Freelance Writing Blog

Down Under Up Above

Posted on August 27, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Super Bass by Nicki Manaj No, that’s not adverb/preposition overload. We had our Aussies over for a four-day visit. We’d met them and instantly clicked at the clan gathering in Inverness (Scotland) three years ago, and when they mentioned they were thinking of planning a trip to the US, we were quick to…

What Clients Can’t Do

Posted on August 23, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Spun by Grouplove The Aussies are here! I’m writing this ahead of time because I expect to be either on my way to Manhattan or to the mountains and some hiking today. I was thinking about the conversation around client expectations during projects or contract negotiations. Any client relationship is one…

Get in Line

Posted on August 22, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Ten Thousand Words by The Avett Brothers It’s quite a coincidence that this song comes up on my iPod right about the time I’m nuts with work. Yesterday was no exception. I worked on four projects, some at the same time, and fielded a phone call on yet another project. I’m…

Five Things That Could Be Killing Your Business

Posted on August 21, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Right in Time by Lucinda Williams I had a productive day yesterday despite a bit of a headache lingering. I finished eight projects for a client and got some preliminary work on another project. Then out of the blue, the big-assed project showed up once again, after much delay. Naturally. As…

Therapeutic Weekends

Posted on August 20, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Innocence by The Airborne Toxic Event “Thanks for making me go, Mom.” Music to my ears, for I drove daughter to work on Friday as she sobbed, apologized, and sobbed some more all the way. Just like the kid on the first day of kindergarten, she was fine when she went…

Guest Post: Why You Can’t Find Higher Paying Work

Posted on August 17, 2012 by lwidmer

Amen for friends. As I was busy dealing with my daughter’s illness, a note came in from Samar Owais. She and I had talked about her writing a guest post for a while, and there it was when I needed it most. Thank you, Samar. Your timing is excellent. I swear I didn’t ask Samar…

Watching

Posted on August 16, 2012 by lwidmer

It’s going to be a long day. I don’t have a ton of work, and maybe that’s for the best right now. My youngest is going through some pretty crippling anxiety, and I’m loathe to help her. It’s different when it’s physical. You get to a doctor, you get a diagnosis, meds, and hopefully things…

Webinar Wednesday

Posted on August 15, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: The Rifle’s Spiral by The Shins Busy morning, slower afternoon. I finished some revisions on a product flyer, revised some of the content at the About Writing Squared home page, and conducted an interview for a newsletter piece. By then it was 11 am. Good thing – personal errands had me…

How To Sabotage Your Image

Posted on August 14, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Numb by The Airborne Toxic Event A busy day yesterday, but I finished drafts of both the white paper and release. Now on to revisions on a previous project before continuing on with yet another project. Things aren’t so quiet around here as I thought they’d be this week. And yes,…

First, Second, and Third Impressions

Posted on August 13, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2 What a great weekend. It was hot and humid (that’s not the great part), but the stepdaughter is visiting, so we had a nice time. We went out for margaritas and dinner (in that order) Friday, then for tea/coffee on Saturday, then…

Devon Ellington

August 13, 2012

Absolutely love the new look.

I'm sure I've made a bad impression at some point. There are points where I've just had to cut bait.

In this case, I'd suggest a spread sheet with all the projects and all the deadlines, including the deadlines you're giving sources to get back to you so that you can get back to the client.

I'd have a conversation with this woman and be very up front about what you feel is going on, and offer solutions to mitigate the frustration on both sides. She's blunt — you can be, too.

Cathy Miller

August 13, 2012

What works for me nearly every time is picking up the phone and having a conversation.

Like you, Lori, I give regular updates, but sometimes you just sense in emails that a problem is brewing. I don't know the situation, but sometimes my client can help with the part getting stalled.

Go with your gut. It's seldom wrong.

Paula

August 13, 2012

I have a similar situation going on: I turned in a huge article with one missing piece. All along the way I'd told the editor about the trouble I was having getting that information (using bullet points in update e-mails just like you, Lori). When I sent in the article I reiterated that I was still actively trying to find those sources to add later. Instead of thanking me for sending 2500 words to work on while waiting for the missing links, she sent a terse e-mail reminding me how important the information was.

D'uh. I totally wanted to remind her about everything I'd already told her, but knew that wouldn't be helpful. (I did however point out that I'd already spent too much time fruitlessly chasing these iffy leads and could only afford to spend one more hour of time on it.)

The problem is, when you try to defend yourself by explaining why the piece is late or incomplete (despite saying upfront that you're still actively working on it), some people will assume you're making excuses.

"I've contacted over 20 companies to find an executive to answer these questions;no one has agreed to be interviewed," isn't an excuse. It's an explanation.

Matter-of-factly saying you're still waiting for Person A to provide the needed information is not shifting blame, it's saying you're in the same boat with the client or editor.

The editor in question always asks how many times I've tried contacting each person. I'm with you Lori – three tries and that's it. E-mail, phone, and then one last try. Nagging never works. Nor does forcing professional writers to account for every action. (It's totally passive-aggressive, but since this place requires weekly updates, I started including how much time I spent transcribing interviews just to remind her how much effort goes into each assignment.)

Lori

August 13, 2012

Thanks, Devon. 🙂 I love it, too.

I agree on the spreadsheet. We're spreadsheet-ed to our eyeballs right now, and there are just too many things going on at once. Mine is one small part of that effort. That doesn't make it any easier to get the info from the people in question. One contact flat-out refused to help with the additional info. I passed that info along. I have to honor that, as does the client.

Oh, you know me! Blunt is nothing I'm afraid of, and I think she'd appreciate it! Good suggestion.

Cathy, my gut has been uneasy about this entire relationship for a few months now. Factors beyond the client's client have tied my hands (at the client level), so I'm uneasy with putting too much billable time into chasing these people. But I'm going to take your advice one step further — I'm going to call the sources directly.

Paula, agreed. And if this person were an editor, I'd get no push-back on the "I tried three times" thinking. Alas, it's a business owner, and rarely do business owners think that something isn't going to happen because they asked. 😉