No matter how much you love your career as a freelance writer there is a chance that you will burn out sooner or later. The fact of the matter is that this happens to everybody; no matter what career path you choose. And in my opinion, freelance writers are more prone to burning out because they work from home and do not have as much personal interaction as others.
If you are worried about burning out, keep in mind that there are many ways to protect yourself against this and deal with this situation if it does occur.
1. Do your best to talk with like minded professionals day in and day out. You can do this via email, instant messenger, phone, or in person. While it may not be feasible to meet with clients on a daily basis, you should attempt to leave home for a work related purpose at least once per week. Take a lunch break with friends, head to the store for office supplies, or go to the bookstore or coffee shop. No matter what, you should try to get out from time to time.
2. There is nothing wrong with taking a day off. When I first started working as a freelance writer I never wanted to leave my computer. Of course, I learned over time that this was a mistake. This does not mean that you should take a day off every week, but you should not feel guilty if you do so every once in a while. Personally, I do not take off many days, but if I begin to feel burnt out it is something that I consider right away.
3. Start a new project that will break up your day to day freelance writing tasks. This is one of the best ways to avoid burn out, and something that I definitely endorse. I have several projects in line that are not the same as my usual freelance writing load. These projects give me the chance to make sales calls, meet other people, and forget about my writing work for a few hours per week.
Freelance writing burn out is something that you will have to cope with at some point in time. As long as you take care of this problem so it does not linger, it should not have any long term negative effects on your career and/or income.Â
At the beginning of the year I made a few posts about setting freelance writing goals. This past weekend I took a closer look at my list, and was surprised at what I saw: at this point, I am only on track to complete about one third of the goals that I set forth in January. As you can imagine, this is quite disappointing. After all, when you work hard day in and day out you expect to reach your goals. Unfortunately, this does not always happen for one reason or the next.
Things Change
The number one reason that I am off track is that my freelance writing workload has changed drastically since January. Not only do I have more steady clients, but I have also picked up a few large jobs. In turn, I have been left with less time for the projects that I thought I would be able to complete. It is obvious that I made the decision to move forward with these new projects as opposed to staying on track with the goals that I set for myself. Is there anything wrong with this? Some would say yes, some would say no. While I do not like scrapping goals, it is never as hard when you have new ones to chase that are every bit as desirable.
Should I Keep Chasing Old Goals?
Even though many goals that I set have been abandoned, the question remains: should I keep chasing them in the long run? The best way to answer this question is to look over each goal, and decide how important it is to you. I did just that this weekend, and found that some goals were worth keeping on my list whereas others were best left off for now.
Of course, when you get rid of old goals because your vision has changed, it is important to add new ones. After all, you need something to chase after, right? Without goals, you will go through the year not knowing what you want to accomplish.
I strongly urge you to take a look at the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of 2008. Hopefully you did a better job than me of staying on track. If you didn’t, there is a good chance that your workload and vision has changed over the first few months of the year.Â
Beyond the Rhetoric is the official blog of fellow freelance writer Michael Kwan. When I first started working on my blog over a year ago, it was Beyond the Rhetoric that showed me the way. Although Kwan strays away from freelance writing topics more than me, this is one of the details that make his blog so great. Although it is not my style, I personally enjoy when other bloggers break away from content on their main topic to discuss other areas that they enjoy.
There are several reasons that Beyond the Rhetoric is one of my favorite freelance writing blogs:
1. Kwan offers information that is backed up by real life experience. From what I can gather, he spends most of his time writing on “tech†related topics. While this is not my cup of tea, it is obvious that he does quite well in this niche. It is always nice to take advice from bloggers who are achieving a high level of success, and can offer anecdotes from their personal career.
2. After reading a few posts at Beyond the Rhetoric you will agree that Kwan’s writing style is smooth and simple to follow. Once again, this makes for an enjoyable experience when reading one of his posts. As you can tell from my blog, I prefer simple, easy to read content; and this is just what Kwan delivers.
If you enjoy my blog, you will definitely benefit from signing up for the Beyond the Rhetoric RSS feed.
