Summary:

A bit hit and miss this week – I did a lot of paid work (yay!) but I also got stressed and overwhelmed about all the other things that necessarily fell by the wayside (boo!).

 

Monday:

Today was a sad day because the courier came to take my lovely little laptop away for good… That laptop was my present to myself when my paid editing became lucrative enough for me to give up my office job – and it was the first purchase I ever claimed back as business expenses!

Still, I made it to my desk to start work at 8:45am and got on with my day…

I did some more work on the interactive game dialogue and it speeded up considerably after the first couple of chapters, now I’d got to grips with the requirements, so that was good.

I worked through another section of my husband Dave’s comments on my fifth novel, Dividing the Darkness, though I decided not to try and keep to my plan of completing that by the end of this week, as I was behind and wanted to make sure I didn’t rush it.

I went back to the interactive game and did the next couple of chapters.

After lunch, I wrote the rest of Stanley’s Instagram scripts for December, which was a good thing to tick off the list, as I’d got behind (still have to actually record the videos, though…).

I also read the next section of the TL;DR writer’s novel and did a bit more of the Networking for Editors course.

 

Tuesday:

I’ve heard tell from many a freelancer about the ‘feast or famine’ issue of not being able to control the flow of work – but I’ve never really experienced it until now. For the last month or so, I’ve been picking up paid editing projects here and there, only working on one at a time and having multiple days of no work in between. It’s still been fine overall from an income point of view, but I was getting worried about how long I could sustain my business at that level.

Suddenly, in the past few days, work has been springing up again in a very satisfying way and I’d been scheduling my time quite nicely, going into the end of the year. Then, overnight, three existing clients just sent me (admittedly small amounts of) work with no warning, and I also got a sample edit to do for a potential new client – all of which really had to be done today (along with completing my one ongoing project)!

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining! But I have had to shuffle everything around and do some creative thinking to fit it all in – as well as not neglecting my own projects (which I failed at). It’s a good job I’ve had a week or two of the new improved work ethic schedule to get me ready for doing a long day!

I started with marketing material and website text for the spiritual meditation book (which still has a chapter or two to come that I haven’t edited yet), then completed the sample edit of a mystery romance novella [which was confirmed for the full project later in the day – eek!], before working on a Christmas story for my only remaining blog client.

I was very behind with Stanley’s online content, so I recorded the next two videos, to make sure I had enough to post in the first week of December.

Then it was back to the interactive romance game to finish editing the dialogue. I definitely sped up as I went along and I’d negotiated some extra money from the client, because the word count was higher than they originally said, so it ended up being a good project all round and I’ll hope to get more work from them.

After lunch, it was Revision Club, which initially felt like it was getting in the way of other stuff – but then Amie and Charlie delivered a phenomenal masterclass in descriptive writing, which had me scribbling notes frantically throughout – awesome stuff.

I spent the ‘focus session’ of Revision Club trying to organise the rest of my week and then went out for a walk, just to clear my head…

When I got back, I edited the first chapter for a new client on a book about emotional resilience, read the penultimate section of the TL;DR writer’s novel opening, and completely failed to do any work on my own novel…

Much later, I had a good exchange with my blog client about the story I edited for her earlier, and I also had quite a long discussion with a potential client about how she should approach getting her novel edited (as it turns out, not by me…).

Whew!

 

Wednesday:

This would normally be my day off, but I’m super busy at the moment and also going out for most of the day tomorrow – so properly working three days in a row – eek! Luckily, I was quite enthusiastic about everything on my list, so it didn’t feel like obligation/resentment/chore. I also took my morning routine quite leisurely, so started actual work at 9:45am. Slouched on the sofa in my pyjamas… I love freelancing!

First on the docket was the mystery romance novella project I won yesterday – the author actually wasn’t that keen on my editing in the sample I provided (she said I’d suggested way too many changes) but wanted me to edit the rest of the novella anyway… Fine by me, especially since lighter editing means it will take less time. So, I started again from the beginning and focused on a light touch, only making changes I considered essential.

Then I edited some more website text for the spiritual meditation book – and got a bonus payment from the client for completing it so quickly!

Next was checking the new version of the football book where I found the plagiarism, to ensure the amended text was original. I’d never done that kind of thing before so I was a bit nervous about confirming originality, but I did my best… Later, I integrated all the new sections into the version I’d already edited and edited those to complete the project – phew!

I finished reading and commenting on the TL;DR writer’s novel opening and sent all my feedback to her, hoping I hadn’t gone overboard… She’d asked for a general view of whether it flowed okay and if there was enough to engage the reader – and I basically did a full developmental edit, because I find it very difficult not to add comments when I think of stuff! Luckily, she seemed pleased.

Then it was back to the emotional resilience book to edit some more of that.

So, I did a lot of work today – but I didn’t get around to working on either of my novels, or do any of the networking course – and Writing Club also seems to have fallen by the wayside…

And then my fancy new laptop arrived! Oh, how quickly my dear, beloved Eddie has been forgotten… (Yes, it had a name… The new one is called Bucephalus…)

 

Thursday:

This was supposed to be a day off, but I’m apparently not getting one of those this week, which is fine.

I finished editing the mystery romance and sent it back to the client for review and approval. I also helped the client for the football book with a few queries about wording.

I went out for the afternoon and most of the evening. When I got back, Dave helped me solve the problem I’d been having with putting captions on Stanley’s Instagram videos, so I edited the ones I recorded earlier in the week. That gave me completed videos to post on Saturday and Monday – a bit like Gromit putting the tracks down in front of the train he’s actually hurtling along on…

Just before I turned the light out to go to sleep, I was allocated the second in the mystery romance series by my new client – with a deadline of Saturday! (No preamble – just updated contract and attached manuscript…) Don’t get me wrong – I’m delighted she was happy with my work and I’m really looking forward to editing the next one – but I was already booked up for the whole of Friday and planning to be out most of Saturday – so I messaged her and told her that, stating my enthusiasm but asking if I could have more time – and she said no problem! So, go me for not turning my weekend upside down in order to meet an unrealistic deadline!

 

Friday:

My plan was to head into Central London and find somewhere near Victoria to work all day, so I wouldn’t be tempted to wimp out of the networking workshop at the Tate Britain in the evening.

Train information was unreliable, there were delays on several of the lines I tried to use, and I could feel my opportunity to focus and get lots done slipping away from me in real time… But I accepted the situation as it was, enjoyed reading my book for longer than anticipated on the train – and finally fetched up at the Railhouse Cafe at nearly 10am. The really friendly manager showed me to a beautiful little table in the corner, gave me the wi-fi password and said I was welcome to stay all day (I nearly burst into tears on the spot, which perhaps shows I’m a tad over-stressed at the moment and might benefit from more sleep). So I ordered a latte and settled in.

First on the list was continuing to edit the emotional resilience book, which I really wanted to get finished today. But I was also very aware that I’ve been neglecting many of my own projects in favour of all the lovely work I’ve been getting, so I wanted to try and balance my day.

I edited two thirds of the rest of the emotional resilience book (fuelled by lychee rose tea and sweet potato fritters – will definitely be coming back to this cafe!), then went back to the Networking for Editors course and cracked on with that for a bit (since I hadn’t yet done any of Week 2…).

The emotional resilience book turned out to be very useful, as it reminded me of important lessons about taking on too much, not managing time well and getting overwhelmed by not successfully prioritising tasks… Definitely things I needed to be told this week! I took the book’s advice and rejigged my schedule to take a break from paid editing work over the weekend.

I managed to finish editing the emotional resilience book before I had to leave for the networking event at the Tate Britain, so at least that was one more thing ticked off my list! I also rescheduled my current client projects so I didn’t have any work planned over the weekend, which felt good.

Then it was off to the Tate! I don’t know what I was expecting from the event, but I felt it was aimed at a broader range of types of creatives than I thought it might be, and also targeted at emerging creatives, so nearly everyone was a lot younger than me. That wasn’t necessarily a problem and I was glad I went, purely because I didn’t wimp out of going and struck up several interesting conversations with people – as well as securing a few more Instagram followers for Stanley!

 

Saturday:

I posted anywhere and everywhere about Stanley’s book now being available – it’s so pretty!

I also finished the week’s lessons on the Networking for Editors course.

 

Sunday:

I had thought I would have lots of time this morning to catch up on Darkness revisions, blog posts, business reading, recording videos, etc…

But all I managed to do was write a review of an audiobook I’d finished.

Things very much seem to be slipping away from me at the moment and I’m worried about burnout, overwhelm and loss of motivation… But I’m trying to reframe my attitude to what I schedule to do each day – and hopefully I’ll manage to find some balance somewhere!