Do you have a hard time saying no?

fov

Rattenmonster
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I realize this is a good problem to have, but I'm wondering if any other freelancers out there have a hard time turning down work, even when you're plenty busy already?

Just this week I was complaining (to myself -- when you work from home there's no one to complain to!) that I'm too busy and working more than I want to and need to stop accepting jobs. I had two feature articles due a week apart and one of them took longer than expected to finish so this week I've been scrambling to write the other one. I feel like I've been sitting at my computer forever. I kept telling myself that after they were both turned in I would take some time to relax.

Meanwhile, this week I got four or five offers of new jobs. Three came in within a few hours of each other, it was actually kind of funny, like the universe is conspiring against me. One I managed to turn down. The others, I justify to myself that it's not going to be that much work. Then I sit down to do it and am mad at myself for taking it on when I could be... not working. People think when you work from home you have all the leisure time in the world, but I might actually have *less* leisure time these days than I did when I was working in an office.

Just curious if anyone else ends up in this position. It's not about the money, I'm not even really thinking about that when I say yes. It's more that I hate to say no to a project that pops up out of the blue, I feel like I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth (whatever that means). Especially when it's someone I've worked for before.
 
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CircusOfCrows

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No, I've never had this problem - but I'd love to, now that you mention it.

Well, not with freelance writing, but I've had similar situations arise with photography. Take as much work as you can. You'll have time to relax when/if the offers stop coming!
 

Ultimate Cheapskate

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I know what you mean, although as you said it's definitely a good problem to have.

In my case, I quit my last "real job" seven years ago with the expectation that I'd start writing and maybe, if I was lucky, I'd land enough work to keep me busy and bring in some cash as I headed into an early retirement. Based on a career with more than its fair share of disappointments, it never occurred to me that I might actually be successful after I officially punched out for the last time. And while I'm not complaining, when things take off, the people around you (e.g. agents, publishers, etc.) don't want to hear you say, "Gee, I'm going to turn down that opportunity because I really don't want to work so hard."