Mini-Salon: The Mid-Year Check-In!

This summer is not letting up! And if you’re astutely wondering why I’m talking about summer when I live in the Southern Hemisphere where it is winter, it’s because El Niño is coming in with a tropical force not seen since Ricky Martin sang “Livin’ La Vida Loca”. The last time I felt a chill was when I left New York in late November.

So in between sweating my tits off, I’ve also been busy producing a podcast, finding writers for an anthology, dealing with client work, and squeezing in too much TV. Sarah Kokernot has also been busy writing, traveling, being a mom, being a person, and dealing with host of other things I’m probably not privy too. We wanted to do a mini-salon before the summer was over. BUT WHEN? We figured many of our readers were probably in similar circumstances which is when Sarah suggested a genius idea: Why not do an asynchronous one? Which is a fancy way of saying: Why not offer a mini-salon readers can tune into on their own time? Better yet: Why not offer one where readers can take a breath, give themselves space to slow down and look back on this first-half of the year so they can regroup for the second half?

And thus the Mid-Year Check-In was born.

In the video, Sarah and I share our own thoughts on the last six, seven, eight months. We talk about how our idea of what it means to be a writer has shifted according to our current creative urges but also the current media/publishing hellscape. Some of the tried and true publishing tips of yore no longer apply and haven’t for awhile—and we’ve reacted accordingly. We also discuss some of our wins this year, several of which were not planned at all or may have come about in the most unexpected ways. We finish with a brief overview of the Mid-Year Check-In Guide we created, which we’re hoping you’ll work through to celebrate all you’ve accomplished and find the motivation to push through till 2027.

Video and PDF after the jump! (Or paywall. Whatever. You know what I mean.)