New Terminology To Impress Your Magazine Industry Friends With

The past few weeks have been a blur of holiday gift guides and New Year's resolutions compilations.

Around this time every year, the whole magazine industry compresses. Publications that put out 12 issues a year have to do all the work they normally complete in four weeks in just three, and they have to do it two months back to back, in November and December. The December issue has to be on newsstands -- or at least off to the presses -- before Thanksgiving break, and the December issue has to be done before the holidays hit. I'll let you in on a secret: the technical term for this time of year is known in the industry as a "$#!^storm."

Needless to say, stress levels run high and sometimes it all gets to be a little too much. Maybe this explains why I've had a particularly rough month with a few of my clients. But then, I would argue that maybe you haven't really become a full-fledged, full-time freelancer until someone screams at you in all caps over e-mail for something that is ultimately determined to have not been your fault in the first place. Good times.

And admittedly, I have been no peach these past several days, either. I haven't screamed at anyone in all capital letters via e-mail ... My breakdowns have been more of the tearful, blubbering, sleep-deprived sort. On the up side, this has been my most (financially) successful freelance month since I began halfway through May. On the down side, it's taught me that working around the clock and being tethered to my iPhone during every daily activity is really no way to live. I think I've finally discovered that magical "threshold" I was looking for, the one where I have enough clients/projects on my plate and it's time to stop trying to acquire more unless I want to run myself into the ground.

I'm strongly considering trading in my credit card reward points for a "no one ask anything of me" kind of vacation over next summer. And if my boyfriend forgives me for blubbering at the most random things this past month, maybe he can even come, too. I'm thinking an island. Where there's no Wi-Fi signal and no cell phone reception. But not this island. That wouldn't help anything.

In the meantime, I think I need to finally stop saying "yes" to everything and learn when to say "no."

No.

See, there, I just did it.

No.

This will be easier than I thought.