End-of-summer countdown

We're well past the middle of summer now, around the point where I generally start counting down until the kids go back to school.  Summers are already busy for me, but this summer has been a whirlwind, with much of my time occupied with just trying to stay afloat.

Somehow, I'm managing to work full-time hours at my nanny job, maintain my side babysitting jobs, and maintain my part-time freelance workload.  And this month, I'm even keeping up on Camp NaNoWriMo goals (although admittedly, I'm only aiming for 10,000 words, and I'm using Camp to motivate me to blog, which is easier than motivating me to pick up a novel with a cold trail).

Clients don't last forever

One of the most challenging things as a freelancer is understanding that your business is always changing, so you can't ever stop really looking for work.

It's easy to become complacent, especially when you have a good group of regular clients.  But this morning I was served a timely reminder that I shouldn't become too dependent on them, no matter how awesome they are.

More on working comfortably

The other day I blogged about relieving back pain while sitting and working all day.  Working from home, we have more options than most office workers, but it's still an issue.

I did promise a blog post about a related article, so here it is:

How A Bigger Lunch Table At Work Can Boost Productivity

Apparently, lots of big companies have discovered that employees are more productive when they work in nontraditional offices.

Camp Chaos

The last few days have been chaotic, so much so that I feel like I'm emerging from a long tunnel of darkness.  I thought it had been much longer since I'd had a chance to blog, but in truth it's only been since mid-week, just a few days.

I had a much busier vacation week than anticipated, for one thing -- primarily because I had an on-again, off-again client unexpectedly assign me extra work for the week, but also because I ended up with a lot of plans for the week, both social and otherwise.

Freelance writers: How do you avoid back pain from sitting?

I saw this story recently on NPR:

Lost Posture: Why Some Indigenous Cultures May Not Have Back Pain

It made me think about how writers, as well as other office workers who are stuck at a desk all day, often suffer back fatigue from sitting so much.  Ergonomic chairs and other approaches only seem to help so much.

Musings on masters degrees

Today I'm on my old college campus with a friend of mine, who just transferred here from community college to finish his degree.  It's been a couple years since I've been down here, and it's always so refreshing to visit.  I loved this campus, and I loved college.  My three and a half years here were far too short.

Being here has me thinking again about masters degrees.  I tossed around the idea of pursuing one years ago, but ultimately decided not to, partly because I'm busy and partly because I feel like it wouldn't be all that beneficial to my career.

Maybe the latter isn't necessarily true, though.

Deadline crunch time: What's not to love?

I love being a writer and I love freelancing.  Don't get me wrong.  But along with the feast-or-famine income, there are insanely busy days to offset the days where you can rearrange your schedule to, say, get your oil changed or have lunch with a friend who's in from out of town.

Today has been one of the former kind, the insanely busy variety, and it's not over yet -- I'm just here to take a brain break

I actually ended up having to rearrange my schedule in order to devote the day to meeting deadlines.  I'm just grateful that today, of all days, I could do that, since I'm off from my nanny job this week.