NaNoWriMo, Denver Comic Con, and being sick

I lost a lot of last week because I was sick, and then over the long weekend I went to Denver Comic Con, so I've been MIA a lot lately.

My illness hit me two weekends ago, and it really hit me hard.  I canceled a lot of my obligations that weekend and slept for most of it, thinking that would help me to be fully functional once Monday rolled around.  Unfortunately, once I went back to my regular schedule on Monday, I had a major setback, and it wasn't until Thursday or so that I felt well again.  Luckily it cleared up before Comic Con!

Sick days as a freelance writer

I got sick over the weekend, and despite getting a lot of sleep, it's been hanging on this week.  I think it's probably because I went back to my usual schedule, in which I only get around seven hours of sleep a night -- not really enough if I'm fighting an illness at the same time.

When it started on Friday, I thought it was just a cold, but then on Saturday I was fairly sure I had a fever.  I didn't get my hands on a thermometer until I had already taken an ibuprofen, but I still had a low fever at that time, so I'm guessing it had been higher before.

I slept most of the weekend, but yesterday I had to go back to my usual schedule, thinking I'd be better.

The freelance writer's resume

I think freelancer writers have to think about their resume more than most people.  When someone gets a regular job, they might stay in that job for years or just months, but either way they still don't have to think about their resume for a little while.  Freelancers, on the other hand, submit a resume every time they apply for a contract job, so their resumes are constantly trading hands -- and as a result, have to be constantly evolving.

So I found this article particularly pertinent for freelancers:

For A Resume, Type Font Matters

If your professors told you in college to always use Times New Roman, it turns out they were actually wrong.  According to typography experts, Times New Roman is wearing out its welcome.  It's old news, tired and overused.

The well-rested writer

I've been fairly sleep deprived so far this year.  I used to get eight or nine hours a night, easy, but I've struggled with getting enough sleep for the last year or so.  When I freelanced full-time it wasn't an issue, or even when I just worked my nanny job in the afternoons; but I worked a lot of hours at my nanny job last summer, and I've worked a lot since the start of the year, too.  And the way it's looking, I won't see a reprieve for a few more months, since I'm working a lot more hours this summer, too.

So I was amused to see this article pop up on my Facebook feed today:

Short On Sleep? You Could Be A Disaster Waiting To Happen

Heaven knows, I certainly feel like a disaster waiting to happen some days!

A writer and her keyboard: A love story

I guess I'm hard on keyboards, which shouldn't come as a surprise, given my occupation.  My keyboard has been slowly getting more problematic over the year and nine months that I've owned the computer.  I love the feeling of typing on these modern laptop keyboards, with their flat backlit button-style keys, but they don't appear to hold up as well as the older-style laptop keyboards.  My keys have been slowly getting looser, especially keys that I use a lot, such as A, S, T, and now U as well.

And then, last summer, my A key came off for the first time.

Camp NaNoWriMo follow-up

I didn't really do Camp NaNoWriMo this year.  The irony is my goal was to get back into the habit of writing every day, and I didn't manage it once.  First taxes, and then a few other things, including my birthday, kept me from it.

Luckily, there is another session of Camp in July, and I am hoping to have a little better luck then.  In the meantime, I have a few things to get into order so that the same thing doesn't happen again.