Feast or Famine?

I'm lucky as I'm just about staving off hunger - the project I was waiting for that was going to take the whole of August has arrived and one of my clients who doesn't pay very much but who pays quickly answered my last plea for work. But some colleagues are not so lucky and I seem to be hearing daily of publishing houses making their staff (my contacts) redundant and others tell me they're 'not sending any work out at the moment'.



Then I hear of more Internet sites starting up where editors bid for work, which works for some but I'm not sure it's for me, and some where they project manage the production of a book for a percentage of the royalties (eek!).



Others are reporting that they are too busy and are having trouble deciding between projects to take on - naturally I'm taking account of the areas they work in ;-) I'm also looking at the part-time jobs section in the local paper, keeping my secretarial skills honed and returning to my crafty side.

As many freelancers know - it is usually feast or famine and I'm still hoping for the 'Back to School' rush to kick in.

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 ....