Last Thursday at 4:30, I got an assignment to write for a new client. This was kind of exciting, because I've been dedicated to one client for more than a decade and opportunities to do something else are few and far between.
That's good, right? Well, the client is an automotive company, and there is little I know less about than cars. Still, the medium was an obviously familiar one: blog posts. They wanted two posts, 1200 words each, by end of day Monday. (They aren't due to the client until Thursday morning, but I'm off Tues-Fri this week.)
I told my klatsch of new coworkers I'd be done by noon Monday, no problem.
I am an overconfident fool.
My assigned client tossed a few unexpected things my way Friday and I wasn't able to get to this assignment until end of day. I told myself that, since I am such a nice person, I deserve Friday night and Saturday off. I could knock off those blog posts Sunday evening (in between loads of laundry) and Monday morning.
Did I mention that I'm an overconfident fool?
I started to worry about my own hubris on Sunday afternoon, so at about 1:00 I began working. I researched and then wrote about the first assigned topic: motor oil. I was very pleased with my effort. It was cogent (apparently this client's favorite word) and included all the required search words. Once I did a word count, I was no longer puffing out my chest.
653 words.
Barely half of the required 1200. What the fuck! This was going to be much, much harder than I realized!
Except for an hour for dinner -- the laundry never got done -- it took me until 11:00 PM to finish. That was a full 9 hours to do one post. How was I going to get the other one done in four hours?
I couldn't. I simply couldn't. On Monday morning I sent the first post off, first thing (meaning I delivered early), and promised they're receive the second one "before I knock off for the day." I was careful in the wording. If it took me until 11:00 PM, well, then 11:00 PM would be when I knocked off, wouldn't it?
Fortunately I picked up speed and was done with the second one (subject matter: car batteries) by 5:37 PM. Considering that I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a coworker* and another 30 in a Zoom meeting with my new boss† and probably an hour being distracted by other shit, that means the second post only took me seven hours.
Nine hours for the first; seven hours for the second. And I thought I could do them both in six.
Did I mention that I'm an overconfident fool?
And I really wish I could get Friday night and Saturday back. Using that time more wisely would have saved my internal organs a lot of wear and tear.
PS This was 544 words.
*She has to have a breast lump biopsied, and I wanted to cheer her up.
†He's turning out to be a peach and deserves his own blog post sometime soon.
That kind of work can be brutal. No one to quote, facts to double check because all sorts of crazy on the internet, even around motor oil. Good luck - I hope you get to keep the client. You'll get faster at the posts as you do them. It's all about the keywords, ultimately. (Obviously I've done similar things in the past, they aren't work I look for anymore though I wouldn't turn something down should it turn up on my doorstep. Or in my inbox. And if you're ever in a jam . . . here I am.)
ReplyDelete