When you’re building a freelance writing business, there is so much to do.

Some days your muse shows and you’re inspired to write, other days… not so much. It’s only you and the blinking cursor.

Finding the inspiration for writing can be difficult, for some great ideas you can read my article here.

The good news is when you’re building a business there are so many other things to get done. You can still be productive even if you don’t feel like writing.  

[ctt template=”8″ link=”gab0c” via=”no” ]Do one thing every day that propels you toward reaching your goal. [/ctt]

Read

If you’ve done any amount of research on writing, there is no doubt you have come across Stephen King’s advice for writer’s. His advice was to “read a lot to write a lot.”  If you’re a writer, it only makes sense to study your craft. Who knows? You may even find some inspiration in the pages.

Organize

When you’re learning something new, chances are you accumulated a lot of information. You probably have 16 tabs open on your phone, multiple Facebook page saves, assorted pdf’s, the list goes on. ( I’m not speaking from personal experience or anything). The bottom line is you probably have a lot of information in so many places that it ends up being useless. You won’t know where to find what you’re looking for when you’re looking for it. If you find that you have a day where you don’t want to write, take that opportunity to organize your resources. For example, get all those pitch lists into one organized spreadsheet.

Website housekeeping

If you have a website for your business (which you should) and you blog, you know the to-do list is endless. When you’re not motivated to write take care of some of your website housekeeping. Take photos, go back and optimize old posts, add your latest clips to your portfolio. There’s never a lack of things to do for your website.

Take a free course

If you find you’re not in the mood to write, how about learning something new? I discovered Udemy, not so long ago and it looks like a great resource. You can take courses in writing, marketing, and SEO for example.

Listen to a podcast/watch a Ted talk

Listening to a podcast or watching a Ted talk kinda goes along with taking a course and learning something new. If you choose the right ones you can learn a lot from the successful people who have done this before you.

Work on your social media/ Networking

So whether you want to promote your freelance business or build your platform for the book you plan to write, social media is so important. It’s how you get your name out there, in front of the gatekeepers. It’s how you can potentially find opportunities and your audience. When you’re not in the mood to write, social media marketing should probably be at the top of your list.

Build Your Pinterest Account 

Pinterest is a marketing resource that definitely does not bear fruit overnight. It takes time to build an engaged following. But make no mistake, putting in the work now can pay dividends down the line. When it comes time to generate website traffic to build your audience or when it comes time to market your book, this is a great resource to have in place.

So when you find you have days where you don’t feel like writing, you don’t have to feel unproductive. There are many other things you can do to keep things moving forward.