August RoZone: Balancing Act

Day job rants and submission calls

Hi, everyone!

The other day, I joked that my life was one big email. Loosely speaking, I have like four day jobs that I cobble together to make up my freelancing schedule. 

Sometimes, it’s really freeing and beautiful. I am unencumbered and nomadic. The world is my oyster. I am beholden to no physical location--the world is my office! This works well if I need to travel. I can post up in a coffee shop literally anywhere and bang out whatever ghostwriting gig/ article I’m working on. Then, there are weeks like this week where it seems like all of my deadlines are piling up at the same time, and I need to start looking for bigger gigs for the fall.

 I’ve been talking to a lot of writers lately about how they “make things work,” balancing publication schedules/ day jobs. The resounding answer is: “I have no idea.” This is comforting, but it also leaves me feeling like ????

I know that having it all is a myth. And I know that if I have to do any more line edits on this ghostwriting manuscript, I will frisbee my laptop into Lake Michigan.

So today, I wanted to offer my token practical writing tips and shout out some submission opportunities that helped me get my writing life in order, as well as the usual prompts.

My only actual writing tips for: ‘How do you write __ words per week?’

• I do not have access to text messages on my laptop. I keep my phone in a separate room on work mode whenever I can. Then, sometime around noon, I reward myself with like 10 minutes of dead-eyed scrolling.

• I change locations throughout the day. I usually start writing at a coffee shop in the morning and return to my apartment/ office around three. My writing career is lovingly fueled by the generosity of my barista friends. (S/o Margo and Last Mile Cafe.)

• I bring a buddy with me as often as I can. I find it’s easier for me to get stuff done if I know I’m working alongside another person. Psychologists call this parallel play.

• I switch it up with other projects throughout the day. I’ll usually pound out 2-3,000 words within a couple of hours and then transcribe interviews or work on outlines for other clients.

Writing Opportunities

Some of my favorite journals have submission windows open right now. So, I figured I would shout them out here.

• My friend Nat Raum runs Fifth Wheel Press, a Baltimore-based poetry press. They’re currently accepting anthology submissions until September 15. Submitting to an anthology is a great way to get acquainted with different presses and their editorial process.

• JAKE magazine is currently accepting submissions for a variety of summer-adjacent calls. You should submit! They love genre-bending, weird, cool stuff. JAKE published the first excerpt of “Supernormal Stimuli” waaaay back in 2023!

• Bullshit Lit is open for online features submissions until August 4. You all know I will never shut up about Bullshit. I love them.

GUIDO NOVEL UPDATES

My sincerest, sleaziest thank yous to everyone who preordered “Supernormal Stimuli.” You can still preorder it here if you’d like! This bad boy will be off to the printer in August because Veronica and I both have like 10 day jobs. 

Also, I want everything to be as close to perfect as possible! I’d rather take my time and vanquish all the comma splices than do a rush job, y’know? This is my deli meat Sistine Chapel.

We celebrated the release of SNS at Tattooed Mom in Philadelphia this July. I wore a Hawaiian shirt from the men's section of Old Navy that multiple thought was a reference to the Adrianne Lenker album Songs. I saw so many friends! I love Philly!

Grand Rapids, you can see me read from Supernormal Stimuli at Transfigure Print Shop in Creston on Friday, September 13 from 6:30 to 8! There will be books for sale! I’m also planning a couple more readings around town later in August, so watch this space!