“Thank God it’s Friday because to me Friday means I can work for the next two days without interruptions,” John Hope Franklin.
One of the things that I constantly play around with as a freelance writer is when exactly I want to take my “free time”. I’ve tried working a Monday through Friday and taking traditional weekends off. Sometimes that’s great because it allows me to be on the same schedule as everyone else which makes it easier to coordinate both work-related things (like interviews) and social things with other people who work a normal schedule.
But at other times, it has seemed better to work through the weekends and to take my days off during the week. Sometimes I’ll take two days in a row mid-week and other times I’ll take two days apart separately during the week. Having days off during the week has a number of benefits. It’s great for being able to do things alone – like going to museums or browsing through thrift shops – because places like that are empty on weekdays and there aren’t a lot of people demanding my time.
And, as highlighted by the quote above, sometimes it’s nice to work on weekends. Or rather, it’s nice to be creative on weekends. Work for many freelancers means interviews and answering emails and searching for new jobs online. We spend many of our working hours doing tasks that rely in some way on interacting (usually virtually) with others. On the weekends, nobody expects us to answer our email or pick up the phone so it’s possible to do the real work of being creative without those other tedious interruptions.
For me, no single set schedule has ever worked best. I try something for awhile and then I change it again. Or I alter my schedule to adapt to different projects that are going on or different obligations that I may have. But I keep trying. I think it’s important to be able to work on the schedule which suits you best, both professionally and socially. That’s one of the major benefits of working independently, even though it can be one of the more difficult parts to figure out.
Beyond anything else, I think the key is balance. It’s important to take free time and it’s important to make sure that you are also putting in enough hours on the job. Whether those hours are in chunks of five days work / two days off or blocks of time throughout each day or whatever, it’s important to keep defining the right balance for yourself as a writer and making sure to carve out a situation that allows for that balance so that you can always be at your best.
One of the things that I’ve noticed on most of the blogs and article-hosting sites (such as HubPages) that I read is that online authors tend to be really good about posting on topics that are related to the day or month of the post itself. The obvious example is that there are lots of blog posts and articles about Christmas each December. However, you’ll also see this all throughout the rest of the year when people write on everything from summer vacations to taxes. And you’ll see it in relation to social and political events as well (for example, how many blogs talked about the inauguration this week even if they weren’t political blogs?!)
I’m the first to admit that I’m not particularly good about this. I do tend to hit the major holidays with some timely posts although that’s due more to the fact that those topics are on my mind at the time of the writing than through any real planning of my own. But despite my own lacking in this area, I can definitely see some benefits to writing on timely topics.
Some of the benefits I see in regards to writing on seasonal or otherwise timely topics include:
- There’s always something to write about. It seems like you always have topics to choose from when planning your blog writing around a calendar.
- You’re writing about the stuff that’s on your readers’ minds. This means that they’re going to automatically feel a connection with you that you can then build upon.
- You’ll probably do better in search engine searches. I’m not actually sure if this is true but I would imagine that the hot topics of the day are the ones that people are looking up in online searches.
So, if you see the benefit of writing on timely topics, how can you structure your writing so that this is how it ends up happening? Here are some tips that I think benefit the writer who wants to blog on the topics of the day:
- Keep a calendar handy. Whether you use a wall calendar or a desk calendar or the calendar on your iPhone or the Google calendar, you should have some system for keeping track of all of the things that you’ll want to be writing about on a timely basis.
- Strongly consider using the Google calendar. As just mentioned, the calendar itself is what’s important but something like a Google calendar is particularly great because you can color code the different things that are on there (so you can have holidays in one color and social or political issues in another color). It just keeps things better organized.
- Keep track of all of the major holidays that you might want to write about. A basic wall calendar will provide you with this information.
- Think about adding in some of the funky holidays as well. Use a calendar such as the bizarre calendar here to find some of the strange holidays. Specifically calendar all of those that are even remotely relevant to the topic of your blog (official pen day for writers, for example) but also calendar any that you just think you’d like to mention. There’s always a creative way to tie them in.
- Block off some room at the start of each season on the calendar. Make a list of all of the posts that are relevant to that season (graduations in the spring, summer travel, etc.)
- Think about any other annual or seasonal events that really interest you or that get a lot of attention from the readers of your blog. Film events, political events and other social events are all fair game for timely topics to write on.
- Pay attention to other blogs. You’ll notice when everyone’s blogging about the same thing and that can remind you that it’s time for you to start blogging about that as well.
- Brainstorm a list of topic ideas for various holidays, events and seasons. It’s a good idea to keep these lists handy so that you can access them at the right time each year and not have to struggle to think about what you should be writing.
- In terms of content, remember that you really only need to loosely tie the holiday or timely topic into the post. The focus should still be on writing whatever the content of your blog is. So if you’ve got a writing blog then you can do holiday posts on “great gifts for writers” and summer posts on “where writers most want to travel”.
That’s my two cents on the topic anyway. I’d love to know what other writers think about the importance (or lack thereof) on posting topics that are relevant to the day/season that we’re writing in.
I’m normally very good at reading my own signals and knowing when it’s time for the work day to end. However, there are always those days when there is more work than you can get done before your writing light burns out. If you’re not tuned into what’s going on with yourself, you can cause yourself to get exhausted and to tap out your creativity. This results in poor work and a sense of frustration.
Here are some signs that it’s time to stop writing for the day even if there is more work that needs to be done:
- You’re making typos that you don’t normally make. If your fingers are tripping over the keyboard, you might want to think about whether you’re really maximizing your time.
- You’ve decided to stop proofreading your own work. I’m normally highly conscientious of proofreading all work before sending it to a client or posting it on a blog. If I find that I’m not inclined to care so much about the quality of my finished product, then I know that it’s time to be done for the day. I really do only want to put my best writing work out there for others to see.
- You hate your job. Most freelancers love their jobs. However, they have days when they start to hate the work that they’re doing. Unless this is a symptom of ongoing discontent requiring a true job shift (which you’ll know internally) it’s probably a sign that you just need to take a break.
- You’re snapping at the people around, you’re crying or you’re otherwise emotionally expressing frustration. Sometimes we do this and don’t even blame it on the job. If you’re not normally this kind of person, ask yourself if the work is the real problem.
- You can’t pull yourself away from the computer even though you know you’re done. If you’ve already conceded somewhere inside that you’re tapped out, you might find yourself trying to convince your body to keep on working. If you’re already having that internal conversation then you should probably be thinking about hitting that shutdown key.
When the writing work is getting too tough, it’s okay to throw in the towel. Sometimes it’s better to let our brains rest and to do better work the following day than to try and get too much done within the deadline. Of course, it’s ideal to pace your week properly so that you don’t face this kind of exhaustion. But it’s important to realize that sometimes you’re going to have these kinds of days and that you need to deal with them properly. Be kind to yourself; the rest of the world might not be but you can always make the effort.
Question of the Day: How do you know that it’s time to stop writing for the day?
Related links: 3 Things I Learned From My Girlfriend This Week, 5 Signs It’s Time to Stop Writing, When to Take a Break
Recommended books: Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance
[Tags] writing, freelance, tired, exhausted, work, employment, habits, rituals, work at home [/Tags]
I’m halfway through my week of reporting on MacWorld for Mac-Forums. It’s been a great week so far but it’s also been a really tiring one. I’d forgotten how exhausting it can be to be out and about doing the 9-5 thing! It’s funny, because I generally put in more than an eight hour day. But there’s something about doing it from the comfort of home, without a commute or the sensory overload of a shared office, that makes it a much more relaxing experience.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m thrilled to be at MacWorld this week. I’ve had a chance to learn about all sorts of different gadgets and applications. I’ve met people associated with EFF and people putting out cool magazines that I didn’t know about until now. And today I got the chance to hear some really awesome guest speakers talk about some topics that interested me. I am enjoying every minute.
But I’m also coming home at the end of the day totally ready to just veg out! Of course, in addition to the MacWorld Expo, I’ve to the rest of my fulltime work to keep me busy. So I don’t truly have the opportunity to just relax when I get home. But I’m trying to keep that always important life-work balance in mind to make sure that all of my work is as good as it should be.
Perhaps you’ve wondered why I didn’t bother to post anything in December. It’s because I took the month of December off. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I did my normal jobs and kept on working at the projects that I had already started. But I also took a big chunk of December to myself, to sort out what my writing goals are and to figure out what was and wasn’t working for me in my work. I think it’s important to take the time to do this every now and then so that you can move forward with the work that’s good for you and let go of the work that’s not quite working. December seemed like a perfect month for this because there’s very little new work coming through during the holiday season.
This blog was one of the things that I opted to let slide while sorting through my work because I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with it. I thought that taking the time to figure out what it meant to me and what I wanted to share here was a better use of my time than throwing up some random posts. So it was quiet here – not because there was no news but because the news was still in the making. And now it’s January, and I’m ready to ramp it up again.
So why wasn’t I around for the past couple of days? Well, one of the things that I learned in December is that I really do need days off. I’ve been going full force for a long time, rarely taking any days at all off of work. That’s not healthy for anyone, even when you love what you do. In early December, I took the first laptop-free vacation that I’d taken in years. And it was wonderful. It rejuvenated me. It made me feel creative again. And I realized that I need some no-technology days in my life if I’m going to be able to really give my work my best. So Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my offical days off for 2008.
As you can see now, it’s Thursday and I’m back to work. You can even see some of my stuff online today at the usual sites including a post that I’m quite proud of over at PureBlogging on the topic of blog etiquette and the basic rules of respect that commenters should follow on blogs. A few of the other posts that are live today are about CT scan advances, a tattoo removal book, an infertility movie and the use of viral videos for getting dates online.
This blog will be updated regularly now (at least weekly) with links to other posts, updates about big projects, and random thoughts about writing. I hope you’ll come back and share your thoughts with me!
I was one of those people who joined MySpace when it was first launched. Ten years ago, I actively wrote handwritten letters to a bunch of pen pals that I had collected over the years. Those people were some of my best friends throughout high school and I remain in touch with a handful of them today. But for the most part, our correspondence has moved on to the Internet. It was one of those people who first introduced me to MySpace and I signed up as a way to stay in touch with her. I was active on the site for a few weeks and then my interest in it tapered off. I just wasn’t interested in what it had to offer and I promptly proceeded to remain inactive on the site for a couple of years.
Then, when I made the move from Arizona to San Francisco a few years back, I discovered that everyone here had a MySpace profile. And not only that, but it seemed to be the easiest way to get to know new people. We’d meet online or through friends but we’d really get to know each other through the comments and conversations we shared on MySpace. So, I dusted off the old profile and began to use the site almost daily. It wasn’t long before I began to realize that MySpace could help me make professional contacts in the area as well. So I adjusted my profile and set to work using it in that capacity.
And then, the floodgates were opened. The more work that I began doing online, the more I found that people wanted to connect with me through some social networking site or another. I began to get requests to join people on sites like LinkedIn. And the world of social bookmarking began to become increasingly important as I was asked to support the work of friends and associates with my votes on sites like Digg. I became an avid fan for a few short months and then, once again, my use of the sites tapered off. I found that it was difficult to actually make use of the sites on a regular basis and still have time for my other work.
Now, I use a few of the sites. And I’m trying to streamline my use to just those few because I feel that gives me the best chance to actually get to know people on the sites. If I’m going to bother being connected to people there, I want to be able to get to know them and to share the new news that’s going on. Otherwise, it seems like a waste of my time and theirs to say that we are “friends” there. But this doesn’t discount the important power of these sites. I still think that they’re a great place for making new friends, staying in touch with people and letting others who might be interested know what you’re up to. I just think that for my own use, it requires that I limit the sites I’m on to really be able to develop the connections that I’m making there.
The sites that currently interest me the most for social networking are MySpace (although I only use my work profile now, not my old personal profile), LinkedIn (which I’ve been on for awhile and am just starting to develop use of) and Bitchy Betty (a new site that allows people to support each other’s non-profit and good cause efforts). I use more bookmarking sites than I do networking sites (Digg, Del.icio.us, Stumble, Sk-rt, Hugg, Propeller … to name a few) although I’m working on curtailing my use of those, as well (with the first three on my list there being my preferred sites). So, I suppose that I haven’t quite decided if I love social networking or not. I do think it’s important and I think it can be fun. That said, you can feel free to contact me through those sites if you’d like; links are available on my contact page.
The last thing that I wanted to do this morning when I woke up was to sit down at my desk and start writing. That’s not normally how I feel. Normally, I enjoy writing. I really do. But today was one of those days when I wanted to do anything but write. I wanted to be creative, I just didn’t want to write. I wanted to make mixed CDs for friends, create a new photo collage for my apartment, figure out how to sew the shirt that I’ve been meaning to sew for … um, like two years. The creative urge was there, but writing was not what I wanted to do.
I made myself sit down and write anyway. I set a writing goal this week of fifteen pages per day on one specific project. And I’ll be damned if I was going to set a goal and not achieve it. I don’t usually make clear goals like that and I wasn’t about to sabotage the entire week by throwing in the towel today. So, I sat down. I forced myself to start typing. I told myself that it didn’t even matter if I didn’t use a single word because it was the act of meeting the writing goal that mattered.
The work was done before noon.
Not all days are that easy. Not most of those sentences are good. But I did what I had set out to do with my writing today and that means something. It means that I took my own self-imposed requirements seriously enough to accomplish them. I think that speaks directly to why I am able to manage my life as a freelancer. And I think it also speaks to the potential for future projects to go more smoothly than some of the ones in the past did.
My day isn’t exactly free now. I have other work that I’m going to do, other commitments to my writing that I have to keep. I’m putting in a full day at the desk. But if nothing else gets done, at least I met my writing goals.
It’s obvious that if you want to get writing work done, you need to minimize the distractions that take you away from the writing. It’s obvious; but it’s not easy. I have offered writing consultation advice to a number of people through one-on-one interaction as well as published articles and I always include ways to minimize writing distractions. But the truth is that the tricks don’t matter. What it really boils down to is having self-control and self-discipline. It’s about committing to your work. Once you’ve made that commitment, cutting down on the writing distractions is really fairly easy.
I was reminded of this today because I feel like I overcommitted myself a little bit to a new project. But I’m excited about it, so I’m happy to do it. It just means that I need to drastically reduce the distractions and increase the focus. So this morning, I woke up at the usual time. (I wake up early but without an alarm clock; I need enough sleep and waking up naturally in order to work well.) I got my normal cup of coffee and eased into the day. I read part of a book from the library because that’s what I do most mornings. But instead of lingering over the pages, considering dipping into a new book or otherwise making reading a reason not to work … I put the book away after a few pages and committed to writing.
The distractions were there if I wanted to entertain them. I’d been working on making a mixed CD for a gift and I hadn’t finished it so I could’ve easily started listening to music to try and complete that project. I wanted to finish the DVD of shows that I’d gotten so I could return it to Blockbuster. But I didn’t turn it on. I didn’t stop to go to breakfast with the friend who asked. I didn’t answer the text messages that came through. These are things that I normally have the luxury of doing during the day. And that’s part of what I like about the writer’s life. Some days are free for indulging in distractions. But some days are not those days and the committed writer knows the difference.
You can get advice from professionals about minimizing distractions. They’ll tell you to only check email once in the morning and once in the afternoon, to turn off IM programs, to set goals. They’ll tell you that if you’re a WAHM, you need to turn a video on for the kids or get a mommy’s helper for the day. They’ll tell you that you need to eat breakfast and lunch and not wander into the kitchen five times in between. But you don’t need them to tell you these things. You know what distracts you. And you know that if you make the conscious decision that you’re not going to let it distract you, it won’t (barring emergencies, of course).
Minimizing writing distractions is about committing to your work. It’s about taking yourself seriously. And it’s about doing what you’re supposed to do instead of what you want to do. But ultimately, if your career in writing is what you want to do, it all serves the same purpose.
[Tags] writing, time management, distraction, writing tips, writing advice [/Tags]
photo link – The image, which I was happy to find easily through an online search related to juggling books and balancing writing, is the work of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. My topic doesn’t relate to the one he was using the image to portray; his topics are indigenous, socio-political works. Definitely worth checking out – see the site and blog.
Being a freelance writer means always looking for new work. The ebb and flow is exactly that – swells of work that threaten to overwhelm and drown you and then stretches of drought that are a welcome reprieve until they go on too long. In the midst of those swells, the writer always has to work to regain footing and balance out all of the projects which are going on. The downtimes serve to assist with this because they can be used for planning, organization, and catching up on the little things.
I’ve worked hard in the last few years to garner myself some steady jobs. These are jobs that I am committed to doing well and consistently because I enjoy them and think they’re good jobs. However, I also do them well and consistently because the benefits of steady work from clients who pay when they are supposed to are innumerable. These steady jobs have allowed me to be a little bit pickier about which additional projects I take on, which has made it easier to maintain the balance of a steady work life.
However, there are always those old ebbs and flows. I’d predicted that the end of the year was going to be slow. I try to keep December fairly stress-free in terms of work so that I can enjoy the holidays and trips with friends and family. I also try to use the end of the year to assess what’s been happening in the months before and to make plans and goals for the year ahead. That was what I thought the end of this year was going to look like. Alas, this is not the case.
I’ve been fortunate enough to get some great writing opportunities that will carry me through the end of the year. I’m happy about this. But it also means that I have far more work than I’d planned on. I’ll have to resume that shuffling dance of re-working a new schedule for myself and figuring out what hours I can reasonably plan on being at the office. And I’ll have to take a look at whether there are certain commitments that I’m just not reasonably going to be able to keep up. We’ll see.
But you know what I realized today? I realized that I love the ebb and flow. Sure, it makes me a little nutty sometimes. But it’s what keeps me fresh. It keeps the work from getting stale. New jobs bring excitment and enthusiasm for topics that have gone unexplored for too long. Changes in hours free up different days to explore different aspects of the city that I live in. Balancing writing jobs is part of what a writer’s life is all about. And I happen to love the life of being a writer.
[Tags] writing, writer, balance, projects, time management, freelance, jobs [/Tags]
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