I agree – if they dictate your time, it's a deal-breaker.

Thanks, Stacey. I think once I look beyond the emotional garbage, my May was a lot like yours – things are now set up for June and July.

Kim, I'm very glad your May was so awesome! And I knew what you meant. 🙂

Paula, ouch! Taxes. I'd forgotten. Aren't the federals due this month instead of July? I hate that we pay them April then two months later. Really hate that.

Job Ads – Didn't reply to any, but spotted a promising one today.

Queries – Sent a batch of ideas to one of my regular editors, and sent a timely idea off to a magazine I've yet to write for.

New Clients – None.

Existing Clients – Assignments dropped off sharply from a newish client. This was after some high praise of my work, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I checked in with her, and she said summer is a traditionally slow period for them, but it should pick back up in a couple of months.

I also checked in with another client that was supposed to be ramping things up in May. She replied saying their site was under new ownership, and they *might* be looking for story ideas "later in the year."

I e-mailed a couple of my regular editors to see if they needed ideas for some upcoming issues. Neither did, but one of them said he was waiting for a "capsule" from me (basically three to six sentences on the pros and cons of top TV shows' seasons). Problem is he hadn't assigned it, as a quick glance at our previous e-mail exchanges proved. I was able to knock that out in less than an hour, and he immediately assigned a second one, which he had in hand within about 20 minutes. Had I not e-mailed to see if he needed anything, I would have missed those assignments (worse yet, he might have thought I'd blown a deadline for something he'd never assigned!). Those capsules earned me enough to splurge on a few gorgeous flowers for my front porch and window boxes, plus a couple of herbs for my new mini kitchen garden.

I was about to e-mail a third editor when she called me. She said the magazine is trying a new format for the front-of-the-book – more super short pieces "like all the other magazines are doing now." She liked the ones I did for the previous issue, so she assigned three. They're 200-words or less, single-interview pieces, she said e-mail interviews were fine. She also assigned a slightly longer article for the same issue. Quick turn-around, minimal research/transcribing, and maximum pay. I can handle that! I especially love that she took the time to compliment me on my knack for writing pithy pieces.

Output: Turned in two articles and the two quick capsules. Wrote three blogposts and four columns.

Marketing plans: Spent a couple hours this weekend revamping my resume (so much harder than doing someone else's resume!), and will include it with my reply to the job ad I spotted today. While updating my resume, I wanted to include blogging experience, but didn't think three posts per month was enough. So I began kicking around ideas for my own blog. After I start and manage a blog, I'll be more comfortable listing "blogging experience" on my resume.

Earnings: Paltry. Almost $900 under my target, but it really hurt since I paid the first installment of my property taxes this week.

I took it pretty easy Saturday. Sunday I bought and planted all those flowers (90 degrees? I was having so much fun planting flowers to care! Okay, so most of the time I was in the shade, and there was a nice breeze). After the sucky-sucky month of May, I was tempted to work all weekend, but limited myself to revamping the resume and writing one blog post. This afternoon I might actually read. For me, that's a big deal.

May was full of promise for me and I'm hoping it is a sign of more good things to come. Here is to a great summer for all of us! 🙂