Things I'm Doing: Writing Invoices and Dealing with My Own Appalling Habits

For those of you who have been managing to read this blog in spite of our technical difficulties lately, I want to apologize, first for the disarrayed state of things, but also for putting my rants so close together. If you're tired of hearing about grand, abstract issues, just bear with me: I swear I'm not planning it this way. I'm writing as news items pop up. Guess it's just been an odd couple of weeks.

I completed my first book-length editing project recently, which was a lot of fun. There was some kind of situation that made it difficult to reach the author when things needed added or modified, so I had to use my best judgment on edits, rewrite a few scenes, and even write a few new scenes myself. Not the easiest job, but definitely rewarding; if nothing else, it gave me a feel for what it's like to maintain continuity over 300 pages.

Now that I'm finished, I need to write an invoice. Somehow, when I was thinking about how to conduct myself as a freelancer, this is something that never came up, probably just because I've never had to bill somebody for my services before (unless you count my last summer job, where I needed to invoke terms like "Bureau of Labor" and "Laws regarding prompt payment of wages" if I wanted my paycheck). Writing an invoice isn't exactly a skill, except insofar as you need to know what goes on it. At the bare minimum, it should be your name and address, your contractee's name and address, a list of items and services delivered and the amount to be paid, and of course a header that says something like "invoice for items delivered."

Depending on the job, there may be more to it than that. Sample forms are easy to find on the web (and so are sample contracts and other paperwork, by the way); it's a good idea to study some of these. I've heard that MS Excel has a spreadsheet template, but I haven't tried it. At my income, I don't see why I should shell out the dough for MS Office when its advantages over Open Office are so scant (if any).

But my biggest job right now is dealing with my own work habits. Writing and editing is a profession where it's easy to goof off for several reasons. First, because there's really no set way to accomplish what you're doing, or even a concrete goal to work towards. Editing a book basically consists of getting a manuscript in the mail with a note that says "make this better." Writing jobs tend to be even more vague. Second is the fact that I work from a home office, where every source of diversion imaginable is within arms reach. The combination of these things doesn't exactly compel me to get things done expediently. As Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything but temptation."

At the same time, I won't claim that my work habits are truly horrendous. I've heard stories. One professor I met mentioned that one of his students could only write anything if she had just finished cleaning her room and was listening to a certain song on repeat. Everyone has habits like these when it comes to writing and editing, and unfortunately the only way to break them is to just get the fark over it. Not easy, but not impossible. In any case, this is why we have deadlines.