‘Lancing is feast or famine. A month or so ago, all I had ahead of me was a couple of short story editing jobs. On my plate, right now:

• A complete read of a novel with commentary preparatory to editing. I have to do it this way because there are decisions remaining that the author should be making, not me making for her. Oh, and it’s 500 pages.
• A re-read of an updated ms that the author believes is now ready for editing. Not as lengthy, but with important decisions and feedback to be considered and offered.
• Consulting with a client about future project ideas. He will probably take most of my advice, so my advice had better not be stupid or half-baked.
• Co-authoring a book on, what else? Writing books.
• Oh, and any day now, a technical writing/proofing project will come along, and need to be done more or less immediately.
• Oh, and for all I know, something else could show up.
• Oh, and it’s billpaying time.
• Oh, and I’m still kind of tired from holidays and bowl games.

I wish it were always this way. Nothing is so invigorating as to have entirely too much work. Furthermore, ‘lancers can never phone it in. Every one of the above projects requires and deserves the best attention I can devote to it.

So what do you do? I prioritize, and if necessary, keep multiple balls rolling. Whatever time belongs to a given project, I do nothing else while I do it.