Whew, I have not had a minute to breathe since the holidays. Between sick kids, sick me, oldest son's birthday, Christmas, New Year, and the countless other things life throws at us, I feel like I haven't had a minute to breathe. But we still have to work and meet deadlines, even among life's craziness.
I have to admit that I've slipped a bit on the deadline meeting during this hectic period. I've been assigned a large health writing project that has really consumed me. In fact, it kind of overwhelmed me, among all of the other things I had going on. This project is a good one, and I didn't want to risk losing it or any future work with the company who assigned it, so I knew what I had to do. I fessed up to my editor that I was having difficulty with the assignment and was honest about my situation.
Fortunately, my editor was sympathetic. In fact, she's assured me that she understands and that the deadlines may have been a bit "aggressive." What a relief it was to hear that! An even bigger relief was to learn that there is a new assignment waiting for me when this one is complete. Again, whew. I truly am appreciative of the fact that my editor is flexible and know that this is not always something freelancers can depend on.
So I'm not recommending that you be late with assignments or flake on deadlines. The moral of this post is that, if you are unable to live up to what you've committed to, you should always be upfront and communicate with your editor or client.
What about you? Have you ever run into a situation like this? What did you do about it? Please share your advice in the comments!
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