Usually on this blog I just keep to movie and book reviews with the occasional board game thing throw in, but recently posting has been erratic and I just wanted to use it to write about some struggles I’ve been having recently. I am a freelance writer for a living, which I love as it gives me freedom over my own schedule and a great flexibility, but this can come at a price.
I generally try and do at least 10,000 words a day, usually working from 9am to about 3/4 in the afternoon, and I’m a creature of momentum so once I get on a roll I find it easy to keep going, which is why I tend to work six days a week. But when something interrupts my momentum its disastrous and it can often be hard to get back on track. I find myself struggling to get back up to speed and the words don’t come easily, and it’s all too easy to think that I’ll be back to normal the following day.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been heavily involved in promoting a kickstarter campaign for Board in the City CIC (which currently has about 20 days left so go check out Kickstarter for more information. I’ve been testing out games for the cafe, viewing properties, filming interviews for tv, radio, and the kickstarter campaign, and while I’ve been glad to give over my time to this it has meant that my schedule has been interrupted and I find it very difficult to get started again.
It’s a hard thing to keep balancing different interests in life, and I wish I could switch on my working attitude so that I could just sit down for say an hour and write, but I really have to focus and get into a rhythm. It’s not easy when it’s so stop and start. A lot of people think it’s easy to write, especially because I can write quickly and usually dash off a good number of stories, but like with any profession it comes with its challenges, and most of them result from the personality of the writer.
Things are calming down now and I’m going to be stricter for the next few weeks (although I do have a lot of social engagements coming up) but I think for a few days I’m going to have to basically shut myself away in a room just to bash out some stories quickly. Right now I’m not working at my optimum pace and it is annoying me.
So fellow writers (freelance or not) do any of you suffer from the same affliction as me? Are you a victim of momentum or can you get back to work even with an erratic schedule?