Hello Reader,
I was standing next to a motley selection of air fresheners in the grocery store aisle, desperately trying to figure out which one to choose.
We had friends coming to visit and I wanted the guest bathroom to smell nicer than it currently did.
The problem was, all those air fresheners were in closed boxes and I could only guess at the scents hidden inside.
I finally chose one that sounded faintly exotic, got it home, unwrapped it …
And reeled.
It wasn't an unpleasant fragrance, exactly, it was just … strong. Way too strong. And the scent soaked itself into every corner of the whole house.
I left it sitting on the bathroom sink, hoping the intensity would die down or I'd get used to it or something.
And sure enough, a couple of weeks later, I suddenly realised that the smell WAS gone. As in, completely gone.
"That's weird", I thought. "Has it run out already?"
And I went into the bathroom to check.
And guess what. The scent bottle was still almost completely full. But I couldn't smell a thing.
In fact, as I wandered around the house sniffing other things, I realised, with a rising sense of panic, that my sense of smell was completely gone.
And that's when I knew that the hacking cough and nasty bug I'd come down with a few days previously was probably not your normal kind of flu.
I'd already had my flu jab for the season. This was something else entirely.
I won't bore you with the details. All I know is that I tested negative for COVID.
And suffice to say that nearly a month later, I understand a lot better now how people with long COVID must feel (or felt during the pandemic).
And maybe that's a good thing. Going through an experience makes it so much easier to empathise instead of criticise.
What that taught me about pitching (and being pitched to)
It's easy to look at an editor who's slow to reply, or a client who keeps changing the brief, and think, why don't they just make up their mind. But most of the time they're doing the best they can with what they've got, same as I was standing in that grocery aisle guessing at scents in a sealed box.
It works the other way too. If you've ever sent a pitch and heard nothing back, it's rarely personal. The editor is probably buried, not judging you.
Here's a small thing to try this week: next time a client or editor seems to be dragging their feet on something obvious, get curious before you get critical. Ask what's actually going on, rather than assuming you already know.
Could a part-time schedule actually pay full-time bills?
This question is secretly buried underneath a lot of freelance writing decisions, whether you're just starting out, still finding steady work, or ready to treat this as a proper business.
One way to test it: get ChatGPT or Claude to help you audit your rates. Paste in what you currently charge across your different projects or clients, and ask it, "If I wanted to earn a full-time income working 20 hours a week, what would need to change about how I price or package what I offer?"
Tell it to ask you as many questions as it needs to complete the task, so it digs into your actual numbers rather than guessing generic filler.
You might not like every answer. But you'll know a lot more than you did before you asked.
Highlight of the week
This week I've been having fun repurposing my podcast interviews into short form videos using VidIQ (affiliate link).
I've known for ages that short form videos are worth doing. Every time I've put them up, my stats have gone up and I've picked up more subscribers. But for the longest time, I just could not fit the process in.
Not until I discovered that VidIQ makes the whole thing so much easier and faster. AI even helps get the videos ready to publish, so all I have to do is check them over and hit "schedule".
If you've got old interviews, guest posts or long-form pieces sitting there gathering digital dust, it's worth thinking about how you might repurpose them too. You don't need to reinvent what you've already said, just find a new way to say it.
And that's it for this week. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Trudy (and Treasa)
P.S. And in case you're wondering, yes, two and a half weeks later, my sense of smell came back. It was faint at first, but I can now smell that air freshener again. And I think I kind of like it.
P.P.S. If this week's question about part-time hours and full-time income has you jumping up and down quietly screaming "Me! Pick me!", Work Less Make More (affiliate link) by James Schramko is worth a look. I've read it several times and it's helped me change my mind about what's important for my business.
