Yo, check out this calming landscape. © me, June 2024.
A major life change in the past month has had me panicking more than usual. I’ve taken on new responsibilities that come with added expense (bills, I’m talking about more bills), so I’ve been frantically looking for extra work to make sure I’ll always be in the clear.
That’s part of the reason I decided to go with a friend’s suggestion to join LinkedIn: to make myself more visible and start building a network, something I’ve always been averse to because of my massive social anxiety. That’s also why I decided to make this site: to share my work and hopefully come across as a real professional you can rely on. As you can see, I AM DOING A HECK OF A JOB!!
I always did my work anonymously, my name being visible only in the occasional byline (and that’s even stopped happening because I’m not writing as much for publications anymore). I’m not credited publicly for many of the materials I edit; that tends to happen if you’re part of a pool of freelance editors. I guess I’ve just been feeling inadequate and unaccomplished as a result because other people I know seem to be doing great professionally. So I figured I’d put my name out there to get more projects, gain more connections, and stand a greater chance of surviving financially.
Then I recently took stock of my situation and figured out that it’s not as bad as I’ve made it all seem in my mind.
So now I’m checking LinkedIn and panicking a lot less and figured, whatever, my profiles and stuff are out there already, and if someone sees my work and experience and gets interested enough to get in touch, they can and I’ll just be here. Not very “smart marketer” of me, but I think I’ll pour most of my energy into my existing jobs and all the other personal projects I finally have time for.
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