguided assumption that, at some point, they might feel better about themselves and that will finally allow them to take that risk. I don’t think that ever happens. You have to push through it and do it as if you have no other choice—because you don’t. You just don’t.

Debbie talks a lot in the interview about dealing with rejection, fear, and failure — things we all have to deal with, but don’t like to talk about. And yet in sharing her own moments of self-doubt, Debbie shows that great things come from taking risks — a valuable lesson for creatives at all stages of their career.

For more on the necessity of risk in creative work, check out iA’s Story of a Beautiful Failure and Seth Godin’s Risk, fear, and worry.

The Art of Web Design, featuring Jeffrey Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria, and Whitney Hess.

The Art of Logo Design, featuring Steven Heller, Sagi Haviv, Kelli Anderson, and Gerard Huerta.

The Universal Arts of Graphic Design, featuring Debbie Millman, Emily Oberman, Drew Freeman, and Steve Attardo.

Check out the full series for videos on typography, coding, color theory, and more.

• Attend a creative workshop or event.
• Visit a museum or art exhibit.
• Watch a movie or TED talk about creativity.
• Create something new and put it out in the world, like a blog theme or a poem.
• Grab your camera and go on a photowalk.
• “Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.” Check out this 1991 lecture by John Cleese on making your life more creative.

Write down your goals, draw a map of things you’d like to do. Once the seasonal structure of school is gone, life can start to feel like a never-ending free fall or a stagnant pool of sameness if you don’t draft your own direction. You will learn more at your first real job than you did in school.

A job is a job, so don’t take it too personally. Work can sometimes bog you down and make you forget that you’re alive. You can make your life anything you want it to be, but you’ll have to be the one to take the actions to get you there. This may seem obvious and sound easy; it is not.

If you’ve never had a crappy job, get one, at least for a little while. Later in your career, when you’re a manager, you need to remember what it felt like to make minimum wage and do menial work.

Learn how to almost always say yes, even when your initial reaction may be no. Use social media strategically. Create on a regular basis, not just for your job, but for yourself. Then put your work out there for everyone to see. Be flexible. Details matter. Use grids most of the time and kern thoughtfully. Read. Look. See. Remove the price sticker from your portfolio case before going to your first job interview.

Seek and foster relationships with mentors you respect. Jump into chaos, fix the problems later. Sit beneath a very old tree and look up. Know design history. Designing non-functional typography á la David Carson won’t work for most paying clients. Hoefler & Frere-Jones is not a fancy French winery. Know your type foundries and understand that at some point you will have to pay money for a font.

Have strong opinions. Share them, but don’t push them. There are no absolutes.

Travel, near and far. Embrace empathy; it is the key to all successful relationships. Purposely leave your comfort zone; familiarity and habit can make you stagnant. Accumulate stories. Understand that as a problem solver, you’re obligated to explore and be open to all experiences. This is how you will make new connections and arrive at surprising solutions. This is also how you’ll come to feel super alive.

We’re all in this crazy world together, and don’t ever become so selfish that you forget it. The government isn’t always right, and corporations are not people, no matter what legislation says. Some misguided people will try to pay you a lot of money to design something that is unethical. Go to a quiet place and really think about if it’s worth it. Use your problem solving and visual communication skills for good; give back to the world that helped you get to where you are today. As a designer especially, you have an obligation to a greater good; don’t leave a legacy that ruins the future of others.

There is so much more you don’t know. Realize it, and let that knowledge humble you and inspire you to keep seeking. Don’t waste your time always searching for advice from other people. If you take time to listen to the quiet of your heart, you will come to understand that you already know the answer.

A lot of other people have advice to give. Here are some of my favorites:

David Foster Wallace – Kenyan commencement speech

Stefan Sagmeister – Things I have learned in my life so far

Frank Chimero – The Particle

Ira Glass – on being an artist

First Things First Manifesto 2000 – on ethics and the responsibility of being a designer

About the Author

Jessica Yurasek is a Creative Strategist at Innovation Protocol, a strategic brand consulting firm. She also works with socially conscious non-profits such as The Tiziano Project and Counterspill.org to promote truth through storytelling using design along with new media platforms. Find her on Twitter @missjessrose.