Fickle clients

So, last month my most regular copy-editing client and provider of my core income dropped me with virtually no warning. To say I was shocked was an understatement as I'd considered this particular client to be recession-proof.

And, indeed, as it turned out, my being dropped had nothing to do with the recession. Or not much anyway, although it's fair to say they probably found it cheaper to muddle on in-house instead of paying me as I'm overseas to them and thus comparatively expensive.

I immediately set about plugging the gap by finding other work. I've been fortunate to be offered quite a bit of corporate writing work lately, largely unsolicited but some I have actively chased.

And whaddyaknow! No sooner do I fill up my days with other work than my ex-client comes crawling back to me to offer me more work. My initial feeling was to reject it but I doubt any of us can afford to be so fey right now. So I expressed cautious interest - this is not my old work but a new job entirely that will also be daily. The downside is that the original daily work only required me to be at the PC between 7 and 9 in the morning. The new job will oblige me to be available at a whim between 8 and 3, thus tying me to my desk for many more hours a day on the offchance that I might get sent work. This is going to have a severe impact on my other work activities, including limiting my options to go out, either for a break or to meet interviewees/colleagues/potential new clients.

Decisions, decisions...

I've agreed to do a trial day tomorrow. And then I'll see. I admit to being wary - if they can drop me once, they can drop me again and I don't like being mucked around. On the other hand, it's regular work that will pay my monthly bills again. Not an easy choice - I don't want to be motivated purely by money and yet I need to eat and keep a roof over my head.

I shall report back later in the week.