I love your blog, by the way – it's one of the few writing blogs in my RSS feed that I read for the pleasure of it, rather than because I feel I should for professional reasons. Your brave, heart-on-sleeve discussions of terrible clients and the trials and tribulations of finding work in the current climate really strike a chord.

Kathy, they know I'm thinking of going on vacation – I've been inundated since deciding to take the time to relax! And once you're in that relaxation mindset, boy, is it tough to drop it to go back to work!

Paula, I like contacting regular clients, too. I contacted a client this week. She's been on my mind and I do miss working with her. Since her one client dried up a few years back, we haven't worked together directly, but through one of her counterparts. I asked how she was because I really wanted to know. If work comes of it, fine. If not, fine. I didn't seek her out for that reason. Odd, but you develop a rapport with someone and often that will extend beyond the work.

Wendy, I'm really sorry about your brother. Under the circumstances, how could you take work? I'm sure people understand. If not, who would work for those kinds of people? I had a client disappear when they pulled a hard line as my father-in-law was dying. If they can't understand my priorities are with people and NOT with workers comp articles, they can take their business elsewhere. I bust my hump under normal conditions. When I can't, they should understand why.

I hate that, Joseph! The minute you commit to a huge project, here comes another and another and…. yes, it's great to be popular. Not so great when it's all at once!

WordVixen, pretend your novel is being posted on Squidoo. 🙂 Seriously. Write it in a doggone window if you have to. Then paste it into Word. 😉

Katharine, it's our eternal struggle, isn't it? We want the work so badly. We get it, then we want the time to write what WE want to write. That time comes, then we're too broke to do it! LOL I'm glad you're doing so well. It does my heart good to hear it!

Of course, maybe I haven't been stressing out about work because I've got plenty of it. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

I actually would be quite happy for your problem. I'd love to be able to focus more on fiction — though I usually spend most of my free time with my horse. :o)

The second I started actually making money off of my sites is when people started contacting me to ask me to write for them! *lol* Since they're friends, I'll occasionally do jobs for them, but I haven't hung my shingle back out yet. We'll see…

Meantime, I really should work on my novel, too. It seems so much easier to write when it's broken down into little sections like on HubPages and Squidoo.

Meanwhie, as your friend said, you switch hats (I actually do have different hats. Good thing there isn't a webcam here.) I got a reasonably large grant in March to finish a play and mount two public readings — and that's when the jobs starting rolling in. Haven't written a &%^* word!

Since I wasn't in the right frame of mind I had to decline them. There's no way I could get into the mindset I needed to write for them then. I explained it to them and they moved on to someone else to finish their projects.

The positive part that came out of it is that someone who was at the funeral heard me give my speech and contacted me later on for a speech writing project. So, it does seem that when your mind is elsewhere, they take that moment to come to you.

For now, I'm down to one article. I've got several queries out, have replied to some leads for editing job, just entered a short film script into a contest, and am about to compile some story ideas for the next issue of one of my regular markets. Perhaps it's time for me to take Devon's approach and focus on another script or some of my textile projects (one goal is to establish an Etsy.com "store" this fall, and I'll need some inventory).

Something I've noticed through the years is that immediately after I pay bills or am forced to purchase or repair a major appliance, more assignments seem to come my way.

Now to answer your questions, yes, it's precisely when I decide to go to a writing conference or partake in a month-long writing challenge that work starts flooding in. It's almost like they sense I won't be available so they better catch me while they can. As for my most successful marketing approach, it's getting in touch with former clients I haven't worked with in a while. Even when they don't have any immediate projects themselves, that strategy puts me in the forefront of their minds. I recently gained a referral to a new client that way.

The great thing about what we do is that we can be as productive in "slumps" as we are during business times — it's just the timing of the payments that's different. Eventually, it pays — just not within 30 days.