I love the work that I do as a writer and blogger for businesses. I think it allows me the chance to research many different interesting topics while working from the comfort of my own home. However, I also sometimes feel like I need a break.

You see, I don’t know if I want to be a full-time writer forever. Sometimes I think I do. Sometimes I think I’d like to write part-time and then do something else part-time (consulting, art, something else). On rare occasions, I think I’d like to do something else altogether.

The problem is that I can’t seem to figure out exactly what I want when I have to work all day every day. I feel like I need the space of not writing to just breathe into. In that space, I hope to hear myself echo back to me what it is that I specifically want to do with my writing.

So I’m planning for a sabbatical. I want to take a year off of writing professionally in order to just engage in some deep self-reflection. I won’t be doing this anytime soon. My goal is to write full-time for at least three more years. I’m working on some new writing goals to accomplish during that time. But then I want a full year sabbatical to just figure things out.

I think sabbaticals are important. They give you the chance to get to know yourself again. You can assess what you’re doing and how to do it better. Why don’t more people take them?

Yesterday I wrote about child prodigies (and specifically the case of Sufiah Yusof, a child prodigy in math who went on to become a prostitute). There are child prodigies in many different walks of life from music to sports. One area of this that I find to be really interesting is the child prodigies of literature.

There have been many different child authors throughout history. In ancient times, many of these were kids who wrote poetry or diaries but then died at a young age and the work was published post-humously in a sort of “what could have been” look at where their literary careers may have gone if they had lived into adulthood.

In modern times, child authors are a bit more complex. These are typically kids who write a book (often with the help of a parent or grandparent) and who then get picked up by a publisher as a result of a parent or guardian’s persistence. The children then get marketed widely and are adored by the public because they’ve written a published book before they’ve reached adulthood.

What do you make of these kids? Are they really literary prodigies or are they simply smart kids who got their fifteen minutes of fame for their writing because their parents wanted them to and the market supported them in that?

I definitely think that these kids should be admired. It’s tough to sit down and write a book at any age. If they’re writing stories instead of playing with their friends and watching TV then they’re exercising their natural sense of artistic expression and I think that’s terrific. But I’m not sure that these kids are really prodigies per se.

I just finished penning a post over at Real Words about how difficult it can sometimes be to figure out how to work time for personal creative writing projects into your work day when you’re already a full time writer. This got me thinking about the bigger issue of time management for writers and freelancers.

People often think that I have a cushy job which allows me to work from home kind of puttering around and playing on my computer. While it is true that I have a cushy job that lets me work from home on my computer, the reality is that I do anything but putter around. In fact, I’m fairly certain that I put in far more hours of actual work time than do my counterparts in cubicles who have coffee breaks and time to surf the web for reasons that aren’t related to work.

As a freelance web writer, I am always online and every single minute that I spend online is related to my work. Even when I’m just on one of my social networking sites, I’m usually promoting some of my writing or connecting with other web writers or otherwise doing something that’s somewhat related to my writing work. Sometimes I really can’t even tell when my work day ends and the rest of my life begins. It just kind of blends.

For the most part, I like this blending. But there are days when I feel like I’m always at work. It helps to take full days off each week and to make one of those days a computer-free day. This allows me downtime to actually just be with myself and to think about where my time goes and where I want it to go in the week to come. I think freelance writers are always struggling a bit with their time and time management. What do you think?

One of the things that you have to incorporate into your daily schedule when you work as a freelancer is the time to look for new freelance work. Although it’s a good idea to build up a set of steady clients so that you’re essentially working as a remote employee for just a few businesses, it is equally important to make sure that you’re continuously putting yourself out there to get new (and perhaps better) freelance jobs.

There are a few things that I’ve learned about finding work as a freelance writer that make the process of doing this simpler for me:

• It needs to be something that I do every day. This helps me stay abreast of the job opportunities that are out there so that I can apply to all of the ones that seem right for me.
• It should be done at the same time every day. That’s because it becomes part of a habitual schedule so you don’t have to think about when you’re going to fit it in. It’s just what you do every day like answer emails or update your social networking sites.
• It’s important to know where to look. I have a post up today listing ten places to look for freelance writing job leads for those people who are also working in this same industry.
• My resume must be kept up to date. As a freelancer, I usually rely on a web portfolio to show off my work but there are many potential clients who want a resume so it’s important to update mine regularly.
• The more you look, the better you get at looking. I can typically just glance at an ad now and easily tell whether it’s worth pursuing, whether or not to put a lot of effort into the application or if it’s a scam. Practice makes perfect so they say.

What have you learned about finding work as a freelancer? Any good tips or advice to share?

I love being surrounded by other smart people who are also into writing. There are tons of places that you can find these people, of course, including coffee shops and book clubs. However, I think that the best place to go to get yourself in touch with smart writers is any kind of event where writers are reading their works.

I’m a big fan of literary events. Be it an open mic night at a local cafe or a big regional poetry slam at a large warehouse venue or a small book signing and reading at the indie bookstore, I think these things are a great chance to hear writing and meet writers.

Usually I end up feeling inspired just by attending one of these events. There’s something about meeting other people who are also doing writing for a living (or hobby) that makes you feel supported in the work that you yourself are doing as a writer.

And I find that going to these types of things doesn’t just inspire my writing. It inspires how I feel about life. I feel better about people in general after being around a lot of smart, creative, literary people in a group like this. Don’t you?!

You know what I think is one of the smartest things that you can do for yourself emotionally? Learn to find support when you need it. We all need people to support our choices and decisions and actions so that we can feel confident in what we’re doing. Finding the right people to support each different aspect of our lives can be hard but learning to do it can make the difference between a tough life and a much easier one.

One of the areas of life that we need support in is our work. Another, for many of us, is our creativity. And for those of us who do freelance work such as freelance writing, those two things often go hand-in-hand. Our creative selves and our money-making selves are all tied up in one and there can be a lot of conflict around that. To be strong enough to resolve that conflict, we need support.

The smart freelance writer will figure out where to get that support. They will realize that it can come in many different forms and from many different people from the support of people who read what we write to the support of people who pay us for our work. Making sure that we know where it’s coming from and that we get enough of it can be one of the smartest things we do for our careers!

I believe that it’s important for every single person who does freelance work to be intelligent. Specifically, it is important for freelancers to develop their knowledge in all areas of business and marketing. Those people who are good at a creative craft like (writing or graphic design) but who don’t develop their smarts in business aren’t going to make it long in their freelance careers. But those who do develop both their creativity and their business sense can have long-lasting creative careers that are fulfilling both emotionally and financially.

One of the things that freelancers have to figure out in terms of their business is how to set the rates for their work. Some of this is depended by the market but a lot of it really depends upon your own ability as a freelancer to do some research, set some goals and work towards making the kind of income that you want to make while doing what you love. You can learn more about my recent thoughts on this from my post on Figuring Out Your Writing Rates which includes links to some other smart blogs on the same topic.