Career Advice

How Freelancers Can Make the Most of Holiday Downtime

By Charlie Kasov December 8th, 2014

While most full-timers will be stuck in the office through the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas, many freelancers find themselves with lighter workloads. As everyone puts on fisherman’s sweaters and prepares for trips to islands, the publishing world slows down during the last few weeks of the year. Tempting as it may be to spend the entire day on Instagram slamming the like button on every Santa hat-wearing-pet photo from the comfort of your bed/office, here are some ways to extract some unconventional productivity out of those lonely days off.

Winter cleaning

Whomever came up with the term spring cleaning was definitely not a freelancer. In the midst of paying our taxes and frenetically saving for summer vacations that our salaried significant others can budget for effortlessly, spring is always hectic. I’m lucky to clean myself then, let alone my surroundings.

However, with frigid weather likely keeping you indoors and publishers getting ready to reduce their output, December is usually the best time to take on major cleaning and home improvement tasks. You can sort through the stacks of assorted papers that commandeered your desk, go through the 2,378 unread messages in your email inbox, and hell, you might even find that expensive roll of wrapping paper in the back of your closet.

Work on your “reach” pitch

Established freelancers are probably comfortable writing in several different voices by now, but it’s possible none of those voices include the one you actually want to use. If you’re like me, the more hats you wear in a day, the more stressed out you get thinking about writing in your “real” voice.

Rather than letting your brain treat your dream as a pipe dream, try walling off a block of time around the holidays to draft pitches for the publications you’ve always wanted to write for. If you’re feeling especially motivated, flesh out your favorite pitch into a completed spec article.

That idea can be terrifying, especially since many freelancers don’t want to put in effort for a pitch that might not get accepted, but if you have the time, you could uncover new details or angles on the page that can strengthen the original pitch.

Yes, go to the dentist

Oh c’mon, you know you’ve been putting this off. Whether because you’ve had too many deadlines to meet or are afraid to hear the phrases “We need to drill” and “That’ll be $700” in neighboring sentences, you’ve eluded the dentist’s office for way more than the recommended six months.

It might take a few calls to find a dentist who’s not on holiday vacation, but squeezing in appointments during a lull may make the experience a bit less painful, since you won’t be using up precious time from a standard workday.

Binge-watch as much TV as possible

If you’re the type who’s terrified of an entire day with nothing scheduled, you could probably use a day of decadent relaxation, and nothing says decadent relaxation like binge-watching. Try making this deal with yourself: Starting two weeks before your day off, watch an episode of TV for every project you complete. That way, you’ll feel super accomplished, super-relaxed, and more likely to dominate family gatherings with gems like, “This turkey is drier than Tyrion Lannister’s banter!”

Dent that novel

Know what the most annoying type of old man is? The one who’s been telling you about the novel he’s planning to write ever since he was in third grade. He’s been planning to write it since well before you were born, but no matter how much he talks about it, he never actually writes it.

My point is, don’t become that old man. Most freelancers have at least one Big Daunting Project—a novel, screenplay, graphic novel, diorama of the concept of philosophical truth—they obsess over without actually making any progress.

Give yourself an ultimatum. For example:

“On December 23, I, (insert your name here), shall spit out 20 pages’ worth of the artistic masterpiece that’s been swimming around my head for (insert number of years here). I will not stop to edit even a single typo until I am finished. I will leave my Internet unplugged, my (insert pet here) unfed, and my smartphone at a friend’s place. I will not become the old man who blathers about his un-begun work, stopping only to ask about any publishing contacts his listener may have. I will begin this work, knowing full well that it might make me able to finish it… one day.”

Image by HORST RECKMANN
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