For freelance writers, regular travel can be both a blessing and a bane. Sure, that trip to the French Riviera gave you enough characters and image metaphors to pack a hundred articles – but how to get those articles pitched, drafted and delivered when your environment is transformed every few days?
I've always loved travel, but this year has been off the charts. I spent the winter zig-zagging across the country. Since April, I've been to Haiti, Greece, Wyoming and now Tennessee.
I won't say the adventures weren't worth the sacrifice. How can anything compare with the chance to taste fresh hummus in the streets below the Parthenon, or witness an earthquake refugee restoring his community, or leap off a whitewater raft into chilly river waters – just for fun?
But they have come at a cost to my workflow, just when consistent focus would be most critical to my future. My business won't build itself, and the fits and starts around my international adventures aren't doing me or my potential clients any favors.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds her work getting regularly disrupted. (All you work-from-home moms and dads: you are amazing.) So I'm curious. What tips and tricks have you found that help balance a chaotic schedule with the need to get things done?
Here are a few of mine:
1) Have a routine.
Something simple. Something you can keep sacred, anywhere from a ferryboat in the Aegean to a lake house near Knoxville. For me, that means finding half an hour in the morning to write a blog post, a poem, a journal entry, an essay – and five minutes for yoga sometime during the day.
2) Work with a buddy.
My writing friends keep me honest. If I haven't posted to my blog, they let me know my work is missed. If we have a date to share our latest works and I've only added a couple of sentences to my novel, you can bet I'll be dedicating an extra hour right before the meeting!
3) Use organizational tools.
For me, a calendar and action lists work best. I have three action lists right now: personal life, work, and Burning Man. I organize each of these into phone calls, online tasks, errands and things I can do anywhere.
I also use a mind map – a graphic "tree" representation – to maintain a general overview of all the activities in my life at a glance. They match up to folders and subfolders on my computer, where all the details live.
4) Stay accessible.
I finally succumbed and bought a smartphone, granting me Internet access anywhere there's a phone signal. I still prefer to compose email and documents on my laptop, but I bought a light, powerful one that travels well.
In addition, I pay $27 a year for peace of mind in the form of Carbonite, which automatically backs up all of the files on my computer every time I log on to the Internet. No computer crash, virus, spilled coffee or stolen bag need trouble me again! At some point, I expect to upload everything to the Cloud, making my life truly portable so long as the Internet exists.
Looking forward to hearing your tips! Email me at ria@riamegnin.com.
