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BEVAN THOMAS

~ Writer, editor, storyteller

BEVAN THOMAS

Monthly Archives: October 2013

Importance of Balance

16 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Bevan Thomas in Musings

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balance, copywriting, freelance

One of the constant things in my life, in the lives of many freelancers, is the constant quest for balance. I, of course, have a lot of work I need to do for my clients, but I also have work I need to do branding and networking my own business, work I need to do for Cloudscape Comics, personal writing projects, an d networking with other creative individuals. That’s a lot of stuff on my plate and it’s hard to feel happy about accomplishing any one of them when there’s always so much more on the list yet to do. I may have finished a website for a client but my blog is out of date, I have five business contacts to reconnect with, I haven’t looked at my novel in a month, and I need to read a book before I return it to a friend. How does one deal with all that?

The most common recommendation people give is setting aside particular times or days for particular activities. Most of my networking and personal branding is done the morning. That’s when I like to meet with clients, attend events, answer my emails, work on my blog. Of course, sometimes that’s not possible and the afternoon or evening will have to do, but whenever possible I choose the morning.

Then I have lunch and after lunch, that’s when I do work for clients. I write their websites, plan their commercials, edit their brochures, and what have you. If I’m lucky, all of that will be done by dinnertime and after dinner I’ll be able to work on my more interesting creative projects – comics, my novel, scripts or what have you. And then if I’m really really lucky, I get to read for an hour or two before bed.

Then Friday evenings and most of Saturday or gently put aside for spending quality time with my girlfriend while all of Sunday (and sometimes Saturday evenings) are once again put aside for creative projects.

This isn’t a perfect system and various times I’ve had to switch things around but as a whole it’s working out okay.

I’ve found the most useful part is giving myself particular blocks of time in which I need to be working on particular tasks. For example, requiring me to devote four hours that afternoon to a person’s website or three hours to a brochure. I find my intention is much more focused on an assignment when it’s within these proscribed hours and I’m also less distracted by other stuff. And then when I’m finished, I can turn to something else with a much clearer mind. It’s one of the most important lessons I’ve learned when figuring-out how to best develop myself as a freelance writer.

That and to treat myself as a client who deserves as much attention and effort as my other clients. Sadly, scheduling time to work on my own business and making sure I’m not sacrificing that to meet my other demands is something I still need to work on.

Old Clients

09 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Bevan Thomas in Musings

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clients, copywriting

So a client that I did work for more than a year and a half ago recently contacted me to ask if I was interested in doing some work for one of her clients, a web developer who is, not surprisingly, working with people who need websites done. Website writing is certainly something I’ve done a lot and as I had enjoyed working with her on the first project, I was excited to be working with her again. An interesting experience that reminded me you never know where connections can go or when someone you met decides they want to see you strut your stuff.

I probably have an edge in all this because I’ve noticed that copywriting is not the most common profession in the city. Anyone who’s involved with any busy networking in Vancouver is going to know plenty of accountants, web designers, lawyers, etc. But I rarely bump into another copywriter and so there’s a decent chance that I’m the only copywriter a particular person will know and thus the first on their mind if they hear someone needs some good writing done. Maybe something for themselves or for a friend of friend or maybe many moons down the line they notice my business card crumpled in the back of their wallet and decide to give me a call. Networking is often a long game. You have to be patient because you never know what will happen and you never know when it’ll happen. Dedication and diligence are probably the two most important traits for freelancers but patience is pretty high up there too.

Cloudscape & Me

02 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Bevan Thomas in Musings

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Cloudscape Comics, graphic novels, Reetta Linjama

Cloudscape Comics
If you know almost anything about me, you probably know that I’m part of Cloudscape Comics, a local group of comic book creators that publishes a yearly anthology of our work, has regular Wednesday meetings, and engages in a lot of different events throughout the city. There’s a lot going on there. Just last month, we had the launch of our seventh graphic novel anthology, Waterlogged, at the Maritime Museum and a great crowd of people showed up. This week we’re also putting the finishing touches on Epic Canadiana, an anthology of Canadian superhero stories edited entirely by me, and we’re already planning our next anthology, Mega Fauna. That’s not counting the Halloween party we’re preparing, the events we’re doing, the classes we’re teaching, the conventions we’re attending.

In the last year or so, Cloudscape has become a juggernaut, expanding far beyond the original confines of the group. When I first became a member, it was often hard to engage enough people to push forward any project that fell outside the yearly anthology while now we have a host of members who aren’t just interested in the organization as a venue for publishing their stories but are actually interested in the organization for itself. Thanks to their investment, Cloudscape has grown on numerous levels.

Few things make me as proud as being part of Cloudscape. My life would be very different and much less rich today if it wasn’t for the organization. Most of my best artist collaborations have come from people I’ve connected to through Cloudscape, many of my own stories that I’m most proud of have been published through Cloudscape’s anthologies, I count many of my closest friends as Cloudscape members, and of course I met my girlfriend, the multitalented Reetta Linjama, through the organization. Cloudscape has given me so much and I like to think that I’m doing my part to give back to it in return. There’s numerous other things happening on the horizon with Cloudscape and I look forward to being a part of them.

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