I'm sure you noticed that I've been posting sporadically lately. Part of that is because I've been quite busy launching and maintaining my new blogs and websites, but another big part is because I took some time off last week.

Michael had taken the entire week off, and although I had intended to continue to work, it didn't quite happen that way. Instead, we did things such as visiting a horse rescue and walking the dogs a lot. We didn't work in the yard or take a day trip to the mountains as we'd planned, but mostly just hung out instead.

It was really nice to do virtually no work for 9 days in a row. When I sat down to work on Monday, I noticed a very clear difference: I felt refreshed and eager to work, rather than the project-dread and desire to procrastinate that I had apparently become accustomed to.

I guess a vacation now and then is good for the soul. It's something to keep in mind, because I don't often take breaks from work — my laptop even goes with me on trips. From what I hear, I'm not the only writer who approaches work this way, so this is a good reminder: Give yourself a break every once in a while!

Labels: burnout

In my posts about my working Labor Day and my unsuccessful attempts at a vacation, I mentioned my Big Project. I think I mentioned this a little while back, but I had a big project that I accepted over the summer. I had done the same project last year, and found it way more tedious and exhausting than the pay justified. By the time they asked me in March to do the project again this year, though, I had completely forgotten how miserable I was last summer, and I accepted.

This project has been a thorn in my side since June. The paychecks have been hefty, but still not enough when you consider the amount of work I have put into earning them. I figure if I would have focused solely on this project, it would have been a month's work of work, easily -- but the client wanted it in two weeks, initially. Ha! And even if they had been reasonable and given me a month, I can't just go and ditch the rest of my clients for an entire month!

Ultimately, the project took three months to complete (while maintaining my other clients), and that was with a lot of weekends and evenings worked. I've been looking forward to having it done for a long time now, but since I didn't finish Thursday (my self-imposed deadline, but one I shared with the client), I felt I needed to continue working over the weekend. Then, to make matters worse, the client contacted me around midday on Monday with revisions he wanted the same day.

By the time yesterday rolled around, I was so burned out that I took all day to do something that should have taken only two to three hours. As a result, I was depressed and lethargic for most of the evening. Michael suggested we celebrate, but I couldn't even bring myself to do that -- somehow, I just couldn't shake the feeling of the project looming over me. After all, that's where it's been for the past three months!

Realistically, I should have at least a few days off now that it's over, to allow myself to recover before I launch myself back into other client projects. However, it doesn't seem like that will happen, as I still have plenty of work to keep me busy -- probably for several weeks.

Labels: burnout, freelancing, holidays

I spent several hours this morning and afternoon pruning the lilac bushes that surround our yard. They create a really great privacy screen, especially on the south border of our yard, where the fence is just a low picket fence. However, the bushes on that side are probably thirty years old (at least), and have rarely been pruned, if ever. The result is a tangled mass of overgrown lilacs -- pretty in summer, because they leaf out so thickly, but quite ugly for the rest of the year.

I meant to prune the lilacs last year, but I didn't get around to it early on, except for one lone bush. Naturally, that bush looks the prettiest and bore the most flowers this year. So I'm trying to be a good little gardener this year and take care of our pretty lilacs. The trick is to prune them around the right time -- lilacs need to be pruned right after the flowers bloom, because the plant starts making next years blooms almost right away. Our lilacs finished blooming only a week or two ago, so it's now or never.

As I was pruning (with gusto, I might add -- I was never big on working in the yard, but oddly enough, I enjoyed this), I started thinking about my work. I've been really dragging lately, and it seems I have more ideas for books (fiction and nonfiction) than ever. Since I started freelancing, I've been saying to myself, "When I have more time I'll work on my stories," or other promises along those lines. Of course, I never seem to have enough time, and except for NaNoWriMo last November, I haven't made time, either.

The last couple of days, I've been kind of toying with the idea of cutting back some of my freelance work and devoting more time to writing stories, novels, and nonfiction books. And of course, as an avid reader and writer who thinks in metaphors (don't we all?), I started thinking about how pruning the lilacs was kind of like what I want to do with my business. I'd like to move on to higher-paying work, so that I can spend less time doing it and devote the extra time to other types of writing. I have a few regular clients that I'm not going to give up at this point, even though they pay me at "last year's rates," but I'm not going to take on any more at those levels.

I've also thought about how to work a little fiction- or book-writing into my regular work day. The usual idea -- making myself do the paying work first, and doing the fun stuff if I have time at the end of the day -- isn't going to work for me, because it's just likely to make me start staying up later and later every night. Instead, I think I'm going to give myself a certain block of time every morning to work on my current story or book project. The reason I think this will work better is because I tend to diddle around for an hour or two, blogging or checking up on my favorite blogs to "warm up" before I get to work. My idea is to replace that time with writing the stuff that really gets my fingers flying -- it should be a more effective way to warm up, anyway.

Of course, I don't feel I'm quite ready to start that schedule. Right now I have a few projects that I need to get out pronto -- I've had a hard time being productive since we got back from the honeymoon, and a few things have piled up. Besides, the very first thing I want to do is to revise my NaNo novel, and I want to take Stephen King's advice and read over it all in one day.

Once I get going with the new schedule, I have a few projects in mind. One is an ebook, another a chick lit type of novel, not to mention a handful or so of other ideas in the works. I'll announce my little projects as I start on each.

Wish me luck with my "pruning" and rejuvenation!

Labels: burnout, business, clients, ebooks, freelancing, goals, home sweet home, miscellaneous, NaNoWriMo 2006, novel writing

Last night -- Friday night -- I worked another all-nighter. From 1am to 8am, I worked on finishing the copy for a client's website. (Sadly, as a result I slept until 4pm -- goodness knows what this will do to my schedule.)

I've decided to take the weekend off -- something I haven't actually done in what feels like eons. Usually, if I'm not working all weekend I'm trying to find time to work all weekend. As productive as I have been recently -- increasing my billable work hours each week, completing the backlogged work I have been accumulating -- I feel I deserve a little break. (And no, it actually doesn't have anything to do with Easter being this weekend.)

Anyway, Monday will be here soon enough, so I'm off to read a little and enjoy my reprieve.

Labels: burnout, freelancing, goals, holidays, R and R

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was having a hard time recovering from getting burned out. Since then, my productivity has been gradually on the rise, but it wasn't until just a few nights ago that I felt like I was close to where I was before.

Despite Monday being a holiday, I have felt very productive this week. I've accomplished most of my goals every day, and I've resumed searching regularly for new work. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Labels: burnout, freelancing, job search, miscellaneous