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March 02 Beating the isolation of being an online freelance writerOr any kind of writer, come to that. My thanks go to Susan, who commented on my last blog post and asked about the isolation we all experience as freelance writers. She has inspired me to write this particular blog post, as it wasn't a subject I had honestly thought too much about until she raised the question. So how do I beat the isolation? Well, I am into my second year as a full time freelance writer now, so I have had some time to get used to the working life. Any novelty has worn off (I think!) and I can now see the life of a freelancer as it really is. My situation is perhaps a little different from some other writers, since I also have an eBay business with my partner. That means we both work from home, so I am never really alone, or not for very long anyway. And I have to admit I don't really feel isolated by my work. Writing is essentially a solitary craft anyway, and I work better when things around me are nice and quiet and peaceful. That's just me though - I know Stephen King writes his novels with rock music pounding away in the background! But I do have contact with other people during the day, albeit via the internet. There are usually emails flying back and forth between my clients and myself, and I am usually on Twitter most days, seeing what other writers are up to at their various desks across the world. It may not be the same as meeting other writers face to face, but it is still a form of contact and it is very welcome. I feel the same about blogging too. I can imagine my band of readers out there in cyberspace, hopefully getting some encouragement and enjoyment from my words. Once again there is a connection and it is a pleasant one. I think it does depend on the type of writing you do though. I focus almost entirely on online writing, and all the other writers I am familiar with online tend to be in touch through email or Twitter or some other form of social networking. There are always writing groups locally in every country and every locale, but when I last went it was very much magazine and book writing that was being focused on. Different writers will feel isolated to different degrees of course. But there IS a huge network of writers online, via blogs, forums and social networking sites, and they are not difficult to find. All you need to do is plug yourself into it - and you might be surprised at how much the sense of isolation can be alleviated by doing just that. That's why I am firmly hooked on Twitter! February 28 New blog topic for writers - is working from home all it's cracked up to be?Hi there to all my readers. After my last blog post I thought I should get started with a new blog category today, and it's going to be working from home. This is something that virtually all writers do, whether they are part time or full time. It's also something that many writers dream about being able to do once they are earning enough to be able to. I finally managed to achieve it after years of trying (and some six months of trying to get work purely from online writing opportunities), so I wanted to sit and consider whether it is as good as I thought it would be. And the answer - for me at least - has to be yes. It can be very busy, and you have to be able to organise yourself very well, but even the worst day is so much better than the good days ever were in my old job! I am generally very good about planning my days. For example, I am rarely up any later than 8am, although if I have had a late one the night before or I have stayed up to finish a job (that's rare, since I have a timetable) then I might catch a lie in. I did go through a phase last year of getting up at 7am to start work, but that was mostly during the lighter and warmer summer months. Who knows, I might do it again this year! I had also been used to getting up at 5.45am to go to my regular job, so I think it took my body clock a while to adjust. I have discovered that I work better when I set the alarm to get up at a reasonable hour though. It takes me ages to get going otherwise. I always plan ahead too, and make sure I know what I am doing each day. The last thing to do each day is to work out a schedule for the following one, but quite often I have already done it anyway. If I have several big projects on all at once, I might even plan out most of the week ahead, making sure to block out time for myself as well as for work. That is probably the biggest drawback I have found from working from home. It is very easy to work too much and never get any time to yourself. I started working from home in January 2008, and I must admit that last year I did fall intot that trap of working too much and not getting much time off. I think part of it was due to the excitement of finally having been able to achieve my lifelong dream - to work as a full time writer. I've settled down now though, and I always make sure I take three evenings off a week and the whole of Sunday. This can change - such as it has at the moment where my partner's mum is in hospital and we are taking afternoons off on most days to go and visit - but that is one of the benefits of having your own timetable. You CAN make changes when you need to in order to live your life. So if you are reading this and you are wondering whether working as a full time freelance writer would suit you, I hope this has started to give you something of an insight into what it is like. There will be more blog posts to come on various aspects of this, so keep reading and subscribe to my RSS feeds to stay up to date! See you soon. |
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