• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Talking Shrimp

Talking Shrimp

copywriting. jumbo style.

  • about
  • work with me
  • blog
  • press & media
  • resources
  • contact
  • magic emails

life and stuff

The three most boring words that come out of your mouth

40 Comments

Know what I need to do? Apparently, everything. Every time I open up 750words.com, which I use as my journal, I see that I accidentally skipped a few days. I broke my streak. And I invariably start with, “I need to write more.” And then, as I continue typing, the “I need to”s multiply like Gremlins when they get […]

KEEP READING

creativity, life and stuff, success, work, writing

The Cab Driver Who Convinced Me to Have Kids

106 Comments

No, a cab driver didn’t really convince me to have kids. But he sure did try. As soon as I got in, I knew he was was going to be one of “those” drivers. You know: the talkative kind. My first clue was that he asked, “How was your day?” instead of asking where I […]

KEEP READING

business, hand-picked, life and stuff, marketing

I deserve to be lazy. But so what.

12 Comments

I’ve been very deserve-y since I got back from Europe. (Sorry for that sentence. “Since I got back from Europe” is a heinous thing to say. Makes me think of my first day at my private all-girls school in 9th grade. During lunch, one of the fanciest girls in the class — her last name was one […]

KEEP READING

business, creativity, life and stuff, my dad, work, writing my dad

The antidote to FOMO

10 Comments

FOMO (fear of missing out) is probably my #1 motivator and most nagging neurosis. I’ll say yes to things I’m not that interested in just because I can’t handle the possibility of people I like having fun without me. What’s that? My favorite friends will all be standing nude in a snowstorm, listening to live death […]

KEEP READING

language, life and stuff

Who would you be if money didn’t matter?

24 Comments

Today, an ad in my Facebook feed asks, WHO WOULD YOU BE IF MONEY DIDN’T MATTER? And then it says, FREE Video Series Will Help You Discover Your Personal Path to Financial Liberation! The image below is a woman — the actual person who’s going to teach you this path — in a thin, 1970s style halter top cut down to […]

KEEP READING

entrepre-nerd-ville, life and stuff, success

Curious vs nosy: what’s the diff?

15 Comments

  In 6th grade, I was climbing the stairwell at school and heard D’Aisy* a half flight up, talking loudly to her BFF Giselle*. D’Aisy said, “I’m not inviting her.”  Giselle said, “Good, she bugs me so much.” Interesting. I started jogging up the steps to catch up. “Who’s this about?” I asked them. “Who bugs you?” […]

KEEP READING

language, life and stuff, overheard

A Disappointment Matrix, manifesting, The Apprentice, cookies, and dirty socks

44 Comments

What can I tell you? The world turned upside down this week. Someone said, “I can’t wait to see the Talking Shrimp post about all this!” But there’s too much to say about it, and nothing feels adequate. And: when is it appropriate to write something that’s not about “all this”? Maybe now’s OK. Today, […]

KEEP READING

life and stuff

Without free samples, I’m nobody (and 6 other truths I’ve discovered since getting a plastic mouth)

32 Comments

Do you think a lot about your mouth? If not, lucky you! Not thinking about your mouth is a luxury you need to start appreciating right now. Light a scented candle and write about it in your gratitude journal. I think about my mouth all day. Everywhere I go, there it is — stealing the […]

KEEP READING

food, life and stuff, procrastination, random personal, Uncategorized

Why I lie to my calendar (or, what really happens outside your comfort zone)

33 Comments

“I didn’t know you were back.” My mom is always a little hurt when she finds out I’ve been back a few days from a trip and haven’t told her. But back isn’t really “back.” Sometimes there’s jet lag. Sometimes there’s a post-vacation “I don’t want to deal with the reality that my life can’t […]

KEEP READING

business, life and stuff

A severe case of “don’t wanna do sh*t”

19 Comments

Last week, I treated myself to some heavy-duty, delightfully effective Tylenol Cold and Flu. Man, do I love Western medicine! Praise Duane Reade. Blessed be CVS. My one complaint is the damn packaging that breaks off your fingernails. “Peel from this corner” is the biggest tease of all time. Why don’t they let us go through all […]

KEEP READING

blogs and blogging, business, creativity, entrepre-nerd-ville, life and stuff, procrastination, self-help-y stuff, writing

I never change. But who does?

10 Comments

The barista at my corner coffee shop hesitated when he saw me today. He had the large plastic cup in his hand, but before filling it with my usual order (all the way to the top with ice, then cold-brew coffee with about an inch of room for milk, please, and charge me for a medium […]

KEEP READING

business, life and stuff, random personal

Meditation hasn’t kept me from picking my face, and other mixed results

18 Comments

Excuse me while I gag on this sentence: I’ve been meditating. I did it today. I did it yesterday. I’ve done it most workdays for the last two months. I wasn’t going to. Everyone does it now, and everyone says to do it, but I have an overactive filter for new-age-garbage-sounding anything. I dismiss it whether […]

KEEP READING

life and stuff, random personal

The 20 Stages of Public Speaking

19 Comments

I stood on the high diving board, looking down. Nope, nope, nope. I was 10 years old, at the pool at Twin Lakes Tennis & Swim Club. That’s where my family went on hot days from our weekend house in Stamford, Ct. The usual suburban club: Moms with deeply freckled chests. Tennis whites. Cheeseburgers, defrosted crinkle-cut fries, ketchup […]

KEEP READING

business, childhood, favorites, life and stuff, random personal, wayback

Stranger Danger for grownups: when parties are scary

7 Comments

Steven, my husband, has party anxiety. I should say, pre-party anxiety, because he’s always fine once he gets to the party. Like the one last night. The minute we got there, I looked at him like, “See? Aren’t you glad we came?” And he looked back at me like, “OK, this ain’t so bad,” because we’d […]

KEEP READING

life and stuff, New York City

Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

talking shrimp faves

  • Non-Sucky Subject Lines

    Jack up your email open rates with my free download!

  • 60-Minute Makeovers

    My flagship copywriting mini-course. Visual examples galore.

Get the Talking Shrimp emails

Get the 5 Secrets to Non-Sucky Copy get it!

Footer

COPYRIGHT 2009-2023 LAURA BELGRAY / TALKING SHRIMP

Site by Michelle Martello at Minima Designs • Photos by Eric Micheal Pearson
Terms of Use • Privacy Policy • Affiliate Disclaimer

shop

  • About and Bio Builder
  • 60 Minute Makeover

about laura

  • Media Kit & Speaking
  • Articles & Podcasts
  • tv reel

work with laura

  • Shrimp Club
  • B-School
  • contact