I’m back for day three of the roofing process and I’ve got another quiet day ahead for my online writing. But here is the strange thing – my work seems to have fitted around the roofing job automatically. We only found out last Friday that the roof was being done this week, and yet the past three days have been very quiet as far as my writing was concerned. It’s ideal because I would have struggled to write consistently with all the noise and dust.

And yet today, an hour or so after finding out that they should be finished by the end of the day, I’ve had two more lots of work come in. This is basically two significant batches of articles that will fill up the rest of the week. Isn’t that strange? I was thinking I’d have to juggle clients and deadlines all week long, but it has all quite naturally and spookily slotted in almost without my assistance! I love it when things happen like that…

1504 – the roof is done! It looks very nice and is completely watertight, which let’s face it was what we were looking for most of all. I’ve got a lot of work done this morning as well, so it’s been a nice day. And we get to test it straightaway as no sooner had they finished than it started raining. Typical. But we can now have the Removing of the Buckets Ceremony in the office. Hurrah! We can finally work again without having to look up at the ceiling and wonder whether or not it will leak whenever the rain comes down.

Time to run the vacuum round I think…

Ok it’s 1738 and I’ve tidied round, vacuumed up all the dust and grit and had a bath. I just need to post this and write an article to promote the next website we’re going to launch and that’s it for the evening. Oh, and we’re having a glass of wine with dinner tonight to celebrate our new roof and the fact that we don’t need buckets and waterproof sheets in the office anymore! See you tomorrow.

It’s day two of the writing and roofing routine! It’s been okay working downstairs on the dining room table, although since we have open chimneys bits of dust and grit keep coming down every now and then. It’s okay once you get used to it.

I’ve got half a day’s worth of work to do today, but it’ll take the whole day to do it once the interruptions, banging and decision making are factored in. The fascias and soffits were rotten so we’ve had new ones installed and we’ve decided to get the gutters and drainpipes done all at the same time too. It’s easier in the end, and hopefully once the job is done that’ll be it for house renovations for the foreseeable future. We can finally remove the buckets and plastic sheeting from the office; we kept it there just in case we got another leak while we were waiting for the roof to be done. It could conceivably be finished tomorrow, so we’re hoping for the best.

Back to work now – I’m writing four short web pages at the moment, having completed a press release first thing this morning. I’ve had another couple of potential clients contact me through my client focused site, so my efforts to add more content to it seem to be working quite well. I’m aiming to ramp up the content and promote it more throughout the year, so it should lead to good overall results. I’m trying to get used to the fact that not everyone who asks for a quote will come back to have work done. I’ve got a pretty good success rate so far so hopefully I’ll keep it up.

I have to say though that by far the best method for getting new clients so far this year has been my client site. Thanks to the regular input from me, my traffic has quadrupled on most days compared to the tiny trickle I had before. Seeing such good results so early in my efforts is great, so I have high hopes of seeing even better results later on.

That’s nice considering this week has been closer to a week off than a work week at the moment. Mind you, I’d rather be quieter this week while we have the workmen here and busier next week than the other way around.

Right – it’s 1714 and I’m just finishing for the day. I’ve written a few articles plus two for our own site. This is the first site we’re establishing as an income stream; so far we’ve had lots of hits on it even though it isn’t any more than a holding page. This is one of our main aims for the year – to set up income streams of our own that use our main skills in writing and creating websites. Simple sites for sure, but no less effective for that. At least that’s the idea.

See you tomorrow!

… and the new one starts to go on. We were up at 7am so we were ready and able to move the car if need be when they turned up. I set up my laptop (not used in six weeks!) and did a slew of updates and scans while we were having breakfast. By the time the roofers arrived and we and the neighbours had all moved our cars, I was trying to get my first blog of the day done. There was no chance of working in the office; roof tiles being slid down the roof and into the skip was not the quietest working environment I’ve ever experienced! Jasper (the cat) was NOT impressed, but couldn’t go out because of odd bits of rubble coming off the roof.

Anyway it’s now 1310 and they’re really cracking on. I’ve managed to get odd bits and pieces done but luckily I had a feeling they’d be coming today so I didn’t book a lot of work in. The good thing about having a new roof is that they don’t need to come indoors, other than to bring their tea mugs back for a refill. They go up the scaffolding at the front and do everything from there – even the back of the roof. We got some cool pictures when the old one was off and the rafters were exposed. I might post some later if we get them off the camera and onto the computer.

1642 – well the roofers went about 45 minutes ago so we have peace and quiet until 0745 tomorrow morning. I felt quite nervous this morning before they turned up, and I had trouble concentrating on my work as the tiles started sliding off the roof. But the noise has been better since then – just the odd bit of banging and some dust upstairs which is really minimal. I’m so glad I’ve only got a few jobs to do today. It’s times like these that it is ideal being a freelance writer so I can work from home. I’ve brewed tea and coffee for the roofers in between writing articles and blogs, and I’m just about to finish for the day too. It’s a tad earlier than normal but we’ve still got eBay orders to pack up and send out tomorrow. Sixteen parcels that should have been done this morning, but with the clouds of dust and banging in the office it didn’t exactly make for the best environment to work in! What conditions can you work in? Do you require peace and quiet or can you carry on writing while you have building works going on?

We’ll find out how I do tomorrow as I’ll be back – and so will the roofers – for day two of the new roof saga.

Just a couple of hours work to fit in this morning before I can start my weekend. How much time do you allow yourself off if you work as a full time online writer? Freelance writing jobs can take up huge swathes of your day if you let them. I must admit I’ve taken a few years to find a reasonably good balance between work and play. It never pays to book yourself absolutely solid because if anything happens (like a gas leak for example ) you are stuck and running behind before you’ve even done anything.

We have family visiting today as it’s half term, so I get to see my nieces and nephew (and my sister). I’ll sleep well tonight no doubt as I’m cooking a roast dinner for 6 tonight. But having said that, I will also be fully recharged for Monday when I get back to work again. It’s no good working yourself to the bone and running your batteries down; you have to give yourself decent chunks of time off if you want to write to your best ability.

So to that end, I am off to enjoy a weekend of relaxation. Enjoy yours, and I will be back on Monday with more updates. It’s been a quiet week but a good one too. No jobs to report in terms of my Google Reader searches, but that’s not a problem. I’ll be back fresh with more job searches and online writing to do next week.

Another bitty day of work today, as my sister and kids are coming round tomorrow. Thus my partner and I have some housework to do as well as working. I’ll probably have one or two bits to do tomorrow morning before they arrive, and then I can enjoy three days off from writing before returning bright eyed and bushy tailed next Monday. You know, booking holidays and long weekends is a darn sight easier when you don’t have a boss to ask!

It’s been a busy and strange morning, as the roof tiles turned up for delivery first thing. Only thing was, we hadn’t chosen them yet. So he disappeared again pretty quickly! Looks like the house will be in a state of upheaval potentially next week though, so I have to try and gauge my workload and plan round all that going on. I have a feeling it could be rather noisy.

1410 – almost finished with work for the day. I have some bits still to do but I’m going to get on with the housework first. Plus I have a few short blogs to do tomorrow morning, but I might even get those done early today as well.

1651 – I seem to have lost my concentration for today, so I am quitting while I am ahead. I have a couple of bits left to do that I can do in the morning; the family doesn’t descend until lunchtime so it shouldn’t be a problem. Seriously, it’s often easier to build in extra time to write so if anything amiss happens or you just lose concentration, it doesn’t matter. I will probably write a post tomorrow to cover the last day in the week, then it’s back to normal on Monday.

Well we had a lovely evening last night and despite having had a glass or two of gorgeous White Cloud wine (from New Zealand, do try it if you’re a white wine lover!) I’m up and ready for work as usual this morning. Today’s work is split between articles and blogs; no larger projects to work on at the moment, such as eBooks for example. Mind you, I had a period of time the other week where I found myself working on two simultaneously, so perhaps I’ll get another two together very soon. Who knows? That’s the beauty of freelance writing jobs.

I haven’t put times of certain tasks today, because I’ve been steadily working through them during the day. I’ve just finished everything on my list to do for today, except for my own article for the latest website we have to publish. Normally I’ll do that kind of thing first (or at least early on in the day) but it just didn’t work out that way today. However it shouldn’t take too long to do so I’ll slot that in right after I publish this blog post.

It’s been a quiet week so far but it’s actually worked out really well because it’s given me time to achieve some personal writing goals. I’ve also got a long weekend coming up so I’ll be off over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so I’d lose a couple of working days there anyway. I’d rather be off during a quiet week and then get back into the swing of things next week.

I’ve been checking out my Google Reader feeds every lunchtime this week, but there’s been nothing of real interest there job wise. That’s quite normal – there can be huge swathes of time where no online writing jobs worth applying for will pop up. To be honest, I get far better results from simply Googling certain phrases to see what pops up. I’ve found an excellent new client as a result of doing just that so far this year, so I’m happy! Right – on with that article, then I’ve got a relaxing evening ahead of me. Enjoy!

0800 – yes I had a half hour lie in this morning, helped by the scaffolding keeping everything a bit darker than usual outside (not to mention the overcast and dull weather).

I’ve done some rearranging this week and it’s enabled me to get plenty of time off from client projects today. As a result I’m going to crack on with some more articles for our own websites; some of these articles are being written to promote our websites as well, so it will be nice to get ahead and devote pretty much a whole day to that. I’ve also got some housework to do, ahead of our weekend off. The more I get done now, the less I have to do later in the week (or so I keep reminding myself!).

1034 – I’m having a great blogging day today. I’ve already written a new post on my Allison Whitehead site (aimed at clients) and I have written another one scheduled to be published tomorrow. Now it’s time to nip out to get some fresh air and to do some chores.

1311 – chores done, lunch eaten and time to focus on some more personal writing goals. I’m a stickler for getting client work done but it is important to remember to make time for your own goals as well if you have any. I’ve completed an article to help promote one of our websites this morning, and I’m going to crack on with some more web pages this afternoon. I figure it’s best to get plenty of work done now while I have the time; then I am ahead for when it gets busy again (which it will!).

1538 – it’s turning into a really nice day. I’ve got some more client work slotted in for tomorrow, but today has been spent enjoying writing some articles for our own sites. I’m just updating my Squidoo lenses at the moment too; another job I don’t often get time for. I haven’t had time to get the housework done but I’m not too worried about that; it can always wait another day or two! My personal writing goals feel a lot more important today, and it’s been nice to get ahead on those. We have several sites set up to go live soon, and they all need content written for them.

Tomorrow it will be back to client work again, but tonight we are going to treat ourselves to a Chinese takeaway to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Whatever you are doing tonight, I hope you have a great time. I’ll be back tomorrow with more online writing and client work at the top of my list. See you then.

Hi all. If you’ve been following my 29 Days of Online Writing series in recent days, you’ll know that this time last week we got up to find we had a major gas leak. So, during probably the coldest week of the year so far (-8C on Friday night) we had no central heating and no hot water. I did say I may write a blog post Saturday just to update you, but things didn’t turn out that way…

So before I get on with my first day back at work this week, here’s a rundown of what happened on Saturday and Sunday. The gasman arrived on Saturday at 0930 to put the new pipe in through the old part of the house from the front room through to the dining room. Our house is around 200 years old and the kitchen and bathroom are part of a more modern extension to the back of the house. Everything we could see out there was copper piping, whereas the old house was iron gas pipes – VERY old! I soon got the feeling that I’d made the right decision not to have any work to do at all this weekend.

I was right. After relaying all that piping to find we still had a major gas leak, it was time to rip up the kitchen floor. We are in the process of doing up our whole house, but the kitchen is the one room that had already been done. And I stood there and watched as the floor came up.Very frustrating but also very necessary in this case.

Thankfully the leak was in the first part of the kitchen near the back door to the garden. That meant they didn’t have to start moving units. So at about 3pm they were able to test everything to find we no longer had a leak and we could put the heating on. Bliss!!!

The guys relayed all the floorboards and they were going to put the kitchen floor back down too. But we knew how long it had taken to do it originally so we said we’d do that as we knew what a pain it was to lay. So it has taken from 3pm Saturday until dinner time Sunday to relay the floor and get the house back to looking like normal again. Which is probably why my hands, knees and back all ache this morning. I slept like a log though, and I have a list of things to write this morning so I am about to start work. First on the list? Another web page for our next self published website. Oh, and this will be done while the scaffolding is going up at the front of the house. It’s never dull here!

0851 – the scaffolders have been outside for half an hour. I’m writing about bathrooms while drilling is going on; I guess they have to fix the scaffolding to the house somehow

0938 – first job done for today (a single straightforward article), and the scaffolding is up and complete. Surprising how dark the bedroom is now as a result. Right – back to work…

1143 – I’m thinking of having an early lunch at twelve-ish, since I’m getting peckish and I’ve got most of the Monday blogs done out of the way. One more easy one to do, then I can focus on articles for this afternoon.

1238 – Ah that’s better – lunch done and blogs done. Time to pop into town now to do some chores (and to admire the new scaffolding )

Update – scaffolding looks pretty good. Everyone in the street will know what we’re having done as there is a huge banner with the name of the roofing company on it attached to the front! I feel there could be some articles on the way, inspired by this whole experience.

1419 – it’s not been too busy today but I’m quite grateful for that to be honest. I’m still exhausted from the weekend; it was pretty stressful but also kneeling down redoing the kitchen floor and sorting out the carpet again has resulted in two nice red knees. A bit sore and achy but not too bad. Funny but it now seems hard to believe that this time last week we were shivering with no heating.

1759 – well I have come to the end of my articles to complete for today. It’s been a nice easy lead in to the week, but it should be a short one as we have family visiting on Friday (assuming the roof doesn’t get ripped off in the meantime). I’m off to cook dinner and have a nice relaxing evening to rest my still aching muscles after a hectic weekend. It’s funny how the writing week can fluctuate depending on how tired you happen to be. I might just treat myself to a lie in to recharge my batteries tomorrow…

Whoa – one third of the way through the month already! Today has been hectic already; I’ve got several deadlines on jobs that are due today, so I’m working with my head down to get all those done first.

1457 – here’s a little insight into how my day has gone so far. I had 8 jobs to do this morning; I now have 3 remaining. One of those is tiny (one short blog) and one of the others shouldn’t take long and is due today. So I’ll be tackling that next. How do you plan your day when you have different deadlines to meet? I find it easier to focus on deadline stuff first because then I have wiggle room for the rest of the day if I need it.

Whew! It’s now nearly 9pm and I am just about to finish. I managed to write another article for our website (one of them anyway – we have two on the go to create and go live at the moment) and I have just done one final push to finish my last bit of work for the day. It was either a case of finishing late tonight and getting the whole weekend off, or finishing early and then having to do some tomorrow. I wasn’t sure I’d get everything done tonight but I’m glad I got my head down and carried on. Kinda stopped for dinner but it was only a quick break. Now I can relax with my Kindle and read for a while…

We have the gas pipe to be fixed in the morning (fingers crossed) so I may just write a blog tomorrow to let you know how it goes. Otherwise I shall enjoy my weekend off and arrive back at my desk bright and early on Monday morning, ready to watch the scaffolding going up. It’s all go! I’m intrigued to see how I can work when the new roof goes on, with men climbing up ladders right outside my office window… Not sure the cat will be too impressed. He hates loud noises, banging and men he doesn’t like. Sounds like a recipe for disaster doesn’t it?

Have a fantastic weekend!

Morning all. I can’t believe it’s Thursday already. My writing week always seems to fly by so quickly. Normally I will find some time to look for new sources of work or new clients, but I haven’t done a lot of that this week. What with the gas leak at home and catching up on work after Monday’s upheaval, it seemed more practical to get on with the work I do have. There’s lots of it too – I have two short blog posts – 350 words each – to do now, and some longer articles to complete later. I also have a home page to write for the next site that my partner and I are going to put up. This is part of a new plan we have for 2012, so we can start earning some residual income from websites we create. We’ll see how they go. It’s very early days at the moment but I have a good feeling about it.

I was up at 7am this morning but I didn’t really get started writing until eight. That’s unusual for me – usually once I’m up I’m writing within about 15 minutes. It varies but I love the fact I can work like that. When I worked in a factory (this was while I was building up my online writing career in my spare time) I had to get up at 6am to get ready, get to work and start by 7.30am. Now I can get up an hour later at 7am and be working by 7.15! Don’t you love it? It’s one of the best parts of being an online writer, that’s for sure.

Anyway time to carry on – more blogging to come…

1355 – you couldn’t make this up. When I first thought about doing this daily blog post series I wondered if I would have enough to write about. But I just had a call from the scaffolding company to say the scaffolding for our new roof would be going up next Monday morning. Normally that means the roof is done within two weeks. And that will mean you get to have an insight into what it’s like to be working from home as an online writer while the old roof comes off the house . This could get very interesting… this will be a new experience for me and you!

1823 – slightly later finishing time today but not too bad. I just have to post this and I’m done for the day. A real mix of topics today (solar energy to archery equipment!) but nice and varied which is good. Hope you had a good day too – I’ll be back in the morning. And don’t forget you can catch up on my previous posts for 29 Days of Online Writing too.