I love my accountant. You know this about me, because I say it all the time. I’m saying it again. Because I love him that much.

When I am not busy proclaiming my undying (yet completely businesslike and platonic, I assure you) love for my accountant, I’m probably saying this: Worth every penny. Because he is.

Everyone who freelances has a Starting Out period where every penny is precious. How long that time lasts varies, of course, and I went through it, too, so I totally get that there’s this start-up time when you’re not even making enough money to cover your expenses, not really, and hiring an accountant seems Completely Out Of The Question. That’s fine. What I do say, though, is that as soon as you can afford it, hire an accountant.

When can you afford it? That’s up to you. I would say that if you’ve reached the point of incorporating—or maybe even just thinking about it—it’s time. And yet, there’s always someone who will argue with me that they’re perfectly capable of handling their taxes and other paperwork themselves. My standard answer is that I’m sure they are, but I think they should hire an accountant anyway.
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I feel like I’ve been writing about how stressed out I am for at least a month, now. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas—and all of the family time therein, or worrying about missing that family time—always seems so crammed full of obligations that I’m often left with precious little time to just enjoy, which I think is kind of a shame.

And as much time as I spend trying to figure out how to take time off, get away from my desk for an entire day (imagine!), the deeper issue is that day-to-day balance so that life feels like something to be experienced rather than an endless slog. (Okay, that’s a bit of hyperbole, but still.)

It’s not about figuring out a vacation, necessarily, but about making every work day more doable, more manageable. I mean, vacations are nice and all, but until I hit the lottery (which is difficult, I’m told, if you never actually buy a ticket), I still have to work for a living… so I’d rather figure out how to make most of my time more enjoyable than simply endure for long stretches between the nicer bits.
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‘Tis the season for my otherwise relatively peaceful slumber to be interrupted in one of three ways:
1) I can’t sleep. I toss and turn, thinking about all of the things I need to be doing.
2) I don’t go to sleep when I should, because I have too much work to do.
or
3) I fall asleep, and dream that I’m working. I wake up tired and grumpy.

The most wonderful time of the year? Uh, maybe for someone else. For me, pretty much the entire window from Thanksgiving to New Year’s is when I wish I did anything other than freelance. It’s a busy time for me, anyway, but the lack of vacation when my cube-farm friends are kicking back for a week or two is hard. And when my kids are off school and I feel like I’m chained to my desk, that’s hard, too.

I know. Wah wah wah.

I chose this life, and 95% of the time, I love it. Nevertheless, Burnout often feels imminent during the month of December, for me. So how do I get through? It’s all in the little things.
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You know how they say that “In space, no one can hear you scream?”

This week I’ve amended that to: “In your home office, no one can see you sneaking Sour Patch Kids fifteen times a day.”

I’m ashamed. Yes. I really am. Also: I’m eating Sour Patch Kids. Right now, as I type this. I’m desperately hoping that outing my addiction will help me to break it.

And I know that working in an office doesn’t make you immune to poor snacking choices. Heck, I worked in one office that had a fully stocked kitchen of junk food at all times, and I remember lamenting that they kept food around I would never buy at home, that I then found myself eating. The snack trap certainly isn’t limited to working with others or working at home. It’s not even limited to Halloween-time, thought this is pretty much the only time we’ll have candy in the house.

No, my problem is that I’m terrible at moderation and there’s no one here to see me.
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(Pictured here: Not my actual computer, which was not harmed in the making of this post.)

So, I consider myself pretty savvy in the ways of the online world, you know? I blog for a living. I know my way around the keyboard and I’ve been around the Internet a few times. This isn’t my first rodeo. And while you’ll never see me claiming to be a “social media expert” (I know some people really are that, but I also know that pretty much anyone with a computer feels justified calling themselves that, these days), I feel like I’ve done a decent job keeping up with the various online outlets which allow for networking and socializing and staying abreast of what’s going on.

I also usually have a good chuckle whenever anyone starts complaining about changes in any sort of free online service as if it’s actually something that matters. Sort of like… oh…
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“The most wonderful thing about being a freelance writer is that I can work anywhere.” I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve said that to someone. Especially now, when I’m realizing it’s such a dirty lie.

Oh, sure, technically it’s true—I have my laptop, I have a wireless internet connection, and I can sit down and so some where almost anywhere, provided that I have those with me. Yes. And I do… sometimes. But the bulk of my work is done here at my desk, in my office, which is how I like it.

And right now my office is trying to kill me. And by “trying to kill me” I of course mean “surrounded by noisy contractor wielding saws and pneumatic nail guns and heavy boots.”

Yay for home improvement! Boo for trying to work from home while it’s happening!
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(Pictured here: Not me. But that’s totally what I look like right now on the inside.)

So it’s nearly 3:00 on Tuesday as I sit down to write this, and up until about an hour ago I was convinced that today was Monday. It’s, uh, not. The weird thing is that I had deadlines yesterday and I met them all and yet, this morning, I was sure it was Monday. Again? Still? I really don’t know.

My kids didn’t have school yesterday, so that’s part of the problem. It made the day feel Not Like A Regular Work Day, so I’m going to blame that for my temporary time warpage. That’s the first rule of parenting, anyway, isn’t it? Blame the children? I’m sure it said that in my manual.

Oh, don’t be jealous just because you didn’t get a manual. Anyway, my confusion over the day isn’t really the point here.
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Unless you were an accountant in a former life, you should have an accountant.

Heck, even if you were an accountant, you should probably have an accountant. Isn’t there some rule there like how doctors can’t operate on family members and accountants should do their own books? (I may be making that up. But I’m just sayin’.)

I’ve talked about this before. I think part of going into business for yourself is recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, and outsourcing as needed. I’m very good at what I do—freelance writing—but I am not good at bookkeeping, and furthermore, I’d really rather not be on the hook alone if I ever get audited. It’s a headache I don’t need. So I have an accountant. And I think he’s worth every penny.

Having said that, this morning I’m scratching my head a little bit, and am reminded that one of the key benefits of having an accountant is that you can ask specific questions about your own specific business practices and situations.
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So I finally decided that part of what I needed to do to break out of my recent slump was to make my workspace more inviting.

Although I would generally characterize myself as a tidy person, I am also something of a piler. And my desk tends to be the worst victim. When I wrote last week’s post, there wasn’t an inch of my office desk that wasn’t under something, even though it’s a pretty spacious L-shaped monstrosity.

That clearly wasn’t going to work. How could I feel motivated to work in such a cluttered space? (Answer: I didn’t. Which, on the one hand, sent me over to my little standing desk more often, which is good, but it also often just caused me to take one look at my office and turn around and leave, which is not.)

This morning I started cleaning, finally. I can’t say I’ve completely cleaned my desk, but let’s take a little gander at what treasures were unearthed this morning.
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(Pictured here: Someone who is not me, but who appears to be experiencing a similar level of ennui.)

I’m in a slump. That’s not the same as having writer’s block, by the way—I don’t really believe in writer’s block—but it is, nonetheless, a rather unnerving state to be in. I feel uninspired. I’m tired. I’m lazy. I do a bare minimum of work and then… I sit around and think to myself, “I should be doing more work right now.”

This is not wholly unexpected. Summer was both busy and stressful (due to a variety of non-work reasons), and I pulled back from working so much because my kids needed me, and I needed a bit of a break. Now that everyone is back to school, I have more time. I feel like I should be feeling great.

Instead, I just want to take a nap.
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