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).