Cathy, that's one hell of an accomplishment!

The only catch? Few of those invoices send in October have yet been paid.

Queries: Sent two, one was assigned, due early 2016.

LOIs: None. I know. Shame on me.

Social Media: Got some good social media interactions/traction out of a couple of articles that ran in November.

Job Postings: Only replied to one. A baking-related listing at a well-known company. No reply, of course.

Referrals: Zero.

Existing Clients: Wrote four columns. Picked up a couple new assignments.

New Clients: Zero.

Earnings: My actual income was way less than half my modest monthly goal. That would sting if I didn't have a big stack of invoices that should be paid this month – enough for December's earnings to be double my goal. (That said, one of them, for a new-to-me client is paid on final acceptance; the editor said all articles typically have a revision before, but my piece was pushed from January to March, so they haven't yet requested the revision…and that's a big check. If it doesn't come until 2016, I'm fine with it. Let it be a good start for the new year.) The dollar amount of the new invoices I sent in November was just $700 shy of my monthly goal. Not too bad for a slow month.)

Bottom Line: Looks as if I'll end 2015 with a strong quarter, despite the holidays. I need to continue that trend throughout 2016.