When It Rains, It Pours

I spent the entire summer lamenting my lack of progress, and as the summer draws to a close (based on the start of the school year, of course, not the calendar) I suddenly have 15,000 things to do.

Two weeks ago, I was thinking of hocking the computer and just being done with the whole thing. Today, my busy brain is juggling these things, even as I type:

• Catching up on missed sessions of a grant writing course I'm taking online
• Completing a review of the extensive materials involved in my application to become a tutor on tutor.com (has anyone else had experience with this?)
• Anticipating my first assignment for a local publication, the Illinois Business Journal (a real job -- hooray!)
• Completing a sample assignment for a high-profile family website which could prove to be lucrative if I don't blow it (they're paying for the sample -- hooray again!)
• Anticipating a response from the local school district regarding my completion of the (extensive) application process to be a substitute teacher
• Visualizing possible scenarios for the phone call expected tomorrow a.m. from the owner of another high-profile website which could also be lucrative, again, assuming I don't blow it.

On top of that, signing kids up for school, doctor's appointments for everyone, and parents in from out of town!

Probably sounds a lot like your life, right? Well, mine had been devoid of such activity since our move to a new state earlier at the beginning of the season, and so I've been moping around wondering how I would EVER get anything going. Well, suddenly things are going (or they seem to be).

This isn't exactly how I imagined a "freelance" career. I was picturing writing articles or, even better, editing written material, with a bunch of jobs similar in scope and nature. Instead, I've got a hand in blogs, websites, print journals, tutoring, substitute teaching, and more. I'm not sure if this is better or worse, but just different, and has me feeling both a wee bit apprehensive and really excited about the possibilities.

Of course, it would have been nice to sit back and enjoy my "time off," so rare it is. But it's hard to relax when the bank account is dwindling, no matter how hard you try. That hasn't changed, but at least there's hope.

And, it appears, maybe a whole lot of work ahead.