Freelance Writing and Child Rearing: Can the Two Worlds Combine?

As a young mother with two active boys under the age of six, I was always on the hunt for a great career opportunity that would not only let me work from home, but also give me personal fulfillment. I scoured the internet and came across quite a few prospects, many that seemed too good to be true. As I came to find out, most of them were too good to be true and the legitimate jobs, such as clerical workers and telemarketing, had fierce competition. I then found a website that was specifically for work-at-home mothers and clicked on one of the topics entitled "WAHM's Who Write". As I read through the posts, it suddenly hit me; THIS is what I was supposed to be doing! I have always loved to write, but never had the opportunity to turn my passion into a career with any kind of profitability. That was two months ago and I haven't looked back since.

Of course, with this realization came the question of how I was going to balance my home life with my newfound career choice. Most days it is difficult, at best, carving out time to take a shower, let alone to try and establish myself as the next novelist, but it can be done. First and foremost, you must budget your time wisely and adhere to a schedule. Sounds mundane, but if you tell yourself that you are going to work on your writing for three hours a day, then you must do it. This may require you to work two hours in the morning and one at night, or vice versa, but as long as you keep the time requirement then you will be more productive. While your baby is napping or your older child is at school is the perfect time to try and get some quality work done, but you may have to rearrange your schedule depending on what is going on in your particular household.

Aside from the writing that you are doing, you must also devote time to actually looking for freelance opportunities. There are many websites that I visit daily in order to find jobs that match my particular skills. But as I have found out, you have to respond to the job postings quickly or another lucky freelancer will beat you to the punch. Searching for jobs is actually half of my workday and takes up a substantial amount of my time. So much so on some days that it is hard to fit in any time devoted to writing, but as I am getting the hang of the freelancing life, I am learning to budget my time more wisely.

As a freelancer, it is very important to be able to carve out chunks of time in order to complete your work. This is why a beginning freelance writer and parent should not feel guilty about having their parents, grandparents or trusted friends watch their children for a few hours. This way you can devote yourself completely to the task at hand without interruption. Of course, it is probably not a feasible task to have your children babysat every day, but once a week would be a good option. This will allow you ample time to organize your workload, write articles and search for new freelance jobs.

Being a parent is an extremely hard job that requires an inordinate amount of time and energy. Choosing to be a freelance writer is also a difficult job that also requires you to devote a significant amount of time. Merging these two worlds may seem like it is a hard task, but if you organize your time, devote yourself to your craft and take advantage of any help that you are offered then you will soon be able to reap the fruits of your labor and enjoy tremendous success in your field.