What did I do last weekend? (Technically, two weekends ago.) I sat by the pool watching my family swim. I finished Catching Fire. (Four out of five stars.) I cheered on the Dallas Mavericks as I watched the parade on TV in the comfort of my own home. I discovered the newest shows on Broadway while enjoying familiar ones. (Yes, it meant watching the Mavericks and the Tony Awards at the same time.) I worked on the blog. I did article research.

I confess those last two are work-related. That doesn’t happen often — just when I have deadlines to meet or a lot on my plate. The blog has been around for so long and has gone through many changes that it has a few problems. I’ve tried working on the problems last week, but it took longer than expected taking up too much business time.

But it wasn’t always like that. I used to work in the evenings and one day on the weekends. I’d work on my laptop outside of my office where I could get more comfortable and be with my family. Some of these activities weren’t for clients, but for marketing and networking.

Despite connecting with some great folks, most of these activities didn’t pay. While I value getting to know others, I value my family first.

Aha Moment

I caught the final episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show including one with memorable insight from author Toni Morrison that hit me. She described an incident when her young son came to her with a drawing while she worked. “Oh, that’s nice,” she said.

He ripped the drawing.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

Apparently, the look on her face was less than thrilled with the interruption. -Gulp- I’m guilty of that. After hearing that story, I worked to change that and my son’s attitude became more positive. But I still need to keep practicing as I’m not batting a thousand.

Stopping the Insanity

I have four walls and a door to draw the line between my office and my home. Even with solid walls, the line between the two lives still blurs. Writers, freelancers and solo-preneurs can’t always draw a line between home and work to keep out the disruptions.

They can set rules. They can change their attitudes. They can dump activities that aren’t working.

I must’ve done something right. On the occasional Saturday or Sunday, my son asks, “Are you working?” or “Why are you in your office?”

Over to you: Do you work in the evenings and the weekends? How do you draw the line between business and home? If you could have it your way, what would you do? How can you make that happen?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

One thing about working for myself — no worries about April Fool’s pranks. But I do have kids and one in particular likes to pull stuff. Full alert! Here are some great April Fool’s office pranks [Link: Marc Harty] — fun ‘n safe. #37 cracked me up. What’s your favorite April Fool’s prank?

Legoland Discovery Center rocked. It blew away this adult who has seen many incredible creations. See a taste of MINILAND in the below Dallas skyline picture. That’s only part of it. It also had famous buildings from Fort Worth, my hometown.

A lot of GREAT stuff this week… so go explore.

Brain food…

• On writing: authors reveal the secrets of their craft:  Love Ian Rankin’s response to writer routines. “I have days when I do*bleep* all. I sit down at a computer, nothing’s coming, I’m having to tear each word out, it’s like digging for coal, and I’ll go: ‘No, this isn’t working,’ and I’ll just walk away.”  [Link: Kristin Bair O'Keeffe]
• The last freelance resource article that you will EVER have to read: Nice round up of apps and programs ranging from invoicing and legal to client management and project management.
• Champing at the bit: That’s not a typo. It’s champing, not chomping. [Link: Amber Naslund]
• Work Life Balance in the Home Office: I wear the same thing daily, so the clue to my kids that I’m at work is sitting in my office. It works so well that on a Saturday, my son asked, “Why are you working?” [Link: Alan K'necht]
• Freelance writing jobs: Top 10 places to find quality work: So many awful sites out there — good list to have as starting point.
• The secret to freelance work/life balance isn’t so secret: I’ve created a schedule and that makes a big difference to sticking with things. Need to grow “cheer team” to include writers.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• The Last Supper: 17 of the Best Parody Illustrations: Love the iPod / iPhone picture.
• 10 Real Cars Inspired by Cartoons: Donald Duck car = thinking of my dad. (He talked Donald Duckish to kids and his family spoiled him with a ton of Donald Duck stuff.)
• Cover Tune Grab Bag – “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”: This Beatles song is one of the few I can follow. This simple yet powerful video made me smile all over. [Link: Mark Hurst]
• Noma Bar’s Negative Space Illustrations: You’ve probably seen the young woman / vase picture. Here’s more. Neat, but my eyes have readjusting to do. [Link: Fred Schlegel]
• 3eanuts, Cinema Nutrition and WikiBomb: Three of the websites featured in 7 Sites You Should Be Wasting Time on Right Now. Who knew Peanuts could fall deeper into despair? Just cut the last panel in 3eanuts and it does. You’ll never look at movies the same way again after studying up on your cinema nutrition. Wikibomb captures Wikipedia pages before they’re taken down. In other words, Wikipedia vandalism vandalism.
• The Writing Process: Graph depicting the process of writing a feature. Just needs a ::headbang:: in there somewhere. What? You haven’t noticed a lot of writers walk around with dents on their foreheads? At least, I do [Link: Mridu Khullar]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

I took my first break in ages — that didn’t include an illness or a holiday — for a few days last week for spring break. We went to San Marcos and San Antonio and visited Wonderworld, Sea World, and the Riverwalk. Wonderworld contains a dry cave created by an earthquak on the Balcones Fault Zone over 35 million years ago. The web site’s tour information only documents part of its fascinating history.

Though we took a laptop and our smartphones, I rarely checked e-mail (!!!) and returned to over 1000 messages. Of course, spam made up the bulk of the messages. So I downloaded my email and went to work elsewhere while the email client filtered the garbage. Much better.

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Unfortunately, Google Mail went bonkers. Once in a while, GMail sends spam into the inbox instead of the spam and trash folders. It decided to do that while I wasn’t checking e-mail. This created more clean up work.

Several clients went on an emailing binge (it happens, and that’s OK). Rather than making the client wait for me to wade through the messages to get up to speed on the conversations — I sent the client a quick e-mail saying I’ve returned and would address the messages as I work through them. I suggested that if something needs top priority — to let me know.

The steps for catching up quickly…

1. Download e-mail in your primary e-mail client. Let its experienced filters do the cleaning up. Skip any temptation to use the cell phone or another non-primary e-mail client to catch up on email or else you’re stuck looking at a lot of unfiltered stuff and it takes longer to do this than on your primary e-mail client.
2. Scan e-mail quickly filing or deleting newsletters and regular e-mails you only read when you’re caught up or work is slower than usual. Newsletters I subscribe to fall into two categories: Always read/scan (shortest list) and sometimes read/scan (these either get filed or deleted). When returning from a break, I don’t read or scan the “sometimes.”
3. Reply to quick e-mails. Some e-mails may just involve answering a few questions or doing a quick task. Do them and then file/delete the e-mail. This further cleans the e-mail clutter and makes you feel better because your inbox shrinks.
4. Complete bite-sized tasks for each project or client. On the first day back at work, I did bite-sized work for my regular clients rather than only complete work for one or two clients. It’s a way to get something done and touch base with all of them without feeling overwhelmed. Plus, checking off the tasks as completed gives you a sense of accomplishment. I also skipped blogging.
5. Skip administrative work. No balancing the checkbook or doing other business maintenance activities. Those can wait until you settle back in your routine unless you returned on tax day.
6. Skip personal tasks. I have a birthday party to plan, but I skipped personal stuff on the first day back at work (this could be a problem for those who wait until the last minute).
7. Limit meetings and appointments. I had a prior commitment on the first day back that couldn’t couldn’t be avoided, but I sacrificed a non-profit organization meeting today.

Though I still have plenty of work to do, I feel better knowing I’ve touched base with my regular clients and cleaned my inbox.

I have a few clients in which the engagements are open-ended. This means helping them with their ongoing content work. As a result, it’s easy to let something drag on without completing it.

For example, a client may ask me to revise the Help documentation and write entries for blogs. Rather than just letting it sit, I prioritize them for the sake of motivating me.

Furthermore, freelancing offers a way for many of us to lead balanced and happy lives. Spend more time with kids, hobbies, volunteer work, whathaveyou.

1. Split Project into Small Tasks
Help documentation can easily take weeks. So I work with the client to split the Help into sections. Completing bite-sized tasks works faster than working on a giant project without any breakdowns. For blogging — set up an agreement with the client on the number of posts per week.

2. Set Rules for Your Own Activities
Having trouble updating your blog because of client work? Struggling to make marketing a regular activity? I used to blog five days a week, which became too much in recent months.

So I shoot for two to three a week. It’s not like readers don’t have other things to read. Two or three posts a week won’t hurt because the blog stays updated without overwhelming readers. Remember, blogging also counts as a marketing tool.

Marketing activities — one way to do it is set aside 10 to 30 minutes a day or some other time that works for you. I’m lucky to have a full plate, but I know things can disappear or take a long time before they materialize. So by the time I set up something with a new client, another project will have ended.

3. Allow One Hour of Non-Work Time Per Day
Exercise? Volunteering? Other things you wish you had more time for since you already eat lunch while you work? It’s OK to take one hour per day (with OCCASIONAL exceptions) to do something away from work. So what if something takes two hours (I have three doctor’s appointments this week — I guess I’ll do some work this weekend)? You’ll make it up the next day by taking a shorter break.

4. Schedule Work Time around Regular Activities
You could even calculate your work for the week WHILE considering the time you spend on exercise or another regular activity. For instance, I play on a tennis team that practices and plays matches during the week day (Saturday league won’t work due to kids’ weekend games).

Tennis triples as exercise, social interaction, and hobby (my love for playing sports). After all, isn’t freelancing about flexibility? It allows me to enjoy a well-balanced life. Sure, you’ll have some weeks where you only work 30 hours and others where you work 60. I believe it evens out in the long-run.

5. Make a Habit out of Regular Tasks
When it comes to a certain time of year, do you crave a specific food? I noticed that mint-flavored things usually appear everywhere in the winter and go away by spring. Is there an unwritten rule that we can’t eat mint-flavored food other times of the year? No, but we tend to associate them with winter and cold.

A regular schedule for tasks and activities helps you keep going at it. You can’t help but start the day reading e-mails, writing a blog entry, or however you want to start your day. On days I blog, it’s the first work thing I do. The first thing I do every morning is drink a cuppa Joe, read the newspaper (the print kind), and do the Sudoku puzzle in the newspaper.