What projects are you working on right now?
At any given time, freelance writers are working on an eclectic mix of assignments plus putting together letters of introduction, queries, follow up notes, futur projects, taxes, and so on.
To get a better idea of what that work entails, let’s share share we’re doing.
Here’s what I’ve got on my plate right now:
- Finishing up a story package on cloud computing for a trade magazine.
- Working on a feature story for a national newspaper.
- Finishing interviews for a tech story due this week to a news website.
- Researching a couple more tech stories for the same site.
- Finishing interviews for a careers story due next week to a different news website.
- Waiting to receive the first in a series of business feature stories I’ll be editing as part of a new, ongoing brand journalism project.
- Scheduling a phone call with a speaker for the panel I’m moderating at the ASJA’s 2013 writers conference in April
- Deciding whether to attend a February conference on a subject I write about
- Finding writers who would like to do guest posts for this blog
- Mapping out January and February posts for this blog
- Tying up loose ends on the blog redesign we launched in December
- Coming up with projects for my off-and-on virtual assistant
- Starting to plan the 2013 Blogathon, which starts May 1, including deciding whether to create a Facebook page for it
- Starting to get 2012 income and expense info organized to file my annual income taxes
What are you working on? Please share by leaving a comment.
Your list makes my head spin, Michelle! It’s more like spinning plates than stuff sitting on one plate… I’m pumping out daily blog posts for information marketers, and also learning a lot. I love it when that happens…
I just handed in a website for a business strategy leader that took a great deal of research. I am waiting to find out what the next leg of this project will be; editing an ebook; writing a blog post for my own blog (which I’ll finish tomorrow); going through my alerts to see which blog posts I plan to comment on after yours; revisiting various forums to see if anyone needs me to elaborate on any of the answers I’ve provided; conducting research for a guest post; composing 15 Tweets to load into my Tweet sheduler for next week. And the list goes on.
As of this moment, I am going to stop complaining about my to-do list, since it isn’t nearly as jam-packed as you!
Can I ask, how do you manage to keep on top of so many projects at once?
Here’s what I’m working on at the moment (while I’m in the car on a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne):
1. Gearing up to experience a new fitness craze for a magazine article.
2. Researching for the above-mentioned article.
3. Reviewing the design for my new support site, which is aimed at women freelancers.
4. Reviewing posts from contributors for my new support site.
5. Working on improving my website SEO & rank
6. Pitching to a new client about a website content project.
7. Preparing to pitch for a massive creative content project.
8. Writing articles for two sites I contribute to.
9. Getting ready to (and nervous about)attending an acting course.
Now that I’ve written it all down, it doesn’t feel as daunting! Now…to begin…
“Can I ask, how do you manage to keep on top of so many projects at once?”
Does constantly feeling on the verge of panick count?
Seriously, I’m a huge believer in to-do lists – for the day, for the week and for long-term projects. I use Outlook Calendar for appoinments, deadlines and lots of other things, as I’ve written about before.
I also outsource household tasks, specifcally housecleaners and a yard crew. And I shop for groceries online when I can.
Last year I used a virtual assistant for research, and just started using her services again — it’s a tremendous help.
Michelle
I’m dying to find a program that organizes everything in an easy-to-use way so that I can get a better overview and keep from that panicky feeling. As yet that hasn’t happened … but I hold out hope!
Let’s see:
Today:
Working on 3 stories for a trade industry publication on various categories within the industry
Proofreading a book via a subcontracting gig with a self publishing company
Copyediting blog posts for another freelance writer
Confirming a cover story assignment with an editor at a trade magazine
Working on website copy for a client
In the next week:
Editing 2 more books for my subcontracting gig
Doing a developmental edit on a book for an independent client, also self publishing
Sending a pitch on how i find copywriting clients to an interested blog
Doing research for a piece for a men’s website on men in business
Brainstorming ideas for a blog where I haven’t contributed in a while
Contacting sources for another article assignment due Feb 1
Researching information for my cover story assignment
Writing my monthly column for She’s Self Employed
Reaching out to local companies & querying to see if they need a writer
That might be everything, though I doubt it 😛
Freelancers are the ultimate multitaskers!
Michelle
Nope forgot the 2 client blogging projects I currently have on my plate entirely. So there’s also that… lol.
I am amazed that after reading all this posts I can conclude that ladies are multitaskers. For me as a new freelancer, I used to complain a lot that I am wasting a lot of time on the net trying to understand how to make money on a blog, how to perform SEO on the blog, figuring out how I can win my first bid of a project at freelance, odesk or elance.com.
After reading all this comments, it looks like I will have to work on my multitasking so that I can catch up with all of you 😛