A Summer Like No Other

It’s the first day of school! So many mixed emotions going on!

It’s a bit of a relief to get back to the school schedule. Summer is just hard, y’all. The Mom guilt and stress seems to increase year by year as I do my best to balance work and time with the family (both my son and my husband, a teacher, were home all summer).

I never had a summer like this one. I balanced my work stress with a lot of downtime, hanging poolside, making a valiant effort in my TBR pile, and just living life rather than being bound to a set routine. I do love me a routine, though… Some of that downtime was self-imposed; some not. The workload was thinner than I wanted it to be.

Things have been interesting, and not in a good way. Some standout moments:

·        I spent the summer revising five articles for one client because I didn’t have the right type of sources. I spent far, far too much time trying to reach the “right” sources because it was a very specific niche and people were out of the office. I’m the type of person who goes all in, so let me tell you, it was starting to get to me. I don’t want to think about how many emails I sent out.

·        Another contact at a longtime client called to tell me she would be leaving at the end of July. I’d taken on some project management-type work in addition to the writing, and the remaining staff members and I are still trying to unravel it.

·        Editor at another magazine called to tell me she was leaving at the end of that day. I was still working on a story for her, so I was left in limbo for a few weeks until I was instructed how to submit it.

It was a summer of less income and projects than usual. My "long gaps between payment" streak continued, too. I lost a lot of sleep over this.

I had been in a “writing rut”, and the income was making me uneasy. I decided to reach out to some different markets. I dusted off my copy of Writer’s Market (as I mentioned in my last post) and started doing some intense Internet research and sent LOIs to over a dozen new-to-me markets.

Slowly, things picked up. My steady clients are getting their feet under them after the staff changes and restructures, so it’s been quiet on that front, though I’m sure I’ll continue to get more work from them. It was nice to reach out to some new folks, though, and I landed some new projects along the way. I’ve been getting comfortable with the work I have, so there was no reason for me to look for additional work. Always be marketing. Never rely on just a few clients. These are two big no-no’s in the freelance writing world, and this summer has driven home the point of why inertia and complacency are career killers.

There’s a lot of “new” in my life right now. I’m excited about the new projects I’ve landed and look forward to working with some new editors. As someone who’s had a big aversion to change and always wanted to stick with what was familiar and comfortable, I’ve learned to embrace trying something different. That’s where the learning happens!