Making time for all kinds of writing
Jamie Cattanach on poetry, personal finance writing, memoir, and more
Sometimes the universe gives us a year like 2020. And sometimes, in that same year, the universe delivers a new friend who also happens to be a writer and also happens to live two doors down from you in the same building.
Jamie Cattanach and I met at the elevator when she first moved in, and after quick hello’s, we retreated to our home offices where months would pass without seeing each other. Eventually, a mutual friend we didn’t know we had suggested to Jamie that she get in touch with me (her other friend in Portland) and then WAIT WHAT, we realized we already met and we live in the same friggin building.
So that was pretty cool. And now we get to go on walks and talk about the things we’re working on and trade our favorite essay collections. I love having writer friends.
And of course, I think you’re going to love Jamie and her writing, too. Which is why I wanted to ask her some questions about her work and the path she’s taken to get where she is. Jamie does all kinds of writing. She’s a poet and an essayist, and she does content marketing for personal finance brands. And she seems to have figured out a way to devote serious time to creative projects while also managing clients and deadlines and making a decent living at this writing thing. I’m always hungry to hear how different writers have cracked that puzzle. So writers, meet Jamie!
Jamie Cattanach on clients, connections, and creativity
B: What does the average work week look like for you? What different types of work are you doing and what portion of your time does each take up?
J: It varies so much depending on what assignments I have, what extracurriculars I'm most interested in that week, even the weather -- when the weather's good in Portland, I try really hard to manipulate my work week such that I can take the best days off to hike. But basically: I usually work about 20 hours a week, and by "work" I mean writing words I am actually paid for -- not necessarily counting biz admin stuff, seeking out sources, or interviewing, and certainly not counting creative writing projects that aren't attached to a pitch or a paycheck. I almost never spend more than four hours a day writing, though I'll sometimes spend six or so if I'm trying to really power through in order to take time off or get ahead of deadlines. My hours tend to be split between more straightforward blog/SEO copy and more research-intensive content/reporting. If I have more cerebral work to do, I try to prioritize that so I can make sure everything's well sourced. I'm kind of insufferably Type A and usually like to be at least two days ahead of deadline if possible, which, I know... but it also means that on days I don't sleep well/wake up and feel like trash/decide I want to drive to the coast instead, there's a good chance I can do it. And that's why I think I'll probably always put up with the B.S. parts of freelancing. I truly do work when I want to. I don't have a set schedule.
What type of writing do you find most lucrative, and how did you get started in that?
Hands down the best-paid writing I do is content marketing in the personal finance space, which I honestly totally fell into. I was in graduate school for an MA in creative writing with a focus on poetry in my early 20s and the program, location, and general life choices I'd made at the time just weren't a fit. Long story short, I decided I would let myself drop out (of this fairly prestigious, paid-for-with-a-graduate-assistantship program I'd completed half of) if I could find a "real" reason to do so. I applied for a writing position with a then-startup called The Penny Hoarder with literally no clips to my name aside from wine-tasting notes (seriously) and personal essays. I somehow got the job and then spent 40 hours a week for a little better than a year getting paid to create a portfolio of personal finance clips.
Which is to say: I got lucky. I work my ass off, sure, but I owe a lot of where I'm at today to right-place-right-time-right-people, just like everyone else.
What type of writing do you find most fulfilling?
Well, I was a poet first, and when I can nail down a poem before it slips away, that feels really good. But these days I'm working a lot more in creative nonfiction and personal essay, and I've been able to create some pieces that kind of merge the creative and paid space while tackling topics that are important to me, like disordered eating, body image, and queer identity. For instance, I was really proud to publish this Huffington Post article on regaining weight in recovery from my eating disorder, and I had plenty of women reach out to me directly after it went live to tell me about their own body image struggles, their own disordered eating histories -- to say they were going to quit dieting themselves, to say me, too. I think that's the sweet spot: work that's creative and personal but that also creates community and motion. Writing that can actually, even incrementally, change the world.
Do you feel like you've found a good balance between lucrative and fulfilling work? Tell us about your personal journey to find that balance—something I think we're all constantly searching for and adjusting.
Hahaha. I mean I'm definitely still always feeling it out and adjusting, and again, it depends a lot on what else is going on that week. This week, for instance, has been crazy busy with work, so I haven't gotten to pay as much attention to the essay I'm working on as I like. I will say this though: I joined a weekly Zoom workshop/writing club run by a local writer here in Portland, and although it's not formal, having some accountability and something like a deadline can really help when you're trying to produce creative, as-yet-unpaid writing. Each workshop member is only up once a month, but hey: I've been in that workshop for seven months and I have seven essays. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Did you ever feel like a career in writing wasn't possible or sustainable? How did you break through that and keep going?
God, I'm going to sound really insufferable if I say no. But honestly, since I got started in earnest, I've been able to make a pretty good living at this. I will say that I was totally convinced I'd never be able to hack it before I started, and it took my (our) friend Susan Shain, who gave me some very necessary pep talks (and also some very helpful leads), to convince me otherwise. Thanks again, Suze.
Which is to say, I guess: build a network and learn to be interdependent. This really is a career where who you know makes all the difference, and not even in a sleazy way. In a like, community/resources/support/encouragement way. (Although yes, maybe your super awesome friend also has an in with an editor who works at that publication whose byline you lust for, etc.)
Can you tell us about any creative projects you have in the works?
Haha -- Britany knows what I'm up to! I hesitate to talk too much about it, because I'm someone with at least one and arguably two complete manuscripts idling indefinitely on her hard drive. But I am currently writing, with intention, a series of personal essays that seems to hang together and could one day be a book -- a memoir-in-essays that lives in the intersection of disordered eating and body image and queerness. Each essay revolves around a specific food, but I promise it's not as gimmicky and cheesy as that sounds. I'm also writing a poem every day in December, probably because Catholic school does its job and I'm a total masochist.
How do you manage to make time for bigger projects that don't have a paycheck attached to them just yet, while you've also got deadlines and clients and bills and all that good stuff?
Honestly... my Type A-ness takes over and I get physically anxious if I leave my work alone too long, so it kind of happens naturally. 😂 But as I said above, I think having some kind of accountability system can be a great approach, even if it's just a writer friend you trade work with on a biweekly basis or whatever. I've never been one of those "500 words a day" people, though I know lots of writers who are and for whom that system works. Honestly, I think a lot of it is figuring out yourself and your own motivators. There's no one-size-fits-all approach.
Your Twitter bio says you're "good at oversharing," which is an excellent trait to have as a writer, I think. Was publishing work about the personal stuff ever something you struggled with, and how did it get easier or how did you get used to that?
You know, no. Which I kind of thought was baffling for a long time, because the stuff I tend to write the most about is so personal and often so connected to deep traumas I've experienced, and also in real life I'm pretty reserved and quiet and sometimes even debilitatingly shy. Like, 10/10 have been the girl having an anxiety attack in the back corner of the house party trying to figure out how to physically exist in that space. But then I figured out that the dynamic is not actually as antithetical as it seems: I think I write about the hard stuff precisely because it's so difficult for me to talk about, because I've historically spent so much time alone, because it's the way I process it and communicate it.
So this past year has been extra hard in so many ways. Can you tell us about one thing that's made it easier or not so terrible or maybe even great, writing/work-wise?
As truly difficult as this year has been, I feel like the forced slow-down aspect of pandemic life has given me more time to reflect, more time to intentionally sink into creative writing, and also -- as someone who lives alone and moved to a new city three months before it shut down -- has kind of forced me to get really intentional about reaching out to people and trying to get rooted in community, both inside and outside of the writing sphere. That workshop I keep mentioning is all online, and although the facilitator is in Portland, many of the other workshoppers are all over the place: Minnesota, California, Florida, the UK. I've also been able to attend a bunch of readings I wouldn't have been able to, geographically, otherwise, including two for an old grad school buddy of mine who just finished a fellowship up at Hugo House. Zoom can't hold a candle to gathering in real space, but it does have its perks, and I hope it doesn't totally disappear along with COVID.
What's a piece of your writing that you're particularly proud of and why?
Since I've been so much more focused on creative writing lately -- more so than I have been since my foray into grad school, which was 2015 -- I've been thinking a lot about this (very) short piece of creative nonfiction I published in the Nashville Review several years ago. It's a good marriage of my poetic voice and my storyteller/prose voice, which is probably my strongest place as a writer, and it was one of those pieces I wrote in one shot in a flash-bang half hour. That kind of writing doesn't happen very often -- all the pieces just magically assembling themselves after your subconscious has done all the heavy lifting -- but man, it feels good when it does. Hoping to do more like this over the next few years!
That’s all for today, friends! Paid subscribers, I’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday with the usual round-up of paid writing opportunities. Next week I’ll also be sharing the pitch that got me my first byline in The New York Times.
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Stay inspired,
Britany