Time Management for Home-Based Businesses

With all that full-time writers have to do in this day and age, managing a home-based writing business may not seem like a big deal to some outside the business, but it can be overwhelming for some small business entrepreneurs.

So, if you’ve gone from the corporate world of writing and/or reporting to operating your business out of your residence, how can you best manage the time necessary to meet the needs of both your clients and yourself?

If you have found yourself in this quandary, use these tips to write a better outcome for your home writing business:

• Determine what the major differences are between working at an office and working in your office. While being on the corporate schedule can be challenging, you typically are under a coordinated 9 to 5 schedule or something similar, one that is relatively easy to follow. When transitioning to a work-at-home business for similar work, compile a list of pros and cons you see popping up. If the negative list is much larger than the positive list, then you may need to think twice about such a move;
• Keep a similar schedule – It is imperative that writers going from a corporate office to a home-based business keep similar schedules so that the work gets done. If you previously worked in a 9 to 5 writing gig do not start your home business by working two hours one day, four hours the next, three hours the following day etc. It is important to keep similar hours as you did for someone else so that laziness and distractions do not set in;
• Eliminate distractions as much as possible – When working from your home office, it is easy to become distracted by family members, personal errands and more. Make sure that family or not, you do not become distracted by all you have to do in your personal life and use some of your work time to accomplish those matters. Keep a similar schedule to a corporate office by giving yourself a short morning and afternoon break and either a half hour or hour for lunch;
• Put aside time for yourself – Just as you would take a day off here and there or vacation time in an office job, make sure you don’t suffer from burn out working from home. While working from home may seem like the peach of all jobs, remember that you too have deadlines to meet. That being said don’t run yourself into the ground where you’re working night and day on the job. Assuming you did not do a lot of overtime in a corporate office setting, don’t do it either at home;
• Dress the role – Whether or not you will be interviewing subjects from home in-person, it is important to play the role of a full-time employee from home. In too many instances, writers who work full or part-time from their residences end up feeling comfy in not dressing up as they would when going to an office. This can lead to lax efforts, etc. While you don’t need a three-piece suit to do the job from home, remove the pajamas and robe so that you’re not tempted to nap more than work;
• Advertise your business – Unlike in a corporate setting where there is more exposure to a business and/or office locale, working from home will prove more challenging. Utilize whatever advertising skills you have, including social media tools, to promote your business. Social media is an especially important tool given that it provides real-time information to both current and potential clients.

At the end of the day, working from home as a full-time writer can be particularly rewarding, especially if you pen things out the right way.

About the Author

David Thomas, who discusses among other subjects’ vehicle insurance and business credit cards, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource site for businesses of all sizes to research, locate, and compare the products and services required to run their businesses.

1. Write outside your browser. Make the writing process easier on yourself by writing outside your Web browser. When you write in Word, you can use its proofreading tools, which are generally more sophisticated than your blogging software’s proofreading tools.
2. Get a proofreading buddy. You probably find it hard to look at your own text with a fresh set of eyes. So, borrow someone else’s. Find another blogger who will proofread your entries in exchange for you returning the favor.
3. Write. Stop. Proofread. Stop. Proofread. Another way to get a fresh perspective is to walk away from your text for a while after you finish it. Do something else, then proofread, then do something else, then proofread it again.
4. Use a spell-checker and a grammar-checker. Although both spelling and grammar-checkers are imperfect, use them as a first line of defense. Although this might seem like one of the most obvious proofreading tips, read others’ blog entries to see how many people disregard it!
5. Keep a list of common errors handy. If you know which words you are likely to misspell, or which apostrophe errors you make, print them out and refer to the list when you proofread.
6. Read out loud. When you proofread your blog entries, read them out loud exactly as you wrote them. For example, if you put a comma, insert a pause. If you did not, do not pause. Hearing how your text sounds will give you new perspective and make it easier to catch both errors as well as awkward syntax. Of all of the proofreading tips here, this could be the most powerful one.
7. Eliminate distractions. Although you may prefer background noise when you write, proofreading requires concentration. Switch everything off, remove distractions, and focus for better results.
8. Read backward. Proofread your blog paragraph-by-paragraph or sentence-by-sentence, starting at the bottom. This will not help you find larger structural issues, but it will let you take a different perspective on the text and hopefully let you focus on the small stuff.
9. Print it out. You don’t get as much out of reading on a screen as you do on paper. Print out your blog posts and proofread them. You can also trace along with a pen or other pointer, which forces you to read every line.
10. Double-check your introduction and conclusion. Though mistakes anywhere in your blog posts are troublesome, people tend to remember introductions and conclusions better than they do other sections. Make sure that they are perfect.

These proofreading tips are about much more than just catching a few typos or fixing a couple of misused words. Because a properly proofread blog post enjoys more credibility than a sloppy one, following these tips will improve your readers’ perception of your writing.

About the author: Randall Davidson is one of the founders of ProofreadingServices.Us, a proofreading service that offers website proofreading. Randall enjoys sharing proofreading tips and best practices with other writing enthusiasts.

From: Instructables.com

This freelance writing stuff is a very strange beast. There isn’t really any right or wrong way to go about it necessarily. Most of us kind of find our own way to do things and we sally forth. Some are successful, others not so much. Here is a list of freelance writing concepts that you may want to consider tossing.

• My Writing Is Good Enough – “Hey, I can write real good. Lots of people have told me so.” Well, even if you are a good writer, it’s not enough to carry you through. The ability to write good copy is an excellent start but if you rely solely on that fact and ignore all of the other things that go into being successful in freelance writing you won’t get far. Toss out the concept that your writing will get you by.
• Clients Will Find Me – Just because you’ve hung a shingle on the web does not mean that clients will beat a path to your door. If you are taking a passive approach to getting new clients then clients are passing you by. Your success depends on a proactive strategy on your part to seek out and find a set of good clients who can help pay your rent.
• There Is Not Enough Local Work – Malarkey, says I. If you are focusing on web based clients only, you are missing out on a huge potentially lucrative market. Don’t forget your local community.
• I Can’t Afford To Advertise – I know. It’s tough. But you have to. Even if your advertising budget is meager, you can and should work on getting the word out. Build partnerships, print flyers or business cards, connect with other writers and ask about reciprocal links. This may be an area to test your true creativity.
• I Don’t Have The Time To Engage Social Media – Make the time. It’s worth it in every way. My two biggest paying freelance jobs have come through relationships I have built on Twitter. Get your Twitter, Facebook and Stumbleupon life in order. After the initial set up is complete, these are easy to  keep updated.
• I Need To Work 24/7 – Oh, no you don’t. If you do not try to achieve some sense of balance in your life, you will burn yourself out. At the end of a year you will be a crispy, burnt smidgen of a crumb, curled up in a fecal position in the corner of your room, asking for your mommy. Serious. Take the time to get away from the computer and live a little.  You won’t regret it.

Sometimes we have to take what are assumed to be “givens” and turn them on their head. Talk about getting a fresh start!

What say you? Are there any concepts that you have taken as gospel that need to be turned on their head?

Posted by: George

Image from: uconn.edu

Talk to anyone in sales and they will all tell you the same little piece of ancient wisdom:  It’s a numbers game. No surprise here, but if you’re a freelance writer you’re in sales. This is an excellent time of year to dive in and have a look at those little beasties. Reviewing your numbers helps you to identify any gaps there may be in your marketing efforts.  In general, having a good look at your numbers will help you to set up how you do things in the new year, on a new day.

Look at these numbers

• Google Analytics – Assuming you have a web site with a blog, your first stop in the numbers game should be at your Google Analytics page. Most of us head on over and have a peek at these numbers on a fairly regular basis, but often times we look at the unique views and we move on. There is so much more to see. You want to take as much time as necessary to review all of the metrics and think about what they mean. Where are your viewers coming from? How long do they stay? Which page do they land on and which page do they leave from? What posts draw the most traffic for you and what similarities are present between them? Are the trends moving up or moving down? The answers to these questions should drive how you structure things in the future.
• Marketing – Other than the web site analytics, how are your marketing efforts holding up? Look at the amount of money you spent advertising and what income was derived from those efforts. Is your print advertising working or do you need to consider focusing your efforts in a different medium? Do you know which medium is responsible for bringing each of your clients over the past year? These are important questions. If your marketing budget is as limited as it is for most of us other freelancers, you can nigh afford to be wasteful in your efforts.
• Financials – Dealing with the financial records is my absolute least favorite part of having a freelance business. If I wanted to look at financial data, I would have become a dad-blamed account. Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I have to tell you that there really is no choice in the matter. Chances are at some point in the near future you will need to inform the government of all the loot you hauled in and what your cost was to haul in the said loot. Hopefully you kept things organized enough to easily find these documents. As well, if you were a very good girl or boy, you kept track electronically so that you could have a short look at your spreadsheets from time to time.

Freelancing by the numbers is not necessarily difficult. It’s a matter of taking the time to have a look at the numbers and adjusting your course based on your interpretation of the results. The other important point is that the numbers game should be played on a regular basis throughout the course of the year – not just at year end.

Posted by:  George

No comment!

Mark Pepper:

I should say from the outset that I am playing Devil’s Advocate here, as Tumblemoose was in our last duel. I feel it necessary to point this out as, otherwise, people might think I don’t want them commenting on my blog posts, which I do. Having said that, there are two sides to every argument, and here are my reasons why comments should not be allowed on blogs.

There is no certificate system to visit web sites, as there is with feature films at the cinema or with DVDs. I know you can have your internet security suite tell you when one may be dodgy, but that does not stop you visiting them, it only tells you they may be problematic.

This means that anyone with an interest in writing may happen upon my blog posts and comment on them. They have not been restricted based on their ability to say anything even slightly relevant or interesting; they have not been assessed for IQ; they have not been assessed to make certain they are not, what’s the phrase I’m after? … utterly insane.

When people do comment, you’re in a dilemma. Do you always reply to everyone? If you have ten comments and each reply sets off another comment, you’ll never get away from your computer. Do you just reply once and say thanks to everyone and give the impression you can’t be arsed? Or do you reply to a few that really strike a chord, and leave the others feeling possibly miffed at being snubbed? Let’s face it, some people leave odd comments.

“Great post. I have a cat called Timothy.”

WHAT? I never mentioned cats. Or the name Timothy. “Thanks, I don’t like cats, but I had a dog once called F**k Off. I could never get it to come back to me.”

Also … I struggle to find the time to blog, so where on earth do people find the time to comment on blogs? I think some of them may have too much time on their hands. They may be bored. They may be friendless. They could take a reply from me to mean I like them. This could lead to me being worshipped from afar (come on, I’m a very attractive man). Then they could track me down somehow. The next thing, I’m being stalked. I start receiving strange messages made from letters cut from newspaper headlines. Small deceased rodents start arriving in the post. I have to move house, leave the country. Then, one day, just as I think it’s all behind me, a little red dot appears on my jacket above my heart when I’m sitting in McDonald’s at Eagle River (that’s right, it’s so bad I had to move to Alaska). I think it must be some laser pen McDonald’s are (irresponsibly) giving away with their Happy Meals. But, no. I look through the window and can just make out my stalker sitting across the road in a battered VW camper van with a M82A1 SASR – Special Applications Scoped Rifle. (Wikipedia, folks.)

It could happen. All because there is no mechanism in place to prevent unsuitable individuals leaving comments on blogs.

I’m not being draconian. I’m not suggesting that all comments are disallowed. Some of mine would never pass muster and I would have to instantly bar myself from leaving any more. However, moronic as they appear, they were tainted by alcohol which caused only a temporary reduction in my IQ.

So here’s the plan …

Getting back to the whole film classification thing, I propose that a similar system be utilised for leaving blog comments. It can even use the identical classifications, although not quite in the same order. Whenever someone clicks on “Leave a Comment”, they are presented with an IQ test, the result of which will dictate whether or not they are allowed to say anything. The first three are passes, and comments will be graded as such so I don’t have to be bothered reading anything below the top grade if I’m not in the mood. The last three are fails, and these will cause a painful yet non-fatal electric shock to come back through the would-be commentator’s keyboard, warning them off ever trying again. I’m still working on the technology that would make this possible.

Comment Classification Grades:

PG – Perfect Genius

G – Great

R – Rational

NC 17 – No Comments (IQ 17 to 98). I’m kindly giving a little latitude with this, seeing as 100 is considered to be average IQ.

PG 13 – Please God! (IQ 13 and below). This does not mean that those with IQs of 14, 15, and 16 can leave comments. Hey, I’m working to pre-set classifications here.

So, there you have it, and it all makes perfect sense. I trust you will all agree with me on this, and I would be delighted to hear your comments.

What am I talking about? Of course I wouldn’t. You keep your comments to yourself, stalker.

In response, George Sez

I love comments.  I love commenting.  Putting up a new post is akin to hanging my stocking with care.  I wake up on that glorious morning to see it filled with all manner of goodies.  Oh, there’s a lump of coal in there now and then but overall it’s glitter, sunshine and rainbows.

Commenting is the best way to reach out and connect with your audience.  When comments are not allowed, readership is reduced to nothing but a number on a Google Analytics graph.  Blech.

When I first started blogging, I ended up at this site for a guy named Seth Godin.  It was cool and the post I read was comment-worthy.  Hey, wait a minute.  Where is the durned comment button?  Wha?  No commenting allowed?  I am so done with you, Sethy-poo.  I’ve not been back since.  Not my kind of community, thank you very much.

I love going to a blog with an active commenting community.  A lot of times the comments are more interesting than the original post.  I would put forth that this is what blogging is all about.  Does it take time?  Yes.  Commenting on other blogs and responding to blog comments is a tremendous time sucker.  No doubt about it.  is it worth the time and effort?  Absolutely.

Allow comments?  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mark's High School Yearbook Photo. Hehe.

In a former life, I sold cars. Yep, I know it’s hard to believe, especially when there is this weird bias about buying a car from a guy wearing a kilt. Since car sales folk usually get paid through commission and not an hourly wage (hmmm.  Sound familiar?) it’s important for them to establish a customer base in any way possible. One of the tried and true best methods for this is through referrals.

Freelance writing is really no different. There are lots of marketing schemes and methods for attracting new customers, but the very best customer is one who was referred to us by a happy client. I’m telling ya, it’s money in the bank. Word of mouth is great, but it’s the best when the person who is contacted you arrived through someone they trust. Half the battle is done at that point.

Here is the key to getting referrals. It’s a complicated concept, so pay attention.  Are you ready?

Ask for them! That’s it, plain and simple. When you complete a job for a client, you need to point blank ask them to refer anyone they know who may need a writer. Now, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. This pushes the comfort level for a lot of us. It seems like…   Well, it seems like begging. It’s not, really. In fact if you’ve done an excellent job for a client, they are usually eager to pass their experience on to their friends and colleagues.

What I learned from the car business is that the most successful salespeople never stood on the lot, trying to flag down “tire-kickers”. They were busy all day handling folks who had been referred by their happy friends.

As an added incentive, you can even offer a finders fee for any clients they refer to you. This method works for lots of businesses and it will work for yours, too.

Along the same lines is the idea of testimonials. Statements from previous clients are powerful trust builders. They make a difference for someone considering your services over someone else. Think about all of those “Make $10,000 a Month Working From Home! sites for a minute. They are literally stuffed with statements from folks who swear by the system. Those testimonials are placed in that kind of copy in order to establish trust – the biggest hurdle for those kinds of sites.

You get testimonials the same way you get referrals – you ask for them. When the job is complete, send a survey form to the client. Ask them for permission to use their words in your advertising. You would be surprised by how many folks will be thrilled to give you a good word.

Don’t be shy about asking folks to blow your horn for you. Most of your clients will be eager to help you, and their testimonials will land you referrals that will be loyal, good customers.

Posted by: George

What is “Value Added”?

In the most simple terms, value added means giving the client something of value that is not necessarily included in the original quote.

“Something of value” is pretty wide open, isn’t it? This is a good thing. Adding something valuable to your deliverable means you are going above and beyond, and just exactly what you can include is entirely up to you.

Lets look at some options that could be considered value added items:

• Additional resource lists – “Hey Ms. Client, while I was researching your project I came across these resources that you may be interested in. Perhaps they can hep you in the future or provide you with some networking opportunities.” If you were a client, think about how you would feel about a freelancer going above and beyond the project terms to provide this list.
• An additional re-write – Depending on the project, you can include an extra re-write to help wrap up any additional points or concepts.
• Alternate versions – If the client is insisting on a given tack for a project, give them exactly what they are asking for, but also include an alternate version of the same – maybe something that will cause them to see the project in a different perspective.
• Additional sections – If you discover a glaring gap in the project and it’s fairly straightforward, consider adding the component as part of the quoted project and let the client know that you included an extra section and why you did so.
• Other enhancements – If you run across any images that may add a “Ka-POW” factor, include those as extras along with a note suggesting how they could be used. Consider adding the contact information for folks in your network who may have the same interests or may be a good business connection for your client.

What’s in it for me?

I would hope that the answer to this would be fairly obvious, but here goes:

The largest benefit to be derived from adding value to your freelance writing is going to be pleasantly surprised and happy clients. All other benefits trickle down from this main show-stopper.

Word spreads quickly, my friends.  If you delivered the project strictly based on the contract, surely you could end up with a happy client. If you knock their socks off by adding value, you could win a client who will actively seek ways to sing your praises.

Want to set up a testimonials page? Your clients who have received added value will usually be happy to give you big kudos.

Finally, in this dog-eat-dog world in which we live, fewer and fewer folks are giving more than they get. Stand above the fray. Give a little extra to your freelance writing clients and see it come back to you ten-fold.

Posted by: George

From: http://www.sodahead.com/music/1991-1997-favorite-song-of-these/question-419809/?link=ibaf

Oh, man. What parent hasn’t uttered those words at one point or another? When the little one is literally bouncing off the walls and out of control a time out works wonders. It allows the little tornado the chance to sit and reflect on their actions and perhaps gain a new perspective before they head on down the road of their next tirade.

So, how are you doing? Do you need a time out? Do you wish that someone would put you in the corner and set a timer for 5 minutes?

Let’s face it. Sometimes our writing lives are spinning so fast we can barely keep up. Project deadlines loom, grumpy or demanding phone calls are fielded and at times it is way too much. I’ve felt like I was bouncing off the walls before. I’ve felt like it was all too much and I really could not see a way out.

Please consider this to be permission to give yourself a time out.

When I reach the point that I know I’m not going to be able to juggle it all much longer, I give myself a time out. Sometimes it’s just a day where I say, “You know what?  Screw this.  I’m goin’ fishing.” Guess what. The work is still there when I return, but now I have a whole new perspective. My batteries are charged and I’ve got a “bring it on” attitude.

Sometimes more than a day is needed. I’ve been there too. I’ve taken as much as a week where I’ve barely opened the laptop. It hurts financially and the folks over at VISA are tres unhappy with me when I pull such a stunt. Life goes on though, and I know I’ll recover.

It’s important for you to know that when you are checking out, you don’t need a lengthy letter of explanation and excuse to every client. A short notification to clients is enough. Don’t even do a blog post about it. Nothing is more boring or irritating than a post whereby a person lists all of the reasons they are going away (or have been away for that matter). No excuses! Just do it! If you’re going to take Vienna then take Vienna!

Taking time to reflect, recharge and relax will move you much more forward in your writing then will 18 hour days filled with caffeine and nicotine (I prefer like, 5 or 6 hour days filled with caffeine and nicotine). You are going to find that when you return from your hiatus your vision for projects will be much more clear and you will be ready to take on most any challenge that presents itself.

I am curious to know. How many of you have just disappeared off the writing radar for a while? Where there any long term consequences? Were you in a better place to write when you returned? Oh, and how many points did your credit score drop?

Posted by:  George

Rate transparency by George or why displaying rates are a must:

Rates need to be transparent.

“Hello, sir. May I take your order?”
“Maybe. Hey listen, how much is the triple bacon cheeseburger? I don’t see any prices on your menu.”
“Well, that depends. When would you like that burger? Also, do you plan on being a regular customer? It is your first time here, right? Do you want everything on it or will no frills work for you?”

Customer stares. Blinks.

“Geez, I don’t know. I was just looking for a burger but I’d like to know how much it’s going to cost me. You see I’ve only got so much money…”

“Sure, I understand. Tell you what. You let me know in detail exactly what you’re looking for and I can have a quote out to you by the close of business.”
“Mmm, that’s okay. I’m not really all that hungry anymore.”

If this is how you are operating your freelance writing business then you may want to memorize the above script. Chances are you’ll be taking burger orders soon.

Customers come to your site through referral or search engine and when they arrive there are a few things that they expect. They expect that you will clearly state the types of services that you provide and they may expect to get an idea about cost. With that said, I know that freelance writing is service – not product – oriented. You can’t just put up a picture of your widget with a blazing red sale price underneath.

As well, different projects lend themselves to different rate structures. Sometimes it’s best to have per word rates, sometimes per hour. Sometimes per page and sometimes per project.

Even taking all of these variables into consideration, there is no reason for not being transparent in your rates or rate structure. If you’ve taken the time to put financial goals in place then you know how much you need to make per word, page or project.

Being transparent does not mean you can’t give discounts or incentives for new or returning customers. For that matter it doesn’t mean that you can’t charge for add-ons or special situations. Publishing your rates just means that you are giving your potential customers an idea of what may be in store for their specific need.

Publishing your rates creates kind of an instant trust with your customer. It means that you are a professional and that you know your rates are worthy of publishing.

So, put it all out there. Annotate your rate page with language about discounts or add-ons. Be real with your customers and they will likely return the favor.

Damnation by Mark or why displaying your rates sucks:

Publish (your rates) and be damned.

When I drove a taxi for a living, I would sometimes arrive at a house and be asked if I minded them bringing their dog along. Yes, too right I did. It’s only little, they would say, I’ll keep it on my lap. Oh, okay, then.

They would then go and retrieve some monstrosity that resembled Satan’s rabid pet Shetland pony with pointy teeth. It’s not much fun driving down the motorway with a Rottweiler changing gear for you.

My point is this: given half a chance, some people will not be entirely honest about what a job entails. Either that or they simply won’t realise the work involved. I did a copy edit of a holiday rentals website recently. It had been inherited by a friend of mine and it looked like it had been written by a dyslexic six-year-old over here on an exchange trip from Mars. It took more than thirty hours to sort out. There’s copy editing, and then there’s copy editing that’s actually a complete re-write. I charged by the hour on that one.

You can’t quote on a job you’ve not seen yet. It’s like a decorator quoting $200 for a room. What room? A toilet? A living room? A grand ballroom? Oh, you’re not doing the conservatory? We always considered the conservatory to be part of the living room.

What if your rates quote for a 10-page website makeover? Your client gets a price in their head, and it’s agreed. The fact that the site has 40 pages is conveniently overlooked. No, they’re not pages, they’re sub-pages. In that case, I will sub-tract them from the job. Seriously, do you edit 10 and leave the rest untouched, or do you quadruple your price? It’s certainly fair to quadruple your price, but that wrecks the client’s expectations. You can’t be arguing about money at the start.

I’ll use another taxiing analogy. You pick up a guy to take him from A to B. He’s organized a set fare with the booking office – cheeky sod. As you set off, he says he wants to stop in at several places along the way. The starting point is A and the final destination is B. But he’s going via D, M, S, L, Y and P. So you tell him bollocks to the set fare, it’s all going on the meter. You end up having an argument, throwing him out and leaving him stranded in the middle of the countryside at midnight in the torrential rain. Yeah, I did that. It happened.

I suppose there are ways around this. You could quote an hourly rate, or a rate per word. But how does a new customer know that your hours are genuine? You could be charging them for the couple of hours you spent guzzling beer at Hooters with the guys. And does the per word rate include any rewrites you do because the client changes the brief halfway through in a blaze of mind-numbing fickleness?

There are so many variations; so many factors at play. To cover all the bases, your rates page will have to look like an Einsteinian theory in genesis.

Just publish your portfolio of work. If it’s good, you’ll get the inquiries. Then you can talk about what the client requires – in exact detail. Then you can talk about rates.

Mark Pepper

The famous philosopher Sting once wrote:

“I’ve spent too many years at war with myself,

Doctor has told me it’s no good for my health,

To search for perfection is all very well,

But to look for heaven is to live here in hell.”

Consider Me Gone, from “The Dream of the Blue Turtles” – 1985

What does that mean when it appears in a blog about freelance writing? Well, that I’m pretentious, for one. And that I’m still prattling on about novels.

I thought I’d keep a little continuity in my blogs for the time being. I wasn’t going to, and then I read the latest thought-provoking offering from Señor Tumblemoose, entitled “Platform Diving”, in which he highlights the issue of a writer’s true direction – not what he is doing, but what his heart tells him he should be doing. Or her – obviously.

Specifically, Monsieur Le Tumblemoose mentions how the necessity of earning a living from his freelance work means his “Great American Novel” sadly has to remain on the back-burner. In this, he is far from alone. Lack of time is one of the most galling aspects for anyone who has their eyes set on becoming a published author.

I’m sure I wouldn’t have bothered with this blog if I thought Signor El Tumblemoose couldn’t write. From what I’ve read so far, he certainly can. But he’s not just an accomplished writer; he’s a thinker. He has something to say. He has every right to believe he can and should get into print.

Therefore, I suppose the purpose of this piece is to offer three things to all the budding novelists out there (who can actually write):

1. Empathy, having known exactly the frustrations of desperately wanting to achieve, but being held back for sundry reasons.
2. Encouragement, because I believe if it’s right to happen, one day it will.
3. Perspective, because I’m the other side of the process now, and I can don my designer Hindsight specs and assess it all a little more dispassionately.

Let me explain …

First off, I’m not trying to be a smart-arse here. I’m the first one furiously ticking boxes when the screw-up questionnaire does the rounds. It’s the price you pay for wandering off the nine-to-five track and getting lost for nearly twenty-five years in that great outback known as Artistic Ambition. It happens to writers, actors, artists and anyone else we used to call Bohemian but now call Mostly Unemployed.

The reason I say empathy rather than sympathy is because I’m not looking to offer any annoying platitudes that sound all cuddly but don’t really mean anything. I’m not agreeing because it’s right intellectually to do so; I’m agreeing because I know how it feels. I left my acting career behind when we moved to Spain, but there really was nothing to leave behind, and my lack of success in that profession still causes me to wince now and then, despite having landed in a lovely spot on the planet.

As for my writing career, you already know how that panned out from my previous blogs. It’s tough when you’re consumed with a passion that you can’t quickly bring to fruition. But, as the cliché-mongers always say: if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Faith without works

Which brings me to the encouragement part. I have a stone coaster on my desk that my wife bought for me which reads: “DREAMS CAN’T COME TRUE IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANY”. Strangely enough, I received it after I had given up on my acting and writing ambitions and I’d embarked on a career as a secondary school drama teacher – which I detested for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who has ever been in a classroom full of British thirteen-year-olds. It seemed an odd gift given the timing, but within a couple of years we were on our way to the sunshine – an ambition that had always superseded even my artistic ambitions, and that came about through a series of events I could never have envisaged nor planned, all melding in perfect synchronicity. (She knows things, my wife.)

I firmly believe that you can achieve your goals in life if you work hard enough at them, truly believe in them, and have the patience to see them through. Belief on its own, though, is not enough. I’m not a religious person, but I still think the Bible has a few wise words to say on many subjects, and one would be that “faith without works is dead”. You have to do things, and although many of these things may not seem obviously relevant to your game plan at the time, they will often be working as subservient little minions to that game plan, slowly and painstakingly creating the necessary circumstances for it to eventually take a recognisable form.

For a writer with ambitions to become a published author, it may seem that leaving your beloved novel one-third-finished on your hard drive for another six months, when you’ve already spent two years on it, is the epitome of failing to carry out the necessary “works”. It’s something Herr Von Tumblemoose obviously feels, and I’ve experienced those awful hanging delays myself. It gnaws at you. Your novel calls to you every waking minute, and you end up dreaming about the damn thing when you sleep. It dictates how you perceive yourself: you’re not a successful freelance writer or a great salesman or a hard-working tradesman, you’re a slouch of a failed author.

Freud is in da house

Don’t pay that any heed. All that’s happening … is life. Bills need paying; the family wants to spend time with you; the car needs taking to the mechanic; the grass needs mowing. You can moan and think: Where’s my time? When do I get to write? When will the world get to read my work? But perhaps the world just isn’t ready yet. Perhaps the circumstances aren’t right yet. Perhaps your life experience isn’t yet sufficient to create the strength of novel you’ll one day be capable of writing. As long as you hold the dream dear and make every effort to fulfil your game plan, chances are that those unseen minions will be busy slotting in the tiny pieces so that one day you can stand back and see the true picture – a picture that may tell you now is the time to write, now you have the time to write, now the Muse is with you.

Or that tells you to relax, because it really doesn’t matter any more.

And so to my final point, and the reason for my quoting good ol’ Sting at the start: perspective. Sometimes, the battles we fight most valiantly are against ourselves. We set ourselves challenges and then proceed as though our lives will be forever blighted if we cannot succeed in them. We create self-made voids in our existence through the conviction that we absolutely must carry out certain tasks to feel complete. With regards to writing, we all need to remember that the moment our drive to create stunning literature becomes the need to be a published novelist, our Ego has hopped in behind the wheel.

Mr Ego

Mr Ego is a stupid man. He’s the one that chauffeurs people to American Idol and X-Factor auditions when they’re tone deaf and look like they’ve got their face on upside down, back-to-front and inside out. You know the ones … pass that boy a banjo and show him to the porch.

Mr Ego was in charge of my car for a long time. I’ve largely managed to relegate him to the back seat in recent years, keeping him busy with a blue plastic wheel with a squeaky red horn in the middle, but he still occasionally manages to clamber up front and elbow me out of the way. The truth is that I’m never more lost than when Mr Ego takes control. He has no clue where he’s going. He’s listening to a broken satnav that speaks in a Mr Bean voice. He’ll head straight for the bridge that hasn’t been built yet, or drive down to the port at full speed to join the ferry that left hours ago. He’s not just stupid; he’s dangerously stupid.

The desire to create is pure. The desire to create for the world is often tainted. Don’t worry, if your creation is good enough, the world will catch on in its own time and there will be nothing you can do to prevent it. In the meantime, you just need to do the “works” when you can, and happily accept the constraints when you can’t. And don’t let Mr Ego skew what you think of as constraints. Don’t let him ruin your quality time with friends and family with his insidious little voice, telling you to get back to what’s important: THE NOVEL. Mr Ego is the evil character unmasked at the end of a Scooby-Do adventure: “I wanted to write a novel – and I would have done if it weren’t for you meddling kids.”

Try, also, not to be too focused on the destination; just enjoy the journey as it happens, each moment. Remember that the thrill is in the chase, not the capture. Why do you think so many successful people are so screwed up? It’s dire disappointment mixed with utter bewilderment – that they didn’t become the happiest person in the world when their dreams came true.

If the ultimate does happen, and a publisher does offer you a contract, bear in mind it will probably be for two or three books within a certain time frame. What, you want me to write another? Bloody hell. Then your writing becomes a job, and maybe even a chore. Pressure can splat creativity like a bug.

Just think about this: When your kid wanders in and asks you to play, which is worse? Quitting your novel for half an hour because you can, feeling a tad disappointed, but having a happy kid? Or sending a very unhappy kid away because you have an editor’s deadline to meet, and then feeling guilty as hell?
Glasses by Hindsight – they come at a price

Just to let you know: being a published author ain’t all that. My novels mean next to nothing to me. Not because I wasn’t in the million-dollar advance bracket; I never expected to be. Hodder could have had my books for free. I just wanted to get into print. And not just now, eleven years later; I felt that way within a few months of their publication. The framed book jackets and reviews came down off my study wall, and my precious novels went up into the attic. I’ve always derived far more pleasure from a completed DIY project around the house than from knowing I’m a published author, because the DIY project makes a real difference. Mr Ego is confused as hell about this. Yep, but he’s a moron.

I’m not suggesting you give up. If you want to become a published author you go for it. You just have to write when you can, and not beat yourself up when you can’t. Most importantly, you have to see the bigger picture. You need to kick Mr Ego out from behind the wheel. He needs to be in the back seat; better still in the trunk; best of all left by the roadside. Just enjoy what you do for the sake of doing it, and if you get published, great. If not, remember it’s just a load of words on paper. Will it matter in a hundred years? What are you missing out on while you’re at your computer tapping away for months on end? And what are you failing to fully enjoy when you’re not tapping away at your keyboard, because you wish you were?

I’m not the Grim Reaper so I can’t be sure, but I doubt anyone on their death-bed ever talks about the car they bought with the advance from their first novel; I imagine they talk about the people they love.