I Know What You Did Last Summer

Well actually I don’t. And I don’t know what you’re doing this summer either. But I know what I’m doing. While lots of writers are taking off to go on vacation (and rightly they should for working their butts off all year!), I’m working harder than ever.

Why?

1. Because some businesses are still in business and need writers to fill in.
2. Because downtime is a good excuse to get working on other areas of your business.

While the mice are playing, the cats shall be working. So what should you be doing now?

1. Market like a fiend. Tell everyone you’re looking for work. Tell it to your offline and online friends. Tell it to your neighbor, the guy you met at the market, the couple you networked with at an event.
2. If work is slow right now, use the time to hone your craft. Take a course on writing, join a new writing group, workshop yourself silly. Got time? Get off your butt and use it for shaping up your words. That’s where you’ll need it most, come fall.
3. Improve your business. Butter up your website to make it more enticing. Learn how to add all that sparkly doodads that you usually don’t have time to work on. Make business cards. Declutter your paperwork. Take an inventory of office supplies and get the ones you need. When business suddenly gets busy, you’ll be ready and open for business.
4. Catch up on your reading. Don’t just delve into those sugary summer reads, get your hands on magazines and newspapers too. You never know when something you read will spark a new idea and a new query.
5. Become a social networking whiz. What did you on 4th of July? I worked. And guess what? It was the best thing I ever did. I got paid more, had time to blog like a fiend and there was lots of room for my Facebook posts and Tweets. That means more eyes to catch my work and potential work for me.

So what about you? Are you working like crazy too over the summer? If so, what do you think is the number 1 benefit you’ve found doing so?