Words on the Page

Checks, Lies, and Silly Red Tape

Posted on by lwidmer

Some of them are good – very good. I’m talking about the clients and pseudo-clients who cajole us into sticking our necks out or taking on work or working conditions that normally we’d run from. But haven’t we all said, “But they were so nice!” Yes, they were. It’s how they get you. By investing…

Partnering for Perfection

Posted on by lwidmer

It’s been a bit of an angst-filled week so far. One of my newer projects isn’t going well, and it seems it’s more a matter of I-don’t-get-their-business-model rather than I can’t please them. The client is hanging in there with me and giving me some additional attention, which is great. I love when we all…

Myth Busting

Posted on by lwidmer

It cracks me up to read writer advice columns sometimes. So many of them parrot what they think to be true without really considering if it holds up in practice. My least favorite: Write what you know. Considering that back a few decades ago when I first heard this advice I was living in the…

Manic Mondays

Posted on by lwidmer

So far this morning the power has gone out and with these high winds, I suspect it’ll be more of the same all day. I’m fortunate that my deadlines are Friday. It’s going to be a long day. It was a long weekend, too. I was on edge – a client had written and expressed…

Worthy Tip: Stand Up

Posted on by lwidmer

Welcome to Friday. If you’re like me, you look forward to weekends during the busy times especially. Today I’m floating on the remnants of the wonder-drug codeine and its counterpart penicillin. I’ll kill this sinus infection or myself. Either way, I’ll not be sick much longer. Today’s worthy tip: When dealing with client negotiations this…

Say Aaaaahhh

Posted on by lwidmer

This has been the best week. Yes, I’ve been miserable with this cold/sinus infection, but when I open my email in the morning, I don’t tense up or stress. I smile. More signs that dropping those projects was a great idea. Because I fulfill my obligations, I still have residual edits coming in from this…

Recovering

Posted on by lwidmer

I’m not talking about my recovery, but yours. Mistakes, errors in judgment, bad decisions just happen. Sometimes it’s because we’re inundated with too much work, sometimes it’s because we open our mouths and insert our foots, sometimes we take on something we’re not sure we can handle. It happens to everyone. How we recover, well,…

Thump, Thump, Thump

Posted on by lwidmer

That’s the beat hammering out in my sinuses right now. Having had little sleep last night thanks to the sinus infection that’s taken over where the cold left off, I’m exhausted. I went to sleep with high hopes – I’d had a good day, little coughing, much healing. Then I made the mistake of lying…

Politically Speaking

Posted on by lwidmer

Maybe it’s a new trend and I’m behind the curve, but I’ve been seeing a great deal of email correspondence, tweets, and bold statements lately from business colleagues expressing their political views in group emails or segmented business groups. Before you think I’m overreacting, know that these are people with whom I’ve worked but have…

Showing Up Sick

Posted on by lwidmer

You may not realize it, but I’ve been sick most of this week. I caught his cold, which isn’t fair – he flies home from warm places and I get to keep the germs he’s shared on the airplane. The last three days have been spent trying to keep my lungs from exiting as the…

jms

Whether I work sick depends on when my next deadline is. For quick-turn projects, I work at least a little even if I don't feel well. If I have more time, even if it will throw off my self-imposed schedule, I'll take a day off. Luckily, I haven't been extremely ill since I began freelancing full time (knock wood), so I haven't had to push back a deadline for health reasons yet.

Joseph Hayes

Having just had surgery on Saturday, I can talk from experience… trying to recover from illness while worrying about deadlines sucks! I know I'm not in the mindframe to do the job properly, but feel guilty for not doing it. Not to mention the Freelancers Fear ("this could be my last job! Ever!"). Next time I'm considering asking my doctor for a medical excuse note. To myself.

Diane

Absolutely. I never used to, when I was starting out and scared of losing every single client. But when I realised I got better quicker if I gave myself a day off? Absolutely.

Diane

PS Hope you're feeling better soon.

Lori

JMS, this is my first full-on sickness in three solid years. Migraines don't count – I can usually get a few hours rest and get back to it, albeit shakily. I guess no germs, no swine flue, huh? 🙂

Joseph, I hope your recovery goes well! Yes, give yourself time. If you need to, tell folks you've had surgery and may need an extra week on those assignments. Most people will understand.

Thanks, Diane. 🙂 I can't wait to stop coughing uncontrollably. Once I medicate myself past this phone call today, I'm taking the rest of the day off.

Mei

I have never been able to take a full day off. The client I have now says "Oh, you're sick? Do less work today," but that doesn't really help when you're feeling awful.

Devon Ellington

It depends. If it's a cold or something, and there's a deadline, I push through. Deadlines are deadlines, and it's part of the gig to get the job done on time, whether you're sick or not. That's the way it's always been, no matter where I worked.

If I feel myself starting to come down with something and there's a deadline looming, I try to clear it off early, and then take the time. If I feel myself getting sick and I'm not on a tight deadline, I try to take the time off early and short circuit the illness. Taking off a day when I'm just starting to go means I don't have to take off a week because I pushed too hard and got sicker faster and stayed sicker longer, and, therefore, lost more work.

Some things are so bad you just have to say, "sorry, I'm sick, have to reschedule." And then, as soon as I'm able, I work for as long as it takes to make the deadline. Again, me being sick is not the client's problem. It' s up to me to get the job done on time.

When I worked as a swing (sub) backstage on Broadway, it was part of my job NOT to be sick when they called, because I was filling in for people who were sick. That's the gig — you want the work, you better be up to par when they call. And it was part of the job to stay healthy.

I get sick much less often now that I don't have to commute in to the city on a regular basis, and for that I'm grateful. It's much easier to stay healthy when you can keep away from others, to a certain extent.

And I rarely take anything, so the times I am sick enough to have to take medication, it works fast, throughly, and I'm up and about again because I haven't built up a tolerance.

Lori

I hate taking medicine at all, Devon. Hate the way it makes me feel, hate the way it prolongs the cold, just hate being sleepy or overly excited. I'd much rather push the fluids and take something only to sleep without coughing all night. So it has to be pretty bad when I take NyQuil during the day (and only to get through this phone call).

I'm of the opinion that if I'm too sick to sit up, it'll all wait. Unless like you said it's a deadline that's looming, the world can do without me for one day.

Mei, I think you're able to push back, aren't you? If you're truly sick, there should be some consideration. FYI, the client is NOT your employer. Treating you like an employee is a dangerous precedent they set. I understand deadlines, but sometimes things can't be helped. If you'd broken your arms, would they expect you to type with your feet? If so, reconsider them as clients, I say.

Kimberly Ben

Since I'm in charge of caring for four little ones, I don't get sick days. Most of the time I just push on, though I might make it a "light" day and just focus on simple tasks like marketing as long as a deadline's not looming.

Thankfully I don't get sick too often, but I spend lots of time caring for sick kids;yet another reason why freelancing from home suits me so well.

Paula

I tend to get sick around New Year's Day, so thankfully illness hasn't interfered much with work. I'll work when sick, just not as hard. I'm from a family that never really coddled sick kids. Sick? Unless you were delirious with fever or totally incapacitated, there was no lounging in bed all day. To this day, just getting cleaned up and dressed helps me feel better.

But when I have a bad cold or the flu, I pace myself, rest more, start late and quit early. I've had to do a couple of phone interviews when I've had laryngitis, so I e-mailed the questions in first, explaining that my voice might go out mid-conversation. One guy pretty much wound up conducting his own interview, using my questions. He also ordered me to make some tea and get some rest, if I recall right.

Last summer I had to do an interview about ten minutes after breaking my toe (possibly two toes). Hey, it got my mind off the pain a while, and the adrenaline was still flowing, so better than that an hour or two later!

Lori

Okay Paula, you get the award for the most diligent freelancer! Broken toes and you still interviewed? Damn, you're good! You and my mother would get along well – she's pressed on with a broken foot, sprained knee, whooping cough, you name it. We lounged when we were sick, but she didn't. You sound like you schedule your sick days – are you a Capricorn?

Kim, that's a lot! So many kids are bound to spread the germs here and there.

Colin Galbraith

I'm not in the same position but I can understand. I suppose it would depend on how bad it was. Hope you're feeling much better soon, though. Don't over do things – that's what my old mum always says. 🙂

Meryl K. Evans

I have a laptop, so I work in my comfy bed doing whatever I need to do. If I'm so miserable, I listen to my body. If it's a cold, I do what I can.

For the latter half of this week, I've been coughing and feel uncomfortable. So I got pressing things done and spent more time on non-writing work.

Last year, I was recovering from hand surgery. I tried to type with my regular hand and use one finger on the other one, but it caused my hand to swell. Thankfully, I got hurt and had surgery right before Thanksgiving when I slow down anyway and couldn't do much for six weeks including not sending my annual holiday note.

Key is to listen to the body and have a set up in a comfortable place, if possible.

Paula

I'm a Taurus – too stubborn to let a little thing like pain stop me from my appointed calls.

Chronic foot pain is something I've had most of my life, so a couple broken toes won't stop me. (As a kid I'd complain that my feet were too sore to keep up with everyone else on vacation, etc.. and they thought I just wanted my dad to carry me. Once I was diagnosed, they all finally slowed down if I asked them to.)

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WordVixen

Lori- Hope you're into recovery by now! I don't work from home (I DO work from home, but am not a WAH) and do nothing that involves having clients, so I can and do occasionally take a sick day from both my day job and the work I do from home. However, that's a recent thing.

I used to sit around with my laptop on even if I wasn't working so that I'd feel as if I were. It kept me from resting and recovering, and I wasn't able to function. I've learned since then- if I'm not going to be productive AND I'm not intending to play online, the laptop gets turned off. If I need to be entertained, I can always read or watch a Jane Austen movie. Result? Much less stress, about the same productivity, and have memorized every inch of Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. 😀

Paula- I've always had that problem too… Never actually thought of seeing a doctor about it! I'd break down crying in the middle of the mall because it hurt to keep on walking (since I got Crocs, I can make it much farther/longer).