www.inkthinkerblog.com — 7:30 a.m. — Husband’s alarm goes off, kitties realize that I’m still in bed and swarm me, purring loudly, while I attempt valiantly to continue sleeping.
8:15 a.m. — Admit defeat on the sleep thing and am coerced to make a ham sandwich for hubby. (I don’t mind making his lunch, but touching ham at 8:15 a.m. is disgusting. Note to self: Buy roast beef next time.)
8:40 a.m. — Dressed (but casually), I settle in my armchair with my laptop. Isabel (the small cat) settles across my wrists. (Note to self: Acquire more ergonomic pets.) Tackle e-mail and dive into final phase of major book project due today.
8:45 a.m. — Am struck by sudden nostalgia for first thing in the morning at the office, call coworker and chat about our weekends for 10 minutes. Motivation returns, hard work begins.
10:30 a.m. — Break for leisurely breakfast of Cheerios and a banana (finally, real breakfast on a weekday morning!), while clipping coupons (which I actually enjoy).
11:15 a.m. — Phone call from my mother: “Am I interrupting you at work? Good.”
12:00 p.m. — Phone call from potential client in Richmond looking for short-term on-site help.
12:10 p.m. — Phone call to friend at the office to tell her about it.
1:51 p.m. — The service person who was supposed to arrive at 1 to adjust my water filter has not arrived. Call and speak with someone who doesn’t care and I’m pretty sure doesn’t write down my phone number. No one calls me back.
2:51 p.m. — Still no one. Call again and am told that the general manager is “15 minutes out” and will get back to me ASAP.
3:51 p.m. — Still no one. Call again and pitch a small fit. The girl who answers the phone mumbles something about a conference call. Does Mrs. King want to leave a message. “Yes, the same message I already left twice, except this time please tell him that Mrs. King is getting irate and would really appreciate a return phone call as soon as possible since she’s already wasted three hours waiting for his person to show up without so much as a phone call or an apology from any of the three people I’ve spoken with today.” (Evidently freelancing makes me feisty.)
4:00 p.m. — Finish the book project and e-mail the files. Moments later, get an e-mail from the client asking me the status of the manuscript. After brief phone call, discover that the e-mails are bouncing back because the files are too big. Burn them onto 3 CDs (they were HUGE!) and head to FedEx. (Note to self: Look into FTP site possibilities–how to get one and how much it will cost.)
4:30 p.m. — Notice that Starbucks is conveniently located right next to FedEx. Take advantage of the situation and settle in the sunshine with a blackberry green tea blended latte (how fancy!) and a Janet Evanovich book for half an hour. Pet a puppy that looks like the littler dog from Where the Red Fern Grows.
5:00 p.m. — I e-mail some notes to the book client before going back through my inbox again and hitting the writing forum for a few minutes. Make lunch dates with two local freelancers whom I’ve met before, and do a little happy dance in celebration of the fact that not commuting means that I can have a life again.
Around 6 p.m. — Start making dinner. Realize I should have started before I was hungry. Eat two cookies. Forget to make rice until the salmon is ready. Get caught up in a special on the National Geographic Channel and forget to take rice off the stove. Save it before it burns. (Note to self: Learn to cook.)
Time to move on to a short story for a friend of mine and then call it a night! I think a glass of wine is in order–time to celebrate!
Yours ’til the ink wells,
Kristen
__________________________________________
Talk is cheap. Good writing is priceless.
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King
Comments on this entry are closed.
Aboslute heaven!
By the way, with the service person who did not show up — write a letter to the head of the company with your complaint and CC your local BBB.
You’ll be surprised how fast they hop to it.
Sorry for the deletion, folks. For some reason, Devon’s comment came through three times and I was only able to head one off at the pass.
Kristen
Hooray! Kristen’s made it to the “Big Time”! Welcome to freelancing full-time, toots. The ranks of freelance writers will be better for it!
Loved your story. It’s much like my days, actually. Minus that luscious cup of tea, though! Guess what I’m ordering at Starbucks tomorrow? :))
Hello and congrats for having such a well organized blog. I’ve been working as a freelancer for a few years now, and I gradually eliminated the flaws and mistakes any newbie freelancer makes. Here are some of my thoughts: there are plenty of freelancing websites that offer free subscription, so you can try your luck with one of those. Of course, if you want to have less competition and access to better paid projects, try a subscription paid web site. You can then select the categories where you believe you are skilled in. Ranging from coding, beta-testing, graphic and web design and going to translations, content writing and data base management, you will definitely find a freelance category that will go well with your skills.
I also wanted to put together a free guide for beginners in the online freelancing world – you can check it out by reading my guide on the pros and cons of online freelancing I’d be happy to receive suggestions as to how to improve my guide and informative articles.
Thanks,
Michael Rad
Webmaster of Web2earn.com
Thanks for your comment, Michael. It looks like your site is a great overview for someone considering a freelance career, regardless of the field. Nice resource.
Kristen