“Busy as a bee” or “Busy as a beaver”—which simile do you prefer? I’ve been as busy as both put together. And work continues to pile up.
Remember the fellow I mentioned who was considering having me edit a book he wants to write? I was pretty sure he was a go, but then a week passed in which I couldn’t get a hold of him and he didn’t return calls. Yes, it was discouraging—and yet I still didn’t have that “Damn—I’m sunk” feeling. For one thing, he didn’t seem the type to just drop out of sight if he’d decided against having me work on his project. I was pretty sure he’d at least give me the courtesy of a “Thanks but no thanks” phone call or email. I knew the fellow had health issues and was mentally chalking up his silence to one of his health problems having become exacerbated.
Then, toward the end of the week, he finally called. I had guessed wrong. It wasn’t health issues. He’s going through a nasty divorce, and it was s**t he was going through in conjunction with the divorce that had kept him occupied and distracted. But we made an appointment to shake hands on the deal on Monday.
Meanwhile I’m still struggling uphill to finish the major major major project I have in-house. It must be totally completed by the first week in December, and it’s a race to the finish.
And meanwhile the client whose book I promised to edit as soon as I finished this other one is chomping at the bit.
I work best under pressure, but I’ve got a bit much of it at present.
I’ve been getting up at 2 or 3 in the morning, grabbing an iced coffee from the fridge, and getting right to my computer. Of course I can’t immediately get to the project at hand; there’s a ton of email that has come in since I walked away from my computer at 5 or thereabouts the night before. And I do read the morning paper—the e-edition, on my computer. And like most writers, I post promo on Facebook for some of my books. (I’ve had over 100 published.) I quickly check CraigsList to see if anyone is offering a suitable writing or editing gig (like I really need more work at this point!), and then it’s on to my current major project, that humongous book that I’m partly writing and totally editing. I generally quit for the day around 5, give or take, depending in part on what I’m cooking for our dinner and in part on whether I’m totally fried yet.
I truly am burning the candle at both ends! Edna St. Vincent Millay noted in her poem that a candle burned at both ends will not last the night. But she also said, quite rightly, that it gives a lovely light.