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Laura Bontje

Discussion Scenario: Editing While Under the Weather

A long-haired person slumps down with their eyes closed to rest their head on their desk, which holds a computer monitor and a stack of books. A low-battery icon appears above the person.

[Content note: This post contains non-graphic discussion of mild pneumonia.]

By their very nature, dilemmas don’t offer a clear right answer. So this week, I’m turning the advice over to you.

I’ll be honest: this has been a challenging September. I’m feeling much better now, but I spent the first part of the month exhausted from pneumonia (and editing through it when I could). Things didn’t get any easier when the rest of my household caught it next.

Once I knew what was going on, I was able to manage client expectations in advance (and apologize to anyone whose messages I’d missed when I was ill). But in the first few days, I faced a conundrum that I’m sure every freelancer has encountered before.

Everyone handles these decisions differently.

What would you do?

The scenario: editing through illness

It’s Thursday. You have a small project due on Friday afternoon, and you should be able to complete the job today.

Suddenly, your physical and mental energy vanishes. Your temperature rises. It’s going to be a challenge to make it through the work day.

The choices

Rest first

You need to focus on taking care of yourself. You take time to rest and recuperate. Hopefully, this will help you feel more able to take on the work tomorrow. 

Work first

You muster your strength and keep editing, even though it’s not the easiest. After all, you might feel worse tomorrow, and then you’ll be glad you don’t have to work.

A bit of both 

You do some of the work, and then you get a little bit of rest. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier. If not, at least you’ll have less work waiting for you and you’ll be able to rest more when you’ve finished.

Request an extension

You write to the client and ask for an extension right away. If you don’t feel better tomorrow, you don’t want the delay to take the client by surprise. 

This option comes with a bonus dilemma! You don’t want to inconvenience the client more than necessary, but you also don’t know how long you’ll be ill. How much of an extension do you request?

Other

Perhaps you have a different idea! Tell us in the comments.

What would you do?

Just as there’s no right answer, there’s no need to lock in your preference. This time, I went for the “bit of both” approach, and it served me well. The next time I’m under the weather, I might choose something different. (I also realize that the nuances of balancing work and illness may differ when it comes to a temporary minor illness, a short-term serious illness and chronic illness.)

Either way, it can help to consider what options are on the table.

What would you do — or what have you done — in the scenario above?

Stay safe, readers, and have a happy autumn!

___

Previous post from Laura Bontje: Trello for Editors: Three Ways to Make It Your Own

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About the author

Laura Bontje

Laura Bontje is a freelance editor in London, Ontario. She specializes in fiction editing, with a particular focus on children’s literature. Laura is the author of the palindrome-packed picture book Was It a Cat I Saw? (Amicus Ink, 2024), the cicada-inspired story When the Air Sang (Annick Press, 2025), and more to come.

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8 Comments on “Discussion Scenario: Editing While Under the Weather”

  • Anita Jenkins

    says:

    Good idea to have colleagues with similar skills who can take over a job if you are seriously ill and the job is big. A reason to belong to Editors Canada and get to know other editors. Just one of the reason; there are many.

    Reply

    • That’s a great point! I agree; it’s wonderful to be able to build those networks and be there for one another.

      Reply

  • Completing a project in a timely fashion may not be in either the client’s or your own best interest. I was recently called in for surgery I had been long been waiting for just as an important project landed on my desk. Although told I needed six weeks to recover, I believed that only my mobility would be compromised and that I could continue mental work, no problem. But um. I quickly discovered the fine print that said I could only sit for 30 minutes at a time and typing on my laptop lying in bed turned out not to be practical. Okay, I could stretch sitting to maybe an hour and broken up over several sessions eachday, I figured I could make slow but steady progress… But when I looked back at my comments on the first few chapters, I realized that I was struggling to make the necessary suggestions–I was repeating myself in marginal comments and my general comments were rambly, unfocused, repetitious, as I circled around the points I was trying to make. I realized that my painkillers were affecting my ability to think, and even when those stopped, my ongoing discomfort was keeping me from getting proper sleep and my fatigue was making me bad at my job. Eventually I had to admit that in spite of my steady improvement, I should not be working for the six weeks recovery I had been told I would need. I contacted the client that I would be six weeks late because of the surgery and they were understanding. Their deadline wasn’t life or death. But trying to make the deadline would have been a prideful mistake, no credit to my professionalism, and no help to the client.

    Reply

    • Absolutely. There are times when it’s important to take that step back and focus on taking care of yourself. When I’ve had to request extensions from clients, I’ve always been grateful for the relief they offer. (And as hard as it can be to ask for an extension, I try to remind myself that if the shoe were on the other foot, I’d be very understanding of the client’s situation!)

      I hope your recovery goes smoothly.

      Reply

  • Laura Busheikin

    says:

    Yep, it’s a dilemma, or rather a series of dilemmas. Every situation is different but when I think about core values and practicality I’d say it’s generally best to ask for that extension, or pass the work to a colleague. Robert’s post above describes accurately how being sick, on meds, and post-surgery impacts our ability to work. Even being pre-surgery can do this—the worry and the sense of life being upended can suck away our mental energy. Also aren’t we supposed to live in a just, supportive, and inclusive world where people have a right to days off when sick? If we’re freelance, we accept that we are not paid for these, but surely we can take them. At the same time, that just, supportive, and inclusive society is not fully in place, and often an editor’s financial reality makes taking time off a precarious endeavor. Also, we do not want to disappoint our clients, not just out of a sense of responsibility, but because we don’t want to lose them. Maybe we could as a profession begin including language in contracts about the potential need to amend a timeline due to illness or injury, so that clients are nudged to accept this. Also, can we as a profession create greater capacity to subcontract? I work in isolation and wouldn’t know who to temporarily pass work onto or how to feel confident they will work to my standards. Editing is in many ways extremely rule-based, but also very personal with a subjective element. Maybe Editors Canada could organize some kind of pairing program or even offer a workshop about subcontracting to other editors. (Maybe EC already does this; if so, I apologize for my ignorance.)

    Reply

    • I can’t speak to whether Editors Canada has anything in place, but I agree that a lot of editors would be interested in learning more about the mechanics of subcontracting. I’ll ask around to see if there’s anyone who could share some tips with readers of The Editors’ Weekly!

      Reply

      • I have about 17 years’ experience with subcontractors. For example, I won two consecutive 5-year contracts to edit ~100 books on sustainable development for a govt agency. I had subs for editing, inputting, proofreading, translating from and into French and Spanish (plus French and Spanish editors), indexing, and client liaison. I also had a sub who used Dreamweaver for uploading finished books to the Web. I handled the AAs, created camera-ready pages in WordPerfect, and did quality control (QC) at all stages of the English books. My financial partner was a local editing company (their accountant paid us every month for whatever stages we had completed on the various books we had in progress, and I in turn paid all my subs the same day; I kept whatever was left over for myself). For normal editing gigs, of course, the subcontracting would not be on such a massive scale. But if you take pride in your work, you would probably want to do QC, too. At one point CRA audited my company to determine whether my subs were freelancers or “employees” (in which case I would have had to retroactively pay the employer’s contributions to CPP). I also had subs for other multiyear contacts and some one-offs. Feel free to ask me any questions.

        Reply

        • That sounds like quite a robust system and a lot of interesting work to oversee. I’m sure your insights would be valuable to editors who are curious about the logistics of subcontracting. If you’d ever be interested in writing about it for the blog, feel free to reach out via the contact form or to blog@editors.ca!

          Reply

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