Ah! Then you know. 🙂 You really DO need to go north! It’s stunning there.

Two trips — one was supposed to be in August (annual clan meeting) and the other in December (Australian friends wanted to spend holidays with us there). Once you do get to go (and you definitely should!), you’ll fall in love. It’s a wonderful place, good people.

You’ll get there. 🙂

Oh, great point, Devon!

Unless you get the putzes who have never hired anyone, have no business trying to, and see your resume, which is loaded with experience in their industry, and don’t see that one thing they think they need. That happened to me at least once. The woman was clearly not seeing that hey, I’ve been writing in your industry for 14 years (at the time), but let’s quibble about my not having exact experience in that particular piece of insurance that hey, has the same risks as this related piece, which I’ve written about endlessly….

Sometimes the problems just weed themselves out for you, huh? 😉

“Personally, I’m stretched beyond my abilities at this point.”–me, too. I decided that without my release of tension–travel–I have to start putting limits on work. I’ve been so stressed and tense that I’m useless on weekends. I just want to veg. So work has to shift back.

Two trips to Scotland? I bet you’ve seen on my FB page that I’ve been doing a lot of longing to travel to Scotland. I’m reading several mysteries set there, and it’s making me remember there’s a lot of that country I haven’t seen!

Ah, travel. I miss thee.

Gabriella, I think that’s wise. Besides, your shortest-term client relationship is pretty darned long. I’d say if they’ve not budged yet, they’re probably riding this out well. Again, that can all change (don’t we just love building businesses on shifting sand?), but for now, I think you’re making the best decision. I don’t think you’re foolish at all.

Personally, I’m stretched beyond my abilities at this point. Marketing that I started in January had to stop almost immediately once the pandemic closed office doors.

You still network, right? If you stay in front of the potential clients, it makes it easier to reach out to them when your work starts to dwindle, in my opinion. For example, I’ve continued my networking on LinkedIn and Twitter. I have no ask. I just share what’s interesting and within my niche. I’ve chatted with contacts at a few of those companies — at their prompting, not mine.

To me, that’s laying a good foundation. Or a safety net, if need be.

I have a twist question on your post: I know you argue that writers should always, always be marketing. I get it. But.

I’m like you–booked beyond capacity. And I’m turning down work to stay sane.

Therefore, I’m not marketing.

And it’s entirely possible a big, long-term client could drop me for budget reasons.

Should I be worried I’m not marketing? I’m not. I’ve been doing this 15 years. All of my clients are project based, meaning that every Monday I do this for one client, and every month, I do that for another client, and on and on. They’re also long-term; the shortest business relationship I have is five years.

I’m telling myself that my clients have given no indication they’re shifting and that I’ll find new work if that happens.

Am I being complacent? Foolish? I ask myself that often.