Working on the Weekend

It might be Memorial Day weekend but I'm not eating hot dogs or watching fireworks displays. Instead, I'm working.

I spent part of the morning cleaning and organizing my office. There was a stack of papers a mile high that needed to be filed. Over the past two years, I've tried countless times to teach Molly and Milo how to file but they can't seem to grasp the concept. Molly runs out of my office the second she hears the shredder and Milo curls up on top of the contracts and pay stubs that I'm attempting to alphabetize. It took several hours but every last bit of paper that was on my office floor is now filed away. One of these days I'll spend a weekend organizing my clips...

I have two articles due tomorrow and a to-do list a mile long of things to accomplish before I leave for Toronto later this week. One of the (most annoying) things on my to-do list is a task I'll tackle first thing in the morning: Following up on overdue payments.

Most of the time, I submit an article and an invoice and the payment process is seamless. Other times, I have to e-mail and call editors and AP departments numerous times before a check ever makes its way into my mailbox. Right now, I have one payment due for an article that was submitted in DECEMBER. I'm certain the editor wouldn't be so blase if it was his check that was months late.

For every check that takes months to come and every editor that ignores e-mails and voicemails about overdue payments, there is an editor who is responsive and on-the-ball. A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from an editor who was just checking in to make sure my check had arrived. It meant a lot to me.

Freelancing is all about balance: rejections and acceptances, low-paying gigs and lucrative assignments, amazing editors and PITA editors. I'll count myself lucky that most of my experiences are positive. After six years of freelancing, I can honestly say that I can't imagine ever doing anything else.