Comments on: Monthly Assessment: March 2011

By: Lisa Vella

Lisa Vella — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:07:17 +0000

Lori, right now most of my life is consumed with raising kiddos, but I'm still dabbling in some freelance jobs here and there. In the last couple of months I have been trying to maintain my blog, worked on queries/magazine articles, and have even started a book. Right now, it's all a juggling act, but I am trying to get past my biggest barrier (myself) so that I can be the most productive writer that I can be.

Thanks for asking, and thanks for some great posts here!

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:50:17 +0000

Lisa, I could do better. But thanks for the pep talk. :)

How is your career going? What's working for you? What isn't?

By: Lisa Vella

Lisa Vella — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:22:25 +0000

Wow Lori! Very impressive! You are a prime example of how being committed to your craft will get you where you want to be! I have no doubt that your April will be just as – if not more so – productive as your March. Consider me inspired!

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:15:23 +0000

Sounds like a decent month, Ronda! You have a lot of neat projects in the works.

I've always found gardening to work for me, Eileen. Did you get out over the weekend? Yesterday here was just perfect for it.

LOL! Your spring is coming, Kathy. It takes longer to get up those mountains. :)

By: Irreverent Freelancer

Irreverent Freelancer — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 19:17:57 +0000

The good news is, I already heard back from one prospect. She told me I did very well on the test and she'd like to add me to her copyediting roster. Therefore, the effort seems to have been worth it. Yeah! I also just tallied my March numbers and I did a little better than expected–mid-range of my monthly target. Double yeah! Now if the weather would just warm up, I'd be a happy freelancer. LOL

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 12:13:26 +0000

Lori, I have no specific plans on how to pace myself. But I need to put some in place soon, or I really am going to burn out. Once the weather warms up around here and the sun returns, I'm going to put in a vegetable garden for the first time ever. Perhaps that will be therapeutic.

By: Ronda Levine

Ronda Levine — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 01:15:05 +0000

It was a crazy month – I too did a lot of marketing… my March wrap-up is here: http://www.writingresearchediting.com/blog/what-i-ve-been-working-on-4-1-2011

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 21:03:33 +0000

Ashley, I think I just saw her perform on Palladia (LOVE that channel)! Very cool. Thanks. :)

Kathy, sounds like you-gotta-do-whatcha-gotta-do stuff. I hope you don't have a problem with that slow-paying one. Ugh. I hate relying on payment that doesn't arrive.

Samantha, five good queries that get two hits - terrific! A much better rate of return than my efforts. FYI, I sent out very similar queries to all of those conference exhibitors because the message was the same. I wanted to connect with them at the conference. Easier than it sounds. :)

By: Samantha Bangayan

Samantha Bangayan — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:56:09 +0000

38 queries in a month?! Holy mackerel! It's good to see numbers, so I can aim higher. I sent off 5 queries a couple days ago and got 2 potential hits. =) Woopee! I'll keep it!

By: Irreverent Freelancer

Irreverent Freelancer — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:38:02 +0000

I'm still tally the exact numbers. However, it's going to be an okay month for me...just not quite where I'd like to be. That's mostly because a good chunk of this past week was spent on unpaid work in relation to my marketing efforts, editing tests in particular. I'm not a fan of them, but they're pretty much industry standard. As such, I'll consent if they come from a reputable company and/or (stong emphasis on the and) they're short. I'm hoping such efforts will pay off in the months to come with additional steady assignments, but unfortunately there's no guarantee of that. Oh, and I have a late payer from last month that I suspect is going to be problematic. Fortunately it's a small amount.

Looking into my crystal ball for April, it looks promising. A lot of new and rather large assignments are close to commencing, but I never count them as guaranteed until a final agreement with the client has been reached.