Customer Reviews

The 30-Second Commute: A Non-Fiction Comedy about Writing and Working From Home

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love The 30 Second Commute. With lots of humor and tons of great real-life stories, the book eliminates the mystique about being a freelancer and hopefully gives potential writers a bird's eye view of what it's really like to make your living from the pen. Stephanie is obviously a pop culture fanatic and I found her book to be similar in narrative to Douglas Copeland's Generation X including lots of little call-out boxes and sidebars for her literary diversions. I loved the sidebar on page 145 which lists all the Indian food she noshed over eight days while reviewing five different Indian restaurants. It's light and well written and not meant to be taken too seriously... just like the author it would seem.

The book was different in that it's set up like a 'play list', but seeing as Stephanie is a music reviewer, it made sense and was unique. Still, as a freelance writer and devoted freelance - non-fiction reader I found it hard to pick figure out what the chapters were about simply by the table of contents. For example, Hangin Tough was a chapter I loved. It talked honestly about what she did, how she was paid (or not paid). It really gave me a sense of what her life is like and how she got her writing career going. But the chapter called (You Gotta)Fight for Your Right (to Eat Well), Memphis Soul Stew, and Too Much Pork for Just One Fork...these chapters meant nothing to me.

If you're interested in restaurant reviewing, food, etc...this might be a 4 or 5 star book, but for me, I could only give it 3.

I do want to say it was well written, and there were some real funny parts through out. All in all, not a bad 192 pages to read. I just think the title made it seem more about freelancing and what it is really like working from home. The title may mislead, it did me.

Stephanie Dickison has what many would consider to be the perfect life: she makes a living doing what she loves; she works from home and is her own boss; she's paid to try out new products, eat at awesome restaurants and drink rounds of wine; her "office" is her bedroom, allowing her work at her roll-top desk in her pajamas if she chooses.

As a freelancer writer, blogger and reviewer of all things music, food and life in Toronto, Stephanie also battles serious deadlines, sends out streams of e-mails, makes plenty of phone calls, eats heavy meals many times a week and staves off her own exhaustion -- all in the name of earning a paycheck doing what she so loves.

The 30-SECOND COMMUTE: A NON-FICTION COMEDY ABOUT WRITING AND WORKING FROM HOME is comprised of vignettes detailing her own writing life, including how she came to abandon her steady office job in the name of all that is creative. A quick, often humorous read, I loved the short chapters which felt like blog entries, each with the title of a different -- and awesome! -- song. Many of her chapters could stand on their own, which did occasionally make me feel a little disoriented. I wondered how everything was connected. But as I kept moving right along, I realized that Stephanie is giving us a look at her entire life -- before, present, future -- and many of her experiences, especially when young, shaped how she tackles life now. I loved reading about her adventures with her dad on a family trip to Williamsburg and really enjoyed the funny anecdotes about eating -- and reviewing -- in the city.

As an editor and novelist myself, I could definitely relate to her woes regarding deadlines and the very long, complicated hours writers keep. She does much better than I would do as a home-based entrepreneur, getting up and dressed and ready to rock at a reasonable hour every morning -- despite the fact that her own bed is just steps away from her work space. And I really appreciated what she had to say regarding "reviewing" something and "critiquing" it -- I share her opinions exactly. While we will both acknowledge a huge flaw if we see it, we don't take the opportunity to put on our Nasty Pants and completely dress down the object of our dissatisfaction. We prefer to dwell on the positives of a book, album or product, actually reviewing it instead of dissecting it. Rock on, Stephanie!

If you've ever considered freelancing or wanted to run a business from home, THE 30-SECOND COMMUTE would be a helpful glimpse into that sort of life. Lovers of food, music and tales from the writing world would enjoy this memoir, too. Overall, a well-written and fun look at a woman finding that elusive literary bliss. And at 189 pages, you can gobble up the savor-sized portions in just a few hours.

This may be the book to read if you're considering freelance writing as a full-time career. The 30-Second Commute: A Non-Fiction Comedy about Writing and Working from Home is not so much a how-to, as it is a how-you-spend-your-day book. Stephanie Dickison cleverly infuses humor into the detailed chronicles of her daily activities as she embarks on her career of choice--from her first cup of coffee of the day, to running to meetings, talking with chefs, and food tasting at restaurants around the city. As a music reviewer she meets and interviews bands and even gets to keep the discs which she listens to "at least three times." It was in this section that Dickison lost me--I think I'm probably a bit older than the demographic for this book and admittedly, some of the bands mentioned were lost on me. The chapters on food and restaurant reviewing are lively, entertaining and interesting.

Dickison's warm personality comes through and the reader comes away as if from a conversation with a friend who has a good story to tell. And this is a good story: about a "day" in the life of a freelance writer.

This freelancer from Toronto has been writing on weekends and evenings for about ten years before deciding to try her hand at writing full-time. Her areas of expertise are food and pop culture, the music scene in particular. Dickison blogs at The Knack, where she writes about new products that interest her, and reviews books. It's a busy life that she depicts and one that, based on the tone of her writing, keeps her happy and loving her choice of career.

by Janet Caplan
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women