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Top 7 Time Management Tips For Freelance Writers by Nobody: 3:35am On Nov 24, 2012
Using time constructively for some freelance writers is hard work. Freelancing is all about staying focused, distraction-free and organized to meet the deadlines imposed on them by their clients.

Due to the inability of some freelancers to work effectively with time, it has now made writing for some – a living hell.

Below are 10 ways freelancers can make time their friend by working hand in hand with it.

1.Have a Wake Up Time And a Morning Habit.

As a freelancer or writer, you should have a schedule you follow strictly, especially if you’re the type that writes more than 5 posts per day.

Following a time frame- When to wake up and when to sleep will give you more time to plan your writing, and having a specific time you wake up everyday is a good time management skill if harnessed well.

Waking up 6:00AM sounds tiring to some writers, but its good practice if you really want to meet up with your clients’ deadline, setting a specific time when to wake is the way to go, yours may be 4:00AM or 5:00AM – it depends solely on you.

Pick a time to wake up and stick steadfastly to it, regardless of the circumstances you face.

Also, making writing the first thing you do in the morning will make your day less hectic and organized. Start your day with writing, make it your morning habit -

write at least a 500 word post in any topic, be it for those who keep journals(online or offline) – starting your day writing on your journal is good morning habit, since writing is a kind of exercise; it helps you get rid of writers’ block and some other things that may interfere with your productivity while writing.

For those who are yet to have a journal, Penzu is a good and secure online journal service you can try out for free. Darkroom is another good writing pad for writing.

Also, apart from doing a little finger exercise (writing) in the morning, doing a bit of press-up or jogging as a morning habit won’t hurt in any way, rather, it will help lighten you and put your mind in a refreshed condition.

2. Face Your Distractions in the Morning

Some mistakes that other freelance writer make is going through mails, replying mails, facebooking and tweeting amid writing a post.

No matter how fast you can type or how eloquent you are as a writer; multi-tasking unnecessarily will only leave you disorganized, leaving you struggling to meet a clients’ deadline you know you can’t possibly meet.

Do mails in the morning, reply and send mails, call and receive calls, facebook , stumble, tweet – Do all in the morning, possibly after bathing and eating.

Don’t stay online Tweeting or Facebooking for ever; set a time frame for doing the above (Maybe 30mins only for all the distractions). Pick a time i.e. 30minutes or 1hour, and stick to it religiously.

When you’ve done all the above, writing will become easy because you will be less tempted to derail to something else while writing.

3. Don’t Procrastinate

There is a saying that goes like this, “Procrastination is a killer of dreams”. And I can’t agree more.

Writing requires much brain power since you’re literally brain storming.

Brain storming isn’t something that goes down well with the human body, because it tense to create excuses why a particular job shouldn’t be done now.

So basically, as man is a free moral agent – you can choose to not waste your time on unnecessary things that will make you not being able to meet with your clients’ deadline.

Procrastination will only make you lose clients on end.

The more organized and focused you are, the less prone you’re to fall into procrastination ever again.

But, procrastination cannot leave until it meets it opposite, you need an ingredient if you ever want to conquer or combat it. You need to ‘set goals’.

4. Set Realistic Goals

No human being can succeed in life if he doesn’t set goals. Setting goals as a freelance writer is the only way to get serious work done.

If you have to write let say 4posts per day, plan on how to go about. Map out a detailed goal concerning your writing, set a particular time for researching what you’ll write and stick to it.

Goal setting makes you a master of your time; it makes you a better planner. I set simple goals that are achievable.

Example:
7 posts in one week-
3 posts out of the 7 belong to client A.
4 posts out of the 7 belong to client B.
Time frame for each post:
2hours for researching and writing.
Writing time: 7:00AM to 9:00AM.

Looking at the example above will help you better if you want to start setting goals as a freelancer.

Make realistic (Goals you can possibly archive) – keep it simple.

5. Research First Before Writing

Never try writing before you research, because you’ll end up writing jargons in the name of writing.

Do all your research extensively – research thoroughly the topics you have to write, read what popular blogs wrote on that topic.

Writing first before you research is like bathing before you towel yourself. You need to know the topics well before you write a thing on the subject.

The more you research thoroughly before you write, the faster you write when you start writing.

And the faster you write, the sooner you get the job done.

6. Write

After researching, the next thing is to write. Writing comes easy when a lot of preparation is in place.

Keep writing – don’t stop writing, make it flow. Writing is just like a river; don’t distract yourself with editing while writing, lest you loose your flow.

Writing in a good mood is a nice step if you want to finish fast. Like me, I like listening to soft music while I’m writing – It helps me write better.

I wasn’t always a music person, but, I got adventurous and tried it, and I ended up liking it.

Find a writing habit that you’re OK with and stick to it. It may be writing your articles while drinking your favourite coffee, or standing while writing (In the case of Bamidele Onibalusi of YoungPrePro.com).

Just find something you enjoy doing while writing and stick religiously to it.

Find a way to lock yourself away from the world, create a world of your own – and watch your writing flow ceaselessly like never before.

7. Read Aloud.

Number 7 is very simple – Read this post all over again.

Doing all the 7 steps above as a freelance writer will definitely make you a top writer who always finishes on time. And you’ll end up being able to handle more client than you ever thought could be possible.

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