New year, new gaff, new start

Happy 2009, dear readers! It's a little late, for which I apologise, but I'm back, I'm blogging again and I'm raring to go.

I rather neglected this blog last year - a number of major personal upheavals meant I had less time (and enthusiasm) for writing regularly. 2008 was not a great year for me in many respects, although workwise it was very good. I did say I'd do a review of 2008 but the appropriate opportunity has passed so I won't. It's time to look forward.

I have just spent a gruelling 4 days with no internet access. I moved house again last Monday, as well as city. I'm now firmly ensconced in the heart of the north-west's media hub. In the process, BT managed not to provide me with a phone line for several days and then also decided to deliver my broadband later than contracted. I had fully expected to be offline for a week and planned my work accordingly. The delay would have meant an extra three days without internet access and it left me in a very awkward position with one of the overseas clients I subedit for who was expecting me to resume duties at 7am sharp on Monday morning. As we work via Skype, you can imagine the hole I was left in.

It was time to go postal. So go postal I did. BT was adamant that it could not supply my broadband on time. I pulled the journo card. Then the disability card. To no avail. And I insisted they deliver me a phone directory within 24 hours so I could start organising my local services and obligations. They offered to fast-track this given my disability. I was happy about this until informed it would take 6 days to get a directory to me. I pointed out that my broadband, even delayed, would be up by then and I'd no longer need a phone book.

Mysteriously, my broadband suddenly kicked in at 4pm today...

So, I have a new home, my office has been reassembled and I'm ready to start earning again. Oh and I still have a manuscript to finish, but that's another story...

Back in business

The eagle has landed!

The move went largely smoothly and I'm up and running. Sunday morning I was up very early, in time for Man with Van no. 1 to shift my office to Wordsmith Towers II. It took a little longer than expected to dismantle the desk and load the van. It was quicker at the other end to rebuild the desk and bookcase. MwV paid and gone, then it was down to me to set up the PC and install the broadband. That also took a while, but I'm delighted to discover I haven't forgotten how to wire up a computer, given that over the last 6 or 7 years I've always had someone else on hand to do it for me. I was chuffed to bits when I rebooted and logged on to the net. But, alas, I only had time to download some urgent email before it was time to dash back to my old house to finish packing.

By now it was 2pm (where did the time go? My MwV had arrived at 7.30am), and I still had to box up half my stuff . I spent the next few hours bent over boxes and walking up and down staircases. I swear if I'd been wearing a pedometer I'd have clocked up triple the recommended daily amount of steps. I collapsed into bed at 10pm only to wake at 1.15am, thoughts and lists racing round my brain. I tossed and turned until 3.30am before giving up. The alarm was set for 5 anyway.

Then it was on to finishing the packing. I was still at it, and totally stressed, when my van arrived at 9.30. The removal men were fantastic - the van was loaded within 90 minutes and they had completely finished here by noon. Then it was just me and a pile of boxes to empty. I have a functioning office and kitchen - the rest is cardboard city. The plumber who'd been installing a new bathroom over the last fortnight rang me on my mobile at 4pm to tell me there was no hot water because a valve had gone. Like I hadn't already noticed when trying to clean the kitchen cupboards...

I even did some work in between emptying boxes - just a spot of my daily copy-editing duties, but it proved that I'd been right to plan ahead and shift the office first.

By now, I'd realised I'd not eaten since 7pm Sunday night. And my landline did not appear to be working. Cue low blood sugar and a fight with BT. It took 6 calls on my mobile and speaking to 8 people to establish that one very tiny piece of vital information is not included in BT's home hub installation instructions. It was so damn easy to fix, yet I wasted 90 minutes and spent nearly £15 on phone calls in the process. I managed to get BT to agree in principle that my mobile costs ought to be refunded, but before anything could be settled, I was cut off. Typical. I shall pursue them today.

After that, it was time to collect my boy. He was pissed off at having to go into his basket and take a cab ride and even more unhappy when he realised he was caught up in a house move. There were several failed attempts to bolt out of the front door. After a Chinese takeaway and a beer (I was too knackered to open the champagne), I headed for bed - my yoga mat and a sleeping bag, until my mattress arrives next week. I managed 4 hours before my boy decided to audition for the ENO. At full volume. I know he was stressed but I was exhausted. At 2am, I was rummaging around hunting for that pair of foam ear plugs I'd once filched from a hotel and stuffed in my wash bag, on the grounds I might need them one day. That day was now. I think I'll use them again tonight.

Total hours of sleep since Saturday is about 8.

Here I sit now, contemplating starting on the living room. My hands are wrecked, criss-crossed with tiny slices from a thousand paper cuts caused by packing and unpacking. My nails, alrready ruined from 3 decades of bashing keyboards, are broken, split and flaky and I can't find the sodding hand cream.

But, hey, I can still work!

Three days to D-day

It's been a case of controlled chaos this week. Monday I had a client meeting in another town, which necessitated my catching a train them the client collecting me from the station as their business premises is in the sticks(and with no car of my own I hadn't a snowball's of getting there solo). As luck would have it, my destination has two stations and the client, you guessed it, went to the wrong station to meet me, even though I'd stressed in the email to pick me up at the other one... So I got off the train and waited. And waited. And waited. Foolishly, I'd set out without the client's office number on me and the client didn't have my mobile number. After 25 minutes, I was fed up and the return train was due to depart in 2 minutes so I turned tail and headed home to find a message on my voicemail asking where I was...

The meeting was rescheduled for Wednesday lunchtime, this time with contact numbers being exchanged. Not sure I have the job, but I'm fairly heavily booked anyway over the next fortnight. In the interim, I edited the book on murders and spent ages on the phone booking "man with van"s to shift my stuff, and ordering goods online (dull stuff like a fridge and pedal bin - I lead such an exciting life).

I finally finished this week's work yesterday evening at around 7pm. I put the finishing touches to the book I'd been copy-editing then emailed it back to the author. All that remained today was to bill 3 clients, including my author. The decks are now clear to move...

On Saturday evening, I'll be dismantling the desktop PC as Man with Van no. 1 arrives early (and I do mean early) on Sunday morning to transport my office to Wordsmith Towers II. Once he's rebuilt my desk, I'll be setting up my router etc so that I'll be online asap in my new workspace. Back at Wordsmith Towers I, my laptop will keep me connected to the outside world...

Man with Van no. 2 arrives Monday morning with a set of muscle do the main removal (no. 2 being a proper, insured removals outfit). The moving kit I ordered (boxes, tea chests, packing tape, etc) arrives here tomorrow, meaning my weekend will be spent packing up. Of course, my office should be up and running by then, all being well. It's all going hideously smoothly so far. Which means things are likely to go tits up at some point. I hope not, as I'd like to be working again on Tuesday.

I'll try and blog again before the big day, but don't expect miracles!

Watch the birdie

Since Sunday, my attention has been distracted by the pair of blackbirds building a nest in the shrub outside my office window. Every few minutes, one or other flies past, twig in beak, and I have watched, fascinated, as homing instincts kicked in. On Sunday, Mr Blackbird sat in said shrub for long hours, no doubt assessing its suitability as an abode safe from marauding cats and other dangers. Mrs B. then began ferrying twigs. By Monday lunchtime, the nest was almost complete. If I stand on my desk I'm eye-level with it, although no eggs have been laid yet. By the time they are, I will be nesting elsewhere.

The move to Wordsmith Towers II continues apace. The phone and broadband are on, the plumber is busy installing a new bathroom and I, well, let's just say I've been working 15-hour days clearing the decks of current projects so as to have some time to pack up.

Packing starts in earnest by the weekend and I hope to be offline no longer than 2 days and up and running again in one week's time.

I'm woefully aware that this blog has been neglected. The media diet is at least a month out of date (although, frankly, there's not much to report). I'm too preoccupied with moving and keeping the freelancing running smoothly. Normal service will be resumed asap. I promise.

Work 3, House Move 0

Despite the imminent house move, I am snowed under. It seems that the minute it was inevitable that Wordsmith Towers was going to shift, sod's law would dictate that I would be In Demand.

And so it transpired. Over the last two weeks, I have taken on 6 new corporate clients. Some web copy here, a brochure there, a mahoosive writing contract tossed in for the hell of it... On top of that, add in two press commissions for features (with a possible 3rd in the pipeline) and you might say my diary is full.

It seems to be an unwritten rule of freelancing that the more stressful your home life, the higher the chance of having work thrown at you. Obviously, I wasn't going to say no to anything. Moving costs and right here is where you start paying. Oops, sorry, wrong film. Moving costs, so new clients count as they offset the financial burden of shifting home/work. The only problem is, having said yes to everything I now don't have time to pack my stuff and move...

Right now, I've sort of got the phone/broadband doodah under control (but I might need to slaughter a goat just to ensure things go without a hitch) but I haven't had time to source a man with a van, boxes and all the other blah.

Which virtually guarantees that the Great Wordsmith Towers Move will be one almighty fuck-up. But hey, as long as the broadband functions and I can still work, does it really matter?*

Sod's law, innit. Normal service WILL resume at some point in the next 3 weeks.

*answers on a postcard to Wordsmith Towers II, Oop North

The secret to moving a home-based business

I'll be honest - I'm still figuring this one out. Moving house is stressful enough, but this is not just a case of flinging my clothes and books into boxes and then unpacking at leisure as I settle in.

This time, I need to move my freelance business too. I'm home-based so this all needs to be carried out as smoothly as possible with the least amount of disruption. The key here is planning. I'm already informing my regular clients that I'll be moving shortly. Today, I'll be ordering my phone line and broadband so it will hopefully all be up and running by the time I need to move my office.

My emails and URLs will, of course, not be changing but I need to pay my printer a visit to order some change of address stickers for my letterheads and cards. Freelance colleagues have also been immensely kind in helping me put together checklists of what I need to do and buy.

I'm fortunate that I'm not moving far and my landlord is a friend. I've already got the keys for Wordsmith Towers Mark II and I have the luxury of being able to move piecemeal over the next 3 weeks once I find a man with a van. The aim is to move as much of my personal stuff as possible first, then shift the office last...

Stay tuned as I discover if the theory is going to work in practice!

Shifting priorities

Apologies for extended radio silence recently. Wordsmith Towers is on the move!

Blogs may be a bit erratic over the next few weeks but I'll be doing my best to stay up to date. Don't go away now.