Inspiration and Motivation Archives - Page 7 of 12

How to Stay Fit, Productive, and Sane As A Freelance Writer: 10 Tips for Having The Best Freelance Writing Work Day At a Shopping Mall

Posted on December 25, 2016 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Özsüt, Akasya — The café this post was written at. Özsüt, in Akasya shopping mall, Istanbul.

Sitcoms of the 80s and 90s depicted shopping malls as teenagers’ haven. No reason it can’t be one of your offices.

Look, I know a shopping mall isn’t the epitome of health. Yes, a walk in the woods or going to a coffee shop with a sea view is better. But sometimes you need the change, size and the warmth.

If you are already healthy and can stand the harsh winter weather, please, by all means, walk outside every day. As much as you can. Even if it is just to and back from your favorite coffee shop.

But:

What if you sweat so much that by the time you get to the coffee house, even if it is just 15 minutes from your house, you look like you fell into a lake? Including and especially your hair? There is no possible way you can conveniently carry extra clothes, underwear, and hair-dryer along with your laptop and other freelancing essentials. Not unless you have the shoulder strength of a veteran backpacker. I don’t. And oh, one change of clothes doesn’t take my sweat away.

You might think the sweating is because I’m fat, but I’m not. While unfortunately I have extra weight I’m trying to lose, calling me fat would be scientifically incorrect. Picture below for scale.

Birthday Mohito, Hard Rock Café, Istanbul — Me, December 2016. Birthday Mojito.

Okay. So you, for one reason or another, you can’t walk to favorite coffee shop every day. You don’t live in a mansion, and you don’t have a treadmill desk (aff. link). You don’t have a gym membership. How are you going to get your exercise?

That’s where shopping malls come in.

I live in a city where malls are ubiquitous. They come with a selection of restaurants, coffee shops and all kinds of stores. And with so many malls to choose from, there are ones that aren’t too crowded and too expensive.

Here’s how to make the most of that mall:

Set your timer. We all stay focused for different lengths. If the Pomodoro technique of working for 25-minute periods with 5 minute breaks (and then a 20-25 minute break at the end of 4-5 periods) gets your productivity going, great. If not, find out your sweet spot. But for the love of gods of productivity and sanity, don’t stay glued to your computer for hours on end.

Yes, I’m guilty of this. I suppose most writers are. It comes back to bite me in the form of extra pounds and nerve entrapment. So I’m writing this to remind you and myself.

It’s perfectly fine not to distract yourself in the middle of a productivity burst. But we all know they don’t always happen. So take regular breaks.

What has got this to do with the mall, you ask?

Take a short walk during your break. I don’t know how shopping malls work in your country, but in mine, most shopping mall cafés don’t have bathrooms of their own. So you have to take like at least 500 steps just for a bathroom break. 2 bathroom breaks, you already got your first 1000.

Now, obviously it is better if you walk continuously at a certain speed. But 500 every time you need to pee, and if you have a regular-sized bladder and keep yourself hydrated enough, it is still a lot more than the bathroom-going exercise in your house.

Take a longer walk during your longer break. Explore the stores. The bigger the mall, the better. If you actually try stuff on, the more calories gone. Sure, it is not sports. But it is better than staring at your TV or just doing the dishes. And never underestimate how many calories can be spent during shopping. One summer, my main method of exercise was shopping, and I lost like 18 pounds (about 8kgs.) Of course, I live in Istanbul, a shopping heaven. Never underestimate the power of your legs.

What about my stuff?

Unless I personally know the staff, I just take all valuable items with me: desktop, money, phone. I have MacBook Air (aff.link), so leaving everything else still makes me light as rain. No one steals your coat. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to tell the staff you are coming back.

But no one thinks you are a runner when you leave behind a table full of stuff. It might not fly everywhere, but it has worked for me so far. And there are almost always other friendly people who will watch your stuff. No one minds having the responsibility of watching your coat and some stationery.

Alternatively, you can use a co-working space; some malls have them. Or you can rent lockers at a little cost.

Go outside, even if it is just the parking lot. You obviously need natural light and fresh air. So go get it. You are already dressed; you won’t get lazy.

Walk back home. Or take a longer method of transportation. As long as it is safe and doable, try walking back.

Take the escalators, and walk on them. (Unless you have a problem with your knees and the doctors told you to avoid them.)

Always take the longer route. Go to the further escalator, further bathroom. Stride along the largest stores.

Choose a café or restaurant with healthy options. I get that eating healthily generally costs a lot more. But unless it is Burger King, there is something healthy (or healthy-ish), affordable, tasty and fulfilling on the menu. Order that.

A couple of customized tips for those with a sensitive stomach:

I have gastritis, so I feel your pain. I have to take medication every day and limit my consumption of coffee to two mugs. Eating outside is always risky. What you can do to reduce the risk of food poisoning, indigestion and nausea:

– Order plain Greek yoghurt alongside whatever you are having. If you are in Turkey or at a Turkish restaurant, order Ayran (a traditional soft drink made with yoghurt, salt and water.) It greatly reduces the risk of nausea and or food poisoning. It is also great for your immune system.

– Ask for extra lemons for your salad. Lemon that stuff up! And I don’t mean lemon juice or sauce. I mean actual lemon slices. Not everyone washes salad ingredients so well. With the amount of chemical products we use on plants, you can’t be too careful. Also, it is extra vitamin C. Don’t you love killing multiple birds with one stone?

– Order hot, plain black tea with your meal and drink it with lemon. Also reduces risk of nausea, indigestion or food-poisoning.

– If you can’t or won’t do any of the above, add lemon to your water. It is healthier, better for your metabolism and again, protects your precious stomach. You are welcome. 🙂

Obviously, don’t ignore the health of your wallet. I recommend choosing a mall with a range of stores, affordable to are you freaking kidding me? In case you need to do some shopping, get that chore done, without killing your budget.

Enjoy other people. You don’t have to mingle with them, but even being alone in a crowd lightens the unbearable heaviness of working alone. And if you are at a co-working space, you can meet other freelancers.

There you go. As I said, if you can take long walks in nature, walk or cycle to your favorite coffee shop or office, it is much better. But if you need a change of scenery, it is far too cold or hot to be outside and taking a hike is not an option, try working at a shopping mall. It might be very good for you. Guess where this post was written?

A Love Letter to All Freelancers With a Health Condition

Posted on November 11, 2016 Written by Pinar Tarhan

I woke up today with a heavy head and low energy. Again.

My flu shot is waiting for me at the pharmacy with my name on it (literally; I booked it). I’m just waiting for my body to feel okayish so that I can get the contents without getting sicker afterwards.

My immune system is one of my biggest, most nagging problems. It is by no means the worst, and I don’t mean any disrespect to people who have to deal with much more serious conditions like cancer, autoimmune diseases and beyond.

But…

Getting sick all the time is no picnic.

Hearing from your friends “Again?” is not fun.

Only living up to like 20% of your potential because you have a fever and everything in your body aches is maddening.

Seeing having the energy to work at your desk for a few hours a welcome luxury is infuriating.

There are theories to why I get sick so often.

Before you can guess, let me lay down the basics:

– I don’t drink. When I do, it is usually a cocktail once a year.
– I don’t smoke. I run away from cigarette smoke, hookahs and whatever else produces smoke.
– I don’t do drugs.
– I hate fuzzy drinks.
– My only eating sin is eating too much chocolate, and I try to tone it down.
– I eat more healthily than a lot of people, but less healthily than fitness regulars and health nuts. I really want to be one of them. Once I get the health…Or should it be the other way around?
– I sweat too much. Not to the point that I can’t smell clean, but to the point that changing clothes so often burns more calories than a 10-minute work out.

Get me on the dance floor, and in one song, I’ll look like I fell into a lake.

When someone advises me to not go out with wet hair, I have to exercise self-control not to say something offensive. It’s not possible for me not to go out with a little wet hair. If I breathe, I sweat. My hair included.

It’s partly genetic, partly due to living in a populated and gigantic city, and partly due to side effects of the medication I took and continue to take.

Let’s get to that:

– I took too much cold medication for two years: I was studying to get into college, and we have a shitty education system. The pressure is unbelievable. All your future used to rely on a three-hour placement test, and you could only take it once a year. (It’s no better now.)

The pressure and anxiety are way more than what we felt watching Trump.

The exam determined the rest of your life. Or so we have been raised since we were little kids. I don’t blame my parents; I bought into it too.

We didn’t know about freelancing, people brilliantly switching careers or that most people ended up at jobs, willingly or unwillingly, they didn’t study for anyway.

A lot of us cracked.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t devour the meds while people weren’t looking. My doctor subscribed them because I always had physical symptoms. Fever, sore throat, blocked nose/runny nose…

I just didn’t get better. Stress is not your immune system’s friend, and
this is a lot of pressure to put on any high school senior.

I got in. I got into a good private school with full scholarship. It was a useful major too: Business Administration.

But my immune system didn’t get better. The first year of the school was disappointing for a lot of reasons. Hell, after that much pressure, probably Harvard would have failed to impress me, but, alas…

I got fewer colds. What I had this year was different. Frequent nausea. No, I wasn’t pregnant. I had developed gastritis thanks to my awesome stocking up on so many meds.

And when you spend another year sick – a year that is supposed to be your most awesome and carefree – you lose it.

And I did. I developed OCD and depression. Maybe the inclinations were always there. Maybe my self-preservation and panic kept them at bay, while secretly making them stronger.

It took me a while to come to terms that I hadn’t lost my mind.

But this is not a story about mental health. My point is that mental health medications have side effects too. Like making me hungrier more often. Like sweating even more. Like totally messing with the quality of my sleep.

Fastforward 10 years and change, and I have:

– lived that carefree college year in Norway.
– been to 10 foreign countries
– attempted learning 3 different languages
– finished that degree and double-majored with another
– got a certification to teach English worldwide
– became a writer, which has always been my dream
– completed several screenplays
– made amazing friends
– learned a lot about life, myself, empathy and more.

But I also put on 10+ kilos, got my blood sugar level to dangerous levels, developed resistance to insulin, dealt with the highs and lows of being…well…me. You read about my immune system, right?

That takes a toll.

So no, I don’t have it worse than most people. But it doesn’t change the fact that my quality of life is negatively affected.

I still get sick a lot quite frequently. One favor my immune system did to me is that when I have a cold, at least it is less severe than most. I have the heavy head and the fever and the blocked nose, but I’ve never had to be hospitalized. (I’ve been hospitalized various times because of stomach problems, though.)

But I’m writing this from my bed. I’m thinking of the assignment I have due in a week, and I’m hoping my body will do me solid and give me enough time to recover and I can rock the essay without being tortured in the process.

Fingers crossed I can finally get the flu shot. Fingers crossed I will feel fine for a long time before I get sick again.

Your condition might be much worse or better than mine. You might be dealing with other health issues in the family.

The point is, I get you. I get why you get frustrated, why you produce less work than you want to. I get why people who don’t have the similar experiences don’t understand you.

I get why you are pissed off.

I’m here for you.

If you have had enough of your health issues, let me know. There’s power in sharing and understanding.

Let’s write on despite our luck and wellness levels. Let’s write on until we can figure out better solutions. Let’s write on.

Because while it might be hard, being happier helps your stress levels. And the kick of getting published and being paid for it doesn’t quite compare to much else. Does it?

Love,
Pinar

How The Movie Nerve Can Inspire You To Lead A More Exciting Life

Posted on November 5, 2016 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Nerve movie poster — Image via Collider.

Sometimes, you just feel stuck. Whether it’s being stuck in your comfort zone because of elements out of your control or failing to take risks due to practical reasons, it’s a horrible feeling. You don’t want your life to be any less exciting the movie characters’ you’re watching, though you (probably) want slightly less danger.

The fun drama thriller Nerve (2016) dares its characters to take crazy risks you’d probably never do.

A bit on Nerve starring Dave Franco and Emma Roberts

Vee (Emma Roberts) is a high school senior, a talented photographer and unwilling to take risks. She’s delayed telling her mother (Juliette Lewis) she was accepted to CalArt, partly because they’re both still recovering from the death of her older brother.

But when her popular and overtly extroverted best friend Sydney inadvertently embarrasses her to her crush, Vee decides to play Nerve, a popular interactive game where watchers pay to dare players to do all sort of things, from relatively harmless to potentially lethal. Her first dare has her kissing a stranger (Dave Franco) for 5 seconds. That cute stranger, Ian, turns out to be a Nerve player as well, and watchers love them together.

As they start taking challenges together, their attraction grows more intense. But is Ian really a great catch that’s genuinely into Vee, or does he have ulterior motives like Vee’s other best friend Tommy thinks?

Nerve is a fun ride that entertains more than makes you think

Don’t get me wrong. I loved Nerve. And it did make me think. But there is so much compelling social commentary that can be done with a PG-13 rating. And it is okay. If you want to think and get depressed about what people and technology have come to, you can always watch any Black Mirror episode. So far, I’ve watched the first season (the first 3 episodes), and I plan to skip season 2 altogether.

Nerve isn’t a depressing movie. It’s also strangely romantic, and if you take away the right lessons, it will inspire you to have a life that will give you plenty to write about.

Why This Writer Is Feeling Stuck

Now as writers, our lives are rarely devoid of drama. A lot of us are prone to mood swings even if we are not combating a mental condition. The potential economic instability (known as the feast or famine cycle) of freelancing, the hatred of our day job if we are not freelancing, the obligation to multitask and the feeling that we’re not doing enough for our careers, health problems like chronic illnesses, writing disabilities or just annoyingly weak immune systems that give us long-lasting colds every two weeks… How can we not be emotional?

How can we not get frustrated?

We all have obstacles that get in our way, some of them harder than others. And even though we know better, sometimes we say stuff like “I wish something would happen in my life already.”

Like you already haven’t endured disappointment, heartbreak, depression, illnesses, failures, rejections, grief, …. on the negative side.

Or you haven’t already experienced tremendous lust for life, exciting crushes, a thousand travel stories, unique adventures and occurrences on the positive.

Sometimes you just hit a rut. And whatever the reason, the rut feels like it has been there forever when it wasn’t just last week, or month or year.

So you start comparing yourself to the narrators of your favorite personal essays, characters from the movies and novels and TV series and maybe sometimes even your friends.

Let’s face it; you’re not in Amsterdam taking beautiful shot after beautiful shot. You’re struggling to cobble of two words or ideas together. You haven’t sold a piece in what feels like forever whereas your blogger friends seem to be at the height of their productivity and success. Their lives are filled with excitement and surprise and spontaneity.

Yours feels just…the same.

Because you forgot about that two beautiful vacations you took in the summer or the awesome musical you just saw last week. Instead of feeling like you can take over the world, you feel like the world has taken over you.

But then you stumble upon a piece of writing that speaks to you. You watch a film that motivates you. The film was Nerve.

For me, that piece of writing was my friend Olga Mecking’s blog post WHY THE BEST STORIES ARE THE WORST where she reminds us how great characters, characters we want to read about, are always in big trouble. And the great storytellers have compelling real life material they derive from.

Sure, you are looking forward to the new war thriller Allied starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, but there’s no way in hell you want to be a spy during Word War II. You may want to kiss a hot stranger for five seconds, but you’d never lead him as he sped up to 60 miles an hour on his motorcycle blindfolded.

Then you remember that your friend’s Amsterdam photos are taken on a post-divorce trip. And while you’d want to be aboard, you would not want to be going through a divorce. Or that you’d have never wanted to marry the guy she was with. When they were together, their relationship was the stuff of nightmares. Not dreams. You feel bad for feeling envious of that trip. You apologize silently and wish her the best of luck.

Sometimes boring is good. It’s better than catastrophe. It gives you time to collect on what’s happened, and what you want to happen. It teaches you to procrastinate less when you are healthy because you have only so much time when things are going your way.

You also remember that while you might be going through a rut, your life hasn’t been boring. You wish you had less drama. But hey, you already suffered an education system that treated you like a racehorse and made medical mistakes to continue the race.

You suffered, but not without getting some trophies and learning your lessons. You were never going to live by somebody else’s rules again as much as you could possibly help it.

That’s why you are freelancing. Because even when it seems like a rut, things are still more exciting than they could ever be if you held a job that went against your very nature.

Even boring is good, when you get to call most of the shots.

Watch Nerve. Read Olga’s post. Dare to do something different. But don’t mistake your temporary rut with other people’s lifelong ones.

Write on! (This post contains an affiliate link.)

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Do You Need to Buy Another Writing Resource? The Impulsive Information Product Shopper’s Checklist

Posted on September 26, 2016 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Shop Shop Till You Drop. Or you know, run out of money.

Hi, I’m Pinar, and I’m a shopaholic. (Yes, I love and adore the book series (aff.link) by Sophie Kinsella up until there is a baby involved.)

I love shopping so much that I once lost 16 pounds in one summer with shopping (and walking during that shopping) as my only fitness activity.

OK, it is not THAT bad. I can exercise control, and the only debt I go to is during writing contest submission time with one credit card that has a ridiculously low limit. So, not a lot.

But I do love shopping. Clothes, accessories, shoes, make-up, stationery, books, e-books, e-courses…. Ah, yes. Information products.

At this point, I have bought stuff about writing more times than Donald Trump has insulted Hillary Clinton. Or glam metal bands have destroyed the Ozone layer with hair products. Yes, that much.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an impulsive buyer when it comes to information products on writing. I check out the creator, the content, reviews, and compare with my needs and weaknesses. Then I look at the price and my budget. And then, if it looks like I do in fact need this product, I add it to my shopping cart.

And I find myself checking out products quite often.

Because every time I hit a difficult period, whether I get a few rejections in a row, get writer’s block or hit another frequent roadblock, I love to refresh my knowledge and see what other successful writers have put out there.

But you have to be careful, especially if you are at a stage in your career where you already know a lot, and your main problem isn’t not knowing, but not implementing. Or hitting some career milestone block.

The truth is, sometimes you don’t need to buy anything new, but a visit to your good old library will do.

So to buy or not to buy?

Relax. Some information products are really up-to-date, refreshing and more ass-kicking, and worth every penny. So let’s do a little checklist before we open up our wallets and purses:

Is the information new, correct and applicable?
Do you get free updates?
Does it come in different packages, taking different levels of needs in consideration?
Are there payment plans available?
Is it in a format you know you will take advantage of?
Can you afford it?
*How soon can you reap the investment?

*It’s not just about testimonials. You can actually check out referrer’s body of work, website, products, etc. and see for yourself how much they have accomplished, or if you have liked what you have accomplished. Obviously, not everything can or should be attributed to one resource, but you’ll at least have an idea.

Is it evergreen? Will the information likely hold up a couple of months from now? And will you always have access to it and its updates?
Is the writer/creator open to questions and communication?

You don’t have to say yes to all of these, but if you can’t say yes to more than five, take a breath. Leave that wallet alone. Open the search function of your computer and delve into your library. Make a note of the sources you purchased before, and take a look at their content. See what you are missing. Then walk around and look at your physical library.

Still don’t see what you need? Go through your bookmarks a bit.

You might find this time-consuming, but it is actually one of my favorite methods to come up with new ideas for articles. You also need to organize your files, books and bookmarks anyway, so there’s that advantage.

See? You’ve come up with ideas, done some organizing and have made an informed decision on whether to spend your hard-earned money.

I will try to review each book individually when I get the time, but until then:

My Latest Purchases:

The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing (How To Write, Work and Thrive On Your Own Terms) by Zachary Petit

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I was in a shopping mood, browsing through Amazon. I was drawn in by the title and who the author was, but it was the humor of the first couple of pages that drew me in.

In the first chapter, he wrote he “was perplexed by freelancing.” “I had stringers writing for me when I was a weekly newspaper editor, but they were working for beans, and they’d been writing for the paper longer than I’d been there…. I accepted their magical presence but never took the time to find out how they got there.”

I was hooked. The honesty, flow, humor and the fact that he mentioned acid reflux (I have a stomach condition that few people understand so…) I realized this was my kind of writer. Sure, a lot more well-known and successful (he had edited for Writer’s Digest, for crying out loud!) than me, but someone whose style didn’t seem far from my own.

Oh, and the “your own terms” also attracted me. What can I say? I’m a sucker for doing things my way.

I was like “I want to find more about this guy’s journey!”

It has a great deal more about interviews, finding celebrities, pitching, and yes, I learned a lot. Even after six years of freelancing. I wish I had the book in the beginning. So it is one of my go-to books now. We are happy together.

You can buy The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing Freelance Writing (How To Write, Work and Thrive On Your Own Terms) on Amazon. (affiliate link.)

Gina Horkey’s 30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success Course

Because Gina is kind of a big deal in the freelance writing/blogging world. I had heard a lot about her and read some of her guest posts. So I checked out her blog and loved that as well.

After loving all of her content, I wanted to check her writing course as well. Now, you might ask, why the hell are you still checking out writing courses after six years?

Okay for one, you always need to stay up-to-date, and you need to keep adding new skills. Also, I’m not a full-time freelancer, as I’ll go into more detail in my review of the course. (I also write screenplays and actually try to sell them, so that also takes a lot of time. And money.)

Now, don’t be fooled that the picture says “newbie freelancers.” If you are a newbie freelancer, you might indeed have to take the time to take the actions course suggests. But when you are established or semi-established, you can jumpstart your pitching process and writing in record time, while still learning new stuff and adding to the old.

I have the growth package, which has a couple of additional bonuses than the starter package, and it lacks the pitch review and a month of coaching from Gina, that the rockstar package has.

I wanted to learn from her because her writing and personality are lovely, and she is a financial success. An active, private and supportive FB group sounded awesome. (I’m very active on the FB group, both with my own questions and comments trying to help out fellow writers in any way I can.)

I’ll go over the details in my review, but if you want to check this course out, go ahead. You won’t regret it if you pay attention and do the work. Yes, it is a proud affiliate link.

What resources on writing have you bought recently?