writing and research

Being a location independent writer and researcher is great, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I can get up late if I’m not feeling too bright and I can go to bed late when I am on a roll. I don’t have to worry about signing in or whether my boss will be in a good mood that day (although sometimes clients try to assume the role of boss) because I can earn a living from home. What many people miss when you tell them you are a freelancer, is that freelancing involves work, and if you are the breadwinner in the family then you sometimes still have to work when you don’t feel like it

The Temptations of Freelancing

One of the temptations of freelancing is catching up with emails and Twitter when you should be writing the fifteenth article on personal finance or orgnic dog food. It’s all too easy to waste time and then lose sleep in order to catch up on work. Ok, so if it’s a great day and you’re location independent then you can take your laptop or your notebook to the nearest park or even out into the garden, then the temptation is to sit and look at flowers or to go over and smell the roses – although I always find that roses smell better just after a summer shower.

Freelancing BugBears

Other people don’t regard freelancing as real work, they tend to take the view that sitting at a computer most of the day means that you are goofing off rather than working. It doesn’t matter how much I tell friends and relatives that just because I am at home doesn’t mean I am available, they still keep coming. I screen calls now and deal with non-urgent ones at lunch time or mid-afternoon, then when they find out that I was at home when they called they are not happy.

When I was teaching at the local uni I didn’t have these problems, people respected the fact that I was ‘at work’ and only left messages on my mobile in emergencies. I don’t get the same kind of courtesy when working from home because it is not seen as real work.

Inspite of the temptations and the bugbears, freelancing is great. I like the freedom of being able to choose the hours that I work, and the people I work with rather than for. I love being able to say quite legitimately that I am a writer, a location independent writing and research fan.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Just a Five Minute Writing Whinge
• When the Freelance Writing Gets Tough
• Write it Right, Right?
• Freelance Writing: Keyword Research and Other Writerly Things
• A Dog’s View of Freelancing

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