Working through Feast and Famine

The cliché about contracting, self-employment or freelance work is that there are alternating periods of feast and famine. I can attest to that! With this recent “feast” of work on my plate, there’s been an inversely proportional famine of everything else in my life.

About a month ago, I took a six-month, full-time contract for a non-profit humanitarian organization, here in Baltimore city. I love the work here, because they have a use for my various skills, not just one of them. Being a humanitarian non-profit, they avoid the stuffiness common to most office settings. Being an international organization, the place definitely appeals to my wanderlust. My job description is essentially: read, write, edit, and arrange – the stuff I do best.

I jumped at the chance to do this job, but what about my other freelance clients? I was fully-employed before this job came my way, and I couldn’t just drop everything for a new job. When the going gets tough, the tough work overtime, and so I have, to the tune of nearly 60 hours per week for about a month and a half now. A typical day: I wake at seven, commute to an office, struggle with tight deadlines there, all day,Work then I return home, eat if I’m lucky, meet with clients, and work ’till midnight, or one, or three…

What happened to my social life? It now consists of a few passing comments during, or on my way to, work. What happened to sleep? Bah! Who needs sleep! What have I been writing lately? Don’t ask, I’ll cry. Will this manic lifestyle eventually cause me to collapse? Yes, onto a nice bed of money, which will feed me for the immediate future. Don’t get me wrong, I’m working hard, but it feels good to be acomplishing so much.

I can see the light at the end of this tunnel, but I haven’t quite reached it. Websites for my freelance clients are nearing completion, including The Gallery Players, a theater in New York, turtle555.com, a home page for my photog friend back home in WV, and a portfolio for Creative Landscape Arts in Baltimore. That last project, I accepted it the same week as this larger full-time contract, against my better judgment, but hey, it hasn’t killed me yet.

This weekend, to preserve my sanity, I’m heading to the hills. My best friend is hosting a harvest party at his place, far from the city, the internet, and most importantly, far from all this work. I hope to recharge my batteries enough to complete the last of this work, before returning to my life again. Then, I can finish my spoken word project, revise my book of poems, and tart that play I’ve been meaning to get to. When this is all said and done, I should probably have more, not less, time to live with, since I wont be searching for work for a few months.