The boredom of commuting and the 9-5 lifestyle are worth it for financial security: I’m in so much debt right now it cripples my creativity. Having said that, in famine times (hello, 2009!) I try to work on my own stuff (book proposals, personal essays, memoir etc- you can do a lot without being commissioned, and I’ve sometimes been able to sell stuff on spec). It’s hard to motivate myself though, and I consider full-time freelancing to be one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made. It’s only thanks to my parents and my credit cards that I’ve gotten by. My health situation precludes me from getting a job at Starbucks or somewhere, but otherwise I’d be first in line to sign up. Roll on September!

Star, we always save money from the feasts to fund the famines! It all works out.

Beth, I was very unscientific about my maternity leave. I just didn’t accept any assignments that would be due in January. I also let all my editors know in a mass e-mail (with their e-mail addresses in the BCC line, of course) that I would be unavailable, but that I’d love it if they would consider me for assignments due in February. In January, when I had a lot of downtime (I didn’t know newborns sleep so much!), I did some pitching and sending of letters of intro. When I returned from maternity leave, I again e-mailed my editors to let them know.

But don’t rely on *my* advice…after my maternity leave I went three more months without work!