Robin Monique, Blogger & Freelance Writer

I woke up this morning, looked outside, then checked the weather report and said, "Nope. Not gonna be able to do it today."  And so I called off. This may be the 5th or 6th time I've done so since I started this temp assignment. I felt bad for maybe the first hour or so of my day. But when it got worse and the mayor ended up shutting down the city (Yes, they shut down Cleveland, We-Don't-Give-a-Eff-Drive-in-an-Avalanche, Ohio) at about 3pm, I knew that I had made the right decision. Besides, it's not like I'm a salaried employee. If I don't work, I don't get paid. No harm, no foul if you ask me.

Besides I was out of bed at 7am and on the computer doing my real work, and I made two very important moves toward my mission today.  For starters, I got a financial advisor. The bottom line is, I can read money books and personal finance blogs everyday all day, but I need to have a relationship with a person who will hold me accountable for my choices. I am humble enough to admit that I'm not Superwoman and I don't have all the answers. Getting help is not a sign of weakness as much as it's an indication of good sense. Besides, I'm trying to be a financially stable, self-employed writer by 30 and if someone else has a more efficient path to the goal than I do, I'm down to listen.

Per my last blog post about my dissatisfaction with black fiction, I re-vamped my old fiction blog at Wordpress and will be re-launching it this Friday. Formerly called Ijuswannawrite, it is now called The New Black and will feature fiction short stories about positive young black women in their 20s like myself and my readers.  I was truly touched by the feedback I got from you all and decided I needed to put my pen where my mouth is. I'll be updating the fiction blog every Friday. In the meantime, feel free to stop over to famililarize yourself with the characters and the storyline.

In case you haven't noticed, I have branded myself as a freelance writer covering the issues of 20somethings. Peep the tagline at the top of the page: "Conquering Quarterlife, One Crisis at a Time."  I came to this tagline after going through my blog posts and examining the purpose of Polished Cleveland Magazine. It dawned on me that this is what I'm about. Figuring out this grown up thing and helping my readers do the same. When I get older, I'll flip it to "Conquering Mid Life, One Crisis at a Time." LOL!

I'm saving up for my first laptop! I know, I'm probably one of very few people in the world who has never had one, but hopefully with the help of savings and my tax refund, I'll have it by the end of February. I picked out a nice refurbished Dell Inspirion Mini 9 at the Dell Outlet for about $300. Yes, ya girl knows how to find a deal!

Still researching internet mags and websites that I'd like to contribute to. I've also started going through some of my old blog posts to see what material can be developed into articles for submission.  I'll start working on my query letters next week. Updated my LinkedIn page too, so feel free to add me.

I feel so good and so focused right now. I've got my eyes on the prize and I'm full speed ahead toward my vision.