I've been spending literally hours every night coding which I'm neither good at or enjoy. But the dirty beast needs to be beaten and so I find myself starting to get into Movable Type and design programs about 10'ish each night and work until about 3 in the morning. I've had to re-do this site, convert my Travel Site to MT, work on a redesign for Girls Guide to City Life to go with a new concept and restructure program I've got in place for fall and there's a redesign of Another Girl at Play because that too, is going through a change which is pretty exciting. There's also the design and launch of Hygge House as well. So yes, lots of coding. Lots of tea. Lots of swearing.

I'm also in the process of restructuring my company. I need to hire people from an assistant to sales so I've been really thinking about what I need them to do, how that will fit in, job descriptions etc. I have to hire more writers for Girls Guide to City Life, too, because I'm trying to push that into a new direction and make it run as a business instead of just a fun site. There's a lot of learning going on with that.

Then the 3-week travel gig I've got coming up has taken up so much time. Each night I'm in a different place which means making arrangements with dozens of PR people across the country in 4 different time zones. It also means looking at maps, plotting out routes, collecting info, making lists, getting ready and all the rest.

There's incorporating going on, finances to take care of, a mission statement to write and the whole "where is this going" thing to figure out, too. So yes, the plate is full. I hesitate to use the word "busy" because for me, that word means you're doing a whole bunch of things you don't want to do and I often hear people use that word like a badge of honour. But there's a lot going on behind the scenes. There always is when you're self-employed.

It's one of the reasons why I don't like to say I'm a writer when people ask me what I do because it implies I do very little. I've considered myself a business from day one which is why I've been able to achieve financial success. I take it all seriously, I work really hard and I care about what I do. So I do more than write.

Which is why I'm so glad that it's Saturday. I work hard during the week that I take weekends off unless inspired to do something. But I can take it off now without guilt because of the effort put in during the week. And you can bet I'll be at the beach hanging out since I spent the last five days working like mad in a non-airconditioned flat. Oh, and with an ice-tea to boot.

July 22, 2006 | Link to this | Filed in Everyday Play