I have found some solace in a Starbucks that was well designed –An outlet every three feet. Miracles! This place is packed, too. Took me 30 minutes to get four miles away because most of the roads are closed thanks to downed trees and power lines. The main highway is bumper-to-bumper and going very slooooow…..

Congrats on being so close to your target! I'm hoping once I get power back (sitting in Burger King today — hooray for free WiFi!), I'll be able to take on more work. As it is, this ice storm has taken a chunk out of my marketing and projects.

Paula, not a bad start to your January, actually. I think you probably felt less productive than the numbers suggest. 🙂

Maybe no power until Saturday or Sunday, so I'm on another quest — to drag wood in, dry it out best I can, and keep the fire going. Oh, and running out now and then to recharge the phone and Surface. 🙂

My January started with a crawl. I had tons of assignments, but almost no one I needed to interview was back from the holidays until mid-January! I was also fighting a cold/flu that seemed to last forever thanks to shoveling snow in the bitter cold. I know I'm not alone in that!

Queries: Only sent two. My editor replied quickly to note they already had very similar stories in progress – she'd been at a photo shoot for one of those stories earlier that same day. But she kindly noted the were great ideas and I was right on target.

LOIs and "warm emails" (I love that phrase, Cathy): After one of my other favorite editors changed careers in January, I sent an LOI to his replacement. She said she would have assignments for me soon. I also sent some "warm emails" wishing a happy new year to editors I worked with last year but hadn't been in contact with for a few months.

Existing Clients: Turned in two columns, three articles and 36 executive bios to three separate clients. Have 5 articles currently in progress for three clients.

New Clients/Referrals: A former resumé client referred one of her relatives my way. And while it's not a paying gig, I was invited to speak at a local writers' meeting about the ins and outs of freelance writing.

Social Media: I haven't really tracked it, but I added a couple new LinkedIn connections in January and have made an effort to engage in more discussions there. I'm toying with joining Tumblr…anyone have pros or cons to share?

Earnings: While my January income was a hair more than my 2013 monthly goal, it was about 10% under my new 2014 monthly goal.

Bottom Line: I need to focus on marketing despite having five articles all due by the end of the month.

LOIs – I sure did not match your volume, Lori. Wow. I did a combination of LOIs and warm emails (emails to contacts I know). I sent a total of 10. One LOI later had an ad on LI that I stumbled across & we have exchanged 4 emails since. It's looking good for multiple projects. Yay!

Existing clients – I'm happy to say they finally seem to be coming out of the vacation hold. One delivered blog posting contract, another a resource document project, and another 2 articles for a newsletter. Another existing client has an ongoing blog project.

New clients A former client (from 3 years ago) returned for a small project. I have one prospect I started talking to in January who I am fairly certain will deliver work this month.

Social media I always touch base with my LI contacts at the start of a new year. Just a Happy New Year type of message-nothing else. It tends to help remind them what I do. Had a few follow-up conversations so we'll see if anything comes from it.

Earnings As I said, the month ended strong. I fell only $500 short of target (ack-one more project). 🙂

Bottom line-I am relieved to be getting back on track and hope to keep building on my progress.