FREE coworking next week + Labour Day love

Five ways that writers can celebrate Labour Day

The Clothesline is written by a real person: Me! I’m Vanessa Chiasson, a writer and business coach based in Ottawa, Canada. I write travel and human interest narratives and I love reading, birds, beach glass, lattes, and nachos.

How To Work With Me:

Become a paid subscriber and join my Pitching Power Hour.

Book one-on-one coaching. The 45-minute “Can I Pick Your Brain” session is the most popular. 

Not sure? Book a free 15 minute discovery call.

Free Coworking Session Next Week!

Eager to start September off on a strong note? I’d love to invite you ALL to join me on Tuesday, September 3rd for the next Pitching Power Hour. This 60 minute virtual co-working session is a perk for paid subscribers that takes place on the first Tuesday of each month. Once a year I open up the doors so anyone who wants to try it out can do so. If you keep promising yourself that you absolutely, totally, certainly will send more pitches once summer is over, you’ll want to check this out.

Virtual co-working is fun, easy, and effective. We all log on at 9:00 AM EST and briefly share what we’re going to work on for the hour. Name it and claim it! Then we turn off cameras and mics and get to it, using the time to work in silence and plow through our work. Just before 10:00 AM, we hop back on and share how things went - - did you get as much done as you thought? Did you run into any roadblocks? Try it once and you’ll see just how effective and downright powerful the Pitching Power Hour really is!

Here’s the link. No need to sign up in advance. I’d love to see you there: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88167453852?pwd=tCRqQHK6HBGtle7iCFwfipBIN2oOV2.1

Food For Thought

I can’t be the only one who forgot that this is a long weekend, can I?

This happens to me a lot as a self-employed person, even though I advocate for others to block those days in their calendars and enjoy the delights of a bonus day off. One of the great things about freelancing is that you’re always free, free to set your own schedule, to make your own holidays. And one of the worst things about freelancing is that you’re never free because there is no such thing as a paid day off. 

But while I came close to missing it, Labour Day deserves special recognition and not just because it’s important to remember those activists who worked so hard for safe and healthy work conditions. We deserve a day to reflect on OUR labours, the many joys they bring and the frustrations we often contend with. I’d like to propose the following Labour Day acts of celebration for writers this coming week.

1. Take advantage of your work-from-home freedom to write in a new corner of your house. What does the view look like from there? Just don’t take your laptop in the bathtub!

2. Embrace the power of setting your own schedule and have a day where you mix things up, just because you can. Do you want to get up to write at sunrise? Do you want to plan a late evening of editing by moonlight?