That back to school feeling

It's a good job that my work for August has been delayed as I would now be panicking about getting everything done after a few days off sick. So everything happens for a reason - doesn't it?

There is something about the end of August. That almost back to school feeling. My son's not yet in school - though he'll be heading back to nursery school - but already we have the feeling that the holidays have been long enough - still a week and a half to go!

However without my son's preparations I still have that 'back to school' feeling on the work front I've bought new pens and pencils and a pack of sticky notes, I've finished my accounts and got some work lined up.

I'm ignoring the fact that I won't get much done in the first week of September due to a family wedding (though I may be able to fit a couple of client visits in whilst we're 'south of Watford') and the fact that both my parents and my OH are away on holiday AT THE SAME TIME at the end of September - don't ask why my OH gets a 'holiday' (his 3rd fishing trip this year but I'm not counting). I'm banking on all those academics sending their manuscripts into the publisher and demanding completed books by the end of the year!

Right I'm off to unfurl my new academic year planner and stick on lots of coloured strips .... well it always pays to LOOK organised.

Ten tips for freelancers to stay motivated, sane and productive

The Freelance Switch blog has another one of their top tips up this week. All very sound advice.

I'm not very good at number 4 - I have a guilt complex and 'faking' feels akin to lying in my book.

I should definitely do number 5 - though I have trouble saying 'no'.

I thought long and hard about number 6 at the 2006 SfEP conference. I've used my 'elevator pitch' numerous times to some success - though strangers at dinner parties tend to switch off when they learn that I don't edit fiction.

I definitely fail on number 10 - my receipts for 2007/2008 are still in the highly (not) organised file in the study (behind all the furniture we've just moved out of the spare room).

I like these little 'top tips' - they serve as great reminders of what to do (and what not to do) and you can often learn from others mistakes and successes.

Get Organised?

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

I found this little gem of a site whilst reading through back posts on Julie Doyles' blog and it reminded me of what I should be doing - as opposed to reading back through people's blog lists.

At the moment my office is in the smallest bedroom and is the desk bit of a cabin bed contraption that only just fits into the room. The bed part is currently filled with various items that were moved from the 'spare' room for visitors in December as well as a box of stuff I've been meaning to put on eBay for about a year. The 'spare' room is now full of 'things to pack' for our holiday - which I really, really should be doing RIGHT NOW. It also contains various large items from the loft (including a coffee table and TV unit) that were left there by our predecessors 30 months ago and which my OH retrieved 3 weeks before Christmas with a view to selling them on eBay BEFORE Christmas - unfortunately they wont fit into the eBay box. It also contains various bits of furniture that we haven't found a home for yet even though we've been living here for over 2 years.

My 'workspace' consists of a laptop and the coffee table - or for a really big project the dining table or even the living room floor. My OH recently bought his own laptop so he can join me of an evening rather than having to venture into the 'study' and resort to using a webcam to talk to me! We do venture in there on occasion - when we need to use the printer.

I'm afraid that I was no better when I was working in-house - it was a common belief that the office desk moves that happened at least once a year were purely to get me to chuck out half of the stuff hoarded on my desk. Though I've been gone for nearly 4 years and they are still desk hopping regularly!

My excuse is that what ever I am working on gets my full attention and nothing impinges on that - Facebook, household chores, organisation. That way I know I've done a good job AND my OH doesn't think that my being freelance means we don't need a cleaner (we haven't got one but I can dream).

So with a few days 'free' to do all those nagging things that are building up - this years accounts, reorganising the study so I can actually use it, listing that stuff on eBay, giving the house a good clean, packing for our trip - what am I doing? ... catching up on EastEnders and knitting a jumper!