So if you want to be a professional, you’ve got to walk the walk, right? With that in mind, I decided to try and bring a little professionalism to my writing this week. In terms of my paid freelance writing, for the past few months I’ve been pitching article ideas, and writing what I’ve been assigned “whenever.” Nick Writes has gone about the same. For the freelance work, that’s often meant working late Sunday night (blogs are due on Sunday), bumping right up against the deadline. For Nick Writes, that’s meant blogs posting later and later in the week (hence this Sunday’s entry).
Earlier in the week, the editor for my freelance work sent out the topics for the next two months. Normally, I just pitch on what looks interesting, and figure it out from there. But this time, I took a different tack. I calculated how much time a blog typically takes me, looked at how much time I can spend writing each night, and pitched accordingly. When I got my assignments, I quickly went about creating a schedule. Once I had due dates established, I broke each post out into steps---outline, links (each blog has to link to some of the company’s products), pictures (time consuming to grab at the last minute, but easy to find during my lunch breaks at work or while watching television at home), and text.
What I’ve just described is commonly known as “getting organized,” and as basic as it may seem, it’s pretty revolutionary for me. I have a roadmap, and concrete steps to follow to get to my destination. It brings a feeling of control and a sense of calm to what has so often been an unnecessarily overwhelming affair. Today, I wrote my first blog using this system, and I was amazed at how it felt. It was fun. I didn’t feel panicked. And having all the pieces in place made everything so much smoother. Freed from stressing over the logistics, I had more headspace available to dedicate to the actual writing, and I feel that the blog was one of my strongest yet.
After making the freelance schedule, I sat down to do something similar for Nick Writes. I didn’t know what this week’s topic would be. But I have ideas for several blogs scattered throughout various documents. My plan was to take those ideas and create a schedule for myself. That way, when I sit down to write, I can just write, and not waste time wondering what to write about.
In going through my main idea document, I came across something I didn’t expect: two nearly complete blog posts. Apparently, I wrote them back in April. And then promptly forgot about them. All the time I scrambled for what to write over the past few weeks, I had these two posts just waiting to go. Together with the freelance schedule, this drove home the importance of being organized, and the penalty for being disorganized (i.e. losing work and scrambling about). It also gave me the topic for this week’s post.
And in the spirit of being more professional, I’m not being too hard on myself for waiting until now to get organized. This is my first time blogging, and my first time freelancing. Instead of lamenting my lack of organization thus far, I’m excited about what this means for the future. I don’t know what switch I flipped, but it’s nice to not be wasting time raking myself over the coals.
Though I didn’t have a topic, I was ready this week to bring a more positive vibe to the blog. I’ve spent a lot of time on what I hate about writing, but haven’t really touched on what I actually enjoy. And that is still what I plan on writing about next. But first, I’m going to run the two blogs I found, and let those be my last words on fear and anxiety for a while.
So in addition to my schedule, I’ll have what I’ve wanted since I began—a buffer! Shortly after I post this, I’ll have blogs scheduled for this Tuesday and the Tuesday after. This is my 27th post. I’ve been bumbling through this trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing for half a year now. And I’m only just starting to feel like I’m learning a little something.
It’s a good feeling.