How Much Of An Impact Has Your Personal Life Had On Your Freelance Writing Career?

By Dan Smith

I’ve been sat here for a while now, thinking of different topics to write about for the blog post this week.

Generally speaking, ideas flow pretty freely for me. I might spend a few minutes contemplating the angle on which to tackle a subject, but I more often than not have an idea or two in my mind of the subject for the blog post.

It might be because I’m laid up in bed with man flu — again — but I think it’s largely due to the fact that I took my Better Half to New York for her birthday just after Christmas and whilst we were there, I asked her to marry me.

Thankfully, she said yes and we had a great time in New York. We’ve been a few times before and it never loses any of its magic.

At the time, I didn’t think anything had changed — sure, we were all loved up and it was great to walk around knowing we were engaged and not just boyfriend and girlfriend, but I didn’t feel any different in any other respect.

It was towards the end of the holiday, whilst we were waiting for the car to take us to the airport and then when we were sat in JFK, that I started to think. Not about anything in particular, although my mind soon drifted to work.

Maybe it’s because I’m now engaged and it’s a long — long — term commitment or because things now seem a little certain in terms of the direction we’re headed as a couple, but my whole working outlook has shifted.

All throughout 2010, simply put, I worked my ass off. From this time 12 months ago up until 24 December 2010, I worked 70 hours a week. Some weeks it might have been less, others it was more, but on average, I was at the computer for at least 10 hours a day.

For those of you who read my post ‘What’s Your Plan For 2011?’, you’ll know that one of my primary goals for this year was to stop working 70 hour weeks.

What I’m now thinking, however, is that not only do I want to stop working 70 hour weeks, but I want to pull my working week right back — not just to 50 hours, but to 40, 30 or if I can organise it so it worked out, right back to 20 hours a week.

I love work and I’ve actually struggled to stay away from my computer for the last few weeks over Christmas and whilst I’ve been away on holiday.

The thing is, I’ve realised that work isn’t the be all and end all.

That doesn’t mean that I want to stop writing. I love writing and I genuinely enjoy it, but as I said in my post ‘What’s Your Plan For 2011?’, I want to explore other opportunities this year.

Some will no doubt mean I can’t meet my goal of working less than 70 hours a week, but I’m hoping that others will allow me to spend more time with my fiancé (it still feels a little strange saying that) and enjoy life in general.

I want to work and I’ve always said I’d like to work to some degree right up until I’m on my death bed, but what’s the point of putting in dozens of hours each week if you never get the chance to enjoy the benefits?

Getting engaged might just mean to some that the future between two people is now a little more cemented, but for me it has meant something different and it’s opened my eyes to exactly what I want from life and what I need to do to live the lifestyle I want.

I might be using this post as a type of therapy, as it’s allowed me to put down my thoughts from the past few weeks, but I really am interested to hear from other writers who’ve had something happen in their personal life that’s had an impact on their writing career.

Image: anhngocvu (Flickr)