Coming out of lockdown; Digital skills training; UX writer jobs
✂️ 🍺 🌞 Step two of the roadmap — life!! Lots of smiling faces in Hastings old town — pub gardens are packed, caravan parks full. I’m not ready for crowds yet but I’ve been out walking lots and did a bit of shopping in TK Maxx — the vast warehouse. ‘It was chaos for three days. People were elbowing each other out of the way; it wasn’t pleasant.’ People are spending all day in there, just to get out of the house.
They need a coffee bar and a loo and it’s a proper leisure attraction.
I’ve booked a haircut with Andrew Scissorhands, so he’s coming round to the flat in May. After working in London for 30 years as a stylist, he’s been wooed by the fabulous vibe in Hastings and St Leonards and set up his own salon here — currently ‘haircuts at home or on the beach’ — tagline: ‘A fraction of Harrods in Hastings’. He’s also working with the Seaview Centre, a fabulous homeless charity in St Leonards.
Can he make an ancient monument look respectable? We’ll see. I didn’t do a great job with the kitchen scissors.
The mass exodus from London to Hastings continues.
UX Writers Collective
I’ve started the UX writer training. I’ve been dithering for a while as I’m not sure I want to do it full time, but I’m ready for a change. I’ve lost my enthusiasm for sales copy and social media marketing and want to niche down and do deeper work. I had a breakthrough last week with my therapist (who has now become my work accountability coach) and realise it’s ok not to know where it’s all going. Retraining doesn’t mean giving up everything I’ve done so far. I’m a bit scared I might not enjoy it or be any good at it.
But I won’t know till I try and take on some new projects.
UX writing (user experience) is a new growth industry. Lots of innovation and opportunity, and people are coming to it from all walks of life — I’ve met former journos, customer service agents, and copywriters who are moving into tech. The vibe is inclusive, generous, encouraging, and collaborative — no egos which is refreshing. The course is online and self-paced, so I can fit it in around client work. If I do an hour a week, I’ll be certified in 8–10 weeks (if I crack the final assignment, which is hard).
Thoughts so far — it’s harder to write less. UX is more about research and content strategy with a focus on the user. It’s making me think more about accessibility, collaboration and design thinking — taking a holistic approach to content. Unlike copywriting, it’s not the sort of work you do in a silo, so that will be good for me — I’ll have to speak to people. I need to learn a few design packages — Miro, Figma, and basic HTML/coding.
I’m doing a bit of networking — joined the Content + UX Slack group, did the UX Writers conference, and will check out some local meetups when they restart. I’ve signed up for the Daily UX Writing Challenge to do some practice work for my portfolio and paid for a Medium subscription — $50 a year and well worth it — lots of great articles on writing + design. I’m making a little on there via the Partner program.
Lots of books to read — I bought Marie-Pier Rochon’s book on UX writing — she’s a copywriter in Brisbane who has moved into UX, so it’s interesting to read her story and perspective on the industry.
What do I want? A gig with a remote-first company where I can be a corporate nomad and slowmad when I’m an empty nester. My place in the sun — running remote retreats. It’s exciting to see the visa and tax incentives coming in for remote workers: the
Canaries, Italy, the Caribbean, Croatia & more. My mission is to create useful digital products people love to use that make them feel good about themselves. And to help more women and girls get into tech, scale their online businesses, and develop digital skills.
I’ve followed up with Plumia (Safety Wing) — an ambitious project to build the first country on the internet, infrastructure for living anywhere, with the function of a geographic country. They are looking for leaders and contributors in remote work and nomadic space. Interested? You can check it out here.
Anyway, I need to be kind and patient with myself. Learning new skills and changing careers takes time.
I had an interview this week for a UX writer gig at a design agency — great to get that far. An informal chat to see if we’re a good fit and find out what I’m looking for. They have some fascinating projects on the go — AI & healthcare — interface design for live surgery, remote banking advisors, travel apps and more. The next step would be a formal interview and test — I need a few more projects in my portfolio to talk through. I’ve heard interviews for UX can be tough — you need to show your strategy, iterative thinking, and how you solved the problem.
I’ve also been thinking about my process and how I work. Social media marketing is fun but distracting — I find myself going down rabbit holes online and there’s a lot of crap and negativity on Twitter. I’m trying to focus on one thing at a time and use my time more efficiently — batch tasks, themed days. I save interesting articles on Instapaper to read later and check RSS feeds via Feedly on my phone rather than reading websites, to save time.
💡 More agile working and sprints
👩💻 Periods of focus and concentration
🚶🏻♀️A shorter working week
I tried taking two-hour lunch breaks, but it doesn’t work; stuff comes in, so I’m aiming for a four-day week with Fridays off. I felt so much better after a day in Hastings Country Park last week — Daily Huddle with the ponies and roosters, who gave me some solid advice.
Great tips in this thread from Andy Spence on what works better for him to maintain health and prevent burnout.
Still waiting for my standing desk — in the meantime, I’m shuffling between the desk and mantlepiece to mix it up a bit. There’s something about standing up to work — ideas seem to flow better — so I’m trying to move about more during the day. We’re not designed to spend eight hours a day sitting at a desk.
I’ve made some more green friends — office jungle in progress…🌵🌿
Our digital lives in 2021
Big shoutout to Romana Sustar and Helen Hague — the new training officers at NUJ London Freelance Branch, who are developing a cracking training programme. Great piece by Romy on our digital life in 2021, focusing on the digital revolution and learning more.
We’re exploring a collaboration with Google News Initiative — free tools and training for groups and individuals to save you time and help you bring your stories to life.
Coming up: Podcasting and WordPress courses with Hamish Brown and Rev Up Your Writing with Judi Goodwin — how to write faster, more fluently, and earn more. I need to speed up — it can be like pulling teeth. Email the training team if you fancy doing one (courses are open to non-members) or DM me on Twitter @NUJ_LFB.
And a free event on 29 April — ‘Building Back Well’ via the Digital Editors’ Network (thanks to John Crowley for sending this on). ‘We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to hit the reset button.’ What do newsrooms need to change to ‘build back well’? The aim is to co-create an agenda for decision-makers to consider — on people, processes, and products (some best practices to apply to your media business — Substack newsletter coming soon).
I’m thinking about what courses and digital products I could offer — what skills would you like to learn or do better? Newsletters? UX writing? Improving your online presence? Email me — nicci@niccitalbot.io.
Eat this. Breakfast BOMB and healthy snack. I love granola and the supermarket stuff is expensive — tastes great and I’m saving a fortune.
Go deeper 🛠
Bruce Daisley: ‘Almost without exception breakthroughs come from deep work’ (Enterprise Nation) — On what we can do to overcome our collective addiction to interruptions. And a shoutout to Paul Graham’s excellent Maker vs Manager schedule.
Dell Technologies Turn Off, Tune In: a free virtual event to help small businesses recharge and burn brighter, 4–27 May. Nine inspiring, re-energising sessions designed to help you rest, recharge, and come back, ready to take on what’s next. You can register here.
Ireland is planning a remote working push to shift city workers to rural areas (Financial Times). The government is seizing the opportunity offered by changing pandemic-era work habits to shift people from major cities to the rest of the country via a network of 400+ remote working hubs and tax breaks to address the longstanding rural-urban divide.
The biggest mistake we can make as we emerge from the pandemic is to go back to the old normal — Heather Humphreys, minister for rural and community development.
Enjoyed this article by LFB colleague Francesca Marchese, currently on mat leave and spending time with her family in Sicily: Etna: Life beneath the volcanic dust of repeated eruptions (BBC).
Our Digital Life in 2021, Romy Sustar (NUJ London Freelance) — on learning how to podcast, free online training opportunities with Google News Initiative, and upcoming workshops and events.
Getting started with the Medium Partner Program — great articles on writing, design + UX — it’s well worth the $50 membership fee to access unlimited articles and support creators. I’ve signed up for the Medium Partner Program to monetise my work — not earning megabucks, but it will build as I add more content.
We had a chat about AI & copywriting on Clubhouse last night — are the machines coming for us? Human qualities that machines can’t replicate. How we can use AI to improve our work and free up time. If devices are writing shorter text, news stories, and product descriptions — it reorients us towards long-form content, opinion, analysis, and investigation.
In summary: Don’t worry. Sex robots are here, but you wouldn’t have one as a partner. Read the notes here.
This LinkedIn post went viral — a contractor described his reaction to having a heart attack when working at home. ‘Fuck I needed to meet with my manager tomorrow; this isn’t convenient.’ And on reflection, how he is restructuring his approach to work because ‘life literally is too short.’
Some great advice in the comments — ‘try to create multiple streams of income at your own pace.’
