Are you ready for another day at my writing desk? I certainly am – I’m dressed up warm with my electric heater going full blast and it’s actually quite toasty in here. I’d still sooner have the central heating but we won’t have that until (hopefully) later on Saturday. Until then I have some client work to do today, and also some articles to do to promote one of our own websites. So time to begin…

1421 – the morning has really flown by today. There is no standard writing day to be sure – some fly by and you feel like you’ve got loads done, whereas other days are slow and you hardly achieve a thing. It’s been busy this week though, with good chunks of work coming in from some of my regular sources. I did manage to get the work done that was needed for the websites my partner and I are creating, and there is more to do for the next site tomorrow. A nice mix of topics too, so it will be interesting to see which sites perform best.

I’ve just been out to do some shopping as well, so I’ve got my regular exercise trip for the day. Boy is it cold out! The house is cold thanks to no gas supply, but it feels like a furnace compared to outside! Why do things always go wrong in the winter and never the summer? Answers on a postcard please?

1827 – looks like I will be working this evening, although it won’t be a late one. I’ll stop for dinner and then carry on for an hour, maybe an hour and a half, afterwards. I rarely work in the evenings now but sometimes it’s necessary if urgent work comes in and I decide to take it. I figured seeing as we have some repairs to pay for, the extra money would cover those. Think of it as an online writer’s version of overtime…

2007 – okay that’s it for the day. Time to get my list of things to do in order for tomorrow, then I can relax for a while before heading off to bed. I forgot what it felt like to work a bit later in the evening. Hope it doesn’t affect me starting early tomorrow… we’ll see. I should be okay. I’m nice and toasty at the moment thankfully, even though Jasper (our cat) is hogging the fire. He is roasty warm and will no doubt want a spot on the bed tonight too. See you in the morning…

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

0747 – I was indeed up by 7am this morning… and in bed asleep by half eight last night! I think the stress of yesterday (and the realisation that we had a major gas leak) hit me later on in the day. I felt so tired. MUCH better this morning thankfully after a good night’s sleep. Just about to start proper now…

Back to work after a hectic morning, lots of work done and a quick lunch. The gas pipe can’t be replaced until Saturday morning but we’re happy because it’s someone who comes recommended. Also I can get loads of work out of the way and hopefully get the entire weekend off again. I’m not too good at concentrating when stuff like this is going on, but now we know it’s all booked in to be taken care of I feel better. I can crack on with some more articles this afternoon now. Lots of very diverse topics to write about too… Try fishing, UK cities and recruitment for size! This is one reason I love writing for online markets and clients so much. There is so much diversity to enjoy.

1429 – not a bad day today. The writing is flowing even though I have four layers on and warming fingerless gloves to try and keep warm! Even though it is around freezing outside the sun is streaming in so that is warming things up a bit. I am writing about southern England at the moment, so at least this is an area I know a bit about.

1627 – the sun is starting to go down and it’s feeling colder… the electric heater is on but you don’t realise quite how great central heating is until you don’t have it. I’m writing about fishing tackle at the moment – there’s a new topic for me to get to grips with.

1806 – time to finish for today. I’m making sure I get the whole evening off again and not pulling a long day when I don’t need to. I tend to work better when I get a decent night and an early start, so yes, I’ll be back to work by around half seven in the morning. See you then.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Morning all! The office clear up on Saturday has really done wonders for my positivity this morning. Monday has started as it usually does, completing a few weekly blogs for various clients. Monday seems to be the preferred day for many people when it comes to blogging; not sure if this applies to everyone or whether all my clients simply like it that way! Either way it adds some spice to the first day of the working week…

1349 – when I spoke about adding spice to the first day of the week, I wasn’t talking about a gas leak. Yep – that’s what we’ve had to contend with this morning. I thought I could smell gas in a cupboard downstairs, so I called the emergency helpline just to be sure and they got here within 15 minutes.

Thank God I did – turned out to be a major gas leak. It’s capped off and safe now but we need a new pipe installed. We live in a 200 year old house and the pipes installed many moons ago weren’t made of copper. Hence it has failed and needs replacing.
Fortunately the replacement pipe isn’t as expensive as you might think – especially not when you think about what could have happened. It could be the optimist inside me but I actually feel pretty lucky today – even though it’s now really cold in here as we have no heating or hot water, and 10cm of snow came down on Saturday night. So it’s blankets, plenty of tea and a late night tonight as I catch up on my work.

You know something? I think I might stop this 29 Days of Online Writing lark – it feels more like 29 days of problems at the moment! Just kidding – at least it makes for a lively blog. And it also gives me the opportunity to show you that writing from home isn’t all roses and nice long lazy days. Far from it. Not only do I have to get my work done, I also have to deal with stuff like this when it comes up. I can’t phone my boss and delegate work to someone else. It just goes to show how important it is to have good juggling and coping skills, no matter what happens.

1715 – it’s been a challenging day today. I didn’t sleep too well last night and what with today’s drama (and the realisation that we may have had a lucky escape) it’s probably no wonder I’m feeling tired.

That’s why I want to share with you the advantages of setting a day by day plan of the week in advance. I have a habit of changing the deadlines clients give me – I set my own deadline a day or two earlier than the one they give me. This means that if anything happens (like the roof falls in or you find you have a gas leak for example…) you have time in hand to make sure you can still get things done. The last thing you want to do when you are faced with a situation that just has to be dealt with there and then is a deadline as well. So build yourself some breathing room like I do – you might be surprised at how much easier life becomes when you do.

Okay I think that’s it from me today – I’m adjusting my schedule to have a bit more to do tomorrow instead of today, and I have some sleep to catch up on. You wait – I’ll be at my desk at 7am tomorrow to catch up! And don’t forget you can catch up with all previous posts in this series so far by visiting this page: 29 Days of Online Writing. Enjoy!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Hi all. It’s not a day for writing today – apart from adding a short entry to my 29 Days of Online Writing series. If you read yesterday’s entry you’ll know that I managed to get all my work done in plenty of time to have the whole weekend off. That means I have no excuse for not tidying the office.

It also got me thinking about the state of my desk – the one I am sitting at now. I’m not the tidiest person by a long shot, although I am better than I used to be. If you’d entered the room I had as a kid, you’d know it was like walking on a hilly carpet. Seriously. But my writing desk is, I suppose, a reflection of me. It’s not the tidiest desk you’ll ever see – I am surrounded by notes, Post-Its, diaries, pads and pens. Most of it is relevant to my day’s work – like a list of ‘to do’ tasks that must be completed for example.

But every now and then I feel the need to clear it off and start again. I don’t like (and will never have) a pristine desk. It just won’t happen. But today is the day when the entire office is going to have a clean and tidy from top to bottom. I’ve been in here for an hour or so already and I’ve already made a dent in it. A quick stop for lunch and to write this blog post, and then I must carry on. But I can assure you that by the time I return on Monday morning to see the fruits of my labours, I’ll be glad I spent some time doing this today.

So forgive me for the short post but I have more work to do. Instead of polishing words and making them look good, I shall be polishing my writing desk instead. It’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon – and I think it’s necessary from time to time as well. Enjoy your weekend – I shan’t be posting tomorrow as it is a complete day off. But rest assured my series will be back on Monday. See you then – and happy writing.

Oh and don’t forget, if you want to catch up on the previous posts in this series, you can do so by visiting the dedicated 29 Days of Online Writing page.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Morning! Ok day three of my 29 Days of Online Writing, and I’d decided I deserved a lie in this morning. For me this typically means setting the alarm for 8am instead of anything between 7am and half past, so not really much of a lie in. But I’ve found I don’t write so well if I get up any later than that on a work day. I can’t help it, I always feel like a lie in is for the weekend.

But this morning, our cat Jasper had other ideas. My fault – the bedroom door was slightly ajar. So I was woken up at 7.10am to the sound of tiny feet. Then loud purring and sniffing in my left ear. Hmm – better than an alarm clock I suppose. Then I opened my eyes and got ‘that look’. Cat owners among you will know The Look – indignant with a definite ‘why are you still in bed when you could be giving me my breakfast?’edge to it. Ho hum.

Which is why I’m sitting typing this at half past seven while eating breakfast and catching up on the news. I love reading the Daily Mail website first thing, just to see what’s going on in the world. The white wonder (Jasper is completely white, except when he’s been rolling in flowerbeds squashing all my flowers) is sitting beside me, watching his territory out of the window. He hates cold weather and they’re threatening snow today and over the weekend, so he’ll likely stay by my side for a while then go back to sleep. It’s alright for some!

0805 – ok so I have just completed a very short article as a rush job for one client I work for. Very easy and quick to do as it was an addition to a previous project, so research wasn’t really necessary this time around. It’s great when you get articles and blogs to write on topics you know a lot about. It means you can write faster and still get a good finished product.

0845 – a short break imposed by Jasper. I’m not actually dressed yet (sometimes it’s good to stay in your dressing gown before you start work! Hey I could never do it when I worked in Ikea…). But Jasper loves my creamy fluffy dressing gown so he has come to say hello to it. This means he is sitting between me and my keyboard and screen, watching what I am trying to type. Think it might be time to go and get dressed…

[A while later...] I did get dressed. Jasper went to sleep. He hates cold weather and they’re still threatening snow here. This is when I love writing because there is no cold commute to do! Unfortunately I do have to go out later to do some shopping; since my partner fell down the stairs a couple of weeks back, I’ve been the chief worker, cook, washer upper and all the rest so I have to juggle my schedule a little more than usual. Thankfully I can, otherwise it would be even harder to manage. Bosses aren’t as sympathetic to stuff that happens in life as self employed people are!

1305 – quick update here. I’m probably over halfway through my workload for today. I have some social media articles to write now on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Oh, and one for Google+. I have my own profile on Google+ now so if you want to follow me there as well, you can add me to your Circles once you have seen my Google+ profile page.

I’m really enjoying this afternoon. I’ve been out for a nice brisk walk – essential to get rid of that muggy mid-afternoon feeling you sometimes get – and I’m continuing with a Facebook related article right now.

I’m also right on schedule to have Saturday AND Sunday off this week, which doesn’t always happen. I should still be blogging tomorrow though, because I am planning on spending at least part of the day tidying the office. If you could see it now you’d probably say it needs all day, but hey… I was going to tackle it during the afternoon one day this week, but it just hasn’t panned out that way.

1635 – a few more short musical website pieces to do today and then that’s it. Oh, apart from some Friday afternoon invoicing to round off the week. I just had a couple of Google Alerts come through to one of my email accounts – these are set up to search for freelance writer jobs and blogging jobs. Nothing in there today but I have found the odd job or two using this method in the past. It might work for you too.

Great finish to the day today – not only did I get all my work done, I have also had advance requests coming in from clients to fill next week. So that schedule is already filling up nicely. I should have plenty to share with you next week. Don’t forget to follow me on Google+ to find out the latest news and views about online writing. I will be back tomorrow even though I am not planning on doing any writing – other than perhaps a few articles for our next small website. And I have an incredibly untidy office to sort out of course…

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

0717 – It’s day two and I got up at 7am this morning to get a good start on the day. Armed with tea and toast, I am going to start by writing three short articles to complete the work due on one of our own sites before I do any client work. I know that if I get our work done first, I can relax and get on with client work for the rest of the day. That way ours doesn’t get pushed down the list and off the bottom! I definitely felt guilty finishing early yesterday, which is why I ended up coming back to my desk after a soak in a nice hot bath and writing the home page for our latest site. Now I just have to do those three articles…

0806 – that didn’t take long! Ok now it’s time to crack on with client work. I’ll wait a while for my next cuppa and do some articles first…

1200 – been a busy morning. Just fleshing out a description for a mobile app (one of those little but interesting jobs I get once in a while!), then it’s time for lunch.

1236 – stopped for lunch and a phone call to my sister. My niece has been poorly for a year now and has been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Not common! [Big hello and hugs to Sarah if you're reading this! I know you do sometimes]

1354 – two short blogs to complete now, followed by some short articles this afternoon.

1425 – doing well, but I am stopping for some hand exercises. I suffer from tendonitis in my left wrist (first triggered by a job I did years ago) and I am suffering a bit at the moment. My partner found some worthwhile hand exercises to do on YouTube and they seem to be working okay. I just need to remember to do them every day.

1625 – on the home straight now. Just writing some very short entries on various pop groups and musicians for a large website. Lots of them to do but they literally require a couple of paragraphs each. This is one of the nice things about online writing – you just never know what will turn up next…(hopefully in this case it will be a cup of tea)

1740 – whew, finished for the day! Just need to post this to my blog and update my professional site, and that’s it. Time for dinner and some downtime… back tomorrow!

UPDATE: there is a weird thing going on with WordPress at the moment. When I looked at the home page of the blog before signing in to post this, ALL my posts and pages had disappeared. After a frantic moment of fanning, panicking and wondering what on earth had happened, my partner finally got it sorted (i.e. the household technical whiz). That was NOT pleasant. Thankfully it was a quick fix.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Glad you could join me at the very beginning of my new 29 Days of Online Writing blog series! Here we are on the first day of a brand new month and I’ve kicked off a VERY cold day at 8am by clearing out some emails. I responded to one or two clients, and now it’s time to start writing.

I have a tiny edit and a press release to do for one client first thing, so that’s where I’ll start…

0859: interesting interlude – just had an email from someone responding to one of my Squidoo lenses on writing. I’ve managed to snag a few clients via Squidoo before, and this is someone looking for a writer to create some lenses for them. I’ve sent a quick reply so we’ll see what happens there. (Update – I think the client was looking for some sort of guarantee that they’d receive a certain amount of traffic to the Squidoo lenses. Haven’t heard back so that looks like a bust…)

1028: been emailing the potential client back and forth a couple of times; not sure if this one will pan out or not. The press release is done and I have completed a couple of very short blog posts as well. Time for more tea methinks!

1058 – ok time to finish off the last bit of an ebook project for a client now. You can see that I’ve been working solely on client projects so far today. I’m aiming to devote some time to my own writing projects this month too. If I blog about it I figure it will make me more accountable. My partner and I are looking to set up some simple product review sites and I have the details for the first few articles ready to write now, so I am planning on getting at least the home page done today.

1212 – well the final pages of the ebook are going well. Time to stop for soup and refreshments… and a quick look at my Google Reader account to see if anything interesting has appeared on my realm of RSS feeds. This is one of the ways I’ve used to find jobs in the past, and it does pay to check it on a daily basis.

1306 – lunch is over (nothing worthwhile on Google Reader today). Just finished the last little bit of the eBook so that’s another job ticked off the list. I’ve got to pop into town shortly as my partner and I also run an eBay shop and we’ve got a few parcels to post.

1446 – strange day today. It seems to be flying by. Still have some articles to complete for another client though, so now the eBook has been sent off I can get on with those. All while drinking another cuppa (you’ll notice I’m partial to a nice cuppa!).

1539 – I didn’t plan this. But I’ve got a great example to share that shows you how it pays dividends to get ahead in your schedule. I’ve got a stonking headache this afternoon that I just can’t get rid of. So I’ve adjusted my schedule a bit as I still have plenty of time in hand, and I’m going to finish in the next few minutes. I just have a couple of invoices to send, as well as posting this blog, and that’s it for the day. I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow to get a good start – and to blog on day two of my 29 Days of Online Writing. Catch you then!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

It’s hard to believe it, but tomorrow is February 1st. And that means it is the first day of my month long insight into the life of an online writer. As of tomorrow I will be posting to my blog every day (except on days off, like Sundays for example) and sharing with you what I get up to during the day. I’ll show you how I find jobs, what I do each day and how successfully (or not) I juggle my home and work life.

If you haven’t yet signed up to my RSS feed (via the familiar button at the top of this page) do so now. You won’t want to miss a thing!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

I can hardly believe it is the 28th already! It has been a testing month (leaky roof, repairs and a fall down the stairs and a bruised coccyx for my partner) but despite all that I have still managed to achieve my writing goals for the month.

I started the year with the intention of finding some new clients, and I have added 4 to my books since returning to work on 3rd January. One of those was as a direct result of focusing on adding more content and testimonials to my professional site, so I’m pleased as punch about that.

Needless to say I have some goals in mind for February too. The first one is to provide an insight into the daily life of a writer on this very blog. This starts on 1st February – this coming Wednesday – so make sure you sign up to my RSS feed so you don’t miss any of the posts. Whatever happens in my career this coming month, I’ll be sharing it here. Let’s hope for all good news!

If I have learned one thing this month it’s that you need to be able to focus on your writing even when things change around you. There were days very early on in the month when I was sitting here writing with a leaky ceiling and water dripping into a bucket next to me. We had to turn off the power to the lights in the office just to be on the safe side, and make do with desk lamps instead. But thankfully I can still hit all my deadlines.

February should be an interesting month to share with you anyway, as there is every chance we will be booked in for a new roof to be installed on the house. So I could have two to three days of trying to work with all manner of noise going on. As someone who likes to work in peace and quiet it should be interesting! Our cat Jasper doesn’t like it either so he will be very unhappy and skitty as a result.

I’m looking forward to daily blogging from Wednesday onwards but also a little nervous. Will it be a good month to share with you? Will it be full of good things? I want it to be a warts and all experience so make sure you come back on Wednesday to find out what I really do during the day. Oh, and if anyone DOES know where January went, be sure and let me know. I feel like I ought to be starting my Christmas shopping again soon!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Just a short post today, because I wanted to share with you what happens when you set a goal to achieve something with your writing. I set myself a goal at the beginning of January to find ONE new client via my professional website, www.allisonwhitehead.co.uk. While some clients have found me through this blog, I did create a separate site targeted purely to them.

However I never seemed to have a lot of time to develop it into the site I wanted it to become. So I set myself the challenge to start adding posts to it more regularly and to add some testimonials to it as well. And I wanted to find one new client before the end of January.

Now I must admit that by Monday this week I thought it wasn’t going to happen. My traffic has improved over on that website, so I was pleased with that. But today I had an email from someone who wanted one weekly blog for their website. A few emails back and forth and I’ve got the client I was looking for.

It just goes to show that with a little effort you CAN find the writing work you want. The clients are out there – and they might be looking for you now. But how easy are you to find?

I can say that my traffic per day for that site is still pretty low compared to this blog. But the additional effort is clearly paying off already. I wonder what February will bring?

PS – don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed, as my month long series “29 Days of Online Writing” is going to kick off next Wednesday – a week from today. I’m going to keep a notepad file open each day, adding to it as I go along. Then I’ll publish it at the end of the day so you can see what I’ve been up to. Don’t miss it – it’s going to be an eye opener! Subscribe now via the big orange RSS button at the top of this site. Thanks!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time