About
Hello. And welcome to this little experiment.
This column might best be described as “on deadline, off topic.”* I write here when I’m taking a break from my work, which is also writing. (No one ever gave me the advice not to do as a hobby what you do for a living.) For my job, I cover subjects like health, art, culture, style, and technology — subjects where if I write like I talk, I’d be fired. Here, I can procrastinate, warm up my keyboard, and generally get the jackassery out of my system before buckling down. For my clients, I write in their voices; here, I write in mine.
(* Or it might be described as “weird” or “ferocious” or “yellow.” Depends on who’s describing.)
A reader once compared these humor essays to “the last-page column in a magazine,” and I love that description. (Unless he meant a really horrible magazine, in which case… Actually, no. I still love it.) It’s the kind of silliness I used to email to friends; then they’d forward to friends; and so on. This is my way of sharing with friends-of-friends-of-friends. It makes me happy to make people laugh. I hope visiting the Blink gives you a break from whatever seriousness you’ve got going on. Thanks for reading. -ML
More:
Timing: New posts go up every week or two, roughly. No set schedule. Quality trumps quantity. (Using “quality” loosely, of course.)
Language: Here’s the stance on it. (This is a pretty clean site, but still — it’s intended for grownups.)
Other Work: For the past 15 years, I’ve been an editor and writer-for-hire and have worked with some amazing folks and organizations. Out of respect for my clients (some of whom may prefer not to have a trail leading from them to this) my professional site is not linked here. I’m happy to share my work or discuss freelance gigs — just get in touch.
My humor writing can be found in places like The Rumpus, BlogHer, Loop, Mamas Against Drama, Mamapedia, Errant Parent, and The Football Girl. You can find a bit of my poetry at The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.
Contact: Just tweet @wheniblink. If you’d rather email, feel free to write: wheniblink (at) gmail.
Legalese: My lawyer friends would like to remind everyone that all writing on this site is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without express consent.
And finally:
I Miss You When I… what? “I Miss You When I Blink” is one of my favorite things anyone has ever said. It’s the title of a poem my little boy wrote about me. (He retains rights to the title of his poem and has allowed me to borrow it temporarily.) Sounds deep, doesn’t it? I thought so too. Then I read the poem. Deep? Not so much. Funny? Absolutely. The word “blink” was rhymed with:
stink
rink
think
And it culminated in a drawing of a monkey (?) with lasers shooting out of its nostrils.
Too funny!
The line is genius. Definitely one to pin up on the board.
Very funny! Love the title of your blog. I would love someone to miss me like that!!
I found your blog on BlogHer and your column on “Danger, Strange” kicked serious ass. So glad you decided to start your experiment. I started mine a couple years ago, and it’s definitely a sometimes monthly, sometimes weekly, go with the flow endeavor. Congratulations and enjoy.
I’m much the same as you on the book. You just said it better. And funnier.
Thanks for reading!
I love what your son said, I miss you when I blink, I think I will borrow it for my monchers if he doesnt mind. I will give credit where it is due. Also love the thought of the picture at the end because that is probably what my son would draw or worse.
congrats on being freshly pressed.
Thank you!
I was sitting on my daughters bed and I said, “I miss you when I blink” and she got all sweet and thought it was wonderful. When I said it to my son 5 minutes later in his room, he looked at me and said, “well stop blinking then!”
The monkey lasers are awesome.
They really did add that certain something. Thanks for reading!
—so glad i found this! (PS i love the rumpus)
Thank you! (I love it, too.)
Your thoughts… are so much fun to read!
) Congrats on FP!
Thanks a million!
So glad I found your blog – I am sure I will return often. All thanks to your FP”ed post – how grand.
Oh, that delights me! So glad you found it. Thanks for reading.
So glad to to come across your Freshly Pressed post… Loved it! Looking forward to reading more…
Thank you! I’m so glad you’re here.
I have nominated your blog for an award and mentioned you on my post yesterday. Your choice of Addictive Blog or So Sweet Blog Award. Icons on my post called “Shout-out to the Blogosphere.” Love your blog!
Get outta town! You are too kind. Thank you very much!
Must be award season! I just nominated you for a Reader Appreciation Award, although to be perfectly honest, I’m new at this and am still unclear whether this is considered an honour or an annoyance. My intentions are the former.
Oh my word! I’m terrible at this blog-awards thing, as I never seem to follow the rules correctly… But it’s absolutely an honor. I appreciate it! Thanks so much for reading.
The last line of this had me giggling like an asthmatic walrus! So funny
Ha! That’s quite a specific giggle. Thank you for reading!
HOLY COW.
Just found out about Random Penguin.
You must be the humblest woman on the planet b/c if I had those skillz, with a z, I’d be blabbing all over twitter: “lookame! lookamee!!”
Color me impressed penguin.
xo
You’re too kind! I’m glad you’re enjoying them. Thanks!
How does the freelance stuff work out for you? It’s something I’ve been considering doing for awhile. Something is holding me back. It’s like feeling around in the dark for the light switch. Any suggestions on how to get started doing contract work?
Well, let’s see… I have to admit I had a pretty easy start at it, because I went into the freelance thing after working full time as a writer and editor for several years for a couple of different organizations. The great thing about that was that I already had built-in clients in my former employers. The rest of my clients came from word of mouth and connections to those first ones.
If that’s not the situation you’re in, you might just begin by letting friends know you’re starting to do some freelance work. Once people know you’re in business, they may come to you with needs they have — a website here, a brochure there. A solo freelancer is often less expensive than an agency; so if you have friends with small businesses who need some good writing done (or editing of writing they’ve attempted to do themselves) and can’t afford to pay big bucks, you could help each other out. That way, you start to build your portfolio, and it also gets the word-of-mouth thing going.
I don’t know if that was helpful… But good luck!
Have you ever done any work through an online site, like Odesk?
Nope. I’m afraid I don’t know a thing about that. But maybe it’s a place to start? Best of luck — I hope you get things rolling in 2013!
Thanks, much appreciated. Same to you!
Hope you don’t mind, I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger award!
Oh my word, how kind. What a nice honor. I’m terrible about following instructions for these things, but I do so appreciate it — thank you!
Your blog sort of reminds me of Doctor Who, because the Weeping Angels can kill you in a blink. Or maybe I just watch too much sci-fi.