Exhausted from Playing Catch Up

This past week has been a rather interesting one. I've been out of work with a painful scratch on my cornea and I've been spending the morning trying to catch up. That may be easier in theory since I would be broke already. I love months like this, actually they are what makes me wonder why I'm a writer at all.

The month started out with the light bill having to be paid first. That was a nice shock to the system since it was about half of the certain monthly income we have. It was over $300 thanks to my budget billing option which gives us one month out of the year where we have to pay the actual bill. This year we were $60 over budget and the actual bill was around $250 plus the taxes and junk they add. That was a really bad start to the month.

It just got worse. The next thing was an injury to my eye that cost over $100 that had been budgeted for things like gasoline and pull-ups. I couldn't see well enough to write since the injury was a scratched cornea which means that I lost valuable work time. Funny thing is the work time I lost was lost after I had already done everything I could to get paid this month. I lost time getting ready for next month. Granted I can still submit articles for upfront payments to various online sites that pay upon acceptance but I don't have that many ideas lately.

I spent most of the first of the month writing diary pages, editorials and Christmas articles. Today I managed to write twelve articles. Everyone of the articles that I wrote today were Christmas related. The fact that they were all related to the upcoming holiday means they have a chance of increasing my ad revenue very shortly. The titles were also on related subjects that means they didn't take that long to write.

The promotions I did the past couple of months increased ad revenue but I've noticed that when I change techniques my earnings change. I have managed to keep both my blogs up to date and I'm thinking of starting a new one dedicated to my writing. I might need more hours in the day but that's fine too. When I decided to stop taking private clients and focus on my own writing I discovered that I had written for other people so long I had forgotten how to write for myself.

It's easy to sit back and follow someones' guidelines and let them steer you but going back to your own style is difficult. I don't claim to be the world's best writer but I am a writer. I love my job; the best part of all although I'm not encouraging anyone not to get an education is that I have the job of my dreams and I never finished my degree. One day I may finish it but right now it's just not in the cards.

Why wouldn't a degree be in the cards? Easy, I can't find the time or a school that would allow me to do the course work all at home within my budget. Actually I'm a little weary of trying to get passing grades since it's been so long since I went to school. My last attempt was around six years ago. There are courses I'd have to retake, I'd love to be able to test out of those classes and a few more but the schools here in my price range aren't that cooperative when you're telling them the schedule of classes that you need.

I happen to like my life at the moment even if I have to work all night for the next few days to make sure I'm caught up. I have all the bills for next month in front of me and I'm determined to have money left over after they're paid. A few corners are being cut this month and that's fine too.