After years of consulting as a content designer and UX writer, there’s one main lesson I had to learn the hard way — content design is about saying no. — Well, the answer is not always no. But more often than most of us are comfortable with. Here’s why. Quick, cheap fixes don’t work in the long run. Content designers are often brought in to fix burning issues cheaply. Fast. With a few tweaks to the copy. When I first started working with clients as a content designer I…

There are two types of people. Those who read books and those who don’t. Being in the first group, for many, is a constant struggle. Isn’t it so much easier to watch something on Youtube or scroll through the endless comments on a social media post? There are Instagram and Twitter. There are news sites catered to the needs of those that have exactly…

The keyboard feels almost foreign to me. For the first time in what feels like a lifetime, I’m looking at it without pressure, without anything in the back of my head that needs to get typed out for someone. I’m not writing copy or an email or a proposal. I’m just writing. I’m trying to recognize my old friend in the dust between the keys, some of them faded. I squint at the screen, suddenly much more intimidating than it has been in a long time.

The other day I bought a peony. She was a bright, heavy burgundy. After I positioned her in her new home (an old glass jug on my dining table), she rewarded me by opening up a tiny bit more every day and as she opened up and grew in size…

Why you need to stop asking others what they get paid and discover your own value instead. Freelancer or not, everybody wants to get paid what they’re worth, right? Wrong! According to my experience of asking all my friends and family what they earn and have earned throughout the years…