Summary:

Continuing to be very busy on the paid editing front – so I quit my day job!!!

Three more weeks of double duty, and then I can relax into the freelancing properly, without having to spend three days a week as a wage slave as well. Hopefully, that will mean I can also get back to some of my own creative projects, which have been put on the backburner for the time being.

 

Monday:

A previous Upwork client contacted me overnight to ask me to edit the Foreword to the non-fiction self-help book I had worked on for her. So, I did that first.

Then a message came in from the Spectrum publisher, asking for a shorter version of the blurb, so I did that.

Eventually, I managed to get back to my main Upwork non-fiction project, completing half of what was left on the parenting guide.

I went out for a lovely afternoon visiting a good friend, then returned home to find an expected Upwork project had come through, correcting website copy about dog training, so I worked on that and submitted it before dinner.

 

Tuesday:

I was up really early again (gah!) so I broke my rule and completed my editing on the parenting guide, submitting it two days early.

Then I logged on to my day-job, requested a meeting with my boss – and handed in my notice!! Apparently, I’m really going all-in on the freelancing!!

Later, I pitched for a selection of jobs on Upwork and got one client asking me to do a title generation exercise, which was quite fun and could possibly lead to long-term work.

 

Wednesday:

I set up a call with a prospective editing client, and did a complex sample edit for another one.

Later, I edited the latest TL;DR submission assigned to me, and sent my feedback to the author.

I had some back-and-forth with another prospective editing client, and provided a sample edit of part of one of his book chapters.

Thursday:

After another night of not very much sleep, and a leisurely breakfast, I started work at 7am, doing the second round of edits for the sport management book I worked on last week.

Then it was back to editing the sailing memoir, which was a breath of fresh air and highly enjoyable.

Next was my final TL;DR submission to provide feedback on. Being on the editing team, I could see that there were only 50 submissions in total for the anthology, so I’m hoping mine is in with a decent chance of selection, if I can take on board whatever feedback my editor gives me.

I did a couple of submissions, just to keep my hand in, then rearranged my scheduled work over the next week, to take the pressure off a bit – and provide room for any new projects that might come my way!

After lunch, I finally started my only fiction editing project to date, a psychological thriller that proved much quicker to edit than I’d thought it would, and was also really fun to read.

Then, I went back to the sailing memoir and reached the halfway point. I submitted what I’d done so far, for the client to review and approve half the payment.

Later, another short job came through from an existing client, editing template emails about a dog training webinar, so I completed that and submitted it.

Friday:

During the day, I completed two sample edits for projects I was really keen to work on, so fingers crossed for a successful outcome.

Later, at Dave’s request, I created a kanban board of ‘To Confirm’, ‘In Progress’ and ‘Completed’ editing projects on my office door, so he could see what I was working on, It turned out to be really useful to me too, to be able to see it in that format.

Saturday:

I pitched for, negotiated about, and won an editing project for a new magazine, which had the possibility of turning into long term work.

But mostly, I took the day off!

Sunday:

Another early start – but not quite as early, and I also went to bed at 21:30 the night before, so I’d managed quite a bit of sleep before I actually got up.

I started out very simple, with a review of a game we’d played online with some friends several weeks ago, which I’d forgotten to review.

Then I went back to editing the thriller, hoping to complete a quarter of what remained, which I did.

The magazine articles from the project I won the day before started coming through, so I worked on them intermittently, also completing the next section of the sailing memoir.

Later, I assessed and provided feedback on another competition entry for Ink & Insights.

I also won two more projects, and another client confirmed she intends to offer me her project, which would keep me busy for a good two weeks.

Whew! What a week!