Words on the Page

Better Client Contact

Posted on by lwidmer

It rained yesterday. Just a short rain – less than an hour – but I was thrilled to see it. I can’t remember the last real rain we had. Wait – yes I do. End of May. Wow. Really? I spent the morning on a tricky client project. Usually they’re easy, but this one had…

Time Management for the Unorganized

Posted on by lwidmer

Ah, timing is everything. I asked Anne Wayman to do another Twitter tweetup yesterday only to find out seconds before that I’d chosen the very time our President was tweeting. Nuts. I don’t know why I thought he was tweeting at 11:30. That time was stuck in my head. Oh well. Thanks to those of…

Learning to Trust Your Gut

Posted on by lwidmer

If you’re around at 2 pm ET/11 am PT today, meet up with Anne Wayman and me for the #writingsquared tweetup! Bring questions and advice – all are welcome. Interesting day yesterday. Got a small project done, managed to stay awake long enough to get an estimate back to a client on a big project,…

Celebration and Recovery

Posted on by lwidmer

How was your holiday weekend? How was the 4th or Canada Day for you? To paraphrase Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, the time of my life was had this weekend. It started Friday with time alone with the husband. Saturday was the farmer’s market in the morning and the pool in the afternoon. Sunday was…

Worthy Tip: Take This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

Rabbit! And happy Friday to you. Good day yesterday – well, before the bad news anyway. I managed to coordinate my upcoming article interviews, work on a personal project, then clean and shop for the writers’ group (I hosted). It has been gloriously sunny, dry, and cooler (79-80) here the last two days, so I…

Monthly Assessment: June 2011

Posted on by lwidmer

Busy morning yesterday, but the afternoon was quiet. I took advantage of it. Instead of marketing like mad (my usual routine), I spent time on personal writing projects. I was able to make good headway on a few things, which feels pretty satisfying. If only there were checks involved. Someday… It’s time for the monthly…

Kicking Down Roadblocks

Posted on by lwidmer

Interesting day yesterday. I was hard at it contacting folks from the conference when the phone rang. The client who was supposed to give me a call actually did. On time. I’d forgotten. Very strange! That meant I answered as though I were approaching a telemarketer – an abrupt “Hello” instead of my more office-y…

Fee Schedules: Pros and Cons

Posted on by lwidmer

Thank you all for your birthday wishes. It was a lovely day punctuated by calls from family and time spent with family nearby. That and some peaceful moments -it’s all I wanted. Despite my best intentions, I did not take yesterday off. I tried. Really. But I sat on the swing writing in my journal…

Balancing Act

Posted on by lwidmer

Superb weekend. I spent three and a half hours in the garden Saturday morning and by noon, I was aching in places I never thought could ache. My knees were red for hours. This is all good. The garden looks spectacular and I feel grounded again. I followed that feeling up with a trip over…

Randomness That Works

Posted on by lwidmer

Superb Webinar yesterday! Thanks to one and all who attended and asked such great questions. Anne and I were happy for your presence and participation. If you didn’t get a chance to join in, drop either Anne or me a note. We’ll be happy to let you know when the next one is and see…

Cathy Miller

Particularly for larger projects, I like to provide updates – even if it's just to say everything's on track for completion by the target date. I find clients really like that.

Devon Ellington

If I make a daily To Do list, I resent it and nothing gets done. I have deadlines in my calendar, along with meetings, etc. I have an overview in my head as to what needs to get done.

And then I have to let 'er rip.

Too much structure and I sabotage myself.

I do best with large swaths of unscheduled time. I get five-six times more done than if I say, "from 8-9 I do project X; from 9-11, I'll work on project Y; from 1-2 I'll market."

That's why I DON"T work in someone else's office. My time is MINE, and I will choose when I do things, as the day unfolds.

And I'll damn well go out to a lecture or a lunch or listen to music in the middle of the day if I want to, even if it means going back and working at night. I'll stop when I want or need to for a meditation session or to take a run. I'll start later so I can attend Yoga-on-the-Beach.

No 9-5 hours for me. That's why I chose this path and not working for someone else.

Lori

Hey, Cathy Miller! Thank you again for your input on the Webinar yesterday. Amazing help you provided!

I like this idea because it calms the nervous ones and it keeps YOU on track should you forget something. I have a client I work with who gives me a bunch of stuff at once. When I start sending stuff back, I send a bulleted list. They can then see what's been sent and what's still missing. So can I. 🙂

Lori

Great insight, Devon. I don't enjoy scheduling my time that strictly (I do have Aquarius rising). My scheduling consists of prioritizing what I need to do first and then getting it done.

Some folks live for structure. Some like a little. Others would rather go for it in their own way. Whatever works is the perfect formula for you, I say!

Cathy Miller

My pleasure, Lori. Great webinar-but with you & Anne, how could you miss? 🙂

Lori

You're very kind, Cathy. 🙂

Ashley

I'm with Devon; I like a lot of unscheduled time. I do, however, like to-do lists, mostly because I like crossing things off of them! 🙂 But I like to do it at my pace because everything turns out better when I'm "feeling it." On the other side of that, though, is procrastination, and I have to beware of that, so to-do lists help keep me organized. So, I guess I'm a little of both: organized and random.

Really enjoyed the webinar and comments from others. Some of the comments/resources you provided in chat were the most helpful! Looking forward to receiving your e-book and the other goodies!

Lori

You should see it today, Ashley. We're still organizing things, but today was our deadline. Glad you enjoyed it! Hope it was helpful to you.

Unscheduled time is what I live for, too. I'm a huge list maker, but as I said on the call yesterday, I'm not much for actually following them. Bit of rebellion that keeps me from taking myself too seriously. 🙂

Ashley

I'm all about rebellion, even in the cheesiest of ways! If I don't do something "bad" every once in a while (chips and ice cream for dinner is a regular thing…) then I start to feel trapped. Can't stand that!

Sometimes I blow off work for a fun night out. I know I'm going to pay for it later, but it's MY decision to make. As long as I get the work done, no one needs to know WHEN it got done or how late I stayed up to finish it. I hate the feeling that someone else can dictate how I live my life. No thanks!

Jake P

Oh, so now you're enabling me! Heehee.

Honestly, I wasn't feeling down about it, more that I find it curious how structured some people enjoy being. (My 14-year-old daughter is that way…She evidently got that from my mom, whereas I got my dad's honey badger streak.)

Anyway, this list may be random, but it's rock solid.

Lori

That's because that honey badgers just badass. LOL

Honestly for me, I don't enjoy being structured. Weird, but I love to make lists and I love to have a routine, and I'd die if I weren't on time for something. But I'm sitting here on a gorgeous, humid Friday thinking we have that pool membership that needs to be used….

Damn right, Ashley! Give 'em hell! Go party! Serves 'em right making you work! 🙂

Lori

I edited the post, Jake. You were more curious, right?

Paula

Lori & I are alike in preferring routines and enjoying crossing things off lists. For me that works because I am so easily distracted. I can get up to make another cup of tea, decide to pet my dog en route, walk into the kitchen and say, "Why did I come in here?" Then I'll decide to do laundry so it seems as if I had a reason for leaving my desk. I look at my daily to do lists so ensure I don't forget anything.

Right now I have a couple of clients who are really controlling. Later today I have to send one of them a required weekly update. I normally try to keep my editors updated – when there is something to say. But these clients want to track my work to make sure I'm not slacking off or something.

Both of them assign broad topics and need to approve the sources. They literally tie my hands. I'm used to flexibility in finding my own sources and working around problems. Not sure how long these will last unless I can train the editors to TRUST THEIR WRITERS. (Yes, I shouted. Intentionally.) One of them sends me questions to ask, as if I'm too dumb to think of any. The other allows me to come up with questions, but has to approve them prior to any interviews.

I should have known better than to accept a new assignment from one of these editors before finishing an assignment for the other. I predict a week's worth of nightmares as these two projects overlap. (BTW, I started a new rule last night – if I get weekend or after normal business hour e-mails from these editors I won't open them until my next "regular business day.")

Jake P

Among other things, honey badgers are extraordinarily curious. Luckily, they're nasty enough to extricate themselves from the circumstances that they inevitably encounter.

Lori

Paula, I like your new rule. FINALLY! You may actually get to a point where you don't (gasp) work weekends. 🙂

You have a conundrum there, don't you? Here's what I suggest – after about one more round of that, ask them if they'd be willing to take you on faith. That sounds frustrating as hell!

And you're absolutely right – that's EXACTLY why I love lists. They're not strict. They're just lists. I can check them off or ignore them for better things (like dog petting). 🙂

Jake, words to live by — honey badger don't give a shit. It just takes what it wants. LOL!

Devon Ellington

I work whenever I want, but I only respond to business clients during business hours. I may write the email at 2 AM on Saturday, but I won't send it until Monday morning, unless there's a reason to get info back quickly. Once you let them cross boundaries, most of them are impossible.

Unless you're paying me for 24/7 access, you don't get it, and so far, no one has coughed up that enormous amount of cash! 😉

Jake, Badger Medicine is awesome!