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Seven years ago, as I was about to walk out the door to play a day-after-Thanksgiving flag football game with friends, I received word that my first ever freelance weird animal piece had been published over at @Slate. This story changed my life. https://slate.com/technology/2012/11/porcupine-sex-mating-behaviors-involve-quills-musk-penis-spikes-fights-and-arcs-of-urine.html">https://slate.com/technolog...
Now, you may be wondering how a story about porcupines urinating on each other could be so important to a person. Well, I& #39;ll tell you.
At this point, I& #39;d been working in advertising for 2 years. And I was happy to have a job after completing an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. Especially since
NO ONE EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE A JOB AFTER COMPLETING AN MFA IN CREATIVE NONFICTION.
No one I knew, at least.
NO ONE EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE A JOB AFTER COMPLETING AN MFA IN CREATIVE NONFICTION.
No one I knew, at least.
But I hated it. I hated the buzz words. I hated the copy. I hated the expectation that you should stay late, bust your butt, not take days off so that your clients stayed happy and your boss got a little bit richer.
But for all its faults, this job taught me so, so, so much. It got me on Twitter, for one. And it gave me a chance to learn SEO. And the people I met there helped me develop my first website, a blog where I could write about anything I wanted.
So every day, I went to work, and I cranked out the best damn healthcare, higher ed, and nutraceutical copy I could.
And every night, I came home and stayed up late writing about sea slugs, opossums, and slow lorises.
And every night, I came home and stayed up late writing about sea slugs, opossums, and slow lorises.
Eventually, I had enough on my blog to use it as an online portfolio, and I started to pitch. After working through a few different ideas with me, @laurahelmuth green-lit the porcupine piece. It was then I felt like a real writer.
I cannot overstate how pivotal I think it was that I got to start out with Laura. As anyone who has ever worked with her knows, she just makes you feel... worthy. I was a nobody. A copywriter. But she liked my words. She encouraged me. And she made me feel like I could do this.
But there were so many others! @maggiekb1 talked about a few of my blogs on @BoingBoing and even skyped with me to give me career advice. I still owe her some tacos.
Glenn Oeland and @9brandon spent time responding to my emails with generosity and insight. These were gifts given without any reciprocation, nuggets of encouragement and guidance. And I& #39;m still thankful for them.
And then, @scottdodd and @mahony128 took me under their wings at @onEarthMag. I started writing for them in 2013, for awhile doing a daily column that had me up at 3 am before my day job at 9. They called me on alllll my shit. And have made me a much better writer for it. 
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Anyway, eventually I was able to put together enough freelance gigs to quit my day job. Which was good, because I was writing so much I got tendonitis in both wrists.
Since then, I& #39;ve had the good fortune to work with sooooo many other amazing people. @cdellamore & @karinbrulliard & @Douglas_Main & @Rachael_Bale & @rachelegross & @RachelFeltman. They have made me sound smarter than I am for years. I would help all of them move.
