Any suggestions on what kinds of assignments that would work better or worse in such a setting?
Many of the consultants I’ve seen in IT are more like regular employees except that they are employed buy the consultants. (I.e. they sit in the client’s office 40 h/week.) But I guess there are other ways to do it.
Companies hiring contractors want to pay somebody to "show up" (perhaps virtually) and do the one thing they're an expert at, not waste time getting up to speed or learning on the job.
Figure out what you're an expert in, and contact some recruiting firms that hire for contracting gigs in that area. Explain that your schedule is "half full already" but you'd like to fit something else in, if it's the right opportunity.
I’ve been working mostly in IT and I’m a bit of a generalist. I’ve thought about doing contracting and specialising ”on-the-go”. It could work... but it could also be a bit stressful. I think my current job will allow me to go quite deep in some areas so I might want to hang on to it for a while in order to allow for better opportunities further down the road.