For anyone who has wanted to break away from the confines of an office job to pursue their dream of freelance writing, Stephanie Dickison, author of The 30 Second Commute: A Non-Fiction Comedy About Writing and Working from Home, gives this advice: “It doesn’t matter what other people are doing. It’s up to you to sit down and write and find out what works for you.”

Building a successful career where she could pursue her passion for books, food and music, Dickison previously made her living by working full-time in a doctor’s office and learning to eat her lunch while filing, answering endless strings of telephone calls and directing patients to a seat in the waiting room. Desiring to make a change in her life, she spent hours researching the topics that interested her most and eventually took a leap of faith by leaving the workforce to start a career that didn’t enforce a dress code.

Although many freelancers speak of working in their pajamas, Dickison prefers not to. At a moment’s notice, she can get up and go meet friends for dinner, do her shopping for the week or spend time at the library where she sheepishly admits to having 50 books checked out at a time.

The 30 Second Commute is not a How-To book, per se. Rather, it is an intimate glance into the world of a woman who decided to be true to herself by being true to her heart. Coming from creative people, Dickison, an only child, took free dance, art, animation, music, magic, calligraphy and cooking classes growing up. She enjoyed family vacations to the States and long walks and trips to the beach with her mother. She even agreed to marry her roommate, Scott, who happens to be a fellow freelance writer. All she had to do to make her dreams come true was summon up the courage to write.

Full of mishaps, including runaround e-mails from editors and deplorable deadlines, Dickison’s book explores a career where she serves as her own boss and sometimes has to remind herself to have fun along the way. Though many people would love to be in the position to receive cases of wine and countless jars of creams and cleansers to review, the writer finds herself buried in freebies, despite efforts to give them away to friends and neighbors.

Humorous and light-hearted, Dickison’s style of writing is like kicking back and reminiscing about the past with a good friend. The “Pop Culture Vulture” admits to making mistakes and shares her flaws with her audience which not only makes her likable but real. Music-inspired chapter names like Hangin’ Tough (my personal fave), Welcome to the Jungle, and (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Eat Well) appealed to the teeny-bopper in me and reminded me just how necessary it was to have at least one Tiger Beat poster on your wall in the 1980s. In the same harmlessly indulgent fashion that makes watching bad TV fun, Dickison captures the pros and cons of working for herself and knowing more about Tara Reid than she cares to admit.