Translation: The actual total of my October "earnings" is less than the grand total of my outstanding invoices. So yeah, the earnings are bad this month.

Walk on, Cathy! Good to hear you got paid on the one right away, but not so great news on that other one. Keep pressing….

My fourth quarter will probably be weak too, Kathy. I love that you're focusing on personal writing. That's something I should do with the free time. And I suspect right before the holidays, you're going to get a lot of urgent requests on those wait-and-see ones.

Good to hear things are improving, Becky. You had that one disappointment with that local company, and I'm glad something else arrived. Probably better conditions anyway.

Poke in other directions too, Gabriella. I think you'll find more work about the time this one decides to get started. Being busy often brings them to your door. 🙂

Hang in there, Paula. Sounds like it's been a short run of bad timing. The earnings aren't bad, even for a bad month.

Queries – I only sent one query in October. I really need to get back on track.

Job Postings – replied to two decent postings. But I don't dig for them. I scan two or three reputable boards every morning and if something looks good, I'll reply. I keep my search time to less than 15 minutes a day. (To be honest, five minutes is closer to it.)

Follow Ups – I checked in with the new editor of a magazine I've written for in the past; she gave me details on what they need for February & March. I sent that one query to her. but have more ideas I'll send her later this week.

Existing clients – One client kept me busy with a lot of little projects I could fit in between larger projects. Love it. I knocked out five columns, but only two blog posts (the knitting blog has been a bit backed up, and with four posts in the queue with dozens of posts from the other bloggers, I felt I could take a break).

My favorite long-time client called a couple weeks back to break the news that their December issue was going to be really short due to budget restrictions, so she couldn't assign any of the stories I'd pitched. She said they loved several ideas and plan to "revisit" them once the 2011 budget kicks in. I thanked her for calling to tell me, since most editors never reply unless they're assigning a story. She said she'd let me know if any little pieces came up. Two days later she had one! A week later, it was turned in. That 350-word-or-less front-of-the-book piece paid more than a 1,200-word article I just finished for another client.

New Clients – I turned in a 1,600-word article to a new client. The 1,200-word article was for another new client (actually the two new clients are different titles owned by the same publishing company, so is that one or two? Two editors, one publisher.). Both pieces were pretty straightforward work, and I'll gladly work with either magazine again, but only when when I filler work. After all, who doesn't want their 1,200-word articles to pay more than a 350-word article?

Earnings – October earnings were low. Too low.

Bottom Line – Things are looking a bit rosier. I have over $2K invoiced, most of which should be paid within the next two or three weeks. While I have a little work in the pipeline, I need to do some serious marketing.

October was good for me income wise, but still not generating enough new business.

Those two sources I spoke with in September have been half-in. One gave me work that I was able to kick out quickly, making their low pay good on an hourly basis.

The second with bigger name and better pay was about ready to give assignments and now has gone silent for a few weeks. I'll keep politely poking him, and we'll see how that works out.

I queried some long-term clients and got a bunch of assignments that way. I like that, but it's crickets in terms of new clients. I'm not giving up, but I'd like to be adding more new clients.

Oh, and as for job postings,like you said, they're all crap. I still look at them, too, but they're really for low-paid writers. I refuse to become one of those!

November may be a wash because I'm losing some hours on one of my steady gigs. But I'm tired of working 6 days a week AND I'm trying to replace it with higher-paying work. So we'll see.

Need to continue to work on getting more referrals. I have a friend who's been sending some my way, but so far none of them have worked out. Usually after they hear my rates. *sigh* (But honestly, they're unqualified leads to begin with, so that's kinda hit or miss most of the time anyway.)

Queries-heard from 2 queries-one asked for a return call this week (on the schedule for today). The other hasn't responded to follow-up.

Clients-one new client surprised me by being slow to pay (paid deposit right away, then slow on balance)= may have lost that one for future projects. Another client where I was supposed to have 2 articles/month, flaked for November, but has a history of doing that. Good news-existing client threw another project my way when I thought we were done for the year.

Marketing-getting ready for 3-Day, 60 Mile Walk for Breast Cancer-yikes 2 weeks from this Friday, so I am hitting marketing hard to get some projects for closing out the year.

Walk on!