Make A Living Writing

Note from Carol: I am not necessarily the world’s most highly organized person. I have to admit I’m still tracking my jobs and payments in a Word document…works for me, but I’m sure there are better ways. (I use a Google calendar for my personal life…but somehow, my writing assignments just work for me in a list with deadlines. Weird.)

Turns out there are some great cheap and free time-management tools out there — and U.K. writer James Adams knows about them. Here he is with some tips on time-management programs! (And that’s his gravatar over there — conclude what you will.)

Freelancing can be compared to looking at the menu at a sushi bar — there is plenty of variety in which one may indulge. A freelancer lives each day working on many different projects at once and may find solace in proven techniques to effectively manage their time.

Everybody has a different habit of work that they follow, so it can be a great help to have access to a simple and free time management application. If you find yourself missing deadlines a few too many times, get yourself organized by using one of these top tools for time management. All of these tools are free or have free trials, and they all work cross-platform.

1. Toggl ($5 – $79 per month):This tool allows you to manage your time, create reports with a single click and create numerous tasks. Signing up for this service is free, which allows up to five users on your account, or you can purchase a plan for something more user-friendly.
2. Todoist (Free):This is completely free and is a simple tool to use. Use keyboard shortcuts, set your deadlines and see works that are either about to be overdue or currently are. It is a web based tool that can also be integrated directly into your Gmail account.
3. Get Harvest ($12 – $90 per month):This is a sleek tool that offers style that integrates well for micro or small businesses. This tool tracks time and also comes with the ability to easily invoice clients, and you do not even need to deal with making the invoice itself. You can try its services for 30 days before having to purchase a plan.
4. Google Calendar (Free): Sign into your Gmail account (signing up for one is free if you do not already have one) and use the free services of Google Calendar. Track everything you need to in a single place and allow clients to share in your set schedule. Reminders can be set and customized, and you can even have alerts sent to your desktop, email or by way of SMS – this is especially useful for folks on the go.
5. Tickspot ($9 – $79 per month): Not only can you track your time, but you can also track your budget with this service. You may sign up for a free 30 day trial of this simple, easy to use interface, and later on upgrade to enjoy the rest of its service.
6. Rescue Time ($6 – $15 per month): This tool is very helpful for those who are helplessly addicted to social media and similarly useless browsing. It does not technically manage your time so much as it tracks it, working in the background and graphing the way you spend your time on the Internet while you work. You can use the free version, but more features come to you with a purchased plan.
7. Remember the Milk (Free): All cheesy names aside, you can sign onto this website for free to manage your tasks wherever you go, whether through your iPod Touch, iPhone, Blackberry, Gmail account or computer. This is definitely a capable rival for Todolist as it offers numerous outstanding features for easy organization.
8. NowDoThis (Free): If you find yourself confused about all of the features in the previous mentions, this is the polar opposite. Click “edit” to make your list and keep clicking “done” when you are… well, done.
9. Ta-da List (Free): Folks who have heard of Highrise and Basecamp may be pleased to know that the brains behind the two have created this tool. It works as a free online wall of post-it notes. Create your necessary tasks and simply check off the ones you have already done.

Working as a writer at an ink cartridges store in Manchester for the past 18 months, James Adams has written everything including product reviews, trend stories and news releases for their design blog.

Judging by the emails I get, a lot of writers have trouble turning down gigs, no matter how low-paying, stressful or inappropriate to their talents and interests the assignment may be. So my thought for the day is, like Nancy Reagan used to say, “Just say no!”

Saying no is empowering. It establishes healthy boundaries for you in the marketplace. I’m not desperate, it says. I take jobs I want. Taking jobs you really don’t want or that radically underpay you kill your soul and eat up oodles of time you could spend finding good-paying, fun gigs that would help you build your career.

“You mean I just say ‘no’ to the $10 a post jobs?” one writer wailed to me on an email not long ago.

Yes, that’s what I mean. That job doesn’t pay enough. Don’t take it.

“You mean I should say ‘no’ to the book ghostwriting gig that pays $1,500 for 65,000 words?” another asked.

That’s it exactly. Say no. Practice it with me now. Let’s say it like a mantra: “NNNNnnnnnnn…..OOOOOoooooo, Noooooo, Noooo, Noo….No.”

Stop thinking the economy has collapsed and there are only crappy jobs out there. I got one $1,500 article assignment already this year, lined up three new copywriting clients, and have two $800 articles I’m working on right now. One of my mentees just got her first $750 assignment. You can still break into new markets and get good writing assignments. You don’t have to say  ”yes” to whatever comes down the pike.

Recently, I received this question from new writer Tom Ryan:

I’ve been freelance writing for a year or so now, and was just presented an opportunity to ghostwrite a business book. The person I’d be writing for…[our personalities are quite different and]…I completely disagree with his philosophy of business. But I’d love to land the project.

So…wonder if you’d have any advice for someone aspiring to do this sort of work on how to best remain separate from your subject?

Can you guess what I told Tom?

That’s right–he needs to say ‘no’ to this gig. Tom, why would you love to land this project? Ghostwriting for someone you dislike and don’t find a rapport with isn’t going to work out. You’re going to knock your brains out, spend umpteen hours with someone you can’t stand, and end up with a product (should this project ever successfully wrap up) that you won’t be proud of. Don’t spend time on that!

The Kabbalists say we are never just “killing time.” It’s really the other way around. Time kills us. Time is your most precious resource. Don’t spend precious moments of your career doing work you abhor or that radically underpays you, even if you want to break into ghostwriting or book writing or whatever it is. The wrong project will not help you down the path to where you want to go.

Your gut knows the difference between a good ground-floor opportunity and exploitation and/or a nightmare project you’ll hate. Listen to it. And then, if it feels wrong, don’t be afraid to say “no.” Better gigs are out there.

Photo via Flickr user fotogail

Ariella gets an attitude if mommy works too much!

I wish I had a dime for every time someone has said to me, “I don’t know how you do it all!” Many of the people who say this know that I’m married and have three kids–now aged 7, 8 and 17. And that besides my paying clients, I write this blog, blog once a week for WM Freelance Writing Connection, and am finishing up writing an ebook on freelance writing.

So given that this is productivity week, I thought I’d discuss some of the things I do that I believe make it possible for me to balance my busy family life with a good-earning writing career.

1. Exercise. I try to either walk uphill for an hour first thing in the morning, or do Wii Fit yoga before work, or I hike in the woods near my home or bike with my kids. Time spent exercising never subtracts from productivity-it makes you so much more creative and productive that it more than makes up for the time spent, I find. And it’s so important to stay healthy, or you won’t be earning well for long!

2. Have fun. I never miss my regular monthly Mah Jongg game. I go geocaching with my family. Last week, I learned to cross-country ski. I sometimes play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook with a bunch of my friends. These kind of breaks away from writing for high-quality family time and recreation are absolutely essential.

3. Rest. If you’ve read my previous post on the secret of my writing success, you know that I am always off my computer and away from all writing chores from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown each week. Remember, we’re not called human doings, but human beings. Our bodies weren’t designed to work all the time.

4. Outsource. I have housecleaners come twice a month to take care of all heavy cleaning. I send my teen to the mini-mart for a gallon of milk. I pay a Webmaster because tech stuff makes me cry. If it isn’t time-effective for me to do it, I find someone else to do it.

5. Let go. I do not have a pristine, utterly clutter-free house that looks like a design magazine is about to come take a photo. The pile of shoes and toys on my porch is atrocious. If we can walk about the house without tripping on anything, I’m pretty much satisfied.

6. Ruthlessly organize and prioritize. From my years as a legal secretary, I know to come into my office each day with an agenda. I know what the most important things are that need to get done, and the secondary objectives I’d like to get to, and I knock them out.

7. Turn down low-paying jobs. I focus on finding well-paid work and don’t waste time on low payers. That’s right, prospective clients call me and I turn them down if their rates aren’t in my ballpark.

8. Sleep and TV. I don’t do a whole lot of either. Six hours or so a night of sleep seems to do me, along with the occasional weekend nap. I frankly find the vast majority of TV shows really boring at this point in my life–a couple hours of shows is plenty in a typical week. I Tivo everything so I save 20 minutes watching commercials for every taped hour. Mostly, I’d rather read, write, think, or plan.

9. Say no. The fact is, I don’t really do it all. I turn down a lot of things. Will I organize the elementary school’s auction? No. Will I clean out the closet? No. Will I give a Torah commentary at the synagogue this week? No. Don’t try to conform to anybody’s idea of a supermom…those women are all having quiet nervous breakdowns, I believe.

What do you do to manage your busy schedule? Leave a comment and let me know.

This week’s theme is better time management for writers. I’ve invited productivity columnist Jessie Haynes to tell us how to kick email addiction. Since picking up email once…per minute…is a real problem for me, I was anxious to get these tips!

For more on the email problem, see this great blog by Trust Agents co-author and wildly dominant blogger Chris Brogan.

Organized, Productive Email Time Management Domination That Works…Now!

By Jessie Haynes

Email is the source of stress and sorrow, so many freelancers say. Try this step-by-step overhaul of your current email practices and see if you can’t ease those woes.

1. Organize your email by function – as you read top to bottom (and you cannot skip anything in this process because you read each email once and once only as you process) and either move it to a folder that corresponds to that function or archive or delete the message and make a note in your task manager / planner / to-do list.

Functions could include:

-waiting - all of the things that require another action / event before you can do something about them. Tip: write down just what you’re waiting for in some note because you should rely on your brain for very little beyond thinking of something once and remembering where your reminder is.

- read

- research

- share

- and you get the point! Remember that no function means no reason to have the email: to the trash.

Sort through those emails in your inbox by what you need to do with them. After you’ve done this once, you should have everything sorted for future function-processing. Having your needs fulfilled for later inbox processing brings us to the next step in email time management domination…

2. Half your current email checking frequency, at least. Schedule your ”processing and doing” sessions. Tip: you can always process immediately after a “do” (like when you get new emails as you’re sorting through what you have already) but you can never go to “do” while processing.

I say to strive to check your email only once per 24-hour period, but this is terrifying to most freelance writers. Because of how much time most freelancers are spending swimming in their email, this seems like a logical allotment. Theoretically, anyone properly processing and doing their inbox functions could check their email as much as would allow them to complete their tasks. Regular, proper processing means you can find your own balance. My once per 24-hour period rule may or may not make you more effective: find out for yourself just what will work for you.

3. Deliver the right amount of energy per message. Spending too little effort in a response backfires like dominoes with an email train messier than that simile, and too much effort just wastes your time. Be conscious of how much effort you expend.

4. Divorce immediacy and think like a business owner. You are your CEO–and janitor as Carol likes to say–of your own business and you don’t scurry forth at the whims and beckons of others. Organize your tasks and get to them as you sort them–conquer fuction by function after you’ve had time to sort them. Work on your own decided urgency. A business owner’s time is valuable. It is also just that, the business owner’s time and not anyone else’s.

5. Find your best practices. Telling you exactly how I manage my email won’t really do much for you–mileage varies. Your own trial and error alongside attentiveness, observation and flexibility will help you discover your ideal email policy.

Please, leave feedback. If you want some advice on your email situation, leave a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can!

About the Author: Jessie Haynes owns JHaynesWriter, Web writing services for the organization and productivity niche. Learn more, and read more, at www.JHaynesWriter.com.