Making Time for Your Own Projects
Most of my income comes from my blogging clients. These are marketing companies or small business owners for whom I create, primarily, web content.
I love working for these companies and am always excited when I can add new clients to my business.
However, on some level, I became a writer to be able to pursue my own projects. It is a creative spark I have had since I was a small child and as much as I love to write content for my business clients I also need to make time to focus on my own projects.
For a while, much of my time was spent focusing on current business and adding new clients. I would only write for my own blogs when I felt like I had the time. This led to the near-abandonment of one pet project and burn out on the other.
I needed to change my perspective or I would lose the drive to create my own work all together.
Like many writers, I keep a calendar of deadlines in order to stay organized. Each week I also write down my weekly schedule which includes every due date and when I need to work on those projects to have them completed in time. I realized that I was making one simple error.
I was not including any time for my own writing.
I decided to challenge myself to contribute to my beer blog as much as possible this fall. It was a perfect challenge for me as I set out to write about as many Autumn Seasonal beers as possible. Simply by adding this task to my weekly calendar I have been able to keep up with it. I treat the deadline with the same importance as the deadlines for my client companies.
Because of this I have been able to finish a project that I had hoped to be completed in March of this year. My first book, 120 Ideas for Tiny Living, is almost complete and will be available both in print and eBook editions. I am expecting that it will be available by the end of the month. I'll provide more details as soon as I have them.
If you have been wondering how to make time to tackle your own creative project, try scheduling them in your daily calendar. Just an hour or two should give you enough time to make a satisfying dent into the project and not take much time away from your other jobs.
I love working for these companies and am always excited when I can add new clients to my business.
However, on some level, I became a writer to be able to pursue my own projects. It is a creative spark I have had since I was a small child and as much as I love to write content for my business clients I also need to make time to focus on my own projects.
For a while, much of my time was spent focusing on current business and adding new clients. I would only write for my own blogs when I felt like I had the time. This led to the near-abandonment of one pet project and burn out on the other.
I needed to change my perspective or I would lose the drive to create my own work all together.
Like many writers, I keep a calendar of deadlines in order to stay organized. Each week I also write down my weekly schedule which includes every due date and when I need to work on those projects to have them completed in time. I realized that I was making one simple error.
I was not including any time for my own writing.
I decided to challenge myself to contribute to my beer blog as much as possible this fall. It was a perfect challenge for me as I set out to write about as many Autumn Seasonal beers as possible. Simply by adding this task to my weekly calendar I have been able to keep up with it. I treat the deadline with the same importance as the deadlines for my client companies.
Because of this I have been able to finish a project that I had hoped to be completed in March of this year. My first book, 120 Ideas for Tiny Living, is almost complete and will be available both in print and eBook editions. I am expecting that it will be available by the end of the month. I'll provide more details as soon as I have them.
If you have been wondering how to make time to tackle your own creative project, try scheduling them in your daily calendar. Just an hour or two should give you enough time to make a satisfying dent into the project and not take much time away from your other jobs.
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