The past few weeks, I've just kind of stopped sleeping. Whenever I start something, I try and do it all.
I can learn this! I can study this! I can edit and write and yes, of course I can get up super early in the morning and why certainly, I'll do that, it'll be fun to figure it out. And while I'm at it, look how clean the house is getting, and look how much interest I'm regaining in hanging out with friends, and how back in shape I'm getting, and ...
Next thing you know, I'm so deep into crazy land that I'm pondering how much the poppy seeds from my bagel look like bugs when I move my plate back and forth really fast.
That's the thing, though, everyone's work suffers when there's not enough sleep. This is not a secret, everyone knows it. Why is it so hard to sleep?
Well, for the same reason it's so hard to choose between social obligations and work obligations. Going to have to try reigning it in if I'm going to get anything done!
But then, that's self employment. You work harder for yourself than anyone else is allowed to ask you to work.
How do you find balance? Have there been some tough decisions that you've had to make in order to make everything work?
Monday, April 16, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Freelancing: Why I don't have a dedicated workspace.
Look up "freelancing tips" on Google. Go on. What's one of the first tips you see? Everyone says to make a plan, and to set up a dedicated work space that is just like an office, only it's in your home. Don't work from the couch, don't work from the kitchen, and DEFINITELY don't work from the bed! All hell might just break loose, and besides, you'll never get anything done, will you?
But I think that one of the biggest benefits of working from home is that you can do whatever the heck you want with your office. If you're a person that needs a dedicated space to get you in the zone, go for it. Decorate it all pretty and make it yours. I tried establishing a room, and it just ended up really messy.
Instead, I usually work in the same spot in the morning. I get up at 5, so it's early and quiet and I'm not moving too fast. I sit in the same corner of the same couch in the living room, because it's next to a window, under a vent (it's cold at 5 am when you live at 7000 feet!) and next to a lamp and a bookshelf. I put my coffee on the shelf and cuddle my cat. This arrangement has the bonus of making me stay clean, since I'm hanging out in a shared area.
But for the rest of the day, I say, anything goes. You've got energy? Put on some music and dance around while you think about that important contract. Hungry? Make a sandwich. Sprawl out on the couch and put your feet up - whatever makes you the most comfortable for being productive.
I don't want a dedicated work space. I want the freedom to work wherever I dang well feel like it. Sometimes I work on the porch. Sometimes the couch. Often while standing in the kitchen - that's another rule I break, I do chores while I'm working. Occasionally I'll work in bed - I'm writing this blog post from my bed. Sometimes I work from a coffee shop. (Not that often because I'm saving money) Whatever makes me happy, I'll do it.
That's what makes freelancing so exciting and scary - there aren't really that many rules. Go explore! Figure out what works best for you. It's a lot of fun.
But I think that one of the biggest benefits of working from home is that you can do whatever the heck you want with your office. If you're a person that needs a dedicated space to get you in the zone, go for it. Decorate it all pretty and make it yours. I tried establishing a room, and it just ended up really messy.
Instead, I usually work in the same spot in the morning. I get up at 5, so it's early and quiet and I'm not moving too fast. I sit in the same corner of the same couch in the living room, because it's next to a window, under a vent (it's cold at 5 am when you live at 7000 feet!) and next to a lamp and a bookshelf. I put my coffee on the shelf and cuddle my cat. This arrangement has the bonus of making me stay clean, since I'm hanging out in a shared area.
But for the rest of the day, I say, anything goes. You've got energy? Put on some music and dance around while you think about that important contract. Hungry? Make a sandwich. Sprawl out on the couch and put your feet up - whatever makes you the most comfortable for being productive.
I don't want a dedicated work space. I want the freedom to work wherever I dang well feel like it. Sometimes I work on the porch. Sometimes the couch. Often while standing in the kitchen - that's another rule I break, I do chores while I'm working. Occasionally I'll work in bed - I'm writing this blog post from my bed. Sometimes I work from a coffee shop. (Not that often because I'm saving money) Whatever makes me happy, I'll do it.
That's what makes freelancing so exciting and scary - there aren't really that many rules. Go explore! Figure out what works best for you. It's a lot of fun.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Thoughts on Going for It
This weekend, I submitted my first ghostwritten novella. 50 pages, 30 days. The premise was very vague, with just a brief description of 3 characters, the setting of "a strange world," and the basic idea of "good fights evil," so I had to do most of the story and all of the world building myself.
I put out the proposal mostly as practice - I didn't really expect the win the contract, but I figured I could learn something from the "client declined contract: view reason" aspect. Plus, it'd be fun if I did win, wouldn't it! Good experience and all.
As soon as I won, I started panicking. What should I do now? I've participated in NaNoWriMo for the last couple of years and I've never even gotten to the 50 page mark. Why do I think I can do this? I've never written a complete fantasy novella before! I'm not qualified for this; I should just call the whole thing off, apologize, and go hide under a blanket for the next few days with a bowl of soup.
Instead, I asked myself: what's the worst case scenario?
I fail miserably. I don't complete. Or I complete the novella and they hate it. I'll make no money if I don't complete, and a pretty small amount if I do. I might get some bad feedback on my profile. That might make it harder to find jobs for a while. Then again, most of my jobs so far have been in editing, reformatting and copywriting areas, not creative writing areas, so that probably won't actually affect much, will it?
Ok. What's the best case scenario?
I succeed brilliantly. So brilliantly that I'm disappointed that I don't get to take credit for it. My first ever fantasy novella makes my employers fabulously rich and famous. Then again, I don't think they're quite as inspiring as a well-connected teen (Eragon) or a single mother (Harry Potter), so the novella would have to succeed on my brilliant prose alone. Let's be honest, that's not very likely for a first work.
So the most probable scenario is that I make a little money, build my resume, learn about writing on a deadline, and have some fun with it.
Phew. Panic over. Down to business. Erm. I don't have any clue where to start. The blank Word document is staring me in the face. I play around with formatting for a while and surf the internet, calculate how many pages I have to write in a day if I don't want to write on the weekends (3), and go back to staring at the blank page.
But I don't want to close that Word Document. If I do, I know I probably won't open it again. If I choose inertia, then it'll be that much harder to choose action. And I know basically what the story is about - good defeats evil. What else do I know about stories?
Five minutes later, I have:
Exposition:
1.
2.
Rising Action:
1.
2.
3.
Climax:
1. Battle between protagonist and evil person.
Falling Action:
1.
2.
Conclusion:
1. Hero is returned home, victorious.
The next time I got stuck, I started writing down everything I could think of about my main character, who was described as "a 16-year old girl." And so on. I just kept moving in the direction of writing a story, and eventually, the story was written.
The moral of the story: just because you aren't completely qualified, doesn't mean you shouldn't go for it. Do what you are qualified to do, and you'll figure out the rest.
The corollary: A day later, I also won a contract to write a short action-adventure story (I REALLY didn't expect to win both, it was a little overwhelming!). But then it changed to a mystery. I have read a couple of mysteries, but not many. Fewer than 10. That was too far outside of my experience, and I ended up declining. Know your limits.
I put out the proposal mostly as practice - I didn't really expect the win the contract, but I figured I could learn something from the "client declined contract: view reason" aspect. Plus, it'd be fun if I did win, wouldn't it! Good experience and all.
As soon as I won, I started panicking. What should I do now? I've participated in NaNoWriMo for the last couple of years and I've never even gotten to the 50 page mark. Why do I think I can do this? I've never written a complete fantasy novella before! I'm not qualified for this; I should just call the whole thing off, apologize, and go hide under a blanket for the next few days with a bowl of soup.
Instead, I asked myself: what's the worst case scenario?
I fail miserably. I don't complete. Or I complete the novella and they hate it. I'll make no money if I don't complete, and a pretty small amount if I do. I might get some bad feedback on my profile. That might make it harder to find jobs for a while. Then again, most of my jobs so far have been in editing, reformatting and copywriting areas, not creative writing areas, so that probably won't actually affect much, will it?
Ok. What's the best case scenario?
I succeed brilliantly. So brilliantly that I'm disappointed that I don't get to take credit for it. My first ever fantasy novella makes my employers fabulously rich and famous. Then again, I don't think they're quite as inspiring as a well-connected teen (Eragon) or a single mother (Harry Potter), so the novella would have to succeed on my brilliant prose alone. Let's be honest, that's not very likely for a first work.
So the most probable scenario is that I make a little money, build my resume, learn about writing on a deadline, and have some fun with it.
Phew. Panic over. Down to business. Erm. I don't have any clue where to start. The blank Word document is staring me in the face. I play around with formatting for a while and surf the internet, calculate how many pages I have to write in a day if I don't want to write on the weekends (3), and go back to staring at the blank page.
But I don't want to close that Word Document. If I do, I know I probably won't open it again. If I choose inertia, then it'll be that much harder to choose action. And I know basically what the story is about - good defeats evil. What else do I know about stories?
Five minutes later, I have:
Exposition:
1.
2.
Rising Action:
1.
2.
3.
Climax:
1. Battle between protagonist and evil person.
Falling Action:
1.
2.
Conclusion:
1. Hero is returned home, victorious.
The next time I got stuck, I started writing down everything I could think of about my main character, who was described as "a 16-year old girl." And so on. I just kept moving in the direction of writing a story, and eventually, the story was written.
The moral of the story: just because you aren't completely qualified, doesn't mean you shouldn't go for it. Do what you are qualified to do, and you'll figure out the rest.
The corollary: A day later, I also won a contract to write a short action-adventure story (I REALLY didn't expect to win both, it was a little overwhelming!). But then it changed to a mystery. I have read a couple of mysteries, but not many. Fewer than 10. That was too far outside of my experience, and I ended up declining. Know your limits.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Always Remember to Do Your Research
Do your research before you offer a service. Simple, right? But sometimes it's easy to overlook. For example: I learned about tracking changes in Word over a year ago.
(In Microsoft Word 2007, you just go up to the "review" tab and click "track changes." Easy.)
I had fun with it - it's almost as satisfying as a red pen! Plus, the tracked changes helped me land my first ongoing job. The client hadn't seen it before, and really liked the feature.
As you can imagine, I felt quite good about my Word prowess after that. And I started offering a guarantee of tracked changes with each product. In fact, I offered two copies - a clean copy and a tracked copy. Guaranteed!
Some of you are probably shaking your heads already. But for those that don't know - you always have the option to view a clean draft. It's quite simple. Just go up to the "track changes" section like before, and where it says "final showing markup," click it and select "final." Like magic, the changes will disappear, until you change it back. You don't need a clean copy and a tracked copy.
If I had taken the time to experiment with the feature and learn this very simple fact, I suspect I would have gotten a few more jobs. Nothing contradicts the image of a competent editor like not knowing the basics of Word. It's pretty cringe worthy, imagining a company reading my proposal incredulously and dismissing it out of hand.
The corollary to this: if you're not totally sure about something, don't offer it. I might have also gotten more jobs if I hadn't proudly declared my ignorance. Most of them didn't even ask for tracked changes!
Since then, I've been exploring the different options much more closely; any time you think you know about a program, do some research. It will make a much better impression in the long run!
(In Microsoft Word 2007, you just go up to the "review" tab and click "track changes." Easy.)
I had fun with it - it's almost as satisfying as a red pen! Plus, the tracked changes helped me land my first ongoing job. The client hadn't seen it before, and really liked the feature.
As you can imagine, I felt quite good about my Word prowess after that. And I started offering a guarantee of tracked changes with each product. In fact, I offered two copies - a clean copy and a tracked copy. Guaranteed!
Some of you are probably shaking your heads already. But for those that don't know - you always have the option to view a clean draft. It's quite simple. Just go up to the "track changes" section like before, and where it says "final showing markup," click it and select "final." Like magic, the changes will disappear, until you change it back. You don't need a clean copy and a tracked copy.
If I had taken the time to experiment with the feature and learn this very simple fact, I suspect I would have gotten a few more jobs. Nothing contradicts the image of a competent editor like not knowing the basics of Word. It's pretty cringe worthy, imagining a company reading my proposal incredulously and dismissing it out of hand.
The corollary to this: if you're not totally sure about something, don't offer it. I might have also gotten more jobs if I hadn't proudly declared my ignorance. Most of them didn't even ask for tracked changes!
Since then, I've been exploring the different options much more closely; any time you think you know about a program, do some research. It will make a much better impression in the long run!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
How To: Get Started as a Freelance Writer (or Programmer or Marketing Person)
One of the hardest things about freelancing is finding clients, right? I mean... what do you even look for? Just... work?
If you know exactly what you want to do with your career, then this post probably won't help much. You're probably already prepared with a list of places you want to work and what you want to do for them.
But if you're like me, you're armed with nothing more than a hobby, some good AP exam and SAT scores, and the hope that you're somehow going to make enough money to eat this year.
So what's a good solution here? Freelancing sites! They match up clients and freelancers for a cut of the profits. It's a fantastic way to gets started. I can't vouch for many sites, so be wary of scams. I can however, vouch for the website that got me started:
ELance
It's a fantastic resource for beginning freelancers. They give you a profile, a spot to upload portfolio, and a bunch of other stuff. You get a certain number of credits, which you use to bid on jobs posted by clients. It will help you get a feel for what kinds of work are out there, and what you want to do in particular. Check it out!
If you know exactly what you want to do with your career, then this post probably won't help much. You're probably already prepared with a list of places you want to work and what you want to do for them.
But if you're like me, you're armed with nothing more than a hobby, some good AP exam and SAT scores, and the hope that you're somehow going to make enough money to eat this year.
So what's a good solution here? Freelancing sites! They match up clients and freelancers for a cut of the profits. It's a fantastic way to gets started. I can't vouch for many sites, so be wary of scams. I can however, vouch for the website that got me started:
ELance
It's a fantastic resource for beginning freelancers. They give you a profile, a spot to upload portfolio, and a bunch of other stuff. You get a certain number of credits, which you use to bid on jobs posted by clients. It will help you get a feel for what kinds of work are out there, and what you want to do in particular. Check it out!
Friday, March 30, 2012
How to Make To-Do Lists You'll Actually Use
I'm an "artsy" person. You know the type. Daydreamy, whimsical, kind of really really awful at doing all of the things that I need to do to get organized. Has a sneaking suspicion that grades aren't really a good measure of success. Tendency toward the counterculture, with hipster sympathies.
But when I got my first two jobs, I realized that my old standby of "I forgot" really wouldn't cut it anymore. Somehow, the knowledge that I could be fired did a lot more than all the frowning of college professors - in school, you just make it up by acing all the tests. When that's not an option, suddenly the familiar "uh oh... I was supposed to what?" becomes "uh oh... can I make rent now?"
But how to keep track of to-do lists? They're boring and just one more thing to remember! Well, you might only have so much willpower during the day. If you waste it on your task list, that's probably counter-productive.
So you have to be sneaky and trick yourself - make your list fun and attractive.
Try everything. Preferably for a week or more, unless you are really convinced that you hate a particular system. I used Wunderlist (whimsical yet traditional), an Excel spreadsheet (very official looking), notebooks (portable, and I like writing in notebooks, but easy to forget/lose), a planner (reminds me too much of school) and even a whiteboard (satisfying to cross stuff off, not portable) to learn my personal style.
Ultimately, I found that I need a couple of things from a list. It needs to be pretty, and it needs to be funny. So I set up a private Tumblr blog called "To Do: Figure out Life."
I customized it to be very self-indulgently colorful and whimsical, and gave myself permission to be funny in my entries; it's combination task list and journal for all of the little details that probably wouldn't make it into a real journal entry. (See below for an example)
What's your personal style? Don't know? Take a look at the blogs and comics and news and podcasts that you consume regularly. Which ones are your favorites, the ones that excite you the most and make you happy when they update? Why do you like those ones? Do they have an informative, solid, dependable tone? An artistic and/or inspiring tone? Lots of quotes and pictures? Do you like narratives?
The blogs I like to read are usually light-hearted, with a sense of humor tending toward the sardonic.
So a to-do list might look like this:
Like anything, you have to give yourself permission to fail, or you'll get discouraged. I started making the lists before going to bed. If I forgot, that was ok. Now, since I have a job that starts at 5:30 am, I tend to make them in the morning. Whenever works best for you. I don't cross everything off, either. It's ok if you forget sometimes - as long as your lists are interesting to you, you won't forget every time.
Basically, you can either try and force yourself to use a list you don't like, or work with yourself and trick yourself into doing what you're supposed to do and enjoy it. So take the time to figure out how to keep yourself interested - it'll help a lot in the future.
But when I got my first two jobs, I realized that my old standby of "I forgot" really wouldn't cut it anymore. Somehow, the knowledge that I could be fired did a lot more than all the frowning of college professors - in school, you just make it up by acing all the tests. When that's not an option, suddenly the familiar "uh oh... I was supposed to what?" becomes "uh oh... can I make rent now?"
But how to keep track of to-do lists? They're boring and just one more thing to remember! Well, you might only have so much willpower during the day. If you waste it on your task list, that's probably counter-productive.
So you have to be sneaky and trick yourself - make your list fun and attractive.
Try everything. Preferably for a week or more, unless you are really convinced that you hate a particular system. I used Wunderlist (whimsical yet traditional), an Excel spreadsheet (very official looking), notebooks (portable, and I like writing in notebooks, but easy to forget/lose), a planner (reminds me too much of school) and even a whiteboard (satisfying to cross stuff off, not portable) to learn my personal style.
Ultimately, I found that I need a couple of things from a list. It needs to be pretty, and it needs to be funny. So I set up a private Tumblr blog called "To Do: Figure out Life."
I customized it to be very self-indulgently colorful and whimsical, and gave myself permission to be funny in my entries; it's combination task list and journal for all of the little details that probably wouldn't make it into a real journal entry. (See below for an example)
What's your personal style? Don't know? Take a look at the blogs and comics and news and podcasts that you consume regularly. Which ones are your favorites, the ones that excite you the most and make you happy when they update? Why do you like those ones? Do they have an informative, solid, dependable tone? An artistic and/or inspiring tone? Lots of quotes and pictures? Do you like narratives?
The blogs I like to read are usually light-hearted, with a sense of humor tending toward the sardonic.
So a to-do list might look like this:
- Wake up at 5:10. Ugh.
-Stupid daylight savings. - Work 5:30-7:30
-Check - Work on social media job
-Check - Cry a little. Kidding (mostly).
Do yogaTake a shower- Conversely, sleep.
Breakfast: Stir fry.- Instead of doing any of that: worked, took a 2 hour nap, woke up with a headache. Awwww yay-ah.
- Work 10-12
-Go to Rendevous or Macey’s for work. You really need a change of scenery and something yummy to help you work. Maybe even Biff’s, I bet they don’t close before 1...?
-Check. Mmmmmm, hipster pastries. - Work on your novel
- Go to the bank
-Check. Also, check deposited. Booyah.
Like anything, you have to give yourself permission to fail, or you'll get discouraged. I started making the lists before going to bed. If I forgot, that was ok. Now, since I have a job that starts at 5:30 am, I tend to make them in the morning. Whenever works best for you. I don't cross everything off, either. It's ok if you forget sometimes - as long as your lists are interesting to you, you won't forget every time.
Basically, you can either try and force yourself to use a list you don't like, or work with yourself and trick yourself into doing what you're supposed to do and enjoy it. So take the time to figure out how to keep yourself interested - it'll help a lot in the future.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Keep Your Home and Work Life Separate
Protip: when you clock out of work, really clock out of work and leave the area. Don't do the online equivalent to standing around the break room shouting about your shower, and how you're just now starting to get halfway decent at time management skills. Does this even really need to be said? Yep.
Learn from my mistake. I'm just glad I was off the clock.
Learn from my mistake. I'm just glad I was off the clock.
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