Tomorrow – the first of September – marks the beginning of spring in Tasmania. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to some warmer, brighter days.
Winter was a weird one this year – but then, hasn’t everything been weird this year!? There were individual days that seemed to last forever, and weeks that seemed to be over before they’d even started.
It has been a busy work spell for me – to the extent that I’ve had to turn down a few projects recently. A few years ago, when I was just establishing myself as a freelance writer in Tasmania, I never imagined I’d reach the point where new clients would be approaching me. I thought I would always be the one doing the asking.
Nor did I imagine that I’d become so busy I would have the luxury of saying no to things that didn’t feel like a good fit, or that I simply didn’t have time to work on. After a challenging year, and especially after all my projects were cancelled in March and April, it’s a wonderful place to be but not something I’m going to take for granted. I know that I could easily have another month where all the work dries up in an instant.
Some of the projects keeping me busy recently have included: seasonal blog posts for Freycinet Resort; stories for the recently launched Huon Valley website, including one on family friendly activities in the Huon and one on the best Insta accounts from the Valley; website content for a local childcare centre; newsletter content for a not-for-profit organisation; a few CV and job applications; and a heap of writing and editing projects for CSIRO.
I love CSIRO projects because I always feel like I learn a lot while I’m working. A great example is a recent piece based on an interview I did with the Net Zero Emissions Mission lead, which explores the work taking place to lower emissions in Australian industry. For reasons that you may have read about on my personal blog, this was a very stressful piece to write! My hard drive crashed as I was transcribing the interview, so I had to write the piece without any access to my notes or the recording – trickiest 1000 words ever! – but I was really proud of myself for getting the job completed by the deadline and submitted to everyone’s satisfaction even under those less-than-ideal circumstances.
At the moment, I’m working on some CSIRO factsheets based around specific projects in the Northern Territory, and again I’m learning so much about the incredible work being done by Australia’s top scientists.
Some of you may have read another post on my DorkyMum blog about the challenging few months we are facing as a family – my husband, a fellow freelancer, is about to start treatment for cancer.
At the moment, my aim is to continue working as much as possible while we muddle our way through everything that is to come – I will certainly be honouring all my commitments to existing clients.
If you are a new or returning client and you’ve been considering me for a writing or editing project please do still get in touch. If I have capacity to take it on, I will. If I feel there’s any chance at all that my family and caring commitments would see me do a lesser job than usual, I will be honest with you and won’t take it on – but I will do my best to recommend another trustworthy Tasmanian freelancer instead.
Wishing you a wonderful spring, and thank you as ever for your support.
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Ruth Dawkins Freelance Writer 