First of all, due credit should go to my other half for suggesting that title!

This week has been a lot lighter in terms of writing work for me.  It’s been of my own choice however; I have some articles and blog posts lined up for various clients so I am still busy.  But I also have plenty more time to myself – hence I am not writing as much as I do normally.

Why is this?  Well we have our annual holiday coming up on the 26th of this month – to beautiful Cornwall in the West Country – and I like to wind down so the last week before heading off isn’t a mad panic trying to finish off all the work that is due!

Are you making the most of some unexpected free time to help your writing career - or improve your tan?

So this morning I had a lie in (something of a rarity for me) and then headed out after breakfast for a 2 hour bike ride.  In gale force winds.  It looked fine when I left home but we have a bike trail very near us which runs along an estuary – hence it can be a lot windier there than it is anywhere else.

Once I was home it was time to start work for the day.  My actual client work took about 3 hours today, which has given me some free time to do other things.  And that is where the title comes in.

It would have been so easy to finish that client work, check my emails and then sign off for the day.  But having some free time is a great opportunity to write for ME instead.  So this is what I have been doing today apart from my client work.  I thought it would give you an insight into what you can do when you have the time…

1. Writing some blog posts.  I am aiming to pre-write some more posts so that even when I am on holiday you will have some fresh content to look forward to.  This is my first one of the day – but I have also written one for tomorrow because I shall be away from my desk all day and not back until late.
2. Writing some more articles for the 100 Articles in 100 Days Ezine Articles Writing Challenge.  I am just a couple behind schedule as I write this; and tomorrow’s blog post will reveal how I’ve been doing lately.  It will also reveal the nice surprise I had in the post this morning!
3. Writing some new articles to load onto Constant Content.  And I must have got some good karma flowing from somewhere because I have sold four articles in as many days, as well as picking up a potential new client for some regular monthly work through the site.
4. I have also written a list of things I can do while I am away from my desk tomorrow.  Twice a week we look after a home brew shop for a few hours; it’s done for love and we don’t get paid for it, but we can still work from there as we take our laptops with us.  The internet connection can be a bit dicey at times, but it usually does the trick.  It does require that I am prepared to take some stuff with me though, so any paperwork or notes I need are sorted out on a Wednesday evening in readiness for the next day.

I have also done some web surfing and that turned up a potential source of writing work for the future as well.  It’s too early to say whether it will all pan out, but if I hadn’t taken the time to surf I would never have found that lead.

Oh, and I have also read a couple of writing ezines that I subscribe to – one of which was about making money from blogging.  Very insightful and once again it has given me some ideas for the future.

So that was my writing day today – and as you can see it was filled with a lot more than just writing.  It also proves that slower days when you aren’t as busy can fuel the days ahead, provided you make the most of them.

Time off is wonderful, but if you know this would normally be a full writing day and you have finished by lunchtime, take advantage of it.  Write some articles to sell under your own name.  Write a blog post.  Find some new sources of work.  Start that eBook you have been threatening to write for ages.

But make sure you make the most of it.

I’ve had a nice couple of weeks thanks to Constant Content!  Now I’ll admit I haven’t had the time to write any new articles for the site for a while (although I have got at least five sitting on my desktop waiting to be tweaked and then submitted.  That’s just gone on my list of things to do!), so my sales there have understandably gone down a bit.

That is, until about two weeks ago.  I’ve got my account with CC set to email me if I make a sale, and I suddenly started getting offers for a few articles, as well as a few random sales.  That was nice – and I think I accepted all the offers and they all sold as well.

Some worthwhile advice regarding usage rights

Oh, and here’s a good tip while I think of it – if you use Constant Content to sell your articles on, it’s nice to accept any offer for an article where the buyer wants USAGE RIGHTS.  This basically means they can publish the article once and that’s it.  You still own the rights to it and the article stays on the Constant Content site, ready and waiting for someone else to buy it too.  I’ve got quite a few articles that have sold two, three or even four times now like that.

Sell your articles for $$ at Constant Content

It just means you can make an extra few dollars for no work, and you can still sell your article to other people.  Why turn down a sale like this?  It’s different if you are selling unique or full rights, because you won’t be able to sell that article again.  Don’t price yourself too low on articles like that.  I will probably post more articles on my blog on the subject of writing for Constant Content, because I’ve earned well into four figures on there now over the past couple of years.  It hasn’t been a full time venture either.

A nice increase in article sales

But anyway, back to those sales.  It struck me as bizarre that after some quiet months, which were due to me not having put any fresh material on there, I suddenly started selling all kinds of things.  And they weren’t all on one seasonal subject either, so that didn’t explain it.  It was just one of those nice times you sometimes get as a writer!

So needless to say I will now be digging out those few articles I have sitting around that need to be submitted, in the hope that I can make a few more sales.  My work for my various clients has taken over from writing articles for Constant Content a bit lately, but I’m hoping to squeeze in some time to add some more in the near future.

Maybe you want to give it a try too if you haven’t already?  Just visit Constant Content and you’ll be able to get started in just a few minutes.  Let me know what you think of it!  And good luck with those sales.