Random this and that

My editor accepted my article. She sent my invoice to accounting. I'm going to get a paycheck for this work. Yay.

I have phone calls to make to people who have been trying to reach me. I'm putting it off because the sun is shining and I have to pick up Benjamin at daycare.

Hubby left for a fishing trip for four days. Benjamin saw the car with canoe and trailer with fishing boat and said "I'm coming" and "I'm sishing too". His lip pushed forward and his eyes filled with tears when daddy and the guys left him behind.

The sun is shining, but it's cool out there. Maybe I will plant some more stuff in my garden. Maybe not.

I must, must, must vaccuum the livingroom. Maybe I'll do it later.

I have been eating consistently since 10 am. I've had breakfast, snack, lunch and snack. It's 10:41 am.

The food I've been eating should not make me fat or induce me with gestational diabetes. I made a Chickpea Salad a few days ago and simply stuffed the leftovers in a greek pita with some torn lettuce. Had four pieces in all.

Final Draft

So I finished the final draft. I have just over 1000 words. I sent it on to the guy who will look it over, and hope it comes back with not too many changes. Either way, I'm about two weeks ahead of schedule. We'll see what happens. I'm nervous and excited both at the same time!

Writing from home with a toddler in part-time daycare is interesting at best. Although he does still nap, I can't count on naptime to happen or to remain quiet and without distraction. I also find myself in a slump in mid afternoon so writing during naptime is not something I'm very good at. Maybe doing research or editing, but not really being creative. Mornings are definitely better for me.

So I have to discipline myself to do it while he's in daycare. Which is a bit of a challenge as some of the habits I formed while he is out of the house had to be changed. Like, grocery shopping. Last week I had to shop on a Saturday. Don't like that. Prefer to do it on Thursday or Friday mornings. But the reality is that I have to take advantage of the quiet mornings to write my stuff or to make phone calls, and the groceries will just have to wait.

Luckily I live in an area that has plenty of little stores within walking distance where I can pick up odd items to help us get through the rest of the week. Besides, Ben likes shopping at the delis. May as well make him do it with me and get him walking and tired.

Things are looking up.

My problem with the phone

I hate the phone.

I hate making phone calls and I hate receiving phone calls.

Some of that stems from the days when I was a flight attendant and we used to get called day and night to come and work extra flights. There was never enough crew to operate all the flights they scheduled. Or delayed. Or had mechanicals. And flight attendants aren't regulated by Transport Canada the same way pilots are. Crew rest is not something that was necessarily respected. So that phone rang. Incessantly.

Some of my friends who worked with me at that company have developed the same allergy against phones. It's nice to see I'm not the only one.

Then there is the problem of not hearing very well. I feel apprehension when the phone rings and the call display states a number, or name, I don't recognize. What if that person has a bad line, or the connection has static? What if he (it's usually a he) has a quiet voice? What if they speak too fast, or mumble?

None of these problems mattered much up to now. Because of call display I could choose to ignore the phone, which I did most of the time. Unless it was hubby, or my mom. Or someone I knew.

But now, I'm a Freelance Writer Working From Home and I receive business calls on our residential line.

Lordy.

Note to self: change the voicemail message to something more generic.

The anxiety I go through. The dreams/nightmares I have anticipating a bad connection, or misinterpreting important information.

I am a stress case.

Yet today, things are looking up.

First of all, I managed to make contact with actual, real people who returned my calls. I had planned on making phone calls today and although I imitated my toddler's delay tactics (aka procrastination) I forced myself to JUST DO IT while Benjamin was in daycare.

It was then or never.

He even went down for a nap, although not without a fuss, at more or less the planned nap time.

So then I spoke to a nice guy who left me a message over lunch and who even suggested he would send me some text he produced for a pamphlet he designed.

This would be really helpful for me. I can take information from that and incorporate it into my article.

One thing I noticed is that although I had a nice list of questions prepared for the interview, I found that our rather casual conversation didn't flow in the direction I wanted it to.

I have to practice this skill some more.

But all in all, I'm happy with my accomplishment today. I set out to do something, did it, and am now able to contribute to my article some valuable quotes.

I'm excited.

231 words

That's how much I've written on my freelance article so far. Actually, I've written a lot more, but those are just notes. The article is due May 24 and needs to be about 1000 words.

I am less anxious and more enthusiastic about this little project now. Bring it on! I can do this!

Gotta interview this guy next week, but have to go through this other guy first to get some sort of instructions. I emailed him my phone call availability for next week (no toddler in house, and not during naptime), but he hasn't gotten back to me yet.

This is fun....and I will get paid too!

Freelance

I can officially call myself a Freelance Writer as of today because I have a real, official, assignment!

I'm so excited...