This post by Carol Tice originally appeared on Make A Living Writing.
Many writers tell me they wish they could find even one client. But today, I want to talk about the other side of the coin.
Once you get rolling in freelance writing and word starts getting around about your talents, you can quickly find yourself overbooked, overworked, and exhausted.
I recently had a chat with freelance writer Alyssa Ast about this on my Facebook chat — she was getting overloaded, and her personal passion writing projects were sitting idle. She’s got a passel of young kids to care for, too.
And she was nearing her breaking point.
A tale of overwork
Here’s Alyssa’s story:
“Basically, things have taken off, which has left me working 16 hour days — and I don’t know how much longer I can keep it up.
“I’ve cut all of the small fish and narrowed it down to three well-paying clients– two full-time contracts and a part-time one. I don’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket [and cut down to one client], as the main breadwinner. We NEED my income.
“I refuse to outsource, because I don’t trust anyone to produce the quality I expect or my clients expect. I thought cutting out the small clients would help more than it has. I’ve scheduled everything out to a T, but as soon as I start to get my head above water, I get slammed again.
“How can I keep my sanity without losing my income? I am open to just about anything at this point.”
This is a good problem to have — you’re in demand! But we all need a personal life, too, and some downtime.
How can you turn this around and stop being an overworked freelancer? Here are my tips:
Read the full post, which includes specific tips for coping with burnout, on Make A Living Writing.