Tis the Season for Multitasking Like Crazy (I wish I were an octopus with 4 computers and 4 brains and at least 2 wacom tablets and a personal chef)

I have been computer multi-tasking like mad. I've had 10 photoshoots since Tofurkey Day. Pics were uploaded from memory cards, backed up, memory cards emptied. I sifted through all 3000 or so photos and deleted all the awkward face/blinking photos, made minor color corrections and then made lo-res versions of all photos, zip-filed each set and then ftp-ed them to each client, with a set of instructions as to what to do next. This process takes about 30 mins per client - and I've not even started editing yet! I suppose I could just send all photos, awkward blinking photos and all.... but no-one wants to see themselves with half-asleep grass-chewing cow expression.

Another set of clients, about 12 of them, recently got back to me with their selection for "urgent" photos, ie, please get these done ASAP in time to print holiday cards. That means I have to fish out their selected photos, export in hi-res to photoshop, edit them, zip-file them and send them off as hi-res edited photos.

Meanwhile, I have 8 other sessions this week, and I need to send reminder emails or iron out final details or answer client questions. I need to plan out my timetable for driving, plug in all the addresses into my iphone. I commit names of all family members to short-term memory.

And that's on top of the usual editing of photos, sending out gentle reminder emails: Hello! Please Send Me A Check! or Send Me Your Selection of Photos For Editing from that Shoot We Did a Month Ago! There is impossibly much to keep track of. It's all on my iCal. I'm trying very hard not to let anything slip through the cracks - my lapses in vigilance when I am really pooped. And, requests for sessions are still trickling in, so I need to email Sorry I'm Fully Booked For The Rest Of The Season emails.

The funnest part in all of this is the actual photoshoot. I have a lot of fun getting to know families, playing with kids, trying to make tots and babies smile. Everyone (OK, 99% of everyone) I've worked with has been so nice, it's just reassuring to know that there are so many good people in the world. And when people react with much happiness to my photos, that makes my day too.