Paula – I feel your pain. Sometimes Claritin and Excedrin are the only things getting me through the morning.

I sent five LOIs; no replies, so I will begin following up this week. Sent two quasi queries to a pair of long-time editors. ("Quasi queries," since they e-mail their top writers the broad subject they want to cover, then ask us to offer up specific suggestions. One was assigned. They should make assignments on the other one soon.

I replied to one posting but never heard back. I also saw a job post at a knitting group I belong to. It was writing web copy and pattern decriptions for a small company that design and market knitting patterns. They loved my resume,and I believe they checked out my LinkedIn profile. They sent me a couple of examples and set up a conference call. The call wasn't great,but wasn't horrible, either. I asked all the right questions – a couple of times they actually said, "What a great question – we'll have to think about that and let you know." They asked me to put together a quote for the web copy and get it to them by a specific date. Within an hour they sent a cryptic e-mail telling me not to start working on anything because "we don't feel the call went well." Could that be code for the fact that I expected actual payment, not just "free" yarn? (That's what the blog is for.) When I vented to my sister, she said I probably dodged a bullet, so I should be glad they told me to stop work before I began.

For existing clients I did a series of small projects, wrote four columns, completed two articles, started two more, and fit in a small editing job.

No referrals. No new clients.

Earnings were about $200 above my monthly goal. My campaign to collect past-due payments from a slow-paying publisher seem to be working. Amazing how setting a deadline to heard back by today and adding the words, "…or I will be forced to use alternate means of collecting my fee…" resulted in an immediate reply from the owner, who seemed surprised to sense my "concern" about the lack of payment. Well, d'uh, dude!

They owe me about the same amount as my monthly goal. So if they pay up, I'll be screaming "Yay for May!" too.

Maybe all the rain is a good thing because it's keeping us all buckled in our seats. 🙂

April was a good month for me, too. I gained a new client who has multiple projects – 3 to start with – that looks like they will turn into one of those "anchor clients."

And on that note, one of those anchor clients just sent 3 more projects my way-woo-hoo.

I have my nephew, his wife & 1-year-old baby coming in a couple of weeks so I'm trying to crank out a bunch to have SOME time to spend with them.

Then, that awful class, which I'm still getting over, and starting a good one.

I have a lot to do in the yard, and I have another book to write, so I need to get going. I'd like a nap instead.