Working On My 2022 Writing Goals

It’s now so close to the end of 2021 and I still haven’t finished sorting out my writing goals for next year.

But I have been looking at all the things I do in a day/week/month, including sleeping, eating, and time with family. And all this certainly takes up most of my time.

I looked at my list and thought that many people work 40 hours a week and still do all this stuff so where am I going wrong, because according to my calculations, I only have 13 hours of writing time a week. That’s less than most people’s part-time working hours.

I gave it more thought and realised that no matter how I try and divide my time, every day is different. Some days I only write for a couple of hours, and other days I write all day. It seems to depend on how much I have to do and what mood I’m in.

And when I worked it out, I sit and write far more than 13 hours a week. But if that’s so, then how do I still fit in all the other stuff?

And even more confusing, if I now live in a small apartment so that I don’ have a lot to do then how come I have so much to do?

My poor little monkey mind could not figure this out. I’m no math genius, but these numbers just aren’t adding up.

So instead, I’m going to take a run at it from a different angle and look at what I actually do every day, hour by hour, and how much time it takes me. But I’m sure I already know, because it’s what I do every day. Now I’m really confused.

I’ve also been looking at what I want to write, and I already have so many ideas already, probably more than I can do in a year.

Or maybe I should push myself to do it all anyway? I’ll let you know how it goes.

I hope your writing plans are coming together too, and that 2022 will be your most profitable writing year ever.

30+ Freelance Writing Markets to Keep You Busy Over Christmas

If you're anything like me, you find holiday times great for getting more writing done. Everything is closed so there is nothing to do but stay home and write (or go to the park, or the beach, or anywhere else outdoors to write if it's hot where you are, like it is where I live).

So here is a list of over 30 freelance writing markets that you can use for inspiration, writing practice, or to actually submit to and earn money.

Some of these markets pay up to $600 so it's worth taking a look through them.

Enjoy.

Eerie River Publishing

Looking for short, dark, nightmare-inducing horror stories with the theme of 'earth' for upcoming anthology.

Submission open Feb 1 2022

Word count: 1,500 - 7,000 words 

Payment: 1 cent cad per word

No reprints

Closing Date: Feb 28 2022

One submission per author per quarter

Other upcoming themes: Fire, Air, Water.

https://www.eerieriverpublishing.com/open-submission

22 Publications on Religion and Spirituality

A list of nearly two dozen religious and spiritual publications that pay freelance writers.

List includes websites, literary journals and magazines, paying up to $500 for freelance pieces.

https://thewritelife.com/faith-based-publications-that-pay/

10 Fiction Markets

List of high-paying fiction markets with open submission windows.

Payment: $70 to $600 for Short Stories

https://www.freedomwithwriting.com/freedom/uncategorized/10-fiction-markets-paying-70-to-600-for-short-stories/

After Dinner Conversation Magazine

Philosophy Ethics Short Stories

Any genre, and from any perspective. But it must spur discussions and require the reader to expand their mind.

Word Count: 

Children’s Stories:  Under 1,500 words

Young Adult:  Under 3,500 words

Adult:  1,500-7,500 words

Payment: 1cent/word. $30 Max

https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/submissions

How My Own Advice Saved Me

 In my life, I’m quite the minimalist and live my life differently to most people. And what I love about my life, is that I’m not needy of money or company or social interaction.

I’m quite content to stay at home and write, and avoid socialising. Just recently some acquaintances were insisting that my husband and I go out for a meal with them and we REALLY didn’t want to. He’s  like me when it comes to socialising. Thankfully we managed to dissuade them without hurting their feelings.

I’m also quite the stockpiler when it comes to food. I buy things when they’re on special at the supermarket if it’s something we normally eat, or something we use like washing powder. I also keep a financial fund of 2-years income stashed away and never touched unless there’s an emergency like I’m too injured or ill to work, or there’s some other emergency that goes on for a while.

I used to think that I’d never need to touch that money because I couldn’t imagine a time when I’d need it, but it still gives me peace of mind to know it’s there.

But in 2020, when this whole “pandemic” situation happened and is still happening, my stockpile meant that I didn’t have to worry about “lockdowns” because we already had enough supplies to last (including toilet paper) so we didn’t even need to shop for weeks.

And I’m still hearing stories about people losing their jobs and wondering how to survive without their income. And I knew that if they’d had a stockpile and a financial fund in place, and a mission to go home to (like my writing mission),they’d be able to weather whatever happened.

I wrote all about these things in my book, Mission Critical For Life : How to Start Living Life on Your Own Terms.

If only more people had read it.

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCFL.html

A 10-Hour Writing Day

I previously told you about how I’d been re-reading one of my favourite books on productivity called, How to Have a 48 Hour Day, and in this book it says to work 10 hours a day, which I began to do.

I get up at 6am every day, even weekends, so from 6am to 4pm I make sure I’m productive - not busy.

At first I thought it would be difficult, but it isn’t at all. Some days I have to juggle things around, so if I decide to go to the beach for a couple of hours (I live at the coast) I make up the time later on, or I take some reading material that I want to catch up on, or take a notebook and do some writing or brainstorming.

Before I began the 10-hour day experiment, I was a quitter. As soon as something seemed too hard or too tedious, I’d quit. But now, I take a short 5 minute break and then carry on, no matter how much I feel like I don’t want to keep doing what I’m doing.

And the surprising thing is, once I sit down and get back to writing, it’s not that hard at all to keep going. It also works for other chores around the house, even cleaning the car isn’t hard once I add it to my daily to-do list, and then do it no matter what.

This is great for getting more writing done and for everything else I do.  It’s like having a deadline. I can’t stop working so it forces me to get as much done as I can. When I’m writing I force myself to stay in my chair, and soon I’m back in the ‘zone’ and getting plenty done. And it’s such a great feeling.

I also limit my online time to 30 minutes during my 10 hours, and use my writing computer for most of the time and only switch computers later to upload things.

10-hour days are actually easy to do and surprisingly fun.

https://amzn.to/2YbtGyw