Perils of a Disorganized Freelancer

The problem today is not that I don't have any articles to write, but that I have too many, and am managing not to get any of them finished!

This is a problem I haven't often had yet as a freelance writer - I spent so many months figuring out how to get magazine work, now have to figure out how to make a workable writing schedule now that assignments are coming in.

The part I have been trying to work on is sending out pitch/query letters even when I have some nice assignments in. When I first started out, if I had an assignment to write I let querying fall to the wayside. Then of course, when the assignment was finished I didn't have any more work lined up. So, even when I am writing on assignment, I still try and bang out 10 pitch letters a week - some weeks with more success than others!

Personally, my other big problem is managing cash flow. On the one hand I want to focus my time on the better paying markets - on the other hand, those aren't guaranteed for me just yet, and some take several months to pay. So I was filling in with low-paying jobs doing web site content. But when I am writing one genre, I always worry I might be better off focusing on the other!

In addition, I write two web sites WWW.Knitting.AllInfoAbout.com, and WWW.RomanticVacations.AllInfoAbout.com (Romantic Vaca isn't live yet - another thing on my to-do list!). While I know these will provide long term income, they aren't generating much in the way of cash just yet. So we have the two hands again - am I better off expanding these sites so they get bigger (and produce more income) faster? Or am I better off squeezing these pages in when nothing else is going on, and spending my efforts on queries?

As of this moment, I suspect I should stop procrastinating here, and get back to the queries!

Have a great (and productive!) day -
MBT