Thursday, August 27, 2009

Writers, Bloggers and Their Priorities

Someone whose work I respect, and for whom I’ve done solid work for, said to me last Friday that she has creative writing work, and asked if I had the capacity to do some of it.

My instinctive response was “ABSOLUTELY! Where do we sign?”[ja, I know I should look at the fine print, but her contracts have always been fair].

Anyhoo, the challenge is that I’ve just started work on KWANDA [a community make-over TV show which I think is very exciting and I’m grateful for the opportunity!] and I’ve been doing some hectic online marketing for current projects.

So I had to say that honestly, for now I can’t take on more work but will let her know about future possibilities.

Later it struck me that I desperately need to evaluate the way I work; take out time-sucking tasks that do not make/break my career/projects I’m contracted for, so I can free up time for her and other creative writing projects that could come my way. Cos she’s real good at what she does and working with her would be good for my overall development and I want to do stuff that stretches me creatively.

So, my question to you as a writer and blogger is this: do you sometimes feel like you spend too much time on stuff that “experts” tell you is necessary for your writing/blogging business, rather than doing things that you really want to do? If so, what are you doing about it/are you going to do about it?

P.S. I’d especially like to hear from people who’ve mentioned to me at some stage that they would like to become writers/write fulltime etc.

2 comments:

Tamara said...

I have the opposite problem - I have so much on the go in terms of work that I don't get around to doing the things the experts say I should do (which I know I need to do) like getting a website sorted out and doing a bit of marketing.

I rely solely on word of mouth and so far it's worked.

But I'd love to be at a point where I can pick and choose what projects to take and not feel like I HAVE to do everything that comes my way.

Damaria Senne said...

I prefer word of mouth most, because you don't have to sell yourself or your services to the client. They know they'd like to consider using you, and you just need to show them why you'd also be suitable for their needs. and sometimes it's even a done deal before you meet; you just need to negotiate terms:-)

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