An unprofessional move

I took on too much this week. It sounded good adding new assignments late last week, all with due dates of this week. But finally today, I cracked: I had to call a client and tell him that I wouldn't be able to take on his assignment.

It was a tough one, at least for me, on incentive deals with mobile phones. The work was tedious and time-consuming, and involved several rewrites. As I sat down to write, I just couldn't do it.

For the first time in my freelance-writing career, I passed on an assignment that I'd already accepted.

Now, I've turned stories in late before. Too many times, probably. But to not complete the assignment? That's terrible. It's unprofessional, and very disheartening.

But for my sanity, I did it.

The client didn't seem too upset. But I know I'll never get work from him again.

There's a lesson here: It's not wise to take on too much work, even in these terrible economic times when assignments are gold. Sometimes you do have to say "no." You have to know your limits.

I'm just too old to pull an all-nighter these days.