A Breath of Fresh Air

About five months ago I was a bit worried about work. I’d had a nice run of several months of steady assignments but it finally looked like the well had run dry. All assignments were finished. All rewrites were completed. While I did have several proposals circulating, nothing looked ready to go. So I was ready to take a week or two off and enjoy myself.

Before I got worried, anyway.

Well, my reverie lasted a mere three days, as I soon was inundated on a long series of assignments. There was a feature length script for me to rewrite. Then there was a series of travel guides to write and rewrite. There was another original script to write on contract. And there was a nice little white paper that was a weekend-rush proposition.

So I’ve been writing straight through for five months. The bills are paid and there is a nice balance in the bank. I turned in my last assignment on Friday morning (another travel guide), which was the most incredible struggle I’ve had in a long time. I had nothing to write and I slept.

In fact, I slept most of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and a good chunk of Monday. Tuesday I finally started to fidget around and it is actually today, Tuesday, that I feel halfway human. I guess, that in the flow of all those writing assignments, and late nights, I didn’t realize how tired I was getting. Except for the three days in May and another four in August (when my wife and I went to Cartegena) I’ve been writing solid 6-7 days a week.

It is always a challenge, when you are an independent writer like I am, to balance assignments. You always want to have one or two next assignments on the horizon. You don’t want days or weeks, or heaven forbid, months, between assignments. You also don’t want so much work that you can’t cope.

I guess my break now is a good thing. I need a few days to refresh the soul and put some gas in the tank. I do have a few potential assignments in discussion mode. Of course, until someone makes a decision and approves the assignment you have nothing. If the week goes by with nothing new, then I’ll start to be concerned.

Otherwise I’ll be happy to relax for a bit.