Novelspot

The New Freelance: A Book for Writers
The New Freelance by Amanda Layman is a book I just found thanks to a quadruple whammy. This is synchronicity at its highest echelon. I was stuck at home thanks to the pandemic; it was storming outside and my electricity went out; my kindle paper white was charged; and this book was loaded on it and available. I can't say when I downloaded it, but I am not surprised that it landed in my in basket. Just look at the title: The New Freelance. A Book for Writers. The honest guide to freelance writing in the 21st century. The title ticks all my boxes.

The author Amanda Layman is a freelance writer specializing developing marketing content. All I can say is that she has done a good job in marketing herself. This book is a must-read for any freelance writer who is looking for writing opportunities, advice on clients, advice on how to pitch, advice on self-editing, handling taxes, and more. Amanda's intro is personable and relatable, and written so that I recognize some of my own struggles making it as a freelance writer and editor. She presents her own struggles, but more importantly, she provides concrete suggestions that will help any freelancer interested in getting established. A couple of the things that I was particularly interested in were her discussion of pitching, getting established in various venues like LinkedIn and Upwork.

I highly recommend this book, not only to writers, editors, and freelancers, but also entrepreneurs. Many of the principles she puts out there are applicable to any type of business that involves client development, marketing, and success in general.

Sally Field is an icon, but for me she's my third big sister, albeit trapped behind the monitor, forever caught in high school as Gidget, bless her heart. I think when my ex married me, he hoped he was getting a version of Sally Field (though even she towers over me.) When I found her autobiography In Pieces, deciding to read it was a no brainer. I tore through it in one night, and have been feeling devastated ever since.

Sometimes you read memoirs, and they are satisfying. They answer questions, make you feel all warm and fuzzy, confirm things you knew, and then you can close the book and move on. Sally Field's autobiography In Pieces, is not one of those. From the first pages, when she introduces her grandmother and her mother, the sense of truth and intimacy is beyond intimate. The entire book is brutally honest. I can not even imagine the courage it takes to dig that deep, much less to dig and reveal it. It's as if she's taken a bleeding biopsy of her life and stretched it out naked to the world on a cardboard to flash in our smug faces in her best Norma/Sally fashion. In this book, here she is: the Sally we saw grow before us from Gidget to The Flying Nun to The Girl with Something Extra; and then the big moment for all of those who were watching: her gut-wrenching performance as Sibyl.

It is no surprise that the human being who stripped her emotions bare to be Sybil for us would do anything less than bleed on the pages of her autobiography.

Read this book.
Read this book if you are fan of Sally Field.
Read this if you are a fan of biographies, a feminist, a survivor of child abuse, an actor, a human being refusing to let someone else define your limits, or if you're just somebody in need of inspiration to climb your mountain.