I’m so excited about the way my business has been developing since I’ve been focusing on it full-time. I sent a book off last Friday, I’ve had projects in smaller pieces before and since, and I’ve got another couple of projects coming in the next week or so. This week is a bit of a lull so I’m looking for new clients and trying to build up my ten true fans.
The flexibility of freelancing is fantastic, for one thing. I was able to spend Tuesday driving to a distant post office to pick up new business cards, drop off a few bins of stuff at the new house and check out the slate tile going down in the kitchen, take my daughter to a play area and let her burn off some energy, and generally stay out of the old house during a scheduled showing. (I can’t underestimate how useful my smartphone is, either. I was able to accept a couple new assignments while on the road.)
Some of the tools and fun things I’ve been using for the past couple of weeks: Toggl, for tracking time on projects and business tasks. New dictionaries and style guides to build up my reference library. The subscription to Merriam-Webster Unabridged is worth it just to stop those annoying autoplaying videos, and Words Into Type should be interesting because I was trained in proofreading by a former linotype operator, so I learned a lot of old ways of doing things. A wireless keyboard, which will be most useful in my office at the new house, since my “office” right now is a laptop on my kitchen table and the laptop’s keyboard works fine.
And with that, it’s time for lunch! (I won’t describe what I’m having or post a picture of the plate. Not on this blog, anyway.)