Freelance work comes in waves. There are times when it feels as though my life is nothing but needlework. Right now, it seems my life is nothing but writing.

That’s fine, of course, especially since most of what I’m writing is under contract, which means I’m actually getting paid to do it. Or, I will be. Soon. Er, someday.

I adore the writing life. In some ways, it seems easy compared to needlework. (Take it easy creative folks. I’ll be the first to admit that creating is incredibly hard. Hard is, of course, relative. I’m talking about the difference between two similarly hard things.)

With writing, I mostly wrestle with ideas and self-discipline. My needlework biz involves a gazillion other opponents in addition to those two: printing, inventory, invoices, bookkeeping, filling orders, communicating with shops, attending trade shows, and on and on and on. There’s just so much more stuff with the needlework biz (Oy, I need to order envelopes and cardboard). Writing is lean; it’s me and my computer.

This has been the busiest writing year for me to date–though you wouldn’t know it from my Web site. I’m too ashamed to even link to it; I haven’t updated it at all this year. Lame-O. Mostly what I’ve done are puzzles, games, and activities, with some articles, crafts, and Web site writing (not my own, obviously–the cobbler’s children have no shoes) into the bargain. What I haven’t done is much fiction. I miss that. My submission records for 2008 are paltry compared with 2006 and 2007. That’s all done on spec, though, and is a much harder sell than the activities and crafts. Still, I want to keep exercising those muscles, so once again I’m dedicating part of my days to novel revision.