I’ve been a freelance writer for over a decade. It took a rather long time to get to the point where I could focus on this job and actually make somewhat of a livable income off of it. Honestly, it took years of toiling on the fringes, slowly building up a client list, climbing up and out of the slush pile, and developing a very thick skin.
I often get asked two questions: how I did it and what my typical day looks like. Let’s focus this post on the second one.
Note: No two days really look alike, which is great for me. I’ve always thrived with jobs that offer a lot of daily variety. So, here it is:
8am: Wake up, always shower, brush teeth, and change my clothing. As someone with mental health issues, these are my absolute, no negotiating, 100% musts no matter what.
9am: Some sort of breakfast that would probably make nutritionists scream and a cup of coffee. My dog joins me, not for coffee, but for belly rubs before the start of the day.
9:30am - 12:30 pm: Here’s where things get beautifully chaotic. Mondays are social media days. I spend way too much time crafting videos, posts, taking pictures for Insta, blogging, reaching out to collaborates for potential mash ups, making Canva images for marketing, and researching new ideas for promotions. The rest of the week, my mornings are focused on two big things: freelance edit work and my reviews for Publisher’s Weekly.
I have two weeks to turn in a PW review, so from Monday (afternoons)- Friday of the first week, I read. The next week, from Monday (afternoons) - Friday, I write.
1pm - 5pm: Freelance editing, PW review, judging writing contests (which is my other steady gig), screening for PW, and working on my own writing. There’s no set time within the afternoon for any of this (thanks so much ADHD), and I usually bounce back and forth from task-to-task for hours.
Somewhere in there, I take a break or two to play with my dog.
For years and years and years, I’d work pretty much every waking hour. I’d have dinner with my family while my mind toiled about plot development and character stakes. I’d be on social media tagging content ideas while watching a movie with my husband. When the family went to bed, I’d be on my computer, writing, working.
But no more. I made a strict rule to adhere to the 9am - 5pm timeline. Do I always follow it? No, especially when a perfect storm hits and all my jobs are due at the same time, but for the most part, I’ve been getting much better at setting work boundaries.
Let me say something quick about this hustle work ethic (there’s tons to say…maybe I’ll write a blog about it). We live in a culture that not only thrives on the hustle culture but expects us to embrace it. It’s easy for me to chastise the hustle because it 100% burnt me out, but it’s important to recognize the privilege in that. I don’t need to live like that anymore only because the hustle got me to a point of balance. A catch-22, perhaps. More on this in a later post.
And now, back to the regularly scheduled blog…
If I have a slow week, I’m searching Indeed for more jobs. I used to have a fabulous job as an online writing tutor for college students, a job I truly loved, but the company stopped paying me, and then they ghosted me, and just as I was about to get a lawyer to get my money back, they finally returned my many requests to speak with someone and I got paid…slowly…over the course of months. I couldn’t trust them to pay me on time in the future, so I quit. I miss it, and I’m always on the look out for something similar.
So there it is. My schedule as a freelance writing. Now, get writing! :)