When it rains.... it pours

Elizabeth Ann West · Post by **Elizabeth Ann West** » Fri May 09, 2008 6:56 am

Good morning all,

Anyone else find that it seems when one new assignment comes in, a whole flood comes as well? I worked in earnest the last two weeks to "market" myself by responding to various avenues of possible revenue. Only problem, I made the novice mistake of agreeing to writing schedules with the assumption none of the others would pan out. LOL! I suppose had I done otherwise, none of the other jobs would have come through... Murhpy's Law and all that.

Thankfully, I have my schedule perfectly sorted out, and I will be able to make everyone happy, including my pocketbook, without having to build a time machine. However, unless I'm eating, sleeping, or bathing, I will be writing for the next few weeks. I can't complain, really as that would be ungrateful. However, I have a sneaking suspicion all of the clients got together and conspired, while wringing hands, to say "May 8, yeah May 8th, that's the day we will all bombard Elizabeth with our projects and watch her squirm. MWAHAHAHA"

I suppose the only reason I am posting this is to give word to the wise that when you put out a ton of proposals and such, you need have a healthy dose of optimism that a certain percentage will come back with jobs. I didn't, because well I was in a little bit of a dry spell finishing up a big project without anything scheduled after it. So I wrote prospectus after prospectus "I can do this by this date..." and "I can also do this by this date..." without any attention to what would happen if they all came in at once. If I was Homer, the Simpson not the poet, this is most certainly a "Doh!" moment.

Optimism my friends, turns out it is a business necessity! Otherwise, you will have to invest in shackles to chain yourself to a desk.

Well time for me to get to work, and get a few of these assignments finished. Once I'm done, I am so treating myself to something fun... all of this money is not just going into savings! I'm thinking pedicure and facial....

Always Smiling,
EAW

glatz · Post by **glatz** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:30 am

when you say "responding to various avenues of possible revenue." are you referring to public requests on CC?

Elizabeth Ann West · Post by **Elizabeth Ann West** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:37 am

No, not just work here on Constant-Content. I did have a few projects come through here too yesterday, but I also have my own author's website and few other places I look for work too.

You will find many of us who write here also write in other places too. There are some authors here who mainly specialize in print media, and write here on the side. Others also keep up very popular blogs and regularly update us on how things are going. Still other authors are working on eBooks or books for traditional publication.

One nice thing about the community here is we all support one another, and sometimes use Author Exchange to discuss things about writing in general. I know I've learned tons a great information from other authors here on running a writing business, and handling certain situations you inevitably get into with clients.

glatz · Post by **glatz** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:45 am

Thanks for the info...and nice to meet you. I just dabble here and there with submitting articles. I don't have many on CC but i've got a decent rate of return for my work so far. My job and my family keep me from writing as much as i'd like to, but getting the occasional article picked up is thrilling and keeps me coming back for more.

cheers
chris

cbhrbooth · Post by **cbhrbooth** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:17 am

[quote]
Anyone else find that it seems when one new assignment comes in, a whole flood comes as well?[/quote]

True, true. A few weeks ago I was nursing a couple of frozen margaritas in the corner b/c my writing projects were drying up on all sides of me. Few days later, editor of one publication asks me to travel with her to her new magazine, the assistant editor of former steady assignments asks me to stay with their newly organized publication with a different type of assignment, informal conversation turns into promising work and long-forgotten queries yield new assignments. Overscheduled once more!

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Congratulations on your "busy" status. Hope it carries you a long way and yields new work for your next slow period.

Mary

Elizabeth Ann West · Post by **Elizabeth Ann West** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:05 am

Thanks Mary!

No, I am definitely glad for the work. My husband was grave when he opened the mail yesterday and the lawyer's bill from fighting for custody of my step-son was $1500 more than what we expected. Well, it was really $2,500 more, but we called them to protest it begin so egregiously far from the original estimate and any information they had provided us up to that bill, that they knocked $1,000 off.

At first, my husband was suggesting I get a job, until I showed him my financial records and the other assignments I am working on. Needless to say, he was quite happy we will recoup the money to our savings account sooner than we expected, and he actually puffs a bit when he introduces his wife as a "writer."

This is the first time I have ever run a business he was proud to talk about, so I guess it is true as an entrepreneur you have to run a few into the ground before you can soar!

We've had some other lemons of late tossed our way, but so far I am greatly relishing the opportunity to make lemonade.

Always Smiling,
EAW

Angie H · Post by **Angie H** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:45 pm

I have been experiencing the same thing.

I had more work than I could handle and now I find myself working on my last two projects. I have just made the transition to writing full-time and working my "real" job part-time, so it makes everything a little scary.

My husband is a little upset that I have chosen to pursue my "hobby" full-time, but I'm hoping in another month or so to prove to him that I can make just as much being at home doing this as I can by slaving for $11 bucks an hour everyday. I look forward to proving him wrong

Wtg you guys on work!

Celeste Stewart · Post by **Celeste Stewart** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:39 pm

My husband didn't get it at first but now he's asking me when he can quit his job.

Glad to see everyone having success! It's a good problem to have, isn't it.

Angie, I agree, the transition part is a bit scary. When I was working, I was doing it from home part time. My husband's income covered most everything and I just had to make enough for the house payment. So, that was easy enough to do. When I realized that working was actually costing me money because it interferred with how much time I could devote to writing, I quit.

I made sure to have two months worth of house payments earmarked in advance so that I would have a big cushion should I have a slow month or two. I still do that today.

For example, when I received my May payment, I made my July 1st house payment entry in my Money software. Technically, it doesn't go to the lender until July 1st, but according to my checkbook, it's handled. Now, the money I'm making in May will cover my August payment. I already enough in my CC account for that payment so I could kick back and not worry about paying the mortgage all the way until Labor Day. Plus, I have an emergency expense savings account.

In addition, I have a fallback plan for slow times such as the number of queries to send each day, who to send them to (markets that I have had success with before), how many articles to post here each day etc... Haven't had to use it yet but it's there should I need it.

Having a few months of financial freedom and a plan should things go bad takes away a lot of the pressure. Also, I've learned to relax and enjoy the slow times because they're pretty short.

Angie H · Post by **Angie H** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:56 pm

Hi Celeste,

I know exactly what you mean. I'm not worried about paying the bills since I planned ahead (great minds think alike lol

) It's just the though that life could get interesting if things don't pick up. I've been using my *ahem* spare time *ahem* to do all sorts of research. Like your great ebook! (I'll chat with you about it later) I'm also looking at getting into blogging, press releases, and other web type material. So I suppose the time isn't wasted.

It also gives the family time to understand that "work at home" means that I am actually "working." Well....ok....so the forum isn't exactly working...We'll call it research. lol

Celeste Stewart · Post by **Celeste Stewart** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:40 pm

Spending time on the forums counts as work sometimes

Yeah, that whole-family-finally-getting-that-you're-really-working thing is tricky. My husband still thinks I'm goofing off most of the time. If only...