Among the many reasons given by people who leave their full-time jobs to become independent freelance writers is freedom. Independence from schedules. The ability to be one’s own boss. Being able to go watch a movie in the middle of the day.
But the freelance life doesn’t always guarantee that you’ll be your own boss. Rather, frequently it’s more that you simply have quite a few clients all of whom are (thankfully) located off-site.
What this really means is that you are quite often at the mercy of editors who may e-mail you on a Sunday asking for revisions by Tuesday. Or call you on the very day you’ve left for vacation (even though you mentioned several times that you’d be leaving) and ask that you get to edits immediately (“we’re on deadline!”).
A couple of editors like that and the bosses at your old job don’t seem so bad, do they?
Here are a few ways to retain your freedom.
1. Limit your availability
What I mean is that as far as clients are concerned, you are not available 24/7 (unless you’re covering breaking news and being paid for that 24/7 availability). For me, what this translates to is that even though I may work on the weekend, my editors can’t expect me to. So if a client writes to me on a Saturday evening with the expectation that I’ll have new work done by Monday, unless we’ve previously discussed it (or it’s a timely story), I’m unlikely to go along with it. The good news is, most editors won’t expect this kind of thing from you unless you’ve led them to believe on previous occasions that you’re up for it.
2. Schedule vacations
You don’t actually have to go on one. Heck, you don’t even have to get out of your bedroom if you don’t want to, and you might actually even continue working. But at least once or twice a year, give yourself a break and disconnect from the bits and bytes of the Internet. I typically tell my editors I’ll be unavailable during that period, and you’ll note that I also say so on my blog (I’m on vacation right now, in fact. A real one!). I may actually be working to catch up on deadlines, but that’s my personal choice, and I make it quite clear that I’ll be unavailable. (I’m known to let the phone ring and not even bother to see who’s calling.)
3. For a whole community of people who claim to want to be able to watch a movie in the middle of the day, I know very few writers who actually do that
I’ve seen over ninety movies this year, so I’m one of the honorable few of our kind. Seriously though, we do have the flexibility. So when a friend asks you for a quick lunch, the husband wonders if you can go to a party tonight, or the mother wants you to take her shopping, instead of jumping up and down and screaming, “Just because I’m a freelancer, you think I can go with you whenever I want?!” consider whether you can afford to, and be one of those lucky few who, because they’re freelancers, can go wherever, whenever they want.
How do you keep a distinction between work and and make sure you’re getting enough done in the “life” column?