Although it doesn’t look like very much this is one of the most precious secret weapons in my Freelance Historian Toolkit.
The official name for this style of hardware is a ‘Positive Data Log’ but for obvious reason I call mine ‘The Little Red Book.’
TLRB sits on my shelf near my writing desk so it is always close to hand – as all weapons should. Otherwise, they take too long to deploy and the villains of this piece – self-doubt, anxiety and imposter syndrome – can overpower you.
We all know that freelancing and freelance writing especially can be a solitary and sometimes incredibly discouraging process. There are times when all of this uncertainty, rejection and self doubt just sit heavily – both in your mind and in your heart. Festering and building.
When I started out on my own about 15 years ago it was in the lucky position of knowing plenty of other freelancers who had been doing it for a long time already. And being rather nosy, I spent a lot of time asking for tips on surviving this style of work. The answers to these are something I built into my working life right from the beginning and – looking back – am so grateful to those women for sharing their experiences.
In that spirit I want to use this space on a Sunday to do the same. It won’t be every week as I know this isn’t something that every one of my (growing – thank you!) subscribers will want to read but I hope for those that do this is will be of interest.
I also want to use this time on Sundays to reflect on work that I have been doing over the last week but as some of it has not yet been announced publically it will just be for my paid subscribers.
But first back back to TLRB.
Put simply a ‘Positive Data Log’ is a way of documenting all of your achievements and good experiences in your working life. It can be written in a book, an audio recording on your phone, a series of emails to yourself… Any way that works for you.
But the key is that you record everything positive that has happened to you as a freelancer. So that good review for your book, a nice email from a client or a kind comment on a Substack post. Personally, I would even write down when someone compliments the shoes I was wearing at an event.
The reason this is helpful is because it helps counter all the bad things that will (sorry) inevitably happen. Whilst these can also be incredibly powerful – teaching us how to be better at our work and building resilience – unfortunately your brains seem to put a lot more store in them than the positive things. Which is why it easier to remember all the times in our lives where we have faced rejection or just felt out of our depth or humiliated.
Just by looking back over those past times TLRB helps you to remember – by force really– all the good things and by reflecting on those instead it helps to gain some perspective and joy in what you are doing. Because we are all doing wonderful things and that should be celebrated.
So please do get yourself a little red book of some description. You will not regret it.
As I said I hope what I share on Sundays will be of use to freelancers - whether that is a writer in general or a historian specifically.
But it is also a period of reflection for me - a day where I spend time thinking about the week, filling in my red book and updating my Trello planner.
This week has actually been a mixed bag of meetings and deadlines but with two stand outs.
The first deadline was for a chapter of an edited collection on the topic of Selling Science which will be published by Routledge in 2024. My contribution was on the phenomena of Electric Restaurants in the 1910s and 20s in London. This is a time when the ways in which people generated their heat and light were changing and the competition between gas and electricity was actually quite intense. Electric Restaurants were a way of showcasing new electric technologies to the general public – especially women – in a relaxed environment but also acted as a convincer that cooking with electricity didn’t impair the flavours of the food. It has been a fascinating project and has brought up lots of other things to investigate.
I was also incredibly thrilled to be interviewed by the wonderful makeup artist Erin Parsons. She is known for sharing her fascinating historical makeup recreations on YouTube and Instagram as well as for trying out some more unusual recipes and can confidentially state that this particular experiment is going to be her most wild and interesting one yet. Just as a little clue – I was asked to contribute for my expertise in toxic historical cosmetics.
In the spirit of practicing what I preach…. I have to say I was so consumed with doubts the night before the interview with Erin. There was a lot to cover – and I had notes that ranged from Ancient Egypt to Elizabethan times and even today. In all honesty I almost cancelled the interview because I allowed those doubts to really get into my head. There wasn’t enough positive data about past on camera interviews in my red book so it wasn’t as much help as it could have been. I will fix that for the future.
Instead I tried to get a good night sleep (or as good as I could considering I finished a talk at midnight and then had to be up at 5 to get to the filming location) and instead of fixating on my notes tried to focus on my breathing and general positive thinking on the train. I made sure I arrived at the venue in plenty of time and just tried to control those bits of the day I could. There was a lot of waiting around while the lights and cameras were being set up – which is totally normal – and again found a quiet space to breath and relax.
The interview itself was fine – it really does help when you have a great interviewer- but there are still a few things I wish had done differently. Something that I am aware I need to work on is to be bolder when I walk into the room. I tend to focus on the first person that speaks to me instead of taking the time to look and greet everyone that is in the room individually. I always make sure to do so over the course of the day but there is something about doing it when you first enter that can help set a tone of confidence and friendliness whatever the situation. So that is my homework for the future.