Hooky by day, writer by night

My plan to reestablish my freelance writing schedule this week backfired.  Over the weekend I found a piano, and will be meeting the movers at the thrift store tomorrow.  I expect the move to take up a major chunk of my day.  On top of that, I have some help with household projects available to me this week, so I decided to take advantage of it.

It helps, of course, that my biggest client is on hiatus at the moment, which has freed up a little time in my schedule.

Of course, the nice thing about freelancing is that I don't have to totally play hooky.

My writing schedule: Snafus and goals

My freelance writing schedule has become totally unrecognizable, and needs to be revived.

The shakeup has definitely been caused by the events of the last month.  I was sick for two weeks, which did the worst damage -- it was a butt-kicking kind of cold, especially the cough, and I didn't feel like doing anything while it was hanging on.  I gave up a lot of babysitting (as much because parents didn't want to expose their kids as because I didn't feel well), and didn't get all that much freelancing done, either.

Last week and this week I babysat a lot, which kept me from reestablishing my freelancing schedule.  Plus, I had a lot of stuff to do last week that had been ignored when I was sick -- like cleaning, and laundry.  And then this week I had to get ready for company, so more time was devoted to cleaning and finishing up projects.

I'm hoping for a return of sanity next week, especially since I don't babysit until the end of the week, which should give me several solid days of freelancing.

A day in the life of a writer

My schedule has been all over the map lately, but I'm gradually figuring out more of what works for me and what doesn't.  Keep in mind that there is a lot of variation on this, depending on what work I have lined up for the day and what I need to do at the barn, but in general this is how a typical day seems to go for me.

Setting up a daily schedule

I've been thinking a lot about my daily schedule lately.  I posted recently about some concerns I had regarding the barn and how that'll affect my chances of sticking to a work schedule.  I also think it's important to have at least a loose schedule in place, though, if I'm going to be at all productive.

I have considered a few different possibilities for working around my barn chores.  I could, for example, plan on going first thing every morning, getting my chores done, and then heading home to work.  I could also plan on doing my admin stuff in the morning, heading to the barn for a bit, and then returning home to focus on client work.

But then there's also my goal of riding more in 2016.  Riding means taking longer at the barn.  I could plan that into my day and work later into the evening.  I could also plan on devoting more time to the barn one or two days a week, and fully intend to work longer hours the other days to make up for it.

So many factors to consider...

A day in the life

Yesterday I blogged about what I both love and hate about my new schedule.  I thought I would give you an idea of what that schedule really means, so here is what a day in my life looks like right now:

Loves and hates of my new schedule

For nearly three full weeks now, I've been getting up early in the mornings to take J., the kid I babysit for occasionally, to preschool while his preemie baby brother is too young to be exposed to the germs.  It's been long enough to get somewhat used to the earlier schedule, get into a good work routine, and discover what I do and don't like about this earlier schedule.  I suppose there's more I like about it than dislike, but all the same, I'll be happy when the baby gets old enough and they don't need me for this anymore.

What I love:

Week 2 of my new schedule

I am almost through with my second week of my new schedule -- that is, getting up early nearly ever morning.  It used to be that I slept in most of the week and only got up early one day each weekend, but I recently took a babysitting job for one of my families that means getting up early, taking the kid to preschool, and working at Starbucks until he needs to be picked up.

I've been using an app called Sleep Cycle to help me get up in the mornings, and so far it's been working pretty well.  I've been a little tired due to the dramatic change in my schedule, but it's been more manageable than I'd expected.  (I'll blog more about the app again soon.)

Upcoming holidays and some changes

I can't believe how fast the last couple weeks have gone, or that Christmas is right around the corner!  I've been working hard since NaNo ended, although not, unfortunately, on finishing my ebook.  I'm hoping to step things up on that in the next couple days.

I do have some changes to my schedule forthcoming.

Some more changes to my schedule

About two months ago, the family I nanny for cut my hours back by nearly half -- from five afternoons a week to just three, and shorter afternoons all around.  I've been freelancing with my extra time, but I was in a situation this week where I was having to decide whether to take on a new family on Tuesdays and Thursdays (my off days).

I was delaying making the decision because I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.  The extra income would be good, especially if I weren't sure whether I would be working for my other family much longer -- with the kids getting older, I wasn't sure whether they were going to start phasing out my role, or at least to the point where it's no longer a primary income source for me anymore.

Today, though, I got some news that changes all that.

A productive end to my week

Well, I have to say that as far as weeks go, this one wasn't bad.  I think I easily made up for being sick all last week by being pretty productive all this week.

The only thing I don't have under control quite yet is my sleeping schedule.  I am hoping that this weekend -- which is going to force me to get up earlier -- will help to rectify that, or that getting off the cold medicine will help.  Last night was my first night not taking it, but I stayed up so late working that I wasn't able to get up as early as I wanted today.  I did get up a little earlier than the rest of the week, but not by much.

Enforced settling in, and a week of possibilities

I'm making myself settle in this week.  It's high time I starting utilizing that daily schedule I made myself before summer ended.  If it doesn't seem like it's going to work for me, I can tweak it as necessary, but I have to actually try using it before I can do that.

A surprise day off from the kids, and how I've squandered it

Despite my good intentions yesterday, and a slightly earlier bedtime last night, I still slept a bit later than I'd hoped today.  That, combined with an unexpected minor crisis at the barn, ate most of my day.

Luckily I woke up this morning to a text saying that I didn't have to pick up the kids from school this afternoon, so I could afford to waste a little bit of time -- but I squandered rather more of it than I would have liked.  It was solidly afternoon before I finally got to work on freelance marketing and client work.

Morning routines

After some things in my personal life intervened, I am finally this week settling into a morning routine again.  Unfortunately it's not at all like the daily schedule I set up for myself, so I may have to work on that.  I've actually been staying up quite late and doing some work in the wee hours of the morning, when it's quiet, and sleeping later than I'd like as a result.

Implementing a daily schedule

As summer was winding down, and I was planning to ramp up my freelancing and my work on my novel as soon as the kids I nanny for when back to school, I started thinking about my daily schedule come fall.  I used a daily schedule long ago, perhaps a year or two into my freelancing career, when I was freelancing full-time and had just brought my horse Panama to Denver.  I needed a way to balance my barn time with my work time, and so I created a daily schedule.

On working 9 to 5

The other day I read this excellent article, Why the 9-to-5 Day Is So Tough on Creative Workers.  And really, it's not just about creative workers, but all "knowledge" workers -- anyone who uses their brain in their job, as opposed to their body.

Basically, the article talks about the rhythms people go through during the day, and points out that a person's regular sleep schedule is actually more important than how much they sleep.  The first few hours after a person typically wakes up are when cognition is at its worst, which is why people tend to feel like they have a hard time getting going on work in the morning.  I know a lot of writers (myself included) who say they have to "warm up" with easy tasks such as checking and responding to email first thing in the morning.  Some even allow themselves a little time on Facebook or blogs.  It sounds like this might not be as much "warming up" as just waiting for one's brain to start functioning at higher levels.

Back to normal

Yesterday was technically the kids' first day back to school, but they only had a half day, so I actually ended up working about the same day that I did all summer.  Today, therefore, is my first day back to my normal school-year schedule: I don't work until I pick the kids up from school at 3pm.

My last hurrah

I start my new afternoon nanny job tomorrow, so today I took advantage of my last weekday of freedom and visited my in-laws (and my soon-to-be-mine horse).  I'm catching up on blogging and some work this evening, and I'll be attending the NaNoWriMo kickoff party in my area tonight.  I won't be able to stay very late, because of early-morning obligations (tomorrow will be a very busy day for me), but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and getting started on my NaNo word count!

I'm looking forward to starting this new job and having the additional income, but I know I'm still going to miss my afternoons off.  I'll have to get used to a new way of doing things — I used to allow myself the mornings to answer personal email, check Facebook, and blog, but now I'll have to be conscientious about getting right to work when I have client projects waiting for me.  I may have to get used to getting up a little earlier again (gasp!).  I've been allowing myself to stay up late reading and sleep until 10am many mornings, but with less time for working, that may not always be possible.

The other thing I may need to start doing is going out to the barn in the mornings.  I've been going in the evenings, but as it gets colder that may not be as pleasant, even if I do generally have the barn to myself late at night.  Afternoons will be out, so mornings will be my only opportunity to ride.  I expect that some days I'll want to ride in the mornings, and make up the lost work hours in the evening — a distinct possibility that my husband and I have already discussed (and he's fine with — says he wants to play more video games, anyway.  Grownup boys and their toys...).

It's definitely going to require some changes in thinking, scheduling, and time management skills, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.  I love the family I'll be working for, and I'm very much looking forward to the change in pace!

A chance of pace

I had to make a tough decision lately.  I've been wanting to take on a second horse, but work has been a little slow (for a multitude of reasons: clients cutting back, I haven't been marketing enough, but also partly my own decision to focus a little more on fiction), and honestly I've been feeling a little burned out on some of what I do.  So instead of looking for more writing work, I mentioned to the family I babysit for that I was looking for more hours, and (with my permission) they recommended me to some friends who were looking for an after-school nanny.

It'll be a big change for me — aside from the babysitting, which is pretty irregular and more my choice as to whether I accept a job or not, I haven't punched a clock (so to speak) in 6 years.  (My anniversary as a full-time freelancer was this month, actually.)  For those of you who don't know, I have a background in teaching preschool and after-school programs, so when I decided I wanted part-time hours doing something other than writing, it was pretty natural to turn to my skills as a childcare provider.

My ultimate goal is to squeeze these 15 hours a week (or so) into my schedule without changing much, except for (of course) my productivity and time management habits.  I'll have the mornings and early afternoons to work on client work, my novel, and my blogs.  Hubby and I also agreed that our evenings could probably give a little too — we'll be giving up the occasional nightly movie so I can go to the barn or work (the latter if I went to the barn in the morning), but we're both okay with that.

The hope is that the money from the part-time nanny job will allow me to continue to work on fiction without feeling like I ought to be doing client work and earning more money instead.  Both families (the one I babysit for and the one I'll be nannying for) pay well, so the extra income should allow me to pursue both my fiction and my plans of taking on a second horse.  I think that's well worth learning to juggle a new schedule, don't you?

A freelance lunch break

One of the things I really like about working from home as a freelance writer is the ability to eat better than I did back in the days of 30-minute lunch breaks.



No, I don't eat salads every day (nor arrange them so nicely when I'm not taking a picture), but my diet is a heck of a lot better than what I ate on my lunch breaks when I worked "real" jobs. There's only one type of lunch available when you have to choose from when you only have 30 minutes to get there, order, eat, and get back.

Sure, as a freelancer I'm more often tempted to eat at my desk while I work, and I don't think I'll ever completely win that battle. I've tried enforcing a strict one-hour lunch break before, but it just doesn't happen. I've decided it's better to eat at my computer when I feel so inclined, and take a break (whatever time of the day it is) if I start feeling like I need it.

How about you? Has freelancing improved your diet, or has it been compromised by the gravitational pull of the fridge?

What? It's only lunchtime?

I tried to sleep in today. Really, I did. I declined to go for a walk with Michael, and tried to go back to sleep. But I couldn't! So I ended up getting up by about 8:20 anyway.

One of the biggest things I've noticed about getting up earlier is that my day is measured by my lunch hour — how long until I can justify eating lunch, or how long ago lunch was. Not having kept a normal schedule for very much of my freelancing career (the last time was nearly two years ago), this reminds me of when I worked as a full time technical writer. Lunchtime was so anticipated that if I didn't watch it, I would take it earlier and earlier each day.

As a freelancer it's a bit more positive, thankfully. I looked at the clock today and was surprised to see it was only 12:30 pm. (And yes, I'd already eaten lunch.) I'd accomplished a lot already by that point in time, so it felt like it should be later than it actually was.

It was a nice feeling. Yet another reason to keep up with this schedule!