May

Should you put your own writing first?

I am writing this blog post at 10.14pm.

Do you get overwhelmed when you think about writing for yourself? (photo credit to nkzs at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/nkzs)

I have completed all my other work for the day and taken some time off in between those jobs as well.

And now I feel able to get a few moments in to contribute to my own blog – but only now all my other work is completed.

The thing is, by the time I actually sit down to write a blog post it practically writes itself. Not literally obviously – although sometimes I wish that were true. No, what I mean is that I have already thought through the topic and planned everything out in my head. By the time I have got it all down on paper (or in this case, on my screen) everything is sorted and it takes minimal editing to bring it to the stage of getting published.

And I think this method of writing causes a problem at times.

I mean, look at today – it’s well into the evening and getting towards my bed time and I am only just now writing a blog post. Is this the best method for doing things, or am I putting my own work behind that of my clients?

I give my client work a very high priority and this is as it should be – after all, they bring in a good income for me. But this doesn’t mean I shouldn’t set aside any time for my own writing either. And if truth be told, if I could sit down and get on with writing a blog post (or an article to promote one of my own sites, or any similar task) before starting my client work for the day, it wouldn’t take long to do it. No more than half an hour or so at most, I should think.

So I may give this method of writing a try.

After all, by the time I get to the end of my working day it is all too easy to think, oh I’m tired, I’ll quit now and get on with writing that blog post tomorrow. But this doesn’t get me to where I want to be. It doesn’t result in any advancement towards some of my personal goals.

Watch this space – I may just be back soon to start writing about my progress with putting a tiny bit of myself first….