The good news? The big check from Favorite Editor arrived in today's mail. And my sister is feeling well enough to have her dogs back at home.

Sounds like the timing is perfect for you, Wade. If you get the gigs now, summer will be busy and lucrative!

Paula, thank goodness for a healthy savings account. Just think what April will look like with all those checks rolling in. 😉

Both Sides, I'd totally forgotten it was on the iPod! Nice little surprise.

Kim, that would make me nervous, too. I could live with one-third of the monthly coming from one client if the other two-thirds are regular work, too.

And I'm glad you liked the webinar. 🙂 Remember to ask questions in the forum! We're there to help.

I've been invoicing and crunching the numbers for March. I did better than February and a lot better than March 2011. Unfortunately, one client contributed significantly to my bottom line due to lots of projects, but that makes me nervous. I just can't afford to rely too much on one client.

I had no new clients last month. All of this is evidence that I got lazy and wasn't marketing enough. I have to think long-term success, so I created a new plan and I'm working it daily.

LOVED Anne & Lori's webinar about trade pubs. A lot. I plan to query a couple this week that I've been eyeing for a while.

Bottom line: I'm happy about my earnings, but going forward need to market more for new business, and get back into the habit of doing follow ups.

Cathy, I'll do the demonstrative dance for you. 🙂 I'm the same about taxes. They scare the bejeezuz out of me even when I pay them on time and in full.

Let me rescue it, Wade. Sorry!

March was incredibly busy for me – at one point I knocked out six articles in one week. Yet the grand total of payments I received wouldn't have been enough to buy a month's worth of groceries. Luckily I had enough in my checking account so I didn't need to dip into savings. On the bright side, the hefty check for five of those six articles should arrive any day. That will cover April bills and taxes. (I hope it will cover both what I owe and the 1Q payment.)

Queries – One targeted query to an existing editor. No reply.

LOIs – sent fives LOIs (three or four to custom publishers) and followed up on an LOI I sent to another custom publisher after seeing a new job listing by them seeking freelance writers and editors. No replies as yet.

Job Listings – replied to two listings last week, so no replies yet.

Existing clients – turned in one long article to the Late Payer (who claims to have a new, faster payment process in the works), five articles to Favorite Editor, three columns, and am currently working on one long article for another long-time client. Business seems to be picking up for another old client, who contacted me recently to see if I'd be available to take on some work.

New Clients – none.

Referrals – none.

Earnings – see above.

Bottom line – as proud as I was to have kept up with LOIs while slammed with so much work, I need to increase the number of queries, too.

March for me was met with a finally. Income exceeded target by 30 percent. Of course, February stunk so the happy dance isn't quite as demonstrative.

Keeping up with my visibility campaign and some freebies I wanted to get done. All part of the master plan. 🙂

No new clients and I'd like to try to establish another anchor client. So will be working on that. Two anchor clients have picked up the projects, so that's good.

Can't wait to get past tax time-paying again-despite me paying at least 15 percent each quarter last year. Sigh. And I will be getting hit with some major health care bills. Nothing serious (healthwise-it just ain't cheap).

So, hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to work I go. Have a great week, everyone.

Two pleasant surprises of note: A consulting company that's been pretty steady became even steadier (and more voluminous). Lots of it has been rush, but I dig rush…probably more than most people. This week, I need to jam out a case study on a big player in green energy (not Solyndra, ha).

And I just got the call last week to edit a 2nd version of a compilation-style book that I worked on last year–with a 50% rate hike. Woohoo!

Had a publisher state that some work is coming my way soon and a previous client has some website work. However, they were slow on payment, so I'm not sure if I'll take it. Not much happened in March, but I was busy with my other job and family. We are taking furlough days this week, so I will market my butt off. I feel like things are going to take off this spring and roll right into summer.

Keep us posted on how many gigs come from this conference, Lori. I remember you stated that last year wasn't as successful as you hoped. Hopefully, this year will be better.