My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire

Michelle Goodman fled the cube in 1992 to become a freelance writer and has yet to look back. She is author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube (Seal Press, 2007). Her reported pieces about alternative careers, human mating rituals, and popular culture have appeared in Salon, Bust, Bitch, Bark, the Seattle Times, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Her essays have been anthologized in Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out on Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness and The Moment of Truth: Women's Funniest Romantic Catastrophes. In 2006 she was a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook. Michelle's freelance writing career has allowed her to work with everyone from book publishers to high-tech empires to peddlers of new-age products, wrangling text on pet accessories, video games, voice recognition software, marital aids, home colonics, and just about anything else that can be sold. A frequent speaker on the freelance writing life, Michelle has participated in panel discussions at Northwest Bookfest, Richard Hugo House, and the University of Washington. She also teaches classes through Mediabistro, the Editorial Freelancers Association, and Richard Hugo House in an effort to help aspiring cubicle expats avoid the same mistakes she made early in her own solo career. Born and raised in the Garden State, Michelle received her B.A. in journalism from George Washington University. In her former 9-to-5 existence, she worked as a newspaper reporter, publicist, book editor, and web community editor. Michelle lives in Seattle with her eighty-pound lap dog, Buddy.