I’m finally beginning to get through my chronic writer’s block. It’s slow going, but I’m back up to getting a few pages a day done now (as opposed to a few pages a week). I’ve got some deadlines looming on the horizon, but if Hubby will refrain from interrupting me, I think I’ll make them.

Now maybe I won’t have to worry so much about having enough money to pay the bills. That’s all I’m concerned with right now. Once I get that squared away, maybe I’ll work toward having extra money to spend on stuff for the house, luxury watches, month-long vacations and such.

One thing that’s helping me is an increase in smaller assignments. I have a couple of sources that give me lots of small things to work on, things that don’t require a great amount of brainpower but do get the thoughts flowing. Since I can do several of them in an hour’s time, the money works out to be about as good as the larger assignments (occasionally better). I can knock out a few of them, then I’m ready to tackle bigger stuff.

I hope things continue to improve on that front. Sitting in front of a computer screen for hours and hours a day and not getting anything done is much more draining than actually producing results, and it’s not nearly as lucrative.

Today, I have a ton of stuff to do. I have a report that I need to at least put a major dent in, and a bunch of stuff I need to do around the house. I also need to go town, because the cupboards are bare. So I’m gonna have to get cracking.

I am going to do my best to stay away from distractions online. No looking at new stuff for the house or comparing prices on Lipovox for me. Just work, and working on the house until I leave. Nothing else.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

I had planned to stop working when Hubby got home and spend time with him. I was even following through with it. I turned off my computer shortly after he came in, and went in the living room with him and Pumpkin. I even started watching yet another Rocky movie with him, just to make him happy. But then things took a turn for the worse.

I don’t know what his problem was, but he started acting like a jackass. We didn’t really fight or anything, but it got to the point where you could have cut the tension with a knife. So I finally ended up coming back in my office and firing up the computer again.

I need to be working anyway, but I had planned on getting a good night’s sleep and starting fresh in the morning (as I have been doing most of the time lately). Oh well. I do some of my best work late anyway. Maybe being angry with him will give me the fuel I need to get something accomplished.

I’ve developed a terrible habit of procrastinating. Actually I’ve had it all my life, but it’s really starting to irritate me right about now.

I was doing fairly well about not procrastinating with my writing work at first. That lasted up until my family life got turned upside down several months ago. Hubby’s health problems, Pumpkin staying sick a lot, financial woes. If you’ve been a loyal reader for a long time, you know what I’m talking about. Those things adversely affected my concentration, causing me to have horrible writer’s block. And that led to a dread of doing the job I love.

Then just when things started looking up, more crap got piled on. We had our home basically jerked out from under us, and that really took the wind out of my sails. I could barely write a page or two a day, and that was on a good day. I also had to take a break when we finally started getting things straightened out again, to get all the red tape taken care of and then get moved and settled in. It has been a long, grueling road.

Now that things are beginning to resemble normal again, I’m having a hard time getting back in the swing of things. I need a good swift kick in the pants, because now that we have a house payment to make, I need to have a steady amount of money coming in each month. I’m not looking to turn my small business into a large corporation with financial reporting responsibilities, I just want to make a good living.

So I’m not taking this lying down. I am going to be trying out a self-help technique that I found, and I really hope it works. I ordered a DVD about it (which has a free trial period and a money-back guarantee), and I’m going to give it all I’ve got. And if that doesn’t work, I’m going to get a refund and keep trying until I find something that works. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

I haven’t updated my resume in some time. I suppose that would be a good thing to do. When you’re a freelancer, you can never keep your resume too current.

Most of the gigs I apply for ask for a resume in plain text format. I think that’s the only format that my most current resume is in. But there are gigs out there, even web writing gigs, that ask for a real resume. They see your resume as a reflection of your professionalism, so it’s important to have something nice. I suppose I should start looking at some resume templates.

There are templates out there that come with detailed instructions, helping you put together a great resume. Investing in one could really be an asset to one’s career. As a writer I’m supposed to have a way with words, but resumes have never been my forte. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to invest in a good template as soon as I can afford it.

I have a ton of work to do. I have articles that should have been turned in last week that I still haven’t got done, and I have a bunch of articles and two reports that need to be done by the end of the month. And wouldn’t you know it, I’m experiencing the worst case of writer’s block I’ve ever had.

I just have so much on my mind right now. Between trying to find a place to live, trying to scrounge up some money to help us out with that, and worrying about what is going to happen to my family if it doesn’t all work out, I just haven’t been able to get much of anything done.

I’ve got to pull myself together and get my writing done. If I don’t, I’m going to miss out on income that I can’t afford to miss out on this month. If all this anxiety would go away, maybe I could accomplish something.

I’m at something of a crossroads with my writing right now. I would love to get some opinions on this, so I would be most grateful if you would share them in the comments.

I have been working on a regular basis for two clients for nearly a year now. For one, I ghostwrite articles on a wide variety of subjects for their clients. For the other, I do daily blog posts as a contributor.

Both clients have been fantastic to work with. They both pay on time every time, and I enjoy the work I do for both. But the company I do the ghostwriting for recently changed hands, and the work has been pouring in every since. It has been quite a feat getting it all done, as well as the blog postings and shorter-term projects. In fact, I’ve been perpetually running behind. Not far behind, but far enough that it bothers me.

I’ve come to the conclusion that something is going to have to give, and I’m not sure whether or not it should be the blogging. You see, I kind of look forward to that every day. It’s fun, my name is on my work, and I have plenty of freedom as to what I blog about (within the blog’s niche). The pay per word is better than anything else I’m doing, although there are not a lot of words required. The thing is, some days it takes me a long time to find a topic to blog about. I have to find something that I feel is worthy, that I think readers will enjoy, and that hasn’t been written about already on the blog. Sometimes I can find something quickly, and sometimes I look for a couple of hours until I finally give up.

I just can’t decide whether I want to let the blogging go or not. I love doing it, but I’m just not sure I can justify the time I’m spending on it anymore. And I don’t know how long the abundance of ghostwriting work will last. I hope it will be ongoing, but I hate the thoughts of letting things go and being without work.

I do have ideas for some other projects, and there are always gigs out there. So it’s possible that I could fill in the gaps adequately. Maybe it’s glaringly obvious what I should do, but I’m just really torn. Any thoughts on the matter?

Here I am with this pretty new template for my blog, and I’m just neglecting it something awful. Shame on me! But I have been awfully busy lately.

I’ve had work coming in by the truckload this month, figuratively speaking. I’m still not back to full speed since Hubby hasn’t gone back to work full-time yet, but I’m doing my best to keep up. I’ve had to put certain things on the back burner to take care of more pressing ones, but hopefully I can start juggling things better soon.

One topic I’ve been doing a lot of writing about lately is dogs. Although I’m not as much of a dog enthusiast as I was when I was younger, I have truly enjoyed it. It’s even got me thinking about getting a dog for myself. Hubby has a hunting dog, but I want something that is more of a companion.

I also got an assignment from a website that I already know and love, and I’m really psyched about it. I would love to share the details about all of these, but unfortunately the articles are to be ghostwritten, so I can’t.

I can share information about one of my projects, though. I’m researching scholarships for SuperCollege. That’s one of the things that I’ve had to put on the back burner somewhat, but they have been really understanding. I think the project wraps up this month, but I hope to work with them again in the future. I have truly enjoyed it.

That’s all for now. Hopefully this blog won’t be on the back burner for much longer, because it is one of the things I enjoy the most.

As you may have gathered by reading some of my recent posts, I’ve been pretty badly stressed out lately. I’ve had plenty of writing work coming in, but with Hubby home most of the time, it makes it hard to get anything done. And I can’t get it through his thick skull that his frequent interruptions are a big part of the reason that we’re struggling to make ends meet right now.

I’ve been burning the midnight oil a lot lately, and I realize that it takes its toll after a while. So for the past couple of nights I’ve tried to get more sleep. But today, I was just so tired that I could hardly hold my eyes open all day. I spent a goodly portion of the day sleeping, even though I should have been working. It’s kind of hard to write well when you’re nodding off in front of the computer.

Now Hubby and Pumpkin are in bed, and I’m trying to get some writing done, but it’s going very slowly. My mind just keeps wandering to the unpaid bills, and things that need to be done around the house, and anything else but what it needs to be concentrating on. It’s like a vicious cycle: I’m stressed out and can’t pay the bills because I can’t get any work done, and I can’t get any work done because I’m stressed out and can’t pay the bills.

I’ve even considered going back to work outside the home. I would be making more money writing if I could get my work done, but I can’t seem to keep up with it all. I have to keep reminding myself that Hubby will be going back to work later this month, and then maybe things will get better. If they don’t, I guess I’ll be getting a “regular job” again.

Ever feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders? I’m having one of those days.

I stayed up late last night trying to get some work done, and slept in a bit this morning. I needed to get a couple of hours of sleep and get back at it because I’m behind, but I can’t write well if I’m exhausted. So I thought I would sleep until 9:00 or so and get up and get to work.

The phone woke me at about 9:45, and it was Hubby. He went back to work today, but he ended up getting sick and needed to come home. He parks his truck in town and rides with his cousin to work, and the office is close to an hour from here. He wasn’t sure if his cousin could bring him back, and if not he needed me to come get him.

Of course I didn’t argue with that. I got up, got ready, and waited for the word. He called back, and I went after him. I dropped him off at his truck, got enough gas to make it back home in mine, stopped by the grocery store to get him some crackers, and came home.

I went ahead and ate lunch when I got here, and then got to work. It was nearly 1:00 before I got started, and I need to get at least a total of 3 articles, a report, and a blog post done today, and more if at all possible. I was supposed to work on Hubby’s grandfather’s will (which I would rather not be doing but he’s not going to have one if I don’t and he’s pretty sick and there are lots of other extenuating circumstances), but I don’t think I’ll be able to get to it today.

I also have to go to the bank and put some money in, because I was forced to use my bank debit card instead of my PayPal card for some stupid reason to get the gas and crackers. And after coming home and checking online, I realized that I had enough money for them in PayPal but not at the bank. Grrrr.

I know it could be worse, but I’m just severely stressed over it all. I guess I had better get back to my writing now if I want to have any hope of getting it done.