Welcome to our fourth and final episode in our wellness for editors series! In this episode of The Modern Editor Podcast, we’re talking all about social and intellectual wellness.

There’s a lot to mull over in this episode, including the difficulty of making friends as an adult, cultivating critical thinking skills, and why you shouldn’t outsource your brain.

As always, this episode could bring up some emotions. Please take what works for you and leave the rest. Give these concepts time to sink in so you can apply them to your life in phases rather than all at once.

• (2:08) The Social Downside of Working Solo
• (8:50) The Challenge of Making New Friends as an Adult
• (11:33) What Is Intellectual Wellness?
• (14:56) Don’t Outsource Your Brain
• (19:11) Our Brains Are Our Superpower
• (20:14) Your Wellness Is the Core of Your Business

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club

Welcome back to our series on self-care! Our last few episodes covered physical/environmental wellness and financial health. In this episode, we’re diving into mental and emotional well-being tips for freelance editors.

Specifically, I’m talking about how our thoughts and emotions show up in our businesses and how I process my emotions. I’m also going to share some self-care ideas that can benefit your mental and emotional health.

It goes without saying that this can be a loaded topic, so please remember that I’m not a medical or mental health professional in any way. I’m simply sharing what I’ve learned from fourteen years of running my own editing business so that you can take the insights you like and make them work for you.

• Jessica Stong
• Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
• Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
• Your Attention is Sacred Except on Social Media by Amelia Hruby
• Hood Wellness by Tamela J. Gordon
• The Cure for Burnout by Emily Ballesteros
• Quiet by Susan Cain
• National Institute of Mental Health
• Calm app: How to regulate your nervous system and restore calm: 12 proven techniques
• Episode 3: Why Mindset is More than Just a Buzzword
• Episode 7: Why You Need Boundaries in Your Business
• Episode 26: How to Avoid (or Recover from) Burnout
• Episode 47: Editor Self-Care: How to Use Affirmations in Your Business

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• Join the Freelance Editors Club

If you want to confront your relationship with money, start a business. Have you heard this saying before? I couldn’t agree with it more. Nothing makes you get up close and personal with your finances than running your own business.

In this episode of The Modern Editor, we’re continuing our series on self-care, but this time we’re talking all things money.

I think it’s safe to assume that most of us didn’t learn about money the way we should’ve and likely have complicated relationships with our finances. We’re diving into how our upbringing affects our relationship with money, how to improve our money mindset, and I’m giving you practical tips on how to run your freelance business as financially effective as possible.

• (2:45) The Systemic and Political Issues Involved in Owning a Business
• (4:23) How to Improve Your Money Mindset
• (8:09) Money Tips For Freelancers
• (16:15) Take Your Business Finances Seriously
• (18:00) How Often Should You Change Your Rates?
• (19:52) It’s Okay to Seek Financial Aid
• (20:48) Buy Back Your Time
• (21:52) Three Money Mantras

• Keeping Finances Personal by Ellyce Fulmore
• Moving Beyond Broke by Dasha Kennedy
• Get Good With Money by Tiffany Aliche
• I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers
• Editorial Freelancers Association
• YNAB
• Quickbooks
• IRS website

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club

Welcome to a brand-new series on The Modern Editor Podcast all about health, wellness, and self-care. (I kind of hate those words, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important 😂) As freelancers, it’s easy to let our health fall by the wayside, especially in busy seasons.

In this episode, we’re exploring physical and environmental health and how we can take care of ourselves in a holistic way. Content warning: We’ll be talking about food and exercise.

• (0:56) Why You Need to Take Care of Yourself as a Freelancer
• (3:51) The Importance of Sleep
• (9:56) Drink Your Water
• (10:56) Eat to Feel Good
• (16:00) Move Your Body
• (18:00) Fix Your Posture
• (20:31) Take Care of Your Eyesight
• (22:22) Take Deep Breaths
• (23:22) Creating a Healthy Work Environment
• (27:00) How to Incorporate Positive Health Changes With Tiny Habits®

• Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg

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• Join the Freelance Editors Club

Instead of a typical goal-setting exercise to kick off the new year, I’m walking you through some writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing. Think of it more as a new year vibe check to help you ease into the year.

If you want to set some goals for 2026, I encourage you to join us inside the Freelance Editors Club, where we’re running those exercises!

• (0:14) Why Writing Prompts?
• (2:45) Prompt One
• (3:17) Prompt Two
• (3:42) Prompt Three
• (3:58) Prompt Four
• (4:23) Prompt Five
• (5:29) Prompt Six
• (5:55) Prompt Seven
• (6:18) 2026 is Not a Race

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• Join the Freelance Editors Club

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but we’ve made it to the final episode of The Modern Editor of 2025. Naturally, I decided to use this episode to reflect on what I’ve learned this year, both personally and in my business.

I could easily talk about all the things that went wrong and the goals I didn’t hit this year, but I want to focus on the good instead. Two things can be true at once: The world can feel like it’s on fire, and I can be excited about my business. I can feel proud of what I’ve built and also wish it were growing faster.

I think it’s important to hold space for the good and the bad, but celebrating the good doesn’t mean you're ignoring the bad. So without further ado, let’s celebrate the best of 2025.

• (4:07) Lesson One: The Importance of Systems
• (7:00) Lesson Two: It’s Okay for Priorities to Shift
• (9:53) Lesson Three: My Business Comes After My Family and Loved Ones—Always
• (11:25) Lesson Four: Things Are Going to Take Longer than You Expect or Want
• (13:48) Lesson Five: Find Something Outside of Your Business That Lights You Up
• (16:05) Lesson Six: Action is Always Going to Win

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club

Do you have clear professional boundaries for your business? In this episode, we discuss what boundaries you should have as an editor, why they’re important, and how you can enforce them using contracts.

Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. I’m not a lawyer, but I am related to one, and we created an editing contract template that you can use with your editing clients. Find it here.

This episode originally aired on 9/25/24 as episode 37.

• (1:48) Do Boundaries Destroy Creativity?
• (3:28) The Basic Definition of a Contract
• (4:58) Adding Boundaries to Your Contracts Through Scope of Work
• (6:52) Setting Boundaries With Payment Arrangements
• (8:36) Creating Boundaries Around Deadlines
• (10:42) Boundaries Around Communication
• (13:15) Setting Boundaries Around Generative AI
• (15:31) Defining Boundaries Around Acknowledgments
• (18:31) How to Handle Contract Termination
• (19:52) Introducing My Editing Contract Template

• Episode 7: Why You Need Boundaries in Your Business
• Editorial Freelancers Association
• Editors Canada
• The Paper It’s Written On book
• My new Editing Contract Template

• Book a free 15-minute call
• Join the Freelance Editors Club
• Book a 1:1 coaching session

As today’s fast-paced world races toward AI and hyperproductivity, I find myself wanting to slow down and take a different route. However, every once in a while, I start to second-guess myself. Am I making things harder by not maximizing every minute of my life? Should I be doing things faster?

This is a topic that’s been on my mind for a while, so I wanted to open up an honest discussion about it in this episode of The Modern Editor. Specifically, let’s talk about when friction can be good for our lives and editing businesses.

• (1:42) Does Convenience Drain Meaning Out of Life?
• (4:30) How Friction Adds Humanity to Our Editing Businesses
• (6:27) Experience Can’t Be Rushed
• (7:22) You Don’t Need to Take Friction Out of Your Business
• (8:10) When Friction is Unhelpful
• (10:10) There Are No Shortcuts to Experience
• (12:20) Find Your Community in the Freelance Editors Club

• Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
• Tiny Habits™ Method

• Grab the Editing Contract Template
• Join the Freelance Editors Club