It has been a busy time here.  Not only am I working hard on getting back to a regular routine with the comics after a few false starts caused by problems with the graphics tablet (the pen is starting to not function correctly – it judders or simply stops working, which is a shame) but I’ve been taking part in the 15 in 15 challenge this month on Suite101.com.

For those of you who don’t know, Suite101 is an online magazine where writers can post articles on topics they are interested in, and earn revenue based on ad clicks on those articles.  I have 58 articles on there at the time of writing; fifteen of which were added in the last fortnight because of this challenge.  It was hard work, of course, but it was so definitely worth it, too.

Normally I don’t get involved with the Suite challenges because I’m wary of spending too much time and effort working on projects for one outlet.  It feels like having all my eggs in one basket, plus all my chickens too.  However, I’ve been ill over the last few months and so I decided this was a good way of checking whether I could build up my stamina again long enough to get back to writing full time.  It seems clear that I can, so I feel I’m a winner here even if I don’t actually claim a prize in the competiton.

Alongside the comics and the writing for Suite101, I’ve been working on my End of Course Assessment for the Company Law course I’ve been studying with the Open University.  The deadline for this is Friday 02 April, which meant I could have left it until after the 15 in 15 challenge but if I did that, I’d never forgive myself. I’d have had maybe a day to write the thing after postal times are taken into account, which is nowhere near enough time.  What if something went wrong? I’d be screwed.

My office, as viewed from the doorway. Yes, it's a mess.

So I wrote it all over the weekend.  This meant taking time out from 15 in 15, so I had to push ahead last week in order to be able to even consider getting to the finish line.  I entered the weekend needing to write 4 articles, produced two of them on Saturday while taking breaks from my note-making for the assignment and then turned all my attention to writing the assignment.

It was a 4000 word job, about double the word count of a standard assignment and with less indication of what the University was wanting me to write than is normal.  In other words, my kind of challenge.

I started working on it when I sat down in my office late on Sunday morning.  Because I’d spent Saturday working on my notes, I was able to come to the project with a clear view of what I needed to write for the majority of it.  This is always a good thing; I work best when I can quickly fill a blank computer screen with basic notes that I can then flesh out.

I’ll freely admit that I didn’t work on the assignment all day because a) I’m still not 100% fit and healthy, so I need breaks and b) burnout sets in easily if you don’t take steps to fight it, so I need breaks.  I had about 80% done by the end of Sunday, which was technically sometime about 4am Monday.  I set my alarm and went for a few hours’ sleep.

My office, from in front of the bookshelves. I love it in here.

When I woke up, it was 11am and I was now eating into the time I had set aside for proofreading the final draft of the assignment and then writing the last two articles for the 15 in 15 challenge. I think it’s safe to say I wasn’t pleased about losing so much time.

Because I have a reasonably bad case of mixed connective tissue disease, it’s difficult for me to get going in the mornings. The fact that the disease has caused arthritis in my back and neck usually means I get a very poor night’s sleep, so I was surprised I’d slept through my alarm.  Anyway, the first thing I need to do is have a long, hot bath to relieve the muscle tension that builds up and calm the arthritis.  That means another two hours or so before I can be fully dressed and at my desk for work.  Not great when you’re already falling way behind.

However, I used the time in the bath to think through the last few parts of the assignment that needed writing, so it was fairly easy to get the writing done on that.  I had a third draft written, proof-read and stuffed into an envelope by 4pm.  A quick walk down to the Post Office and it was on its way to the University on the day I’d planned to send it.  Not bad, I think.

The Post Office is, at most, half a mile from my house but I walk everywhere I can because a) I need the exercise (I work at home, on a computer – I need all the exercise I can get!) and b) I can’t drive anyway (never took the practical test).  As it stands, I didn’t get back home until 5.30pm and I had a meeting that night at 8.30.  If I was going to get these last two articles done, I would be working hard and cutting it fine at the end.

I had one article written by the time I went out for my meeting.  It meant furious typing and I’m probably going to have wrist pains for a few days as a result but it was worth it.  The article reads rather well and I’m proud of it, but it had taken a lot longer than I’d planned.

So anyway, I headed out again for this meeting. I couldn’t postpone it at the last minute, that would have been bad form.  I went along, said my piece and came back as soon as I could. It was about 10pm when I got back, and I went straight to work on the final article.

By 11.45, it was ready to be uploaded. Finding the right image to use took a minute because I’d already worked out which of the images from my own library I’d use on it.  Linking it to other articles took a while, however.

When I clicked ‘publish’, I checked the clock.  00.03.

My heart sank.

Without really thinking about it, I clicked on the link to view the article in its published form.  I always do this, it’s a good way of making sure there have been no silly coding errors that I’ve missed when writing the thing or copying it over from OpenOffice into Suite101′s website.

At the top of the article was the date. It said it was published on Monday.  At first, I didn’t understand why.  Then I remembered: Suite101 is in Canada. Because of the time difference, it was still Monday for almost 8 more hours.  In the end, I’d been rushing for nothing.

Still, at least it’s done now. I’m pleased I took part and I’ll consider doing it again if the opportunity arises, but not if my coursework is going to be due at the same time.

For those of you who are interested, the articles I wrote for the challenge are:

• What does actus reus mean?
• The Norwegian calendar
• Ulterior Motives and the law of intentions
• How to Retweet using Twitter and TweetDeck
• How to tell the time in Norwegian
• How to count in Norwegian
• Jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice
• Development of strict liability in English law
• Accomplices and the Accessories and Abettors Act
• Conspiracy law and agreement to commit a crime
• Inchoate offences and the Criminal Attempts Act
• The Chronicles of Riddick movie review
• How to edit MediaWiki wikis and create wikilinks
• The rules of statutory interpretation
• The postal rule in English contract law

As you can see, I write a lot about law; and a fair amount about Norwegian, too.  These have become my key areas on Suite101. I’m looking to expand into other areas such as popular science (it would be a good opportunity to use my Physics degree, for a start) but for this challenge I thought it prudent to stick to my core areas for the most part, as this would make it easier to get a footing on the thing.

Having now managed to complete the challenge, I think I’ll look into branching out.  I’ll consider it a “well done” treat, maybe.

There has been a lot of talk in the freelance writing community about how revenue from online sources is falling off at the moment.  I have to admit that I’ve often fallen into the trap of looking at revenue and wondering if it’s worth all the time and effort I put into my writing work, because the returns are so small.  When you look at the time you’ve spent and think you’d have been better off behind the counter at Greasy Joe’s Crispy Burger, it’s hard not to be demotivated.

So don’t do it.

Sometimes I feel like a bit of stuck record when I keep bringing up the time I spent in sales but in all honesty, although I was a terrible door-to-door salesperson, I learned a lot from the intensive training course that was part of the job.  One of the things I learned was how to induce self-motivation in even the worst of situations; and another was to recognise when I was being my own worst enemy.

You’ll know when you’re demotivating yourself because you start looking at all the bad things that are happening, and concentrating of finding more of them.  Maybe you start your day by looking at how much you earned yesterday, and you find it’s not very much.  You compare it to last week and see a drop in your ad clicks, or whatever, and that begins the cycle.  Then you look at how many other bad revenue days you’ve had recently.  Thoughts like “more people are starting to use ad blockers and that’s going to kill my revenue stone dead!” start going through your mind.

Soon you’ve decided there’s no point in writing more articles because you’re throwing away more time you could better use getting a real job with a steady salary.  Now you’ve lost interest in writing articles, or stories, or whatever; and if you somehow manage to hack out a few hundred words, they’re going to show the reader just how unimpressed with your work you are.

Of course that’s not going to make people want to read anything else you’ve written, is it?  So let’s see how we can turn the situation around.

Right now, the chances are that revenues are down because businesses are cutting back on advertising.  I run two webcomics that rely on advertising to bring in new readers and because of that, I have loads of adverts firing out across the web for most of the year.  Right now, I’m not paying even a quarter as much as I used to have to for the same advertising space, because I don’t have to compete as much with other advertisers.  As a result, the people hosting my adverts aren’t getting the same income they did last year.

Should they pull the adverts?  No.  Then they’d get no revenue at all.  What they need to do instead is increase the number of pages where my adverts will appear.  Compensating for the lower revenue per page by increasing the number of pages has two advantages:

1. In the short term, it will bring the advertising revenue back up; and
2. In the long term, it means there will be far more revenue when all those pages start earning decent money again.

The downturn in the economy won’t last forever and if you’re writing good, readable material it will keep on earning for you when the recession is over.  Okay, you won’t be earning the megabucks on each piece you tap out right now but ever little helps to offset the fact that we’re getting less per page than we used to,

So if you remember that once your stuff is out there it will keep on earning, you can see this not just as writing for now but as preparing for a better future.  That always makes me feel better, and I hope it will for you, too.

2

Howard lived in a Victorian terraced house in Gilesgate, a village that was nominally part of Durham but only connected to the city itself by a long street that wound its way up one of seven steep hills. Sarah found herself stopping regularly to take a break and get her breath back as she climbed Claypath, the last street in Durham proper; winding its way up to Gilesgate bank.

Why does this city have to be built on so many hills? she asked herself. And why am I so exhausted? I’ve lived here for years, climbed every hill, walked every street, and I never used to get out of breath. I must be coming down with something.

She sat on a low stone wall and checked the time while she got her breath back. It was half past six and night was already drawn in. Getting across the roundabout at the top of the hill would be a nightmare. She decided to use the bridge connecting Claypath to Hild Bede college rather than risk crossing traffic in the dark. It meant a slightly longer path to climb, but it removed the risk of being squashed by an inattentive driver. There was a zebra crossing further up the hill that she could use to get to Howard’s house, so it would not be too much of a problem.

Her telephone began to ring. Fishing it out of her bag was almost too strenuous to manage. She took several deep breaths in an attempt to regain her strength, then flipped open the clamshell.

‘Hello?’ she asked.

‘Hi, Sarah. It’s Peter.’

‘Hi. What’s up?’

‘Oh, not a lot. I’m in town, just finished lectures, and I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight?’

‘Oh. Right. Well, I’m supposed to be going to Howard’s about something, but after that I’m free.’

‘Fair enough. Do you need a lift? I’ve got the car with me until my Dad visits next week.’

‘You know what? That would be fantastic.’

She arranged to meet him at the bus stop below the bridge. By the time he arrived, she was feeling a little more like herself, although not greatly.

‘Bloody hell, Sarah,’ said Peter. ‘You look like death.’

‘It’s nice to see you too,’ she said, flatly.

‘I’m serious. Have you been to see the doctor?’

She shook her head. The movement made her feel a little sick.

‘Well you should. Make an appointment tomorrow morning if you’re not feeling better, okay?’

‘Yes, Mum.’

‘I’m serious,’ said Peter. ‘You’ve got to look after yourself. You’ve been ill like this far too often.’

‘Turn right here,’ said Sarah. ‘Then second left.’

Peter sighed, and although she felt bad for upsetting him, a lecture on her health was not something she wanted to hear. She let the silence grow more thick and uncomfortable as the car wound its way along the last few hundred yards to their destination.

Howard was at the door when they arrived. For a moment, she seemed pleased to have company, but her smile faltered when she saw Peter. To her credit, Sarah noted that she recovered very quickly; and it seemed Peter was oblivious anyhow.

‘I think you came just in time,’ said Howard as she led the way into the tiny lounge that was supposed to serve as a communal room for all five people who lived in the house.

With a two-seater sofa, one armchair and a rickety wooden chair by the television, there was barely enough room for the three of them to squeeze in. Entertaining five people would only be possible, Sarah decided, if they were all very thin and agreed not to breathe.

‘What’s happened?’ asked Sarah.

‘It’s Liam,’ said Howard. ‘He’s been in his room for over an hour now, and I can hear chanting again.’