Michelle Goodman
Freelance journalist + author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide"

• http://www.anti9to5guide.com

I fled the cube in 1992 to become a freelance writer and have yet to look back. In 2006, I decided to cram as much detail as I could about flexible, boss-free, and otherwise nontraditional careers into a book: The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube, which Seal Press published in 2007. In 2008, I wrote (and Seal Press published) the "sequel," My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire.

I write a weekly career column for ABCNews.com and a blog called Nine to Thrive for NWjobs.com. My reported pieces and essays about alternative careers, human mating rituals, and other pop culture phenom have graced such media outlets as CNN.com, Salon, BUST, Bitch, The Bark, Seattle Times, Yahoo! HotJobs, PayScale.com, and several anthologies.

A frequent speaker on the freelance writing life, I've sat on panels and given talks at events sponsored by Mediabistro, Biznik, Seattle Women's Commission, the University of Washington, and more. I also teach classes through the Editorial Freelancers Association and Richard Hugo House in an effort to help aspiring cubicle expats avoid the same mistakes I made early in my own solo career.

In my former 9-to-5 existence, I worked as a community newspaper reporter and bureau chief, a New York book publicist, a high-tech book editor, and a Microsoft web community editor. I live in Seattle with my four-legged office manager, Buddy.

Teaching others how to kick their freelance career into high gear; making even the muddiest manuscripts and book proposals sing, tap dance, and otherwise leap off the page; pitching a great article or book (and sometimes even writing the blasted thing); turning marketing drivel into webtastic prose; keeping clients and editors grinning

Readers of my hot-off-the-presses book, My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire. More info: www.anti9to5guide.com.

BA in Journalism, George Washington University

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