Year planner

Fitting in freelance projects is always a bit of a juggling act, with things starting and finishing all the time, short projects and long projects, delayed starts and extended deadlines. I try to keep track of everything on a wall planner with different coloured lines to show different jobs I'm working on or have coming up:

Sadly, I generally end up using quite a bit of Tipp-Ex as start dates and timings constantly shift! Which is why I always look forward to the one fixed point in my year; my summer teaching stint at Bristol University that starts on Monday. Although it can be hard work and a bit of a shock to the system - getting up in the morning and having to get out the house on time! - it's also a fantastic break from my usual routine and gets me away from my desk for a big chunk of the day. And it helps me to divide my year up into pre-teaching and post-teaching, a gap that's going to be extended this year by a long holiday at the end of my teaching stint which means that I won't be back at my desk properly again until the start of October - hopefully, feeling fully refreshed and raring to go again.

Just got to get as many bits and pieces finished off and loose ends tied up as I can this week so that I don't have too much spilling over into my teaching time.