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:
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.
