

I use that information to figure out how many hours or days I can devote to a writing or editing assignment, and that helps determine what I’ll make on a given project.


The better I am at scheduling outside commitments, the more precisely I can calculate the work hours I have in a given day, week or month. I’m a devotee of Microsoft Outlook so as soon as I know school holidays, sports practices and game days, dentist appointments, meetings, special events and other dates, into the Outlook Calendar they go. One of my favorite things to do this time of year is fill out my calendar for the next 10 months, the period that coincides with my kids going back to school.
