7 Ways to Say No
I love saying yes. I love being asked to do some awesome project or task or job because it lets me know the asker thinks I’m fit and capable for the work. That feels great. It is like unsolicited back pats or like a virtual coronation ceremony. And here’s what I discovered…I can feel all those things and NOT do the work simply by saying…wait for it…: No. Are you catching on? Part of what I’m really saying yes to is the compliments, the affirmation. Instead, when I say “no” it means I… Read More
Srsly With the Email Subject Lines
I love what I do. I love language, I love discussing word usage and origins and debating the Oxford Comma (I’m against it, in case you’re wondering). Much of my work time is invested in communications of the virtual variety. That’s right: emails. How wild and different the world was before email. I sometimes think back to when my parents were working and how sometimes my dad would drive 30 miles into the city for a meeting that was canceled at the last minute. This is all pre-mobile phones, pre-internet, pre-email. I don’t… Read More
The Power of Connections Thanks to Beautycounter
The following is a story about the power of connections cloaked in a modeling project I was involved in last week. My dear, lovely, beautiful friend, Annie Einan is an amazing force of a woman. Not only does she have this presence that makes you want to be around her, she shares her most authentic self with you. She is a mom, a wife and a storyteller for Fluence Creative—an agency she and her husband launched as a joint venture (psst…you should totally check them out if you’re interested in crazy good… Read More
Celebrating 200 Years // North American Review
The North American Review was founded in 1815. It is the oldest literary magazine in the US and it publishes out of my alma mater: University of Northern Iowa. In the early 2000’s I was a graduate student in the Masters of English Creative Writing program and one of my first memories of launching into graduate study was knocking on the door of the North American Review. I was 22 years young, pregnant and living in the basement of a Mennonite church. I had no fears knocking on that NAR door because… Read More
Claire DeBerg // Writer 