waiting...and waiting
There's a lot of waiting in this profession. There's the time for thinking and writing. Then, there's the submission time. How long will it take for an editor to accept or reject your article/essay/pattern/book/whatever? Then, even if it's accepted, it might be another year before it's published. You might have to wait a long time to get paid, too. So, despite all those people who seem to think this work sounds heavenly--you can't believe how many people want to become a freelancer, especially when I'm standing at the post office to mail off a big submission, but if the line is long, I tell them about the business end of it all, and the waiting. That's when they think, "This lady is crazy! They tell me, gee, they didn't know writing was so complicated and they turn away, back to waiting and averting their eyes.
On the up side, it is safer than when I taught English in various inner city schools. That also means I weigh more, because I sit on my bottom all day, and don't have to look over my shoulder all the time. Oops, supposed to be mentioning all the positives in this paragraph, sorry...
The business aspects take up about 50% of my time on average. ..invoices, pitching articles, contacting editors, proofreading things, etc. So, even though I like to write and design, I find the business aspects and the waiting the hardest part about freelancing. I've been waiting for a lot of unnameable things lately, and the waiting continues. I know how Vladimir and Estragon, aka Didi and Gogo felt sometimes. Where the heck is Godot?
Do you have waiting in your life? Are you infinitely patient? How do you cope?
I cope sometimes by trying to accomplish a lot of concrete things, like cooking nice dinners, knitted stuff, and walks with dogs, for instance. Making stuff. Here's what I've produced lately while waiting:
The finished toe-up socks in the mysterious yarn. It's my own design, I liked the challenge, but I haven't yet worn them. They have a sort of slouchy lace appeal up top. I haven't decided yet if I want to write up the pattern. Here is a close up of the actual yarn colors. Really, if you know what the yarn label might be, let me know. I'm curious.
The beaded handspun is now finished, and we're lucky to have a bright day for photos. 240 yards of two ply Cormo, plied with a pink cotton thread and little glass beads. Shiny and pretty, and I'm much faster at threading beads now than I used to be. Hint: Put them next to your computer, and see how much beading you can accomplish while....waiting.... for the work emails you're expecting. See how much waiting I've done? a lot.
Finally, there is the acquisition risk. I love to buy things online, it is so much easier than going to stores. (I've just bought a caller ID box, for instance, for those crazy phone calls) I was seized by desire the other day, and ended up with 22 skeins of this awesome aran yarn. I was inspired to purchase this by Seasons on Harris, a great book that I just finished that explained how I needed to support traditional Scottish textiles. Well, not exactly, but it was definitely in there... The color is rich, it will match all sorts of things and make a great sweater for the professor. I hardly needed more yarn, but this is a great way to get the work emails flowing again...with knitting designs. So, I'll now be knitting for work for the next few weeks.
Oh well. At least I can fondle the Aran while I'm knitting other things. There's no such thing in my world as knitting monogamy. What, does anyone believe in knitting monogamy? (I hope not!)
On the up side, it is safer than when I taught English in various inner city schools. That also means I weigh more, because I sit on my bottom all day, and don't have to look over my shoulder all the time. Oops, supposed to be mentioning all the positives in this paragraph, sorry...
The business aspects take up about 50% of my time on average. ..invoices, pitching articles, contacting editors, proofreading things, etc. So, even though I like to write and design, I find the business aspects and the waiting the hardest part about freelancing. I've been waiting for a lot of unnameable things lately, and the waiting continues. I know how Vladimir and Estragon, aka Didi and Gogo felt sometimes. Where the heck is Godot?
Do you have waiting in your life? Are you infinitely patient? How do you cope?
I cope sometimes by trying to accomplish a lot of concrete things, like cooking nice dinners, knitted stuff, and walks with dogs, for instance. Making stuff. Here's what I've produced lately while waiting:
The finished toe-up socks in the mysterious yarn. It's my own design, I liked the challenge, but I haven't yet worn them. They have a sort of slouchy lace appeal up top. I haven't decided yet if I want to write up the pattern. Here is a close up of the actual yarn colors. Really, if you know what the yarn label might be, let me know. I'm curious.
The beaded handspun is now finished, and we're lucky to have a bright day for photos. 240 yards of two ply Cormo, plied with a pink cotton thread and little glass beads. Shiny and pretty, and I'm much faster at threading beads now than I used to be. Hint: Put them next to your computer, and see how much beading you can accomplish while....waiting.... for the work emails you're expecting. See how much waiting I've done? a lot.
Finally, there is the acquisition risk. I love to buy things online, it is so much easier than going to stores. (I've just bought a caller ID box, for instance, for those crazy phone calls) I was seized by desire the other day, and ended up with 22 skeins of this awesome aran yarn. I was inspired to purchase this by Seasons on Harris, a great book that I just finished that explained how I needed to support traditional Scottish textiles. Well, not exactly, but it was definitely in there... The color is rich, it will match all sorts of things and make a great sweater for the professor. I hardly needed more yarn, but this is a great way to get the work emails flowing again...with knitting designs. So, I'll now be knitting for work for the next few weeks.
Oh well. At least I can fondle the Aran while I'm knitting other things. There's no such thing in my world as knitting monogamy. What, does anyone believe in knitting monogamy? (I hope not!)
posted by Joanne at 12:15 PM
2 Comments:
Ah, yes. The old "I had to buy the yarn. It says so in the book" trap.
Waiting. Yes, there's a lot of that. Waiting for Photoshop to render the most recent changes (my fault for working with huge files, but I want the detail. It's my nature :-) Waiting for the artwork to print.
Waiting for clients to supply information, to comment on drafts. Waiting for someone on the phone to respond to what I've just said, when the long silence means they didn't understand it.
Waiting for the right moment to start the project, when the ideas fermenting in my head stop yielding random bubbles and become a coherent story. Not just waiting, but actively hunting for the right words to start the story, to hook the casual passer-by and make them read.
Procrastination is the mother of invention, at least around here. No, procrastination and chocolate are the parents of invention.
No time for beads, though. The computer is full of stuff that I should do while waiting for any one thing.
I hope I can post this. Since updating Blogger to Google/blogger, no matter what id I choose, the comments thingy generally refuses to listen to me.
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