The 30-second commute

Stephanie Dickison spent more than ten years publishing features and articles while holding a regular job. In December 2005 she quit that steady paycheck to finish a manuscript she had been carrying for nearly five years and to write freelance full time. Her background as a book and pop music critic led her into food writing, and she ended up reviewing restaurants for a major city's website. She also launched a blog about new products and services, which eventually filled so much of her home that she and her fiancé had to think seriously about moving.

The book follows the ups of a writer's working life: celebrity interviews, magazine features, and invitations to speak about writing. It also shows the downsides of being your own boss, such as accepting every offer that arrives and spending fourteen hours a day hunched over a rolltop desk. Told with humor, it reads less as a warning than as a portrait of a writer working to build a career in a chaotic world.