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How To Keep A Cool Head When Building Your Part-Time Writing Career

By on February 21, 2019
ow To Keep A Cool Head When Building Your Part-Time Writing Career - Writer's Life.org

Most writers are part-time writers. That’s not because they don’t have the dedication or the desire to write full-time, it’s simply that they have a lot of other commitments that they also have to get on with, and they need to make money too - and sometimes writing full-time just isn’t the most lucrative or sensible option.

However, writing part-time cane a great compromise, and you can slowly build up your part-time writing career be that as a blogger, nonfiction author, freelance writer, novelist or anything in-between!

That’s not to say that it doesn’t take hard work, and there are no doubt times that you’ll feel frustrated that you can’t dedicate more time to your writing. However, keeping a cool head is essential, and here are some tips to help you!

Try not to compare yourself to full-timers.

Look, there is just no way that you can be as productive as a full-time writer, and while your sensible self might understand this, it is difficult not to feel jealous or annoyed because you can’t match up. Try not to set yourself up for this kind of a disappointment though as it will only get in the way of the success that is possible for you. If you feel like you need to make comparisons, why not compare yourself to…yourself. If you keep making progress and set challenging but achievable goals you’ll see massive improvements, and that’s something to be celebrated not to be ashamed of.

Focus on one area for now

If you are only able to write part-time, spreading yourself too thin can be a mistake, and you can end up getting stressed out and doing nothing well. If you experiment with too many different types of writing, or offer your services across lots of different mediums or try too many different marketing methods at once you might find you just don’t have the time, energy or resources to do any of them properly, and could end up feeling like a failure as a result. To be most effective try to build up experience and expertise in one area and you’ll make better progress. Once you feel you’ve mastered that, only then try branching out, and you can slowly build up your client list or portfolio that way.

Write at your best and find as much time as possible to write

If you want to feel like you are making progress with your part-time writing career you need to make every minute count. So try to find what time of day you work best and organize your writing time and other commitments around that if possible. Also looking at your schedule to see if there is any wriggle room to find other windows of writing time in your week can help you feel at your most productive.

Get organized

Whether you are a part-time or a full-time writer, you still need to be as organized as possible. The best way to do this is to get some good systems in place to keep you on the right track. Sending out pitches or submissions, answering your phone or emails, practicing your writing, posting updates on social media, and marketing your work all take away from your precious writing time, but are essential to the success of your career - so make sure you organize your schedule in such a way you have time to perform these tasks too.

Being a part-time writer can be extremely rewarding, so make sure you keep a cool head and follow the tips above to make sure you are the best one you can be!

bethany cadman

Bethany Cadman

bethanycadman.co.uk

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