Some eye candy for a chilly winter day.



Photo Courtesy of Liz

Remember spring is right around the corner. don't rush the beauty, even if you don't think it's there.

I recently posted an article over at FreelanceSwitch.com about ditching clients. So many people are quick to say, "You freelance...just fire that client if you don't like him/her."

But anyone who is freelancing with the intention of building a positive name for themselves knows it's not that easy. Not even remotely.

You don't just quit when things get tough. If they get ugly that's another story. That's just my perspective.

I write about this because I don't have a full slate of golden clients. Some aren't always decisive about what they want. Some continuously haggle over prices. Some just don't know how to craft a polite email. It's easy to want to write people off when you have the power to. But sometimes, you have to "take it." (And yes, sometimes, you don't.) But I hear enough about cutting clients loose--I want to hear more about working through things. That's why I wrote my post.

I'm interested to hear from all you creative freelancers about when you draw the line and ditch a client, and when you decide to suck it up and deal. Why do you do what you do?

January is over and thankfully, so is Dickie's challenge. I didn't write as often as I should have, but I definitely made progress.

Here's how I know: I took time out to work on more queries today. This shows me that by focusing on this and keeping it visible, I am more likely to work on this.

What hampered me? Aside from emails saying people were "disappointed" in me (who needs that kind of negativity? Delete!), I have been rigorously busy with a long-term project. So to be practical, I could not devote all the time I wanted to writing magazine queries. Simply put, I have to pay bills before spending valuable time on something that doesn't offer an instant payout.

But I'm glad I did it because I definitely wrote more and I feel more apt to delve into query writing instead of my old mentality, which said I needed a full day off to even begin.

Thanks to the FreelanceSwitch.com Freelance Radio panel for giving me tips on this and helping me stay motivated. I may have not written every day, four days a week, but I did write more. And for me, that was huge.

I'm proud of myself!