The other day, when I sat down and opened my email, I had a job. It was for some online content, sent to me through a company designed to get writers and businesses in contact so that businesses can have quality writing on their websites. It's a good piece of work, and it will keep me from tearing my hair out in financial frustration for at least two days, which in the freelance world, is a long time. My budget sheets take real effort to keep in check, in part because I don't get the same amount of pay every month. The variance is usually mercifully small, but in freelance, there's a lot of remembering that next month might be worse than this one (financially).

That's the bad news, the problem. What I've discovered is that a problem is an opportunity with sketchy timing.

Staying on freelance and part-time work only has given me the terrifying freedom of doing what I want and what I feel is important. I'm actually responsible for my time in a way that I have not ever been in my entire life. Before now, the amount free time I had was more or less decided by the necessities of a school schedule, or by a time limit, like summer break. It's scary and a little bit exhilarating. It's prayerful and is the best training for making the choices a responsible person would. I don't know how long I'll be at this stage, but for now, I only ever seize the opportunities when they come, no matter the timing, and know when to let the freefall last a couple minutes longer.