Weekends: Work Or Wind Down?
Posted on 29 June 2007 by Sharon
This weekend I’ll be working on a magazine project and my next newsletter. Although freelance writers are supposed to set their own schedules, we often find that we have to work when the jobs are there. That often means working at weekends while the 9-5ers have some time off. If you’re a WAHM, the weekend might be your best working time, because that’s the time when your partner can take the kids off your hands for a while so that you can meet your deadlines.
After a while, though, you might start to wonder if you’re missing something. Is it possible that you’re working even harder than you did when you held a full time job? That happens to a lot of freelance writers, especially when they are in the career building stage. At that point, it is hard to say no, so you say yes to everything and write till your arms fall off.
However, for the sake of your health, at some point you need to set a schedule. It’s part of being a professional writer. This means that you set working hours and stick to them, unless the circumstances are unusual. Your work week might run from Saturday to Wednesday, but that’s OK as long as you are focused on what you have to achieve. Once your work week is done, then take some well deserved time off.
No one should work all day, every day. In my case, I took a day off earlier in the week, so working at the weekend doesn’t seem like such a hardship. And of course, it means I will meet my deadlines without stress, which is good for me and my clients. Enjoy your weekend. 
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Tags | freelance writing, get paid to write, writing, writing business, writing career
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:39 am
My husband works a varied schedule–it changes every week (he’s in emergency medicine). So I try to work the days that he works, and take his days off as my “weekend.” Sometimes I have to work on his days off (deadlines and such). But for the most part, the flexibility of freelancing is great!
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:53 am
It’s actually quite fun to have a weekend during the week, WritingForFood. Some years ago I used to have Sunday and Monday as my weekend days because of the production schedule of the magazine where I worked. Since I still had evenings free on the weekends, I sometimes felt that I had gained an extra day.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:11 pm
I do work 7 days a week often but sometimes some of those days have a good chunk of ‘me’ time built in where I blog or read up on fellow writers as well as do some self promotion so it doesn’t really feel like work.
I think it’s worth the trade off but definitely…writers need time off to recharge every once in a while otherwise the work isn’t as fun.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:37 am
I work 7 days a week as well and I check email even when I’m on vacation, just to make sure things are ticking over.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:24 am
I have had an odd-hours job for all of my life, and I don’t think I could stand a 9-5er. It might kill me to feel stuck in a routine! I love the freedom of setting my own hours, even when they are long. I like the adrenaline rush of a deadline, and then the soothing feeling of those slow lazy days. It can be stressful, but I sure wouldn’t trade it.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:42 am
No, I don’t think I could go back to that either, Shelly. This is much more fun!