The feedback for my new writing guide, Write From Home: Best-Ever Money-Making Tips, has been great.
As always when I release a new guide, it's offered to my wonderful Fab Freelance Writing Ezine subscribers first, as an exclusive. So I've had lots of feedback on it in the past week: writers have told me about their challenges.
It turns out that the biggest challenge for writers is planning.
If you want to make a great income writing from home planning is essential, so as your Weekend Writer challenge for this weekend, I'd like you to plan your writing for the coming week.
Here's how.
Start by listing all your current writing projects, both your own projects, and any projects you're writing for others. These may be projects you're actively working on, or projects you have coming up.
You can keep this running list anywhere you choose; I keep it in my Things (Mac and iPhone) task manager.
The benefit of keeping this list is that once something's on your list, you can clear your mind.
Now choose one or more projects you'll be working on this coming week. Please don't over-commit. Until you get into the swing of planning, it's much better to commit to too few projects, rather than too many.
We'll imagine that you've chosen just one project; if you have additional projects, plan each one in this way:
* Contact client. Request all marketing material related to this product;
* Draft three concepts;
* Write ten headlines;
* Send three headlines to the client;
* Draft body copy;
Etc.
Chunk the project down as much as you can. Each task you create should take no longer than 30 minutes. Even if you totally hate the project, you can stand anything for 30 minutes. :-)
When you plan, and schedule tasks, you'll find that you complete projects, almost effortlessly, because you've removed the enervating feeling of "God help me, I've got so much to do and I don't even know HOW to start". Instead, you'll know exactly what you're doing and when, and you'll get it done.
Happy planning. :-)
As always when I release a new guide, it's offered to my wonderful Fab Freelance Writing Ezine subscribers first, as an exclusive. So I've had lots of feedback on it in the past week: writers have told me about their challenges.
It turns out that the biggest challenge for writers is planning.
If you want to make a great income writing from home planning is essential, so as your Weekend Writer challenge for this weekend, I'd like you to plan your writing for the coming week.
Here's how.
Start by listing all your current writing projects, both your own projects, and any projects you're writing for others. These may be projects you're actively working on, or projects you have coming up.
You can keep this running list anywhere you choose; I keep it in my Things (Mac and iPhone) task manager.
The benefit of keeping this list is that once something's on your list, you can clear your mind.
Now choose one or more projects you'll be working on this coming week. Please don't over-commit. Until you get into the swing of planning, it's much better to commit to too few projects, rather than too many.
We'll imagine that you've chosen just one project; if you have additional projects, plan each one in this way:
Start by writing a description of the project
Write 200 words. This description clarifies the project in your own mind. Once it's on paper (or on the computer screen), you'll have a much clearer idea of what you need to do, and when. You'll find that just knowing this goes a long way toward eliminating procrastination.Make a list of tasks you need to do to complete the project
For example, your task list for a copywriting project consisting of a display ad might look like this:* Contact client. Request all marketing material related to this product;
* Draft three concepts;
* Write ten headlines;
* Send three headlines to the client;
* Draft body copy;
Etc.
Chunk the project down as much as you can. Each task you create should take no longer than 30 minutes. Even if you totally hate the project, you can stand anything for 30 minutes. :-)
Transfer all your tasks into your calendar program
Next, transfer all those tasks you created into your calendar program. Then, at your scheduled time, DO each task.When you plan, and schedule tasks, you'll find that you complete projects, almost effortlessly, because you've removed the enervating feeling of "God help me, I've got so much to do and I don't even know HOW to start". Instead, you'll know exactly what you're doing and when, and you'll get it done.
Happy planning. :-)
