Schedule and scheduling

on Dragon*Con, and on making freelancing a full-time job

Labor Day weekend is quickly approaching here in the States, and normally that would mean that I’d be heading to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. This year, due to other plans and opportunities, I’ve had to give it a miss. Enough people have asked me if I’m going to be going, that I thought I’d post it here just for the record.

Personally, I enjoy going to Dragon*Con, and professionally I think it presents me with a lot of opportunities, too. I get to meet and spend time with the authors that I’ve worked with, catch up with friends and network with new contacts. It’s the only time of year when I actually crack out my business cards in any sort of volume. There are panels for writers and editors, and perhaps in another year or two I might even find myself sitting on one of them.

Next year, you can be pretty much assured that I’ll be back.

I thought this might make a good opportunity to discuss scheduling in general, though. One of the hardest things about freelancing, I’ve discovered, is actually getting motivated to sit down and work. I tackle this by treating it as any other fulltime job, even if it is a job I can shuffle across the hall in my pajamas to get to.

I’m up between five and six A.M., because I have two young, loud, enthusiastic (and apparently starving!) cats who start crying for breakfast before the sun comes up. Officially, the alarm is set for 5:30, with a snooze-tag allowance until 6:00. I have something small for breakfast, I go to the gym, I come home and shower, and depending on how long it took me to stumble out of bed, that puts me at my desk between eight and nine A.M.

The trip to the gym is essential. Since I don’t have a commute and I don’t have stairways or hallways to travel in the course of the regular business day, it’s important that I get up and get some concentrated movement in. Later in the day doesn’t work for me because I tend to get wrapped up in what I’m doing and I don’t want to break stride, so making it part of the morning routine suits me best.

I check my email, I peek at the various networking sites on which I network. And then, I work. When I get hungry I take a break to start lunch. I might take a full hour or so and go out to eat or sneak in some errands, but I usually eat at my desk. And I work. Usually until about five or six, though if I have an author with a deadline I might push later. I stop in time for dinner and spend my evening not reading. And then I do it all again.

Generally, I’m working on one manuscript while another is at the author pending review of edits. That’s my ideal situation. Sometimes they back up a little on me, or sometimes I find myself with a free day when I’m waiting for the next pass all around. I use those days to work on the website, to follow or search for professional blogs, journals and resources, and to read.

I treat it as a full-time job because it is a full-time job. I’m the type of person who’s best motivated and most productive when I have a routine. I’m kept focused on finding new work and new projects so that I can keep that routine full and ongoing, and it works out very well for me. I’m at a point where I feel guilty if I take a day off while there’s work pending on my desk, and things like computer gaming and solitaire have fallen out of habit completely. And that’s how it should be, I think: I’m not sitting at home on paid holiday. I’m at home because I work from home, because I have people whose own work is waiting for and depending on my output. I’m at home to work.

Even if writing or editing isn’t your full-time job yet, you can still treat it as a job. Set aside time and make it part of your routine. Impose deadlines, just as you’d have with any job, and practice efficient and responsible time management. You will likely be much more focused and productive if you do, and your career will show the results.

Tagged as: admin, advice, conventions, editing, writing