April 4, 2005
The last 2 weeks have been a sort of freelance daze--most people with normal jobs take vacations before or after Easter. I think they call it Spring Break! :) My kids were home last week, and that didn't exactly stop me from working, but I did try to do something fun with them each day. If you can't be flexible as a freelancer, then what are you doing in the business? It has few perks, but that's one of them, though I try to keep regular hours. In fact, for those who might want to know, my hours generally are 7 to 7:30 in the morning. In that brief period I check my e-mail and write out my daily to-do list. Then I go about getting my kids up, fed and off to school. I then take the dog--Frodo--for a good walk. if I don't, he drives me crazy. So I'm generally back at my desk with a caffeinated beverage by 9:00. Work till lunch. Eat in or eat out depending on mood or whether I have errands to run, then take the dog for another walk, then work until 5:00. So it's basically 9 to 5. Of course, sometimes I work in the evenings and weekends. Also, I review books, and I read some in the evening, and that definitely counts as work. And during lunch, too. Which reminds me of a little poem by writer Lawrence Block:

Though he works from sun to sun
A writer's work is never done.

Now that everybody has returned to work, I'm hitting the phone arranging interviews. Talked to a woman with breast cancer this morning who was part of a clinical trial for a new radiation therapy regimen. Set up an interview for tomorrow with an oncologist to talk about clinical trials in general. Set up an interview sometime bewteen 5:30 and 6:30 this evening to talk to a doctor about Hepatitis C. Note the time of this interview versus my proposed work hours. Flexible, flexible. Also wrote a couple query letters, had a dentist appointment, and made a few follow-up calls. For a writer I don't seem to be writing very much today--I feel more like a telemarketer.

And now I'm wasting time here. But I've got several more phone calls to make and even more e-mails, so I think I'll get back at it.

Best,
Mark Terry