Photo by danie;.

Ever have one of those days when you can’t seem to write anything?

This is especially disheartening to the freelancer, since no work done means no billable hours. Here’s a personal account of an approach that I started using about seven years ago that really helped with my writing productivity — though it’s adaptable to other types of cerebral freelance work.

It started in Jan 2002, after an offline contract ended. I took a vacation to pursue personal short fiction writing projects. My intent was to make the best of three months, before going out to look for more offline work. (Which didn’t actually happen, as I landed a non-fiction book contract, and then life happened and diverted all my plans.) The net result of three months of productivity was the outlining of 100 short stories and novelettes outlined and sixty completed — or about twenty per month.

The Approach

While this was fiction and was not paid work, I successfully adapted the approach to a non-fiction book, producing 400+ pages in about four months. Here is the ritual I used:

1. Plan.
   Before retiring for the night, outline on paper the work you’ll have to do the next day. Don’t overplan, just paint your tasks in broad strokes.
2. Start early.
   Try to start your writing day well before 11 am. I’ve found that writing 1,000+ words by 11 am or earlier resulted in 3-5,000 words of fiction daily - that’s the equivalent of about 6-10 pages of a paperback novel-sized book. On rarer days, the tally was 10-12,000 words, when I mixed fiction and non-fiction.
3. Leverage.
   Take advantage of your most productive and creative days. For me, even years after my last regular “day” job, Friday evenings through Sunday nights seem to be both my most productive and most creative days, though Wednesdays and Thursdays are sometimes good. Mondays are almost never productive writing-wise, often because a lot of online friends want social votes on Mondays.
4. Take a break.
   I tested a theory many times over the years, both intentionally and unwittingly: spending 12-16 straight hours in cerebral work, with minimal breaks, is usually less productive than spending a few initial hours in the morning, taking a break away from your work environment, then returning to work for a few more hours. So, eight hours of work sometimes produces more work than sixteen hours. However, until I could measure this in terms of daily word count, it was hard to understand the truth of this in any type of cerebral work, not just writing.

   During my intended three-month personal break, I sometimes made a weekday my weekend. For an afternoon break, I’d take in a movie or two, listen to conversations in public places, then return in the evening to complete some work. This was a productive approach provided that I completed some work in the morning. The change of environment, as well as actually enjoying the freedom you want from freelancing in the first place relaxes your mind, which is ideal for writing, design, coding and probably other types of freelancing. That you can take in a movie at mid-afternoon is like taking a mini-vacation.

For all those night owls like myself who are balking at #2, recent research says that you can reset your personal clock by not eating for the 12-16 hours before the time you want to wake on the next day. So if you want to wake at 9 am tomorrow, don’t eat after 9 pm today, maybe earlier.

I’m a chronic night owl of several decades, and I was surprised to find how accurately this seems to work. Though if you habitually sleep late and indulge in midnight snacks, forget about it.

What About Non-Fiction Work?

While the ritual above worked well for me when writing fiction, and sometimes for coding, I’ve also found it works well for non-fiction writing. I find that despite the mid-day breaks, I did not lose the flow of productivity. Quite the contrary.

Since rediscovering this approach to creative productivity, I’ve been attempting to apply it to freelance blogging. However, since theater-going is my preferred mini-vacation, and since the town I live in currently does not have mid-week afternoon shows, I’ve been searching for alternate break activities that relax my mind and don’t cost a lot. (As crazy as it sounds, building random structures with Magnetix 3D building blocks has been immensely therapeutic and creativity-inducing.)

The Productivity Tips

Now for the productivity tips to go with the above ritual (you’ll have to adapt them to your type of freelancing):

1. Seed ideas.
   When you start your work day, if you don’t wake with words (or code or designs) in your head — like I sometimes do — put them there. Review your day’s work tasks. Start with some favorite creativity exercises. For writing, I’ve used Jason Rekulak’s “The Writer’s Block,” which is shaped like a cube. I’ve also used Naomi Epel’s “The Observation Deck”, which includes an exercise book and a deck of cards with writing productivity exercises on them.)
2. Don’t read until after work.
   OK, that’s extreme. Don’t start your work day by reading or looking at other people’s work. (Leave research for later in the day. Your words are the focus.)
3. Write.
   Start the day by writing 500-1000 words about anything. It can be absolute gibberish, your private plans for the next three years, a recounting of a happy event, the dialog from an episode of your favorite TV cartoon, or even your very positive and glowing self-obituary about what a fantastic freelancer and humanitarian everyone thinks you are. Whatever you do, have fun. (If you write about angsty or negative topics, you set a bad mood for the rest of your work day.)
4. Get to work.
   When you’ve completed your writing exercises (hopefully before 11 am), your creative juices should be flowing. Tackle one of your day’s tasks. It doesn’t have to be the easiest — whichever you feel like doing first, unless you’re under deadline.
5. Take short breaks.
   Break-taking is repeated in this list because it’s so important to sustaining creativity and productivity. Short breaks throughout the workday are just as important as a big afternoon break.

Final Thoughts

The general principle is that you’re putting yourself into the mindset of being creative and productive, as well as rewarding yourself. The result is a very different type of workday than a straight 9-5, 8-4, 10-6, or whatever. It might not be for everyone, but if your personal life is conducive to it, a split work day with the break in the middle can be very productive for some types of freelancing work.

Do you follow an unusual work schedule? What do you do to get around those non-productive days?