When I first started writing on this platform I was haphazard and inconsistent but highly active…there was a flurry of posts when I first joined, believing this was going to be *the* platform that I fell - and stayed - in love with - after many false starts with the likes of TikTok, Threads and Mastodon. Of course as book projects happened, there were more flurries of excitement, and then, when that died down, there were promises made to subscribers (all free - I’m not ripping anyone off. Promise) that I would post weekly, then fortnightly then….
I had the best of intentions. I even created a spreadsheet from which to inspire and plan creative posts, thoughts, ideas…linked to things that were happening in my world and the world around me.
Didn’t work.
Then today, I wrote a LinkedIn post. Not the best time to write a LinkedIn post (a Sunday morning), but I just kind of blurted out what I was doing. There was no rhyme or reason to posting it at that moment. It was just that I found myself writing a psychopathic murder scene from my new work-in-progress novel, then picking up on some of my corporate copywriting work and realising that I was in some kind of creative zone. And I felt compelled to tell LinkedIn - because it made me realise something…
To do my best work I have to do it my way…
The two subjects and styles I was writing this morning are about as far removed from each other as they can be. But, for whatever reason - whether it was the bizarre nature of the fictional murder scene freeing up my creativity, or the fact that I was just in the mood to write at that moment in time - it got me thinking.
I simply cannot write to a timetable. I cannot post to LinkedIn at prescribed times either.
Don’t get me wrong, I always hit my deadlines (I’m a swot like that - just ask my agent) but the way I use my time in between those deadlines is never as planned.
I simply write when I feel like it.
This means that I work when I feel like it, too.
As a freelancer, I can. But I’m no slacker. I work at least full time hours. It’s just that, as I said on my LinkedIn post today, I might work a Sunday morning or late into a Friday evening, but on a Tuesday afternoon I might ditch the iPad for back to back EastEnders with a Mars ice-cream and a Diet Coke.
Sometimes, I just randomly fall asleep on the sofa with my three cats on a weekday afternoon.
I feel incredibly lucky that I can do this - work my time to suit my energy levels and creative bursts. But imagine if all workplaces enabled this kind of working?
I think since Covid many do, but if you heard that one of your team had a nap mid afternoon how would you feel about it? And if it was you - would you feel compelled to send a thousand emails at 3.17am to prove to your co-workers and boss that you were absolutely more than making up for it? It might be something that we try to practice more of, but I still think we’re stuck in the Mon-Fri, 9-5 realm much of the time.
Anyway, it’s 22.12 and that’s me done for today. I haven’t worked all day. Just when I’ve felt like it - with some sci-fi and crime drama in between, and a walk up a hill with another Lisa Jewell audiobook. But I’ve got a lot done. And I’ll probably lie in until 9:30 tomorrow - because I feel like doing that too.
As for my next Substack post - I honestly can’t say when that’ll land.
Love it - and bloody good for you! Inspiration can’t be timetabled and nor should it be!
Surely one of the perks of being self employed is that you get to pick your own schedule!
I’ve just started a new job in Comms working for a university, and was relieved to learn their thoughts were “work is something you do, not somewhere you go” meaning they’re super flexible on being in the office, and they don’t want people chained to a desk to show presenteeism.
I think the businesses who still insist on everyone sitting nicely at their desks, doing a 9-5 shift in the office are probably deterring some of the most creative, brilliant talent from joining their business!