This is a featured guest post entry by Leah Gonzalez for the Freelance Writers Academy Blog Carnival for August 2013. Please welcome her and tell us what you think by posting your comments below. Thank you Leah Gonzalez for this great entry!

I’ve been a freelance writer for only over a year and so far the best and worst part of being one all boils down to one thing–TIME.

I worked in a corporate office for almost eight years before I jumped ship and became a freelance writer. For close to eight years I was at the mercy of a set work schedule. Well, my actual schedule was 8 to 6, but since I worked in consultancy and my load depended on the projects we worked on, my work schedule ran anywhere from the expected 8 to 6 to 8 to 8-ish, 9-ish or even later than that, and that was fine. It was the norm in the firm and in the industry.

Then I became a freelance writer. Suddenly, I had control over my time, my schedule. I could choose when to work and when not to work. At first I had a terrible time managing all my projects. I would wake up late, do all sorts of other things, and then start working later in the day. Most times I ended up working until the wee hours of the morning and sometimes even during weekends. I thought to myself, it wasn’t a big deal since I didn’t need to get up early and go to an office anymore anyway.

Eventually, I learned that I had to set my own schedule. I divided my days into chunks and ‘scheduled’ in when I would surf the net for fun, when I would work on paying jobs and when I would practice my writing by doing things for my blog like come up with possible topics, create draft posts, and schedule posts. I used to make detailed and time-based daily to-do lists but I always strayed from them so I chucked them after a few weeks. I don’t have it written down but now I have a semblance of a schedule that I follow every day. I also don’t work on weekends anymore.

Being a freelance writer means you hold your own time in your hands. For me that’s the best thing about being a freelance writer because you can plan out your schedule the way you want and you can work only when you want to work. You can devote time to income-generating writing and you can also set aside time for personal writing.

However, having control over your own time can also be the worst thing about being a freelance writer because mismanaging your time can have some serious consequences. Missed deadlines or delayed submissions can have a negative impact on your reputation as a freelance writer and that can potentially affect your ability to get more work. How you manage your time is a big factor to your success as a freelance worker.

For me, deciding to become a freelance writer was not only for the love of writing, but to also have more time to devote to people and things I love. It’s certainly interesting that I find TIME to be the greatest benefit and challenge when it comes to being a freelancer.

Leah Gonzalez (http://www.leahgonzalez.com) is a freelance writer and blogger from Manila. She writes for @PSFK (http://www.twitter.com/psfk) and also works as an assistant for an author design and marketing team. Connect with Leah on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/leahgonz).

This is a featured guest post entry by A. Carina Barry for the Freelance Writers Academy Blog Carnival for August 2013. Please welcome her and tell us what you think by posting your comments below. Thank you A. Carina Barry for this great entry!

You want to know why you want to learn to be a writer, a freelance writer at that? Why you should study hard and listen to your language teacher really, really carefully? Ohhhh, let me tell you!

1. The hours are great! You write when you want to write. You have an appointment at noon? No problem. You like to stay up late to work? No problem. You need to take the weekend off to plan a graduation party? NO PROBLEM! You don’t have to beg some unsympathetic manager of a retail chain for time off; you can just take it. The flip side is, no one will be on your back forcing you to work. You have to crack your own whip over your head to make the work move forward. But if you have the self-discipline, or the need to pay bills and eat, I think you will find the power within yourself to do it.

2. No one is on your back. There’s no boss telling you how pitiful your performance is (no, reviewers do not count), no slack-a-rific coworker shunting chunks of their work onto your plate. There are no grumpy customers to appease nor horrific mounds of flesh trying to squeeze into something labeled juicy that you can’t ever un-see. Nope, the only horrific visions you will see are what ones you come up with for your characters. Well, that and any mistakes you make hunting up tidbits of research on the internet. Libraries are sometimes a bit safer depending on the topic you need.

3. Amazing and varied stimulation for your brain on a daily basis. Out there, you have to do the same repetitive thing over and over. Even at a prestigious job, it still happens, there is a repeated rhythm to your pitches or discussions or the dreaded “do you want fries with that”. This leads to mental stagnation, which is medically bad for your brain in the long run. But after a long day at work, all you want to do is unwind, not find the equivalent of electrodes to stimulate your brain. Writing is the answer. You will be looking up boxing moves one minute and how to make French onion soup the next. You will get better at geography as your characters go jet-setting and discover the joys of Google Maps and Google Earth. Your brain will be actively engaged in CREATING all the time and the research will make you seem even more knowledgeable and erudite when you see people at parties because this stuff will be fresh in your head instead of buried in the dark recesses.

4. You will have time for yourself. Well, obviously, there is the hours alone with you, your computer or notebook, and the dreaded white page. But I’m talking about how everyone wants to exercise, but who has the time? Or everyone wants to eat better, but there’s never enough time to cook. Writers rely on their brains and to have your brain function well, you will find yourself eating better and exercising more. Yeah, you are still going to be bad some of the time, but eventually, you are going to realize you have to do this stuff because thrombosis is bad and it is hard to write when you have heartburn from eating another chili dog or chili-mac dinner. And suddenly, your friends will be all envious of you.

5. Your friends will be envious of you. Put a quarter in a jar every time you get asked what you do, and you say “I’m a freelance writer” and hear, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to write” or “I’ve had this great idea for a story”. Deep down, everyone admires the ability to create novels, plays, poetry, and movie scripts. Technical manuals, not as much, but they will still think it is better than their job. It comes with prestige! Never mind that you probably spent the day in your pajamas drinking soda and giggling softly to yourself as you figured out how to kill off another character. As long as you remember how to dress up well for a party, you are golden.

6. Writers enjoy nifty perks. Signing bonuses, royalties, requests to appear at conventions and speak or to SIGN AUTOGRAPHS! Yes, YOU will be someone that OTHER people want the AUTOGRAPH of!! You! Yeah, you may have to practice coming up with one that is fast and smooth without being an x, because if you get popular, you sign a lot of books. People will drive miles to see you. Yeah, some days no one shows up, but that’s every job. Trust me, you want to be a freelance writer! It’s the best job in the world!

A. Carina Barry is an eclectic writer that covers the gamut from horror to romance, from birth to death. She figures that if you can master the two biggest events in life, the rest will fall into place.