Professional Writing

Lesson 4: Manage to Write!

Allot Time

Allot time for writing. I know, I know. You are saying, "But I write all the time! It's what I love!" Believe it or not, you can have too much of a good thing. About a year ago, I'd become addicted to the high of pumping out story after story, essay after essay, book after book, and the subsequent high of wondering who was going to respond the next day.

Like any other addiction, the addiction itself can take over, causing the writer to stray from his/her professionalism in two ways: by shirking quality (and acceptance) and by burning out, eventually avoiding writing altogether.

Quality is THE most important attribute of good writing. If you love the highs of spotting a zillion awesome publications on any given day, then of submitting any work that may or may not suit publications' needs, you will be moving two steps behind. Quality is not something you pull out of your hat of works published.

Focus your time and energy on a few carefully chosen projects per week. Weigh your odds with various publications, businesses, and clients. Whichever ones seem desperate for your expertise, write or query them. Take on one or two projects at a time. This way, you won't be throwing weak punches into the wind only to give up the fight.

Budget time. Example: you know you need to take care of the kids today and the grandmother tonight. The house needs cleaning. Worst of all, you have given yourself two writing deadlines, both due within one week. Solution: during the kids' daily hour nap, spend a half-hour on the most urgent one of the two projects. Spend the remaining twenty or thirty minutes sleeping. Visit gram for one hour before dinner. Come home, eat, leave the dishes and cleaning till the next morning. Put the kids to bed around nine, then work at completing the project for two hours.

As you can see, balance is key. If you learn to schedule a life regimen in with work, you will be rested, happy, and focused enough to create writing products solely for clients who are your career soul mates!

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