Judy gets lost in another daydream

One of the biggest challenges for a freelance writer and editor is organising your workload. Each day is different, which is fantastic, but since leaving a staff position on a travel magazine, I’ve discovered that routine is no longer a part of my working week. In fact, even the working day has wobbly edges, spilling over into my so-called free time without notice, much to my husband’s annoyance.

I’ve heard it said that time equals money, and I guess I’m learning the true irony of that cliché, as at the moment having time mean having no money, while having money means little time.

I’ve also found out that I’m more in need of company than I realised, and that sitting all alone in my office (ahem, the corner of the living room I use as an office) drives me a bit batty after a few days. At first I tried to get around this by communicating endlessly via email, but all that meant was that I wasn’t getting any actual writing done.

So I’ve now given myself a time limit for emails and make an effort instead to arrange meetings with actual people and physically go out and do research instead of relying solely on the internet. The advantage of this is that I sort out my natural restlessness under the guise of work, and come home ready to get stuck into the latest project.

Which leads me to the next challenge…

At the moment I am working on several features, plus one novel I’m writing and another I’m editing, not to mention essentialwriters.com and the website’s constant thirst for new content. Oh, and somewhere in the midst of this I need to make time to pitch features to likely magazines, and sort out my taxation, resist the endless urge to daydream, and that’s not including the editing stints I have coming up on various publications.

But that’s another thing I’ve learnt about myself. Endless variety, the freedom to investigate whatever catches my attention, and the broad range of interesting subjects waiting to be transformed into features is what feeds my verve for life, and for writing. And as long as I have that buzz, my career as a freelancer will continue to make me a very happy writer indeed.

Now, if only I can learn to keep the unreliable edges of my working day confined, my husband might be just as happy.