I haven’t been posting as much as I would like because I managed to get freelance gig with Hand/Eye Magazine. I’ve been pretty busy with editing and writing articles, mailings, and brainstorming how to increase our traffic and subscriptions. On a scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11 job. It was exactly what I was looking for!

Yesterday, my second bylined article appeared in the online issue. It’s about a male quilting bee that meets twice a year in Woodstock. I first learned about the group last year via my friend Jeff Rutherford’s FaceBook page. I always thought it would make an interesting story, and when Keith Recker, the publisher and editor of Hand/Eye, told me we were doing a “Guy” issue, I thought about these quilters and pitched him the idea. He told me to go for it, and I did.

You can read all about these very creative men by clicking on QuiltGuys.

Now that I’ve committed myself to write a daily blog post, I have to come up with topics. So far, it hasn’t been too hard since it’s only 6 days into 2010, but what will I write, say, by the end of the month or by day 345? This same question also applies to freelance writing. What do I want to write?

A few years ago I met up with a friend who was having job woes and wanted to quit. She wanted to write, but what topics? So we took a sheet a paper and listed all her interests for possible article ideas.

And here I am in the same boat. There are numerous subjects that intrigue me, but what can I say differently that has a fresh hook that will grab an editor’s attention? I suppose that’s the $1 million question all new freelancers ask.

My project for tomorrow is a library visit and flip through all the magazines that interest me (I like all the health and fitness pubs) and read the most recent articles. I suspect I’ll be looking at numerous variations of the same topic, and honestly, I don’t know how many times you can write Lose 20 pounds by Valentine’s Day and make it different, but every year you see some derivative of that same idea.

You know, fiction is much easier. You make up a scene in your head and then you run with it.

Speaking of which, I have to fix a scene in Julius.

Now that I no longer have any PR clients, tomorrow marks the first official business day of my new freelance writing career. It’s time that I keep a strict work schedule. But wait, I have so many things that I want to accomplish this year that I fear there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.

I know I can eliminate the time-wasters like the incessant email and FaceBook checking, Twitter, sleeping in, and overall putzing around. My concern is that writing projects like Julius, reviews for Alvah’s Books, and this blog can easily consume an entire day. How much time should I dedicate to each one? With Julius when the inspiration comes, I can spend several hours writing. Does it make sense to schedule a time—either very early in the morning or late in the evening? And this blog, my goal is to write a post daily. Sometimes it doesn’t take me too long and other times, well, you see my musings run on the longish side (by the way, short stories not my forte).  

I’ve put out the question of time management to my fellow writers on the Internet Writing Workshop and so far the response has been sticking to a schedule and determining priorities.

Hmm…I guess I’m going to have some long days this year.

I hadn’t realized that today is December 30th until I started paying some overdue bills. Somehow my head was stuck that it was December 28th and I still had loads of time to do some projects. Um, I don’t think so on that count.

Therefore today’s post is what I hope 2010 will promise in terms of this new writing career.  Back in mid-August, I wrote that I wanted to complete a bunch of goals by, uh, tomorrow.

As gung-ho as I felt about reaching those goals when I wrote that post, I realize now that they were unrealistic to complete in four and one-half months, especially finishing  a novel that needs numerous changes and finding an agent. 

The one goal that did come through–quitting PR–did materialize and I’m thankful for the way it happened. The programs for the year ended and I had a graceful out, and I’m happy with that because I choose not to be in this profession any longer.

I admit I’m nervous, but I know I can pull it off. It’s going to take an aggressive attitude–more so than when I was working in PR. I have to come up with fresh story ideas, query and pitch them, and write. Of course I have other goals as well. They include making Alvah’s Books a better book review site and offer more articles other than reviews; complete my ESL certificate; bone up on my French; learn Photoshop (I have a coffee table book in mind), and of course, finish Julius and get it published.

As for this blog, my goal is to post daily. I’ve discovered that every day I write about my writing trials and tribulations, I spend more time working on Julius. Now that I have an audience, a small one, but, nevertheless a select group of readers,  I feel accountable to them and I’ll write here everyday, to let you all know of my progress and what I’ve learned. I’m sure that a lot of what I will write has been written before in other writers’ blogs, but, maybe, I might bring up a new point of view.

Of course I can’t predict the future, but with a lot of smart planning, goal setting, and not getting (too) distracted 2010 promises to be the year my writing career successfully takes off.