Writer in Idle

What’s on the iPod: Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show

To all veterans everywhere: Thank you. You have made us proud and we won’t forget your sacrifices to keep us safe. Happy Veterans Day.

Some weekend, I might actually not have to travel, work, or move things around. Forget next weekend — we’re driving to Pittsburgh for a football game. After that, we’ll most likely have more squalor in the kitchen. The countertops were cut into and a cabinet removed yesterday. This is getting real.

This week I hope to be a lot busier than I was last week. I had one project that I was able to finish, and I’m still waiting on one that may be dead in the water at this point. The deadline for it was today, and there’s no way I can complete the entire thing in 6 hours. Let me rephrase — I could, but it wouldn’t be my best. I won’t put out anything that isn’t my best if I can help it.

I will be talking with a new client tomorrow, and hopefully I can get some work going in the meantime. I don’t enjoy slow weeks, even if it gives me more time for my personal writing. Still, the poetry course I’m taking is going into its final two weeks, so I do have time to concentrate on that.

These idle times are ones I crave, but tend to avoid as much as possible. To sit idle is to not earn. Even in those months where I meet my earnings goals early, I don’t enjoy sitting still. That’s what happens when you love what you do every day.

I know where it comes from, this unease when things slow down. Back at the start of my full-time freelancing, those breaks in the action would be unexpected and unwelcome. I didn’t plan well. I thought once I was writing and earning, it would all fall into place.

It does — when you work hard at making sure it does.

Over the years, I’ve found ways to reduce idle time, reduce the number of hours I need to work in order to earn what I want, and reduce the anxiety that usually comes when the world slows down and corporate budgets are gasping their last fiscal breaths. Here are a few of my favorites:

Over-market. I’m relentless in my marketing. I contact clients every day. You may do that, too. If you interact on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter, that counts. My favorite method of contact is the letter of introduction.

Mix it up. Doing the same thing all the time, if it’s not working, is probably not going to work (no surprise there, right?). My own marketing plan includes letters of introduction, magazine queries, notes to current clients, conversations on social media, and even asking directly “Who needs a skilled writer this week?” When something starts working, I’ll put a little more effort into that method, but I won’t forgo my plan. As they say, don’t put all your eggs in one basket — that includes marketing, in my opinion.

Market when ridiculously busy. We all tend to have this tunnel vision when we’re busy — deadlines are right in front of us and the pressure is on. But I’ve been retraining my brain to look two weeks beyond those deadlines to those times when the work will be completed. That’s the time I’m marketing for, and I start when I’m least able to handle one more thing. If that delicious dilemma of having one more thing come in that has to be done immediately comes along, I either push for a slight delay (most deadlines are arbitrary) or I decide based on my current workload if working it in is possible.

Bank for it. I was thrilled to see Susan Johnston’s post this week. It’s a book review from two authors whose webinar a number of years ago literally changed my financial situation for the better. They advocated a simple savings plan that I embraced –take money off the top of every check for taxes, savings, and retirement. Thanks to that simple piece of advice, I have a healthy bank account. Now if the work slows down, there’s money enough to ride out the lean time.

What do you do to avoid idle time? 
What’s your marketing plan for this week? 
How does your plan vary during the different months of the year?