Please do try to take a vacation. I think you will find it easier and more freeing than you can imagine. I’ve been back for three weeks now, and have noticed I’m working harder, writing better and focusing more on business initiatives instead of just meeting deadlines.

I did a minimal amount of work while I was actually on vacation. I had one blog post that I didn’t complete before leaving and worked on it on my iPhone while laying on the beach (can’t get better than that). It wasn’t bad at all. I checked email once in the morning and made it a point not to check it at all after that.

I think what’s tough for me isn’t even so much that they’re regular contracts but that several of those regulars are middlemen clients. So, for example, I might write press releases for a handful of a marketing firm’s clients. Therefore it’s not always in my direct client’s ability to get me an order early if their own clients don’t know what they want yet. I agree that a month should be pretty adequate time though — maybe mentioning the vacation during the previous month’s order.

And I think the fake vacation days are such a brilliant idea, freelancer or not! :) It’s kind of what I like to do around the holidays (the only time I take extended time off). I do it around Thanksgiving too, usually taking the day before off (so I can cook and prepare things depending on that year’s plans) and the day after (so I can shop all day on Black Friday of course! lol).

As for clients missing you when you’re gone, another freelancer actually echoed that to me privately not long back — in her case after taking a staycation for a bit of a break. I don’t expect clients will all run off and find new freelancers to replace me if I take a week or two off. If anything, it’ll keep me sane and freshen up the mind a bit to tackle their projects better when I get back. So logically I know I should just do it. I’m toying with the idea of a shorter vacation maybe this winter, in the new year, to Canada. I have a colleague I’ve been wanting to see up there anyway. And Yo actually mentioned recently that the three of us should try to get together next year (alas, no Harry Potter for me though! lol). So maybe two shorter things next year would be good — one up north, and one down south. I’ve been dying to go back to Myrtle Beach actually (haven’t been there since high school). So maybe I’d go down for that finally. We shall see!

Here’s what I did: I wrote each of my regulars about a month in advance, and stuck some info about my vacation on my email signature (carefully deleting that particular line if I were querying or corresponding with a non-regular client.) Then I made myself a strict schedule involving getting all my client work done early. Because I started so early, this probably only involved an extra 2-3 hours per day, tops. And, oddly enough considering my work habits, I ended up well ahead! That worked out, because I had planned to take some of Alex Fayle’s Freelancer Vacation Clinic advice and schedule an extra “fake” vacation day before and after my actual vacation to alleviate stress.

As for the vacation itself – the laptop was anathema and through a snafu with my international service, it turned out I didn’t have phone either. Luckily, my clients were extremely respectful of my vacation time and did not call or email me (at least with anything urgent.)

And you know what else? When I came home, I found that my clients had missed me. They had work for me and were glad I was back. Absence made the heart (and pocketbook…?) grow fonder indeed!

I would love to see you take a vacation and enjoy all these benefits for yourself. Let me know if you need any advice or encouragement. I think I’ve become a vacation evangelist!