The Writing Life
The words “freelancer,” “solopreneur,” and “remote work” can conjure images of people sprawled on couches and beds. Clad in their pajamas, they’re busy at work on laptops and mobile devices. It’s three in the afternoon.
[Read more…] about Eleven Things I Learned by not Working in My Pajamas
Some days, the day runs away with you. A bandit, a thief, a villain. You’re carried off, blindfolded and gagged. Where did the day go? How did it put you in a black bag thrown over its shoulder?
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Time is running out. Time is running out.
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Everything is unfamiliar. Where on earth did the day take you in its mad dash? How do you find your way back when everything is strange, alien?
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For that matter, how do you get out of these bonds? They’re starting to chafe the ankles and wrists. Every move, a little more skin lost to wherever and whatever place this is.
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This is not what you signed up for.
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You calm down, note the details. This place isn’t all that foreign. You know it; it’s simply been altered by a lack of sleep and mounting worry, a to-do list that never seems to end. One thing crossed off, and two more jump to take its place.
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Time is running out.
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Focus. You know this place. You’ve been here before. Time isn’t original. It can’t make off with you to places of its own creation. It can only warp what already is. A time-warp, if you prefer. Something having to do with space, time, some sort of continuum.
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You stretch, realize you have the means to escape. A rock that’s started to send shooting pains into your hip bone, a pocketknife—where else?—in your pocket. A spoon and hourglass.
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Time really should pay more attention if it intends to run away with the day, you.
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You escape the ropes, grab the spoon glinting in the moonlight, and tip-toe behind Time. One jab, and it falls apart. You measure it, spoonful by spoonful, into the hourglass. Time has run out.
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It’s time to go. Time is running out, and you’ve got better things to do than let it run away with the day or you.
Image: Erik Fitzpatrick (Creative Commons)
Working ahead is my default mode. I don’t like waiting until the last minute to complete a task. I like to have a buffer. I like to give things space and time. In the case of my writing, the extra space and time allows me to edit the work and to tinker with it until I know it’s as ready as it’s ever going to be. I hit publish or submit the work and keep moving forward. I keep working ahead.
[Read more…] about Working Ahead, Staying Ahead, and Buffer Zones
The writing life is one of patience, a fact with which I struggle. I am not a patient person. If I see that something needs to be done, I do it. I don’t play games. I don’t wait around in hopes that someone else will do the task. I get the job done and move onto the next thing.
It’s easy to get lost in the daily grind: you get up, go through your morning routine, go to work, maybe take a lunch break, return to work, go home, have dinner, maybe relax with the family. Rinse and repeat for five days a week. It becomes normal, comfortable. It lulls you into a sense of safety and security. You forget to ask if your routine is the best one, although you sometimes wonder. You wonder if it’s the best way. You wonder if it’s the most productive way.
[Read more…] about Learning to be Productive with Mike Vardy
My penchant for organization is fairly well-known. It’s one of the reasons I use an editorial calendar. It keeps my content organized and lets me know of posts that need to be written, such as this one. Once I write that content and prepare it to be published, I am free to focus on other things, namely, building my business and working on larger projects.
[Read more…] about Five Reasons to Have an Editorial Calendar