Words on the Page

7 Signs a Writing Client Isn’t for You

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey What’s on the iPod: Keep It Simple by Martin Sexton A quick note — visit the All Indie Writers Freelance Theater page this Friday to hear Jenn’s interview with yours truly. We’ll discuss easy ways to market your services. I’m staring at a pretty busy week ahead….

Free Advice Friday: Attracting Magazine Editors

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: I See Fire by Ed Sheeran Busy, busy week thanks to three clients getting in touch with projects. A friend and I were talking about querying magazines. She’s a pro at it, and we were comparing notes. Turns out we do pretty much the same thing. We were also talking about…

The Free Guide to Your Writing Career

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Flashed Junk Mind by Milky Chance Did I mention I was busy? Last week I had three clients have come to me with projects. I’m in the middle of getting two of those clients sorted, and the third client is waiting for budget approval and a client statement of work. It’s…

Six Habits You Should Banish from Your Writing Life

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Just as Well by Jackie Greene It’s been a great start to the new year — a favorite client contacted me with three projects. I started one, intend to finish another next week, and should have a strong start to a third next week, as well. As I was writing out…

Boosting Your Professional Writer Persona

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Glory Bound by Martin Sexton Wow, that was a long break. From December 6th until today, I was somewhere else. I stopped in here occasionally and I worked a little, but from the road. December is notoriously slow, so I was free to take off. It seems like forever since we…

Revamping Your Writer Resolutions

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies What’s on the iPod: Stolen Dance by Milky Chance The week has been good so far: my first published poem is now out. Please check it out here. Also, I got word that another poem has been accepted. My master plan to dominate the world one…

The Freelance Guide to Rocking 2015

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m Reading: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng What’s on the iPod: Blue Christmas by Martin Sexton Good news a second time this month — I have another poem being published. This time, it’s in TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics. I’m thrilled. One poem published could have been dumb luck;…

Traveling Truth (or Dare)

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: The Loneliness and the Scream by Frightened Rabbit We’re driving home today. I can’t wait. As much as I’ve loved being on a road trip of this size (we’re up around 3K miles at this writing), seeing people we love and want to spend time with, I’m ready to be back…

Thinking Like a Client

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Naima by Angelique Kidjo It’s Thursday and I’m sitting in a Caribou Coffee shop in Chapel Hill. We’re a day from home, where Christmas preparations are happening without me. It’s weird, but in a way, freeing. For the first time in a while, I don’t feel tied to tradition. Not that…

The Remote Writer

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Quiet Little Voices by We Were Promised Jetpacks I’ve not mentioned it, but I’ve been on vacation since December 6th. Right now, we’re on our way back from Florida. December was a good choice for time away — nothing’s happening, and client projects were finished at the beginning of the…

Sharon Hurley Hall

I've had a couple of clients like that, too, Lori. There are a couple times a year when I announce a vacation, because I know I won't be online. The rest of the time, I simply avoid booking any work in the calendar. 🙂

Paula

Ha! Whenever I do get away it's around Thanksgiving or Christmas, so no one ever needs to reach me.

But – brace yourselves – I now have a "mobile device." My sister upgraded her iPhone and I inherited her iPhone4. Sure, it's a but dated, but it's light years ahead of the old camera-less flip phone people mocked me for having. But I have yet to figure out how to check email on it. I did it once, but haven't been able to since. (I did figure out how to tweet from it!)

I have learning curve, and apps to find.

Laura Spencer

This is a great topic.

For quite a few years when I began freelancing, all of my vacations were working vacations. That meant I took a laptop (later on, a tablet) and did client work from the hotel room for a good part of the day.

Of course, some clients didn't realize that. I could imagine a few former clients making a comment like this.

A few years ago, I realized I needed to treat myself better. Now I make it a point to avoid scheduling work during my vacations so that I truly get a break. (Many clients are willing to negotiate a deadline, if you just ask.)

Recently, I realized I need to treat at least one weekend day the same way–avoid scheduling work and be unavailable to clients.

We all need our breaks, and setting boundaries helps us to get them.

Of course, if you have an extra long trip (several weeks or more), you still might find yourself working remotely.

Jake Poinier

Hey Lori! Sorry to have been such a stranger of late. Combination of being busy, and, yes, a long vacation was part of the mix.

When we moved to Canada for a year, I actually only told my core clients about it. Thanks to the magic of VOIP, I was able to keep my AZ phone number; thus, even new business wasn't aware I was 3100 miles away unless the topic came up. ("Can you come to our office next Monday?" "Uhhh, not really.")

About 6 weeks before my most recent trip, I let everyone know that I was going to be unreachable for 10 days, and offered to get urgent items wrapped up before I left. You're right, of course, that you need to keep quality the priority 🙂

Lori Widmer

Sharon, good strategy. Most of my vacations are non-working ones. This one came upon me rather quickly (a week), and I was in the middle of a few things.

Paula, welcome to the mobile world! I'm sure an iPhone 4 will work fine to get you used to mobile tech. I'm not familiar with iPhones, but I suspect it's just fine.

Laura, glad to hear you're treating yourself better. My weekends are hands-off zones for client work. Only once this year did I work a weekend, and it was because a favorite client needed the work right away.

Jake, it worked — I never knew you were in Canada for a year! Was that recently? You and I both know it shouldn't matter where the typing and creating occur, but some of the more traditional clients may think it's a road block. Weird.

Jake Poinier

We lived in New Brunswick for 11 months in 2009; my wife had an expat positiion with her company, and I did what I could to operate business as usual. The one business advantage was being in the Atlantic time zone–1 hour ahead of East Coast and 3 or 4 ahead of AZ so it was easy to get items in client hands before they got to their desks in the morning.

On a personal note, it was also a tremendous base for traveling: In addition to seeing many places around the province, we went to Montreal, Quebec City, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Newfoundland. And a great experience for the kids, attending a public middle school in a foreign country. Living there for a year rather than just a few days/weeks of vacation, I definitely learned Canada is far more different from the U.S. than most of us realize.

Lori Widmer

Jake, that IS an advantage. It's why I'm hoping to get a German passport (long story, but I may be eligible). I could then work from Ireland and have things done in no time (well, by the time everyone here would wake up). It's a dream. 🙂

I bet the kids loved it. Why wouldn't they? What a great opportunity!