One of those days

Do you ever have one of those days? Well I seem to be having one of those years! Take today for example:

Son woke us several times in the night with various requests for juice and biscuits. Then I completely missed my OH getting up at 5am and leaving the house, accidentally setting the burglar alarm off, at 6. The burglar alarm woke my son who was then prodding me every 15 mins to get up and make him breakfast. All of a sudden we were running late. He decided he didn't want to go to school and it seemed to take forever to crowbar him into his uniform, do his reading book and think of something constructive to write in the notes for the teacher (yesterday it was 'we've had this book before, he's bored!' but as I helped out yesterday and now know the teachers have been off sick I wanted to be a bit less caustic - I settled for 'read easily, well done (son)!' Then I discovered that we couldn't get out of the house. Because of our son's nighttime sleepwalking we have to keep the front door locked and when my OH leaves in the morning he locks us in (fire hazard I know). Yesterday a policeman knocked on our door to ask if we'd seen anything the previous night when our neighbour had been burgled. So my OH panics - his parents were burgled when he was about 12 - so now all keys are hidden. I have a memory like a sieve so put in a request that if they had to be hidden could they be somewhere that I might be able to find them - no, the burglars - having smashed a window to get in - would then be able to easily find the keys and get out with the tv. Personally I say let them take the TV rather than wake me up to ask me where my husband has hidden the bloody keys. I eventually remembered where I'd put my own set - where I'd be bound to see them ;-) - and we could leave the house.

As we hurtled down the drive at light speed I realised that the bin hadn't been put out for collection (usually my OH's job so I suspect he overslept too). I quickly computed that we didn't have time to stop and do it, the kitchen bin was still full, and I'd have to come home after school drop off and put it out instead of heading straight to the gym as the bin lorry usually arrives at about 10am.

Once at school son has a minor incident in the playground (which is all his fault) ans clamps himself, limpet like, to my leg. It takes 15 mins - and endless promises of treats at home time - to untangle him and eventually leave the building. Back home, whizz round the house, put bin out.

Got to the gym and discovered that although I had an 'assessment' on Monday my fitness coach hadn't written our my programme card and was now 'off'. I did actually discover this fact on Wed but I hoped that it would appear today. Could I remember what I was supposed to do? So I spent an hour tentatively flailing weights around in the hope that I was working the right bits in between 'hard pushes' on the cardiovascular machine. I think I looked a bit deranged as I left an hour later (if not during the entire workout).

When I checked my phone there were more messages that work has been delayed - as has most of my March work. When I got home there was a haughty message from my mum as I've not been in touch all week and we've not arranged anything for the weekend.

After a long chat with my mum to smooth things over there was a call from a client. Suddenly realised in horror that the project that I have to do for them is due back on Tuesday and I've missed the deadline for the courier as I forgot all about the bank holiday. Luckily they were fine and were actually ringing to offer me more work.

and now suddenly it is time to pick up my son from school and I haven't um got those treats that I promised so willingly this morning so I'll have to head for the shops.

And that pile of work, well it's still sitting there, looking at me ....

Hope you have a good May Day holiday - don't work too hard (be it gardening, decorating, relaxing or proofing).

Know your Market

Just about to pack up for a weekend at the in-laws when an odd message popped up in my inbox.

The subject had 'Hello Dear Dougalfish from XXXX Press'

I vaguely remembered sending out a lot of CVs to different publishing companys not so long ago and wondered if one had found my CV on a to-do pile and fallen instantly in love :-)

Then I noted the email was addressed to the email I use on my directory entries - so concluded that it was probably work and ignored my initial worry that it might be luncheon meat.

Dear Dougalfish,

Hope you are doing fine.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sxxxxxx and I am responsible for business development at _____________ (www.______________.com ) . I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our company ........

It turns out that THEY are a company based in India that want to sell ME editing services!

..... In order to help you assess our capabilities, we would be happy to doing a sample of 10 – 15 pages for you as per your specifications. I have attached PDF of our brochure for your kind perusal.

We would request for a convenient time sometime this week or any time convenient to you for a teleconference so that we can explain our services and take our discussion to next level.

Look forward to your response.

I looks like they've trawled the Directory of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders for email addresses - what a waste of their time! Perhaps I should reply with my fees.

I've found my motivation!

Having a little look on YouTube I found my motivation for doing my job!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjhOBiSk8Gg

Now, must get back to work.

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!

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!

Exit Strategy Planning

As a freelancer you aren't supposed to take holidays or be off sick - you should be there day and night at the clients beck and call (and of course only work for them even if they only call on you once in a blue moon for an urgent project) - right?

In my first year of freelancing I didn't understand these rules ...

I booked a holiday.

(Well actually it was booked before I even thought about going freelance but the fact remains that I didn't think it would be a problem.) On top of the holiday we moved house 3 days before we were supposed to fly (obviously this wasn't the plan but that's how it ended up happening). As this was a move of 190 miles, with my OH at one end and myself and the three year old (then 1 year old) at the other, my work was somewhat disrupted but I made sure I got everything done and sent back before my 'break'. The result was that I ended up not working for about 6 weeks because I took a week to move and another 2 for a holiday and therefore wasn't available when needed.

In March last year I ended up in hospital with an infection. I was only in hospital for a week and then out of action for another week because the cocktail of drugs I was prescribed wasn't conducive to sitting in front of a screen. During that week I continued with the projects that had been due whilst I was in hospital and returned them only a few days late (obviously telling the client via my OH that I was in hospital as soon as we realised I would be staying in). I wasn't expecting flowers and both clients involved were sympathetic at the time but the upshot was that I didn't have any work from them for several months. In fact it took until October to get back into a regular level of work - so, on the plus side, it did make me market myself more.

Late last year my sister in law moved to the other side of the world and I was persuaded to book a trip to see her (which I'm taking in about 10 days time). I informed all of my clients and told them that I would have my laptop with me so could do on-screen work and could probably find room in my luggage to take one manuscript.

But I sent my last project back to a client on Wednesday and nothing else is in the pipeline either before I go or lined up for when I get back. I have been asked to collate some proofs but I think the postage cost to Australia put them off :-) I'm starting to worry that being 'unavailable' may lead to another work drought.

Would I have been better NOT to tell everyone my plans and just set up an 'out of office' reply to my email for the period (though as it is web-based that wouldn't be needed as I can access them there, though the time difference could prove a problem)?

If I had been still working in-house I'd currently be doing unpaid overtime to get everything done before I left and would be expecting to do the same once I got back. I would have still been expected to churn out the same number of books as I had in previous months - despite not actually being there and would be 'stressed to the eyeballs'.

Instead I am sitting here wondering how I can get out of doing the mountain of housework that needs doing before we leave. My excuse (probably since October when work picked up) has been too much work to do. The result is similar to the one Kate Muir describes in today's Dark Ages (Times Magazine) except probably worse as reading between the lines she 'normally' does the chores she mentions wheras I avoid them at all cost.

I suppose there is still time to send round a begging email to clients on Monday - but then again there is the packing to be done.

I'd be interested to hear how others manage it - or even if they do.

Momentary euphoria turns to nagging doubt

I'm experiencing momentary euphoria due to the fact that the project I mentioned in my last post is finally 'in the post' to the designer. The client and the project manager stopped answering my emails last week so I'm now starting with the nagging doubt of whether I'll ever get paid by them and, if I do get paid, if they will give me any more work - and if so if I would accept it?

You see I've been in the position for the first few years of my freelance career of only having a couple of clients - one of which I worked for in a previous life as an in-house editor - and chugging along quite happily until 1) the work dried up and I realised it was true you can't put all your eggs in one basket and 2) little one went to nursery and I suddenly had more time on my hands - and I'd rather work than do the housework!

My first action when the work started to dry up was to advertise in a few places locally (so far to this date I've had no clients from this :-]), get on as many web forums for freelancers as I could and, of course Facebook.

The second was to chase up my advanced membership of the SfEP which had been sitting in the office for a year waiting for my previous employer to write a reference about my freelance work - which she simply 'didn't have time' to do. Thankfully as I could prove that in the year since I had made the application I had worked 100s and 100s of hours and had undertaken CPD (continuous professional development) the council granted me the status and I was able to add myself to the directory. The result has been several new clients and a very hectic workload but also some bad experiences - unintelligible briefs, contrary clients and late payment. There have been good points too - expanding my repertoire, building up a good client base and in some cases a bit better pay!

So I'm not in a position to pick and choose just yet - but it would be nice! Perhaps when he's at university :-)

Are clients on the same planet?

A regular debate on one of the facebook groups I frequent is 'Do clients speak the same language as us?' with my latest one I'm beginning to wonder if we both inhabit the same planet!

Early December got a 'would you be interested in a quick job for us' email, to which I replied a hearty 'yes' with a view to working over the Christmas period when everyone else was on holiday.

Week before Christmas
Client: 'Glad you can take on the project, will be with you hopefully before Christmas but definitely before the New Year'

2nd Jan
Client: 'Here are the series editors' corrections for the text'.
Me: 'Okay, but I don't have the text to add the corrections to'.

10th Jan
Me: 'I have just received the original but there appear to be 2 versions'.

11th Jan
Client: 'There are 2 different versions of the book one with questions and the other with the answers - here's the email with the instructions that I thought I'd sent before Christmas - can you do the checklist over the weekend and get queries to the project manager early in the week?'

Sun 13th
Me (to project manager): 'Okay I've gone through and here are my initial queries and the checklist you wanted me to fill in. Can you check that I am on the right lines and get back to me?'

Mon 14th
Project manager: 'I'm very pushed at the moment will get back to you tomorrow'.

Tues 15th
Me (to PM and client): 'I've finished going through and there appears to be a lot of text missing - changes have been made to the questions but I need matching information for the answers are there any files missing?'
Project manager: 'I have your queries sent on Sunday I'll be in touch tomorrow with an answer'.
Client: 'There aren't any more files'.
Project manager: 'Can you tell me where you are with the project and how long it is going to take you to finish it?'
Me (to PM): 'Depends on when I get the missing information unless you want me to try to write it'.

Yesterday
Project manager: 'Can you tell me where you are with the project and how long it will take you to finish it?'
Client: 'You don't appear to have sent the information we requested to be with us immediately after the weekend.'
Me (to client): 'Was sent to project manager on Sunday'.
Project manager: 'The stuff sent on Sunday is fine. Can you fill in the attached form to say where you are with the project and how many hours you think it will take?'
Me (to project manager): 'All depends on the answers to the queries.'

Today
Client: 'Can you tell me where you are with the project?'
Me: 'I am waiting for answers to queries sent on Tuesday as I am missing a lot of information.'
Client: 'Please find attached information that we have - does this help?'
Me: 'Not really as it is the same as what I have. Can you confirm what you want me to do? Should I wait for answers to the queries or should I try to rewrite the answers book to match the questions myself?'
Client: 'Oh don't wait for the answers to the queries as we won't send them off until we get proofs. Please do write the answers for the book as best you can. Can you let us know when you will be finished?'
Me: argh!!!!

And, yes, this is one of the clients in my last post about asking questions and Wordsmith was quite right in her observations that there are situations where you can ask too many questions but I dread to think what would have happened with this project if I hadn't!

Payment terms are 45 days - so my hair should have started to grow back by then :-)

OK, rant over, back to work!

Should freelancers be afraid to ask questions?

When I worked in-house we had a favourite freelancer who was initially referred to me as 'good but he needs his hand holding'. When I embarked on my freelance career I went to great lengths to avoid being called the same!

However is it always the case that if you ask too many questions you will be regarded as not up to the job? It certainly wasn't the case with the aforementioned freelancer - I'm sure he was the most used on our list, precisely because he asked questions and therefore the finished result was what we needed.

I've recently had projects from two different new clients where I have had to overcome my fear of being regarded as 'needing a hand holder'. I always worry that it isn't professional to ask lots of questions - however if I didn't ask I doubt it would have been as a professional job as the end result.

The first had lots of information to fill in and sheets of information to read before you started but it was full of jargon that was specific to the company, whom I hadn't worked for before. The end result of all my questions has ended up in a good working relationship with the editor involved who has already passed on more work.

The second was vague from the start and materials arrived haphazardly. From my initial questions I found that there was a lot of information, various checklists and instructions that I hadn't been sent and it turned out to be a much more involved job than I'd initially been led to believe. If I hadn't asked questions I dread to think what the end result might have been.

In addition lots of forums, such as the Line for SfEP members, can help out when you have a crisis of confidence about where to put a comma and they may also have other members who have worked for the same client and can shed some light on your queries.

So in conclusion, from my experience, it isn't unprofessional to ask questions - as long as you ask them in a professional way - and the end product could end up in a better working relationship, a better finished product and ultimately more work.

Take a break!

Being freelance can sometimes be lonely. You don't have the contact with others that you would have if you were employed in an office (in some cases that can be a good thing :-) ), you sometimes don't even get outside during daylight hours and even Facebook can be lonely if none of your friends are online (although it's an indispensable and addictive lifeline when they are). I only work part time, having a 3 year old at home, but with nursery closed and lots of deadlines I've been shut off from the outside world for what seems like forever!

So yesterday I tentatively took up one of my new years resolutions and headed to the gym for an hour before starting work - and realised only visiting 3 times in 2 months has really affected my fitness levels! Feeling a little braver this morning I took the plunge and ventured to the local toddler group to reconnect with people I haven't seen for weeks and give allow my 3 year old to run around (in the hope that he sleeps through tonight - still not luck on that front). Having had that break, and a chance to talk to actual people (rather than by email and instant message), I was able to concentrate on the tasks in hand this afternoon and I was a much calmer mummy.

It's made me realise that I need to add a few new years resolutions to my list - to make a few more coffee mornings with local mums, chat when I do the nursery pick up, make my local SfEP meetings (I made one last year) as meeting up with other freelance editors and proofreaders is always beneficial and most importantly to take a break every so often (with or without the chocolate bar!).