I’m kicking off the new year with a new-to-me concept: taking one workday per week to focus on my own creative writing projects. I dubbed it It’s My Monday.
I mentioned it off-line to Lori Widmer. This morning she said she was dedicating today to her personal writing projects, too. If anyone is ready to put her own work first, it’s Lori. Client work kept her super busy in 2021.
Some writers earmark a couple hours each day for personal projects, others might dedicate an entire day. Fridays seem to be popular, but I felt Mondays would be good for easing back into work mode. Mondays also symbolize that I intend to prioritize my own work.
Step one: Writing this post declaring It’s My Monday.
Will I spend all day writing each Monday?
Probably not. Right now I have a lot of research and planning to do for a script set in the early 1900s. Research comes before writing.
Will I totally ignore my client work on Mondays?
No. I’ll still monitor email and take occasional calls. If an interviewee needs to schedule a call for a Monday, I’ll make time. If I have a pressing deadline, I’ll do client work, but I will reclaim that time on another weekday.
This morning I tweeted about It’s My Monday, and quickly began hearing from fellow freelancers who dedicate business hours to their own projects.
How, when, and where do you prioritize your creative projects?
What prompted you to start, and how is it going?
So far, so great. I have a few poems jotted down — the beginnings of one that excites me, and notes on another idea. That to me is success. I feel focused and ready for it because it’s a day dedicated to this kind of writing.
Thank you, Paula. We need the reminder that freelance writing means we get to write for ourselves, too.
I spent part of my morning knocking out this post, and just had a quick work email to address. So now it’s onto research!
What a great idea, Paula. Being semi-retired from business writing, you would think I would focus more on personal projects. While I am doing that, I find it’s hit and miss.
So, I think this concept would work for me, too. A day I know to concentrate on those projects. I do require more flexibility because I never know what’s going to happen with Mom care. But I think if I pick a day with the understanding that if it doesn’t happen, I have to pick a different day for that week, I can make this work. Thanks for sharing, Paula. 🙂
Flexible prioritization may be my motto for the year, Cathy.
It’s too easy for us to marginalize our own creative endeavors, but since freelance schedules tend to be flexible we should use that flexibility to our advantage.
I figure if we needed to adjust a due date for a client, we would follow through on the adjusted date. We simply need to do the same for our own projects. 🙂
Precisely, Cathy. We need to treat ourselves as well as we treat our clients.