Week 19 of Freelance Writing: Diary Entry #20
Running on goals and schedules, and not much else.
Especially on days when focus and discipline are lacking, a good schedule and solid goals are the only things that keep me on track. This week I really put that theory to the test.
You know how your brain sometimes checks out of a task and jumps around to a bunch of different ideas and it’s almost impossible to maintain focus? That’s how it’s been for the last two weeks straight, and I’m guessing next week won’t be any better. I have to fall back on the tools I know will work.
Here’s last week’s diary entry if you missed it:
My primary goal for this month is to finish the first draft of my novel. As of this week, I’m finally on track to do that, even though I’m sort of running out of time before my vacation at the end of May. As a result, a lot of scenes near the end of the novel are lacking detail, but right now it’s more important that I get the last few scenes down in writing. I’ll deal with adding detail in the second draft.
I worked on my novel every day this week instead of my usual Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On M, W, F I stuck with it for the full day and on the other days I switched to writing articles or working on other projects after lunch.
I’m still working on a few Medium articles that I plan to schedule to publish at various times throughout my vacation. I haven’t been prioritizing publishing on Medium this week in an effort to make larger strides on the other projects.
I’ve also been working on a passive income side hustle project designing planners, calendars, and other printable goods on Canva to sell in my Etsy shop. This is relatively new, so I’m going to work on it more over the next few months to build up a good “inventory”. Designing them has been a lot of fun, and I’ve found that it’s a nice way to unwind and be productive at the same time.
For next week, my goals are to finish my novel’s first draft and schedule 3–4 articles for publishing by the end of the week. I’m going to work on my novel every day in the morning, and then work on the articles in the afternoon.
If my goals and detailed schedule don’t help keep me focused next week, nothing will.
Good luck and have a great week!
If you enjoy reading articles like this and aren’t yet a Medium member, you can use this link to join. You’ll get unlimited access to every article on the platform. Your $5/month membership fee will help support me as a writer and every Medium contributor whose articles you read. By using my link, I’ll earn a small commission. Thank you! 🤗
