Despite the snickers you might hear when you tell folks that you are a freelance writer, you do have a job. You not only have a job, you have a business so it’s time to get serious and treat it like one.
Your office, most probably, is in your home, but it can’t be. You have to draw a line where your home life and your office coexist SEPARATELY. While you do have some flexibility of setting your hours, you need to set regular work hours, a time when you have to be sitting at your desk (even if it is the kitchen table) and ready to work. And during your work time there is no room for housecleaning, laundry, dishes, gabbing it up on the phone, watching TV, or entertaining drop-in guests. Wherever you choose to work, make sure that you feel comfortable and feel that it is YOUR workspace; clear the clutter away.
You will likely upset some of your friends, neighbors and family when you stick to your work obligations and insist that they respect your work time. It may seem difficult, but you really have to say no when your neighbor drops her kids off before school because, after all, you’re at home anyway and she is running late for work. While it may be okay to pick up the phone to say a quick hello when your relative calls, don’t let time get away from you. You have work to do.
Learn to set a schedule. List the things you have to do by deadlines to make sure you don’t forget something. Track and record the time it takes to do an article including the research and final editing. These records will not only help you to stay on track, but they will also give you a realistic idea of how to set your prices the next time you are asked for a quote. And while you shouldn’t procrastinate, knowing how much time you need on a project will make sure that you have scheduled enough time to get the job done – this is a terrific skill to have when an editor calls you for a last minute assignment and wants to know if you can accomplish it.
As a writer you have to browse news channels and social media for ideas and self-promotion, but time yourself. Don’t get carried away and spend hours playing games or getting sucked into online conversations that are not relevant to your work. You also need to make time to read, the more you read and keep words flowing in, the easier words will flow out as well. Finally you do need to socialize – working at home is a very solitary life, you need to interact (online and in person) with other adults. None of these should take up a lot of your time, but they shouldn’t be ignored either.
Part of your business includes billing and sending out queries. Put it on the list. These are among the activities to fill your work days when you might have “down time” from assigned articles, just don’t let it go too far down the road. Not all of your work is guaranteed earning immediately, novelists know how much work goes into a book and then they hope it sells. Make sure you allow yourself several hours a week to just write if this is your goal – don’t ignore it because it won’t bring in an immediate paycheck.
Finally, set goals. Realistic ones. And then schedule your time so that you can work towards achieving those goals.
Writing exercise: Make a list of your ten favorite things to eat and ten things you really dislike to eat – pair up items from each list by finding something similar (ie: color, texture, region it comes from, etc). Now make a list of your ten favorite activities and your ten hated activities – again, pair them up. Can you think of more lists of favorites and least favorites?
Writing prompt: Think back to grade school and a few of your classmates (that you lost touch with over the years). List a few names and then list up to three character traits for each. Using your imagination and considering the traits you listed, what do you think each is doing today?
