I was in a holding pattern in September. No better, no worse than previous months, but hoping to hear back on several things.

October's looking slightly better, though!

After I hung up I tried their special phone line for requesting status updates. The mail box is still full. Operators are still unavailable.

Glad you're recovering nicely!

On the business front, Cathy and Jake prompted me to check my earnings last year. I can't remember my exact earnings last year–and I'm too lazy to check–but I'm pretty sure I'm there or have surpassed them. Good for all of us!

On the query front, I didn't send a single one. I'm in a bit of an unmotivated funk, and I can't seem to snap myself out of it. It's dumb of me, I know.

On the monthly earnings front, I had a good but not a month that makes me burst with pride. I was going gangbusters during the summer, and now fall is less busy. (Refer back to the unmotivated discussion above.)

I did get an unsolicited call from a publishing company asking me if I was interested in doing a six-month-long project management assignment. I am, and they're still considering me.

HOWEVER, that will require a few off-site meetings, which I loathe! Yet I'll do them if I get the green light.

Have a great and relaxing vacation, Lori. You've earned it!

The one downer was the final death rattle of a long-time newsletter client. I knew it was coming, but it still stinks. They cut my business in half last year, now the other 50% went bye-bye when they went bankrupt. But, as always, an illustration of why a freelancer must be diversified! If you want to eat and pay the mortgage, anyhow.

Great news from you as well, Diane! And I'm with you on NaNo. Good luck!

What a delicious dilemma to be in, Kathy. Too many clients and too much work – amen to that! LOL Here's to hoping the offers are accepted in sensible intervals. 🙂

That's just irresponsible of them, Paula. Now just imagine if that were your check lost in their maze – be thankful, I guess!

I've had to follow up on one query multiple times. The high-end magazine insists all queries be submitted via an on=line form. The website states 3 weeks for replies. Some 7 weeks later, still no reply. Two weeks ago I did as directed by their FAQ and e-mailed their articles department for a status update. No reply. I also tried the alternate follow up approach and called the voicemail box set up specifically to handle status update requests. Mail box was full. Operator was unavailable. Argh!

New Clients: Sent one LOI which resulted in an assignment withing 24 hours. It looks like it could become an on-going client, but the amount of work for what they pay means I'll only take assignments from them when I have a bit of time to fill. I'm currently working on my first article for this trade magazine.

Job Postings: Replied to two job postings. (Do I hear crickets?)

Existing Clients: An existing client has been keeping me busy with a flurry of quick projects. I have an article due today for another existing client. I also turned in an article a couple weeks ago for another long-time client.

Only turned in two blog posts (the company I blog for sends me the yarn and patterns for my blog projects, but back-to-back shipping errors meant more than a month for the yarn to arrive).

Turned in four columns.

Earnings: Things are slowly starting to improve, but earnings were still about $500 short of my monthly goal.

Have another $1500 worth of projects invoiced or soon-to-be invoiced.

Enjoy the vacation. You've definitely earned this one!

I made some big decisions, most notably to do with NaNo (to do or not to do and what to do). But I don't seem to have achieved a great deal.

I picked up a new client that pays well, pays on time and looks like one that may turn into long-term.

I also picked up two longer ghostwritten feature articles for a client that was unexpected and there is a chance it could turn into a regular gig with the industry magazine. I already have one regular gig (ghostwritten) with the same magazine for an article every other month-woo-hoo! 🙂