Bad Timing

Boy oh boy, has the disorientation set in.

My body is angry and confused. Here's a long tale of life in the freelance illustration game. If you like that sort of thing, read on. Here's what happened:

I wrapped the book on Monday. I delivered it and waited for confirmation that the files were where they should be. When I heard they were safely delivered, I brushed my teeth and dove into bed like an Olympic diver.

Forty minutes after falling asleep, my phone rang. It was my illustrator's rep calling about a possible job--a fairly lucrative job. They wanted to see samples. Luckily, I had some samples ready to go. I sent those files (waited for confirmation again.) And a few hours later was back in bed--at that point I was pushing into the 30-hour zone. I was wiped out, but happy, because the big job was done, and an interesting new job was possibly opening up.

I got a few good hours of sleep then popped up at 10 pm on Monday, ready to roll. But, as you saw in yesterday's post, I decided it was time to reset the clock. From about 1 am on, I forced myself to bed, but since I was used to being awake at that time, I couldn't sleep. At all.

Tuesday morning, I felt okay. My rep called and said the job was looking good, but the client needed a new, specific illustration sample in the format of the project--and they needed it ASAP. Fine with me, I was feeling alright. By the time the client called with the info on the new piece, I was starting to flag. I got the specifics, and jumped back in the illustration saddle. I had nothing. The piece was fairly simple, an the possible job was a VERY nice-can't refuse-type of offer. But I had burned through all my illustration juice.

I tried to push through. By now the exhaustion was really hitting me hard. I had done several attempts at sketches but nothing was working. Oh, also, today was the last chance to get our business taxes in for last year, so my wife was running around trying to pin down all of our business expenses from last year. ALSO, this week is parent teacher conference, so the kids are home at noon every day.

Around 5 pm today, I took a two hour nap on a bean bag. I'm now back in my nightshift mode and feeling fairly awake, just tired and confused. The good news is, I got my drawing mojo back, and am about a third of the way through this illustration sample (due tomorrow--I hope I get it!)

Long story short. No Princess Batman tonight. Although, I think I hallucinated a Princess Batman a few hours back.