Words on the Page

a freelance writing resource.

Weird Days and Fridays

Wow. Two articles done this week. I’m beginning to feel a bit robotic in my output. Not a bad thing – yet. I’d hate to keep up this pace. As it was, I finished the article at 5:30. And I got up from the computer wanting to exercise outside, but at 88 degrees and about that amount of humidity, the best I could do was yoga and some aerobics by the television. Better than nothing.

I have just two more projects due this month and yes, they’re both stalled. Worse, I have my Ontario getaway planned and I can’t nail down a date until the clients get back to me. If I hear nothing today, I’m sending out a note stating my lack of availability. If they know, they can’t say it was a shock to them.

That means today will be spent on two small projects and tons of marketing. Marketing first – I want to go into September with some purpose.

Yesterday wasn’t just productive – it was weird. It must have been in the air, for it seemed like everything I touched or attempted had some weird vibe to it. Not just yesterday, either. It’s been happening a lot lately.

You know it’s going to be a weird day when:

You nearly put the wrong end of your recorder headphones into your ear. I caught myself in time, but I wonder if the digital recorder would have then translated everything into print? Or reversed my thoughts onto the machine?

You realize a client’s business model is based on erroneous information. It was my lead to one particular project. The client had told me what his business motto was – in another language – and said it was the basis for his entire operation. Only trouble was when I checked it out, I found out the meaning is nowhere near what he thinks it is. There goes that lead. And no, I didn’t/wouldn’t tell him. There’s a chance he misspoke when he talked to me.

Your client has an attack of brutal honesty. I find it refreshing when a client tells me exactly what the story is without trying to put a political spin on it. The one resume client told the truth – he was promised a raise and the cheap bastards didn’t give it (his words). I can work with that! Part of my job is to get the entire story so I can help tell a better one.

Your technology actually works. I finally launched my new website yesterday (LoriWidmer.com). At first, I couldn’t remove my old template. Then I thought to change the file names around. Voila! I fixed it without one call to tech support.

What’s weird in your world these days?

13 responses to “Weird Days and Fridays”

  1. Lori Avatar

    LOL! What's retrograde?

  2. Damaria Senne Avatar

    Mixed up my meetings. Client A cancelled and I thought it was client B who did. So I missed a meeting with one client and had the expected client as a no-show. When I realised what I'd done and contacted Client B to apologise, she said she'd been hectic that day and didn't realise something was off ( I didn't show for a meeting) until later in the day. I don't want to live another day like Thursday any time soon.

  3. Lori Avatar

    Thank goodness she was understanding, Damaria! I did that a few weeks ago – missed the call entirely because I'd put it on the schedule for the wrong day. The PR rep sent me a note and luckily, we still had time.

  4. Debra Stang Avatar

    Everything feels a little weird in my world these days. I just gave up my day job in social work to become a fulltime freelance writer. I'm still trying to get used to how many options freelancing fulltime gives me. Right now, I've found I do my best work between 7:00 AM and 12:00 PM and that I get another spurt of energy around 9:00 PM until sometime after midnight…so, those are the hours I'm working. It seems decadent to read fun books and nap in the middle of the day, but I'm getting all my assignments done, and if it's working, why change it?

  5. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    What's weird in my world? I went to check out your website and got a message that I need to upgrade Flash. But I've got the highest version of Flash that works with my computer.

    (That's yet more incentive to get a new computer – to see Lori's new website. Who needs to pay property taxes, health insurance, quarterly taxes and monthly bills, anyway? Oh right. I do. Rats. A new Mac will have to wait.)

    Honestly, the weirdest thing this week is that I have no paying assignments to work on. I'm still working – sending queries and LOIs, doing market research – but this is the first time in months that I can recall not having at least a little something to work on, even something as quick as a resume. I hate not having paying work to focus on – it's too easy to get distracted.

  6. deeps Avatar

    all is for the good ha?

  7. Lori Avatar

    Congratulations, Debra! Welcome to the roller coaster. 🙂

    Hey, if those hours work for you, I say go for it. My life calls for an 8-to-5 day, but I love my Fridays off (when possible) and getting time to stay in bed on a Monday.

    Paula, I've caused you to have Flash issues? Sorry! I hope you get to see it soon. 🙂

    I'm about to get marketing going in a few minutes. I have two projects left, but September isn't lined up yet.

  8. Cathy Miller Avatar

    Lori: Don't even get me started on weird.

    Just so you know, all I get when I click on your link is a book that says Your story here. Static-can't click-nothing. This is the address http://www.wix.com/lwbean/loriwidmer

  9. Cathy Miller Avatar

    Never mind-got it to work-weird-I tried to click before, figuring it was like turning a page, but couldn't get it to work. Now I did. Clever site. 🙂

  10. Tamara McRill Avatar

    Great new site–especially like the thank-you at the end. That was a nice touch.

  11. Lori Avatar

    Glad you got it to work for you, Cathy. I'm a little worried that folks on older machines can't get the Flash upgrade to see it. I'll see what I can do about that.

    Tamara, thank you! It was fun to make.

  12. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    Lori, I'd be glad to help you test it if you find a way to let the "less flashy" among us (um, me) view your site.

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