How to Find Your Writing Muse And Keep It

             Freelancers' motivation to finally sit down, place the tips of your fingers upon the keyboard and type away varies in nature and degrees of success. Some lead this type of occupation because they choose freelancing instead of working 9-5 in a crowded and far-distanced office, others cannot imagine their lives without pouring words onto the paper (a Microsoft Word document, to be precise) or have their own indescribable driving factors for it. However, regardless of the motives, each one of the freelancers has to find and keep their writing muse for the sake of a skillfully completed project – first of all; and for the sake of not feeling lonely and desperate when sitting in front of the computer and attempting for a project – last, but far not least.

             Writing muse is a very unstable creature. It may come when you are least ready for it, and suddenly leave right when everything is going way too smoothly. The message which is being passed here is a simple fact that a freelancer, a person who has abandoned mundane routine of being trapped in an office and adopted to the rapid pace of social changes, needs not to rely on their writing muse solely.

             Undoubtedly, muse, inspiration, aspiration, passion, ambition or whatever other word for the indication of a lifted inner spirit which helps you finish off a project timely and nicely comes to your mind, is important. Finding it, keeping it, nurturing opts for success, however, let us be honest – this is not a sole key to success. So, the soil in which you plant a feeble sprout of a future muse has to be fertilized with your own set of fundamental skills needed for successful freelancing: writing skills, wise time-management and pleasant working environment – whatever the domain you are working in.

Good luck and may your muse stay always by your side! 😊

6 Important Skills You Can Acquire With the Help of Freelancing

Freelancing – especially academic writing – is not only about using your writing skills in the best way possible. It can actually help you acquire some important skills to come in handy during your daily activities apart from your freelance occupation.

 1) Time-management – people all over the world pay for time-management classes, attend trainings and basically spend their precious time learning the mysterious science of controlling the time and being productive which, in the long run, can as well prove to be a mere waste of time :) But look – you are practicing your time-management skills every time you get the project done on time!

2) Research skills – it takes a great deal of talent and continuously obtained experience to narrow down your research and sift through megabytes and pages of information to find just what you need, and you can only get lucky enough to stumble upon the correct web/book page just so many times.

3) Self-control

4) Self-discipline

5) Motivation

- Speaking about the three aforementioned skills within the realms of freelancing, you cannot and will not finish the assigned project on time if you do not restrict yourself from some procrastionational callings while working, do not take the responsibility for the uninviting prospects of failing the plan the client counts on, and, last but not least, scrape the words for the sake of the word count, not being motivated and interested in the subject of research.

6) Communication skills – working on a freelance basis does require quite a bit of communication. Though performed mainly online, it still develops your communication skills, as it is much harder to put the information in the typed words not being able to rely on non-verbal communication techniques: body language, intonation, gestures, etc.

The entire writing process, as you see, consists of constant self-improvement. Seize the opportunity to become better and better with every page, project and day!

A Few Tips For a Freelancer to MAKE Oneself GET BACK to WORK!

Vacations, Vacations, Vacations...

So sweet and precious word that rarely wants to let you go if you're self-employed 😓 But your bills still keep reminding you that you have to, so let's find a few ways to make this process the least painful and hard! 

Magic of Procrastination!

 

While freelancing allows for a flexible schedule and the possibility to control the workload on your own, which are definitely the perks of being self-employed 😉 ; the human factor can take its toll and motivate one to indulge into the world of procrastination. Yes, it can be refreshing and highly satisfying to let your hair down and take some time off; however, sooner or later the responsibilities will call to be handled, and this is when successful time-management becomes desperately needed.

 

Hmm... Time-management... Let's Start With "to-do list" Then!

One thing you can do not to waste the precious time and not to allow the harsh reality to break all over you once it’s finally time to go back to your duties is to write a to-do list for after the holidays (but do not throw it away or hide somewhere 😂). This way, you will be constantly reminded about the things left to be done and taken care of, which will enable you to distribute leisure and working activities without any harm to the affairs waiting to be coped with.

The Greatest Inspiration Is the Deadline!

Another thing you can do is to set strict deadlines and goals for your time off: for example, if you plan to stop working for a while and enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones, it is a great idea to set up the exact date when you are to be back to your duties. This way, you will make sure to enjoy your leisure to the fullest, and not postpone coming back to work again, which may reflect negatively on your performance and – of course – earnings. 

Also, you can set a goal to earn a certain amount within, say, two weeks after coming back to work – as to cover up your holiday spendings and get into the working schedule rightfully.

A Few More Words Left...

In the end, leisure can be also viewed as it is by Mortimer Adler: “Work is toil: what one does only to earn a living. If it gives pleasure, it is leisure.”

So, let's have a pleasant time and get to work according to the schedule! 😃

Name Your Weakness. I'll Call It Your Strength!

Is It Really Your Weakness?  

How often have you heard a saying “Nobody is perfect”? Probably, often enough for it to sink in and make you think that weaknesses is something inevitable to possess, and there is nothing wrong about going off the right track every once in a while. While it is a-double-edged-issue to discuss – mainly because the question of judgment remains open – since nearly all aspects of our life can be viewed from diametrically different perspectives, there is a positive thing about our weaknesses. They can be turned into strengths.

Acceptance Is Your Way to Success!

It may be deemed as an inclination to choose the easier way – while some people continuously try to eliminate their weaknesses, this post emphasizes that it is more beneficial to convert disadvantages into advantages. However, there undoubtedly is a very challenging point in this very attempt – acceptance. Accepting your weaknesses and embracing them can be difficult, especially for one with high self-esteem. However, it needs to be done – humanism, for one, suggests that an individual's behavior is connected to their inner feelings and self-concept. Apparently, a healthy, two-way link between how one behaves and what they actually have on their mind is something to strive for, particularly for one’s inner peace. 

Do You Want To Change Something? Start With the Following!

Thus, advice number one – write a list of your weaknesses. Number two – look at the written points and think how every of them has ever helped you – not putting “if any of them has ever helped you”, because all of them surely did. Number three – write the substituting names for your weaknesses which sound as strength, for example:

      ·     indecisive, shy – patient and reflective

      ·     stubborn – determined

      ·     disorganized – creative

      ·     impatient – passionate, inspired

I'm Not Afraid... Not Anymore!

      Do not be afraid of your weaknesses – not because everyone has them, but because they make you and complete you, and open you the way towards self-improvement, self-challenging and self-exploring. 

      I would be glad to know what YOU consider your weakness ;-) You are welcome to share your thoughts below! 

Let's Get Started... Can Writing Be Taught?

People Need Some Knowledge...

All around the world, at this very moment, people are being taught something – in schools, colleges, at tutor’s lessons, at a dinner table – in the academic sense. People receive new information, theoretical foundation for enriching their knowledge base, acquire new skills and become more “educated”, implying the fact those being taught perceive the information, interpret it and store in their minds for further use and implementation.

Is It Art or Science?

Writing, on the other side, along with some other disciplines deemed to have more from art than from science or academic innovations, has been viewed as something one can have an inborn talent to accomplish, not something one can master having compiled the heard advice, the received pointers, the necessary instructions and the explained techniques. Without a doubt, strict and straightforward guidelines, the ability to extract just the needed portion of information from numerous sources, blending it together with own interpretations and structuring the gathered content into a well-composed paper following all the rules of the English language might do the trick in terms of producing a piece of writing one can be positively graded for. After all, having all instructions and guidelines under one’s belt, it is hard to do something wrong, but can the writing be called a truly unique, nicely composed, innovative in its own manner and interesting to read piece of writing? Probably, not quite.

Is It Really The Gift That Matters?

Writing techniques can be taught, paper formats can be mastered, but having this natural ability to make the paper flow, to brushstroke through the blank canvas with words, ideas and thoughts and turn it into a masterpiece requires another kind of talent – not the gift to learn and gather information, but the gift to find the right words and enjoy the very process of writing.
 

I do enjoy it and I hope You will enjoy it as well! Share your own opinion upon the topic. I am so eager to read it :-)