The Clothesline is a weekly newsletter about cozy business content for writers from Vanessa Chiasson. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while and receive value from it, I’d encourage you to sign up for a paid membership to gain extended content and access to the monthly pitching power hour.
Upcoming Events
Are you looking for inspiration, guidance, and support to propel your writing career forward in 2024? Look no further than my Q2 Planning Workshop for writers on March 28th!! 🚀 Join me for a dynamic session where we'll delve into goal-setting, business planning, and creativity revival strategies tailored specifically for writers. Oh, and we’ll also have some fun brainstorming some new story ideas too!
Are you self-employed and struggling with what you should say about your business – and how you should say it and who you should say it to? Join me and the amazing Lara Wellman and Becky Stanisic in the 6-week Illuminate Your Biz course that will transform how you communicate about your work.
Food For Thought
Do you have an “about me” page? I bet you do.
And do you feel a bit squirmy thinking about that page? That you really should update it, refresh it, make it less awkward, more dynamic, just…. Something? I’m guessing that’s a ‘yes’ too.
Improving “about me” pages is one of the most common things I hear from the writers I work with. It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of writing they do or how long they’ve been doing it. It’s just one of those things that’s constantly weighing on people’s minds. And it IS important. But there’s something that most folks are doing wrong, and it has nothing to do with the actual writing.
They’re treating “about me” pages as if they’re the goal when, in reality, they’re a task, an action item, something that needs doing to support the goal. So what IS the goal? What, exactly, will that revamped “about me” page (or “work with me” page or media kit or slick social media bio) support? This is precisely the kind of conversation I had with a recent coaching client. Dealing with her “about me” page was high on her list, but the conversation evolved as we discussed why it was important.
Was she, for example, looking to secure more press trips, in which case this page was one of several items needed to support her position as a dynamic, adventurous travel writer? Or was she looking to improve her confidence and having a swishy page was just one part of a bigger package that encouraged her to put her best self forward? Was she eager to make a strong impression on editors, so much so that they’d be now approaching her, and polishing up the “about me” page was just a step in the process of being a go-to freelancer? And why did all of these things matter? Did she want to earn more income? Or diversify her income? Or connect with more challenging creative challenges?
Just updating a page or crossing something off your list isn’t going to matter if it’s not part of a bigger strategy or in service of a higher goal. This sounds like a lofty order, but identifying the goal you’re fighting for makes the action items, tasks, and chores much more manageable. Next time you think about your “about me” page and chide yourself for not having updated it, take a breather and ask yourself why it matters. What do you want more than anything else? What is your goal for this week, this quarter, this year? Now ask yourself what that page can do to help make those things happen. You’ve got this.
That conversation really put things into perspective!