Busy, busy, busy

I'm both pleased and annoyed at how busy I've been lately. I'm pleased at the writing work I now have, but I'm annoyed at how much non-writing stuff has chosen to pop up. Plus the usual, "Stop calling me - I'm working!" thing that all freelancers go through.

I mentioned before that I might have an opportunity to write a grant proposal. My niece's eye doctor is starting a study examining her type of vision and hearing impairments (cortical vision impairment and auditory neuropathy if your interested) to determine why they often occur together. He told my sister that the project needed a grant writer and she mentioned me (the weak network strikes again). I was going to follow up with him but got sidetracked when my niece was hospitalized, then came Thanksgiving, and so on. I made a point of tagging along to her appointment last week so I could give him my card. He seemed quite enthusiastic and said he has "several projects" for me. Good money and a strong personal interest should make this a terrific opportunity.

I've started my other new project. The articles are pretty straightforward. The keyword-heavy content is certainly a new experience. It requires a whole different style of writing to cram a lot of keywords into text without making it sound like you are. The first one took me an absurdly long time because I was trying too hard. Once I got the first one I could use it as a template for the others. I'm almost done but I can only do one or two before I have to take a break. Once I pick up the skill, I should be able to pop these out pretty quickly. It's not what I want to do eight hours a day, but it's kind of brainless and sometimes I need brainless.