A Day in the (Freelance) Life

Last week, I was talking with a director about my work as a freelance writer, and how much grateful I am to be in control of my own schedule now.

And I am really grateful. Aside from all the other obvious benefits, like loving the work I do, my heath has improved drastically and it’s so much easier to make it to auditions now.

She asked me what my typical day looks like working from home, and I think I said something like, “It varies, depending on the day.” Which is 100% true. But then I saw Michelle and Cat both post put up day-in-the-life posts, and it made me wonder, what exactly does my work day look like?

 

7:30 Alarm goes off. Today I can tell it’s very cold outside of bed, so I hit snooze several times and stay in bed as long as possible.

8:00 Finally get out of bed. Go downstairs to put the kettle on for tea. Empty the dishwasher, tidy up the kitchen, and pour some juice for my husband Brian, who should be getting out of bed shortly. Make my tea.

8:15 Catch up on current events and industry news. Read some blogs, chat with my best friend online. Check my email, and respond to things that need immediate attention. Plan out my day. My husband, who’s a grad student, is working from home today, so I plan to go to a coffee shop so I won’t get distracted.

9:15ish Have breakfast. Greek yogurt with strawberries and a banana, and another cup of tea.

9:30 Get dressed. While I’m brushing my teeth, I get struck with inspiration for my fiction MS. I don’t want to lose the scene that’s in my head, so I put off my plan to be out the door by 10:00 and sit down to write. Bang out about 1500 words, which I feel pretty good about.

10:45 Surface from writing and notice two emails in my inbox: one about a networking opportunity for a client, another from my mother. Call the client, but don’t get a response.

11:00 Call my mother. Chat about upcoming family travel, the audition I had yesterday, and other general catching up things.

12:15 Realize we’ve been talking for over an hour and say goodbye. I’m hungry again by this point, so I put off going to the coffee shop a little longer and make myself lunch.

12:30 Eat lunch while writing two blog posts for clients.

1:30 Decide that the coffee shop just isn’t going to happen today, but it doesn’t really matter because I’m being productive enough at home. Spend some time on social media for clients.

2:30 Write two blog posts for my own sites, and spend a little time on my social media accounts, which is often something I have trouble remembering to do.

4:00 Get the urge to write a more fiction, so I put other things aside and do that for a bit. Write another 500 words, bring the total up to 2,000 for the day, which is solid if not awesome.

4:30 Spend a little time researching potential clients and markets. Send off a couple of pitches and queries. Respond to a few more emails.

5:00 Put work away and go start dinner. A few minutes later, my husband joins me (he’s been wrestling with his dissertation all day) and we cook together while having a glass of wine.

6:00 Dinner time. Salmon quinoa cakes and sweet potato fries. Delish. We eat quickly because we’re going  swing dancing tonight.

6:30 Out the door. Brian volunteers as an organizer for the swing dance group, and he has a meeting before the lessons and dancing start. I leave at the same time he does, because otherwise I’ll get lazy and stay home.

7:00 Plunk down in a coffee shop to write some letters and thank you notes while Brian’s meeting is going on.

8:00 Swing dance lesson! It’s Charleston this week, which I love and am not yet that good at.

9:00 Social dancing, which still intimidates me a bit. My dancer-self longs for choreography, but it’s good for me to branch out. (Plus, it’s an excellent skill for weddings.)

10:30 Head home. It is frigidly cold outside, but luckily we don’t have to wait too long for a bus.

11:00 Shower, snack, check my email one more time to make sure nothing urgent has come in. Respond to a few things that do, after all, need immediate attention.

12:15 Read in bed for a bit. Currently, I’m on a Georgette Heyer kick. Tonight it is False Colours.

12:45 Sleep time! After a full day of work plus two and a half hours of dancing, it takes me almost no time at all to fall asleep after I turn the lights out.

 

Since becoming fully self-employed, every day is a little different, depending on whether I’m traveling, auditioning, writing, or meeting my husband for lunch in the middle of the day (or being lazy and not getting nearly as much work done as I should). And I love that, because it keeps me from getting in a rut.

What does your day look like?