See you on the other side

I had this weekend off, which was nice, but tomorrow begins the first of three weeks that will be the busiest of the summer.  I don't expect I'll be posting much during this time.  It'll probably be all I can do just to keep abreast of all my paying work.

I was glad for the weekend off, though.  I haven't had a day off in a while, let alone two in a row.  It allowed me to get some things done that I hadn't had a chance to do recently.

A contract isn't slavery

Someone I know was venting this weekend about the real estate agent who listed her house taking Sundays off.  I was appalled at the seemingly automatic expectation that the agent should be at her beck and call, no matter what she wanted or when.  (All she wanted was an update on her house's listing... and it had only just been listed this week.)

I felt a little defensive for the real estate agent's sake, and I realized it was because I've encountered that attitude in clients myself: the notion that just because they hired me to do a certain job, it means that they own all of my time.  One client, for instance, wanted me to be on chat all day long, so that I was at his beck and call any time he wanted.  And he was paying me for a fairly small contract, not anything close to a full-time job.

A contract is not slavery.  It does not give you the right to make unlimited demands on my time.

So let's talk about what you can expect from a contract.

Last day of Camp NaNoWriMo

Today is the last day of the second session of Camp NaNoWriMo 2015.

I've already "won" for July, but I still plan on joining my friends tonight (coincidentally, Fridays are writers group nights) in cramming the last few words in before midnight.

I also have resumed revision work on one of my novels in the last couple of days, so I consider that a win too, although that is less to do with Camp NaNoWriMo and more to do with another writer friend pushing me to be productive.

I would prefer not to

I'm having a Bartleby moment.  Remember Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" -- the scribe who slowly and passive-aggressively began to resist doing anything for his employer?

I currently don't feel like doing anything.  As Bartleby would say, "I would prefer not to."

Camp NaNoWriMo: Finally, a win!

I started this week off on a high note: I "won" Camp NaNoWriMo, achieving my meager goal of 10,000 words of blogging in July.

It may not sound like much, especially when compared to November's 50,000-word goal, but to me this represents a huge accomplishment.

Busier and busier

I have been counting down until the end of summer, and was so glad to have a week off coming up just before summer ends, but it turns out that's not to be: It turns out the kids' schedules changed since they gave me my schedule, and they never thought to change it with me until I asked.

I'm a bit disappointed, but I guess the extra hours can't hurt.  And I can handle another week, especially since summer is almost over.  What's one more week?

On sleeping (or not)

I've been using Sleep Cycle for about six months now (click here for a more detailed review of Sleep Cycle).  After half a year's worth of data, I'm beginning to see certain patterns.  Specifically, my average night's sleep is about six and a half hours.  What's scary about that is how many nights I must be getting considerably less than six hours, in order to balance out the nights when I get more.

There are other trends that are worrisome.