Can't wait to read your family story!

Wendy, I do write the blog every day, but it's one of those "journaling" things. I have to get it out. It's my sanity, my community, my camaraderie with you guys. You're all my coworkers. 🙂

Can you give yourself ten minutes in the morning (or right after lunch) to put down just a few words?

I don't fare so well. I've got a couple of ideas milling about in my head, and I have some general notes written down in a notebook. That's as far as I can seem to get.

Maybe the problem is committing to commit. LOL!

I'm like Jake because not every piece of writing I do is something I love… I'm a good hack.

And I'm like Paula because plotting eludes me.

And I'm like Lori because I've found even 10 minutes a day on a personal piece of writing gets it done over time… one of my kids has been urging me to "write the family story."

Now there's a challenge, but this week I've worked on it three times. So there 😉

Wade, that's a good reason for putting off your personal writing. Sometimes it does take precedence. Still, I bet you could find 15 minutes a day for your personal writing, right? It's more about finding that time (elimnating distractions that suck up time, like me and the Facebook games), then committing to it.

Jake, been there, playing with the gruel…. 😉

Right now I'm trying to commit to that personal writing time. I'm unsure where to put it, so for now it's hit-and-miss. I'd rather be putting it in front of my day than behind all the work when my energy is too low.

You're welcome on the Follies. Fun stuff. 🙂

Maybe it's because I was raised by a dad who was a child during the Depression, but as much as I understand and appreciate that one's personal writing should be a priority, I have to side with Wade in that paying the bills is my top prioroty. I'm lucky enough to be able to do that by writing full-time, but if I don't focus on paying gigs, I won't have the electricity needed to run the computer I use to write, or internet service I use to do research, etc… Fear of not being able to pay all the bills makes it hard for me to put non-paid writing ahead of paid writing. (It's also strong motivation to seek out new markets, something the DS-ers might soon learn.)

That said, if I were a talented fiction writer like Devon, spending time on personal writing that people might actually want to read would be a wise investment, indeed.

*snark*

I understand where Devon and Kimberly are coming from, but as someone who's largely committed to corporate copywriting and magazine articles, I simply don't place as much value on my for-me writing. I have a pair of books in progress, but when weighing the bird-in-hand of a $3000 project vs. bird-in-bush of, um, *undefined*, my business dictates that I lean toward the former. Which sounds similar to you and Wade.

All that said, I do have a trademark deadline looming that dictates getting my act in gear. Sometimes for us self-diagnosed ADHDers it takes an outside commitment to drive an internal one. (Look, a squirrel!)

Sidenote, thanks for the tweet on the Freelance Follies 🙂

Kim, that's my challenge, as well. See above. I make time for over 2K a day, but I need to devote more stress-free time to it. I'm always looking toward the deadlines of clients and not toward my own.