When people find out I freelance part-time, they usually ask, “What’s that like?” Since Nelson recently allowed us a look at his day, I thought I’d write about one of mine. So, here’s Sunday, May 18th.

Up at 9:30 after a nice 9-hour sleep. I value my sleep, so I don’t short it. After the usual shower and shave, it’s time to boot up the computer and see what hotmail has for me.

But I’m interrupted by a call. I tow cars as a part-time job and they want me to haul a ‘67 Oldsmobile Delta 88 across town. There goes my schedule. Before my writing day actually starts, I’m off track. But, an hour later I’m sitting at my desk again, looking over what I have to crank out.

Since I work evenings and weekends writing, my full days are Saturday and Sunday. Today, I hope to get a full eight hours of writing in. The first thing to finish is an article (700+ words) for a magic site. This is magic for entertainment, not voodoo. That job takes me through until noon, maybe an hour and a half.

The next thing on my list is an article on how to recruit people for MLM (multi-level marketing). I’ve already thought this one through, so the thousand words comes fairly smoothly and it’s done before 2 PM. My wife reminds me we are going to stop in at a pig-roast around 2:30 and I email the final version off as soon as I finish it.

I also send a ‘When do you think you can pay me?’ email letter to another client before we leave.

The pig-roast is for a guy who is down on his luck with health issues. I know him tangentially from towing, he is a mechanic I’ve run into. My wife and I spend an hour at the bar eating pork and chatting before it’s back home for more writing. I’m sitting down again around 4:00.

I write an entry for this blog, which takes a while and now it’s just after 5:00. Time for a little nap. I have become fond of naps as a way to rejuvinate and generally be lazy. I don’t watch much TV, because napping takes about the same amount of time and seems more rewarding.

Up again at 7PM. I’m ‘pre-writing’ two press releases. I’m not well versed at press releases, so this involves reading about the essentials from Robert Bly’s, The Copywriter’s Handbook and then trying to make them fit his framework. One press release is for an hourly job, and I bill a half-hour online at oDesk. The other is a barter job. I’ll do the press release in exchange for getting my name mentioned as the provider of writing services on the website. The guy is local, a friend of a friend. I suppose if his business takes off it may lead to more work.

Between the two press releases that takes me up to 10PM. I spend a little time reading the job boards at oDesk and elance and put in two applications. I’m due in at the tow shop around 9AM Monday, so I watch the news and flip around channel surfing until it’s off to bed at Midnight. Day over.

What didn’t get done? I said I would cut the front lawn. And there’s a light socket that needs rewiring in the kitchen. And I’m supposed to submit a chapter (that I haven’t written yet) for critique in my writer’s group. I thought I’d have time to at least block it out, but didn’t even think about it.

At the end of the day, I billed out $150, but that rolls some of Saturday’s work in, so I made about $85 for some 7 hours of work. That’s lower than I would like, but enough to sustain my writing business. Enough to keep doing it.

The only other thing I should mention is that this day, like every day spent writing, is unique. I don’t know what I’ll be doing next Saturday or Sunday. The only thing I know for sure is that I won’t be duplicating today. I don’t even know if I’ll have any work to do. Maybe I’ll be cutting the lawn.

And that’s just how I like it.

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