What Is Freelance Writing?

First and foremost, freelance writing is a way for you to make money, but you need to write on your own time. The best part about freelancing is that you can work when you want and at a pace that works for you. There is no boss man standing over your shoulder urging you to crank out that book and you can simply put in the time when you have it.

This also means that you can work at an hour that works with your schedule. Therefore, if you want to work at 4:00 a.m., you can. There are no limits and you have a lot of freedom within this chosen skill. On top of that, the only limit on how much money you make is how hard you work. With that in mind, the possibilities are endless.

How to Free Up Time

The most difficult part about freeing up time to write is determining where you have time to spare. Once you start to think about areas that may have some wiggle room, you will be presented with additional time. Of course, you do need to make sure that you are completely organized and a self-starter, as there will be no one there to push you. You must make the conscious decision to do it on your own every time.

1. Wake Up a Bit Earlier 

If you typically sleep in until the last minute before you must work, stop doing this. You can easily wake up 30 minutes before you need to and get some writing down prior to that. If you are writing on a topic that you know well and love, you can complete an article in as little as 15 minutes.

While waking up earlier may not be the best idea, you will eventually get used to it and it will feel great. Hey, they do say it takes about 14 days of consistency to form a habit.

2. Consider Your Lunch Break an Opportunity

If you have an hour lunch break, what do you do during this time? You likely eat, but does it take you the full hour? If not, you have just found extra time to write. Some people can eat in just 15 minutes and other 30 minutes. This means that you can have as much as 30 to 45 minutes of additional time that can be spent freelance writing.

3. Stop Wasting Time 

What? Waste time? Never. While you may think that you do not waste any time, it is likely that you do and just do not realize it. Remember those two hours you spend on Pinterest last night? Yep. We caught you.

If you want to free up time to start freelance writing, you should get rid of many of the time wasters you participate in daily. Some of the biggest wasters of time include surfing the Internet, browsing social media, checking your email every 30 minutes, and similar activities.

Put an End to Distractions 

If you want to put your newly found time to good use, you need to make sure that you limit how many interruptions occur when you finally sit down to write. Remember, you may only have 30 minutes or an hour to write and the more distractions you have, the less time you have to get words on paper.

Many of the distractions that you will experience come from within your own home. Think about it for a moment. The kids may need help with something. The dogs may need to go out. Or someone may try to call you. It helps to have a plan in place to handle all of this. For example, make sure the kids and dogs are taken care of before you sit down to write or have a helper on hand who can babysit and pet sit while you work. Always turn your phone off while you work and take a break once you are done to check messages.

You will find that the less distractions you have, the better.

Get Started Writing

Now that you have an idea of how you can free up some time, take a moment to do so and launch your freelance writing career now. You won’t regret it! The first place to look is online; there are plenty of websites that can get you started. You just have to look and apply for a profile.

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Guest post written by Lauren Davidson, a recent graduate looking to pay down her student loan debt through freelancing.