Ditching Clients

I've been debating about whether to ditch a client or not. It's the one I've talked about here and here (and the last project was just to awful for the blog). It isn't the work that bothers me but the lack of communication and unprofessionalism of the company I do the work for (they are a prepress company). A couple of weeks ago it was the last straw and I wasn't going to work for them again but then I got a heartfelt apology (my messages had been sitting in their spam folder) and I got paid within 2 weeks rather than the usual 6. So I'm undecided again - they pay well if I can just suffer the headache...

... also this week a client who I thought had dumped me got back in touch (after a year) and gave me enough work to keep me busy for the next few weeks and a slightly better rate (after some negotiation).

All this comes after really messing up a job for a friend last week. Rushing through to get it done, as other factors had impinged on my time, rather than taking the time to triple check that I had done it properly. Even after a second chance I'd got myself so worked up that I missed the wood for the trees - she deserves a large drink the next time I see her and will probably never ask for a favour again! The OH got a serious talking to but really the blame was all mine.



So a new, improved, more focused Dougalfish is born who is prepared to negotiate for what she wants, will strive for excellence in her work and will say 'no' to clients she can do without ... well that's the theory ;-)

100 Words

A big thank you to Amy for pointing me towards 100 words. It's a real challenge to limit my entries but a worthwhile exercise! The idea is to write 100 words every day for a month - about anything, in any style - but no more and no less.

SAHM or Freelance Editor?

Working from home often means that people don't understand that you are 'working'. You get telephone calls trying to sell you something (rather than buy your services), even worse your mum/sister/MIL/best friend thinks she can call for a 'chat' at any time. My OH also thinks nothing of expecting me to do the cleaning, washing, shopping, nipping to the post office to collect parcels, etc, etc. (okay he expected me to do that when I worked 9-5 too - he was bitterly disappointed back then as well).

Then of course there is trying to work when children are there - as clients believe that you are on the end of the phone, waiting for their call, at their convenience, when ever they decide they need to talk to you. My son's regular refrain is 'can I talk mummy?' repeated at the top of his voice as I move desperately around the house to avoid him AND concentrate on the call. Afterwards I always berate myself for not offering to call back. I was reassured on reading this however I don't think I'll be resorting to this.

Alternative link

It seems my ex-employers website has been redesigned and the link I gave doesn't work. I've searched in vain to find a site with a picture so here's a link to a copy of one of the books on Amazon - unfortunately not one of the facsimile volumes but along the same vein (and I was in charge of this part too).

BGS and the Gutenburg Press

Last Thursday I took part in our local SfEP group's trip to the British Geological Survey in Nottinghamshire. I was busy with work but had promised to go along (my attendance is sketchy at best) and I needed a break so I dragged myself away from the laptop (and the phone - more about that later) for a tedious queue along the M1 and an argument with the SatNav on the Nottingham ring road to a strange university campus type building that houses BGS.

I am so glad I did as the trip included two of my favourite things - fossils and books. In fact more than a couple of us were commenting about how libraries, particularly old libraries, make the little hairs on the back of our arms stand on end. Pre-children we made a trip to Dublin with some friends and while the rest of our party were happy to sit around in bars, sampling the Guinness, the highlight of my trip was the Book of Kells - in fact my 80 year old grandmother went recently on a bus trip and as I enthused that she must go and see it she looked at me rather strangely (she never made it but her trip was more tea shops than pubs). I get as excited as Stephen Fry did at the prospect of seeing a Gutenberg bible on his recent program about it (which was repeated on Friday so will still be available on iPlayer if you didn't catch it). I used to be able to indulge in this excitement in my in-house job as I was the editor in charge of producing this series (amongst others) which, at times involved handling originals to make up the facsimile texts - it made all the problems of dealing with the volume and series editors and the libraries worthwhile to hold history in my hands.

Looking at blogs (such as here and here) and sites by other freelance editors and writers a love of books seems to be a recurring theme. I think most of us would say we do the job because we care about the written (typed) word rather than the author or publisher of the final result!

Facebook and LinkedIn

I'm up to my eyes at the moment (great after the recent dry spell). The reason - because I've had some work from unexpected sources, namely Facebook and LinkedIn.

I've been a fan of Facebook for a while - but a lot of people aren't. There's a lot of discussion out there about whether it is a distraction from work rather than a source of work (and even support). As a freelancer it has been a lifeline as I hook up with other freelancers and we post (talk) about anything and everything but it has also put me in touch with prospective and past work contacts. Equally if I ever need to pass work on it is highly likely I will recommend one of my Facebook contacts because I know more about them.

I've recently signed up to LinkedIn and pop in every now and again to answer some of the questions that people post up. This has led to me linking with more people and some exciting work opportunities. Though there isn't really the social side of Facebook it is a useful tool.

So from my point of view it is worth a try!

Death by Blog

I just came across this and had to share it. Yes it is sad that these prolific bloggers have died but I found the article very tongue in cheek - look at the quotes! - I even checked the date to see if it was posted April 1st :-)