A Day in my Life ...

This will be a familiar scenario to many of my fellow freelancers but I'm often asked 'How do you do what you do?' or 'What's it like working from home?'. I thought I'd put it down on paper (or in this case blog). So a typical day for dougalfish:

5am kick other half to switch his alarm off.

5.15am kick other half to switch his second alarm off.

5.30am kick other half to switch his mobile phone alarm off.

6-6.30am pretend to sleep whilst other half runs around getting showered and dressed for work and ignore his expletives (he has to be at work for 7am and it's a 45 minute drive away).

6.35am allow the toddler into the space vacated by his father and politely explain that it's too early for cBeebies.

6.40am give in and switch the tv on, hand toddler the remote and go back to sleep.

7am woken by my least favourite song in the world - that's why it's in the cd alarm.

7.20am drag myself out of bed and into the shower.

7.45am shake toddler awake (conveniently fell to sleep as I went into the shower).

7.59am leave the house.

8.02am deposit toddler at nursery.

8.20am extricate myself from toddler's iron clad grip, back out slowly and head to the car (this varies, other times he bounces in without a backward glance - leaving me feeling bereft).

8.25am open kitchen door in need of coffee, discover OH didn't clear up the dinner plates whilst I was putting toddler to bed and then finishing a project before crawling into bed myself in the wee small hours. Ignore dirty plates, make coffee and feed the cats who are now clinging to my leg in demand of food. Put in load of washing 1.

8.30am log onto computer - slightly disheartened that my inbox is empty but then remember that in the 'real word' people don't start work until 9am or even 9.30am. Have last glance through project and notes before raising an invoice and emailing to client. Update my records.

8.45am log onto facebook and see if anything interesting has been said in the discussion groups overnight, move my cars in the Parking Wars application (give OH a ticket - hah hah!).

9am answer telephone call from author with answers to queries on my next project. Open up the file to make the amendments and check there aren't any outstanding queries.

9.30am email from client to ask if I can fit in a 'quick' proofreading job in the next few days - I can't so I point them in the direction of the SfEP.

10.45am finish checking the project and email the few remaining queries back to the author as I know she is now giving a lecture.

10.50 check on bloglines whether any of my favourite bloggers have made a post: wordsmith always serves as a great professional example, reluctant blogger makes me think and Lemon Drizzle makes me laugh out loud. Put on load of washing 2.

11.20 leave to pick up toddler from nursery and then drive to my parents as my lovely dad has taken 2 afternoons off a week to look after his grandson. Like many working mums I wouldn't be able to manage without the help of my parents. We have the usual 'I don't like Grandad' conversation on the way there - but he loves him really. Decide to stay for a sandwich as all we have at home is some mouldy bread and a lump of cheese - really must fit a shopping trip in.

12.30pm arrive home and decide the smell from the kitchen is really bad so spent 20 minutes emptying and refilling the dishwasher and wiping surfaces - it's amazing how far a child can throw food. Reload tumble dryer as too wet outside to hang it out.

1pm back to work - check emails. Someone has found me on the SfEP directory and would I edit his PhD thesis for a credit in the acknowledgements? - sorry, no, I need to pay my bills. A regular client has an on-screen edit for me - the pay isn't great but they pay promptly and it has a 4 week deadline so I accept.

1.15pm the post finally arrives and contains some proofs for a project I completed about 6 weeks ago. I contact the client who asks for them to be turned around in 2 days - would have been nice to have warning!

1.30pm doorbell rings - would I be interested in a new conservatory?

2.00pm phone rings - could they speak to Mr. Dougalfish? No they couldn't leave a message when would he be home from work? 'Well he leaves the house at 6.30am and we're lucky if we see him before 7pm but if you ring then your call won't be answered as we'll be putting the toddler to bed' - Oh. (9 times out of 10 when they do get hold of him, after twice daily phone conversations with me where they refuse to give a message, the are a sales company and he lets them say their piece and then gives them short shrift for wasting our time).

2.30pm author comes back with answers to the queries so can make my last checks and put the finishing touches to the project.

5pm Power down my laptop, nip to the corner shop for a tin of beans and pick the toddler up from dad's.

5.30pm - give the toddler the beans.

6pm call from OH to say he will be late - instruct him to bring 'something for dinner'.

6.30pm suggest to toddler that perhaps a bath is in order (not an unreasonable request as he's been 'helping' grandad on the allotment).

7pm bribe toddler to get into the bath.

7.30pm drag toddler out of bath, kicking and screaming. Cajole him into PJ's and read several stories.

8pm turn on toddler's favourite bedtime CD - to a specific track (number 32), set the light 'just so' and pretend to fall asleep in his bedroom chair.

8.20pm wake with a start (the CD has finished) to find toddler asleep. Creep out of the room - avoiding the squeaky floorboard - and trip over the cat.

8.25pm feed cat. Welcome OH home who looks at the devastation and asks what I have been doing all day. Predictably he's bought Chinese takeaway (again) - must make time for a shopping trip soon.

8.45pm after wolfing down my egg fried rice settle down to the urgent proofread in the study - muted sound of the TV downstairs. To avoid distractions put my headphones on an listen to a CD.

1.00am finally decide to call it a night. Crawl into portion of bed left vacant by OH (who is inexplicably lying diagonally across it and cannot be roused) as I drift off to sleep I wonder if he's cleared up the dinner plates ... or even brought the clean washing upstairs?

So that's how I do it, not perfect I know!

Disclaimer

I'd like to point out that my coming back to Earth with a bump was not the cause of the Earthquake on Tuesday night - honest! Oh and I'm still waiting for the information for the project - don't you just love the sound of deadlines as the whizz by?

Back to Earth with a bump!

I'm back from my trip - slightly less laden with souvenirs than I would have been if my pay cheques had come through but never mind they are winging their way to my bank account now so can pay all the bills that arrived in our absence!

So it's back to Earth with a bump! My answering machine had a message from a company about collecting my laptop - strange I left it at PC World just before we left to be fixed (it started emitting a high pitched noise when I switched it on and the screen was blank). I duly rang the number believing that they were ringing for me to arrange to pick up my fixed machine. No such luck. I was rather shirtily told that they had left several messages and written to me to arrange to pick up my laptop to fix it (one message and no letter). When I pointed out that I'd left it at PC World they checked the computer again and assured me that yes PC World had been in touch on Friday and it was being picked up that day - so it has been sitting in PC World for 3 and a half weeks. Ggrrr! I feel bereft without my laptop even though it has now broken down twice within a year.

On the plus side I have come back to some work - always nice - though the info I need hasn't arrived yet and the deadline is Friday .... back to normal then.

Late payments, a worrying trend

I am supposed to be on holiday - but it seems I can still get frustrated by what is happening at home from the other side of the World.

It seems that every single client I've had over the last 6 months has messed me about over payment. EVERY SINGLE ONE. My reserves have been eaten up in overdraft fees and I often wonder if stacking shelves in a supermarket would be a better option - I've done it before and it was mind numbing but at least I had a regular pay check.

A couple of days ago I found out that a new client I'd worked for on a massive project over Christmas - getting in extra childcare and working right over the Christmas break - has not only failed to pay me on time but, on querying when the payment would arrive, I was told that it wouldn't be until the beginning of March. In what other profession than those who are freelance would this delay be acceptable? Because I can only work part-time at the moment this amounted to a months work - so my mortgage and other payments are all affected. Am I just unlucky with clients or is this a general trend that us freelancers should be aware of?

The client I've been ranting about for several posts is still emailing me over 'where I am' with the project that I finished 3 weeks ago. As I've actually spoken to the person I know he has been getting my emails so I am now regarding them as humorous rather than irritating - but really if they can't be professional with their freelancers how are they with their clients?

Now to workout a months interest for my late payer ....

Extended break and Carbon footprints

I haven't had much to say recently with the extended break I've been having due to being honest about my holiday.

My recent client - yes that one - did send some proofs on Friday but unfortunately wasn't prepared to wait until the end of February for their return. I am still expecting them to try to send the rest and email queries to me whilst I am away - despite my having kept all 5 people involved informed and being very clear when I took the project on.



I came across this from a Canadian freelance writer courtesy of Fyrefly - which makes me feel a little less guilty about my carbon footprint. Unfortunately my OH has an hours drive to work and back in a gas guzzling car so perhaps he cancels my efforts out!



Well no work for the next 3 weeks but lots and lots of reading (I hope).