Downturn? What downturn?

News about my industry has become increasingly depressing over the last few months and weeks. Staff jobs are being axed everywhere, freelances are being told slots will be covered in-house as budgets get slashed and many of my colleagues are complaining about a lack of work or even considering getting out of the game altogether.

Times are hard, no question.

I've been carefully examining my own prospects. I've been beavering away on my book the last couple of months, while well aware that once the MS has been sent to the publisher, I need to start touting for work again. I still have a few regular copy-editing gigs on the go, all long-running for which I am heartily thankful. I also have some plans to start sending my CV round to certain contacts and am drumming up ideas for pitches too. However, I've also seriously considered doing bar work if things dry up, just to keep the proverbial at bay and cover my overheads.

So today, I was rather gobsmacked to be offered 3 jobs - yes, 3! One client which hired me for a long-running writing project that is now drawn to an end has offered me a huge copy-editing job that is part of the same project. I've also been offered a job ghost-writing a business blog and another potentially long-term slot writing business stories for an online B2B news site. I have no idea if either of these 2 offers will actually amount to anything but it's certainly nice to be asked. I'm crossing my fingers that at least one of these will turn out to be a goer, as regular work is always welcome and I'd rather watch EastEnders at home in the evenings than pull pints, to be honest.

It's certainly reassuring to know that there are still publishers out there putting money into projects and showing willing to hire writers, despite the massive downturn in ad spend across the board.