What’s on the iPod: All Too Well by Taylor Swift
Writers: Be sure to catch an all new All Indie Writers podcast by Jenn Mattern! Her guest this week is Princess Jones.
Well, I started the week with two projects. I now have seven projects with shorter deadlines coming up on a holiday week. I’m not complaining; in fact, I love it. November, notorious for being slow, is going to end very well.
Likewise the start to December with projects due mid-month. During the slowest period of the work year for us freelance writers, we can’t ask for a better set up to the new year.
Still, there are those holidays to deal with. In past years, I’ve seen my holiday fly up on me and nearly zip by without my noticing. When I emerge from under the last deadline, I’m always a bit disappointed that I didn’t enjoy it more.
I know — boo hoo. She’s got work during the slowest time of the year. Cry me a river.
Let’s just say it’s better than last year, when things weren’t busy at all and I was looking more at the bank account than the calendar, hoping the numbers I saw were still acceptable. I wasn’t able to get the earnings up in the November/December period.
So what to do about that?
Plan ahead.
It doesn’t help to hear this now for this year, but right now, open your calendar program. Flip to July 2015 (another slow month). Write a goal to try for double your income that month and each month going forward. Jot down ways you can do that. Send out twice as many magazine queries since most freelance budgets are still plentiful in July. Map out how you’re going to hit August by storm and what you’ll do those two weeks before Labor Day, when clients are starting to think about projects again.
Come to the desk every day.
Even if you’re not working, you can check email, plan marketing, or hit up social media and make connections. Putting in eight+ hours every day might not be needed (and could be frustrating if you’re just sitting there), but checking in the morning and somewhere around 2 or 3 pm is enough to catch any projects that may come in requiring a quick response.
Pick up the back-burner project.
I picked up my poetry work this time last year. It became a habit, and now I’m about to be published in an upcoming journal. Maybe you want to learn SEO or WordPress. Maybe now would be a good time to put together a six-month marketing plan or find a new set of clients to market to. Spend your idle time being productive. It does wonders for your morale.
Enjoy.
Look, it’s the holiday. Do what those clients who aren’t getting back to you are doing. Make time for your friends and family. Take a walk and enjoy the season from outside the house. Decorate like you’re Martha Stewart’s stunt double. Plan a trip to see a relative or a place you’ve always wanted to visit. Volunteer at a food shelter or a retirement home. Find whatever will make the holiday season memorable for you and do it.
Writers, how do you fill in those empty hours?
Pretty much what you say… except sometimes I go stretch out and read. 😉
But I AM Martha Stewart's stunt double! I decorate and bake like crazy. (This year, it looks like I'll finally get to host Christmas again, so I'll be extra busy them.)
Most of my editors take the last half of December off, so I usually do to. It's the only time of year I don't feel guilty for taking unpaid leave, as it were. But I still check email a couple times per day just in case something comes in. I've actually turned down (small) assignments that required working near Christmas. It's impossible to round up interviews, and who wants to work when you can blare Christmas music?
Oh Anne, that sounds like such a good idea right now. It's 34 degrees and windy here — a blanket and a good book appeal!
I thought you might be, Paula. 🙂 And I'm glad you take time off — you work too hard! 🙂