chris | word

It’s Monday. To most people that means heading back to work after a weekend that was too short during which they probably didn’t get to do what they really wanted to do and instead had to clean out the garage or (insert chore you’ve been avoiding for months here).

For me, however, Monday is pretty much just another day of the week.

Why do I say that? Well, I’m a person who works “freelance.” As in, I go from project to project, job to job, gig to gig and get paid for that gig. Once it’s over, I’m done and I move on. Or, hopefully the same people hire me again to do something else for them or, in some cases, more of the same.

I’m also a person who, if I don’t have someone paying me to do something right that moment (which happens, believe me), is probably doing something anyway. That means I pretty much work every day. I’m not complaining, mind you. I chose this way of life long ago and I’m sticking to it.

Monday, Friday, Thursday, Sunday, it doesn’t really matter. Chances are if I’m even marginally awake, I’m doing something. These days, most of that time is spent writing.

That doesn’t mean I’m sitting at the desktop or with the laptop pounding on the keys and actively writing a story, script, comic, blog post or whatever. To me, writing also encompasses all the stuff I do before and after the actual process of inputting the thing.

Outlining, breaking a story, thinking about characters, brainstorming, research, pre-writing, whatever. I don’t really have an “official” name for that time, I just lump it in with writing. That, in turn, I consider working.

I’ve heard a saying that goes something (or exactly) like this: “If you love what you do, you work every day of your life.”

Yep, that pretty much covers it.

Unless you use a different calendar than I do (which is possible, I guess) you know today is Sunday. This day is also known as my favorite day of the week. You know this if you read my earlier post on that very subject.

Seeing as this is my favorite day of the week, what am I going to do with it you may wonder? The short answer, for this week at least, is nothing.

I’m a big fan of doing nothing, at least once in awhile. With all that goes on during the days and weeks and months of work, deadlines and life in general, when you have a chance to just sit, watch mindless TV, read a book or comic or write blog posts, I say take it.

I don’t have all that much to do right at the moment, especially today. I have work that needs to be done and deadlines coming up, but right at this moment, today, they are not urgent. I also don’t have any pressing social engagements, things I have to do for Heather or any children to worry about (at least not yet) so none of that is vying for my time today either.

These times don’t come along all that often, but when they do, it’s wrong to just ignore them. Plus, doing nothing has a lot of benefits.

It helps you recharge and get ready for the days and weeks of work ahead. It also helps you unplug from the computer, social media and all that that entails.

And, it helps you discover and explore new things like books you haven’t gotten to, comics you needed to read, all those neglected episodes of Firefly on Netflix or The Wire on HBO Go or any number of other pursuits that seem to always get relegated to “someday soon” due to life’s relentless pressure to do something else.

So, with that in mind, I choose to seize this opportunity and do nothing. It won’t last long, but it doesn’t have to. The trick is just to enjoy it while you can.

Doing nothing is kinda like life that way.

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Two notes for those of you who’ve read this far down.

• Believer, my comic book project at Kickstarter, is doing pretty well after only a couple days. Check it out if you have a minute.

• I will not be going to CES this year for many reasons, but mostly because I just don’t really want to. I’m pretty sure if you asked most of the people at CES they would say they don’t want to be there either. Trust me, it’s not as fun as it seems.

I’ve often mentioned here that I seem to have my feet in two different worlds. There’s the world where I go forth and make money to buy the things I think I need, to pay my bills and to save for the child I don’t have yet’s college education.

There’s also the world where I fulfill my creative needs by writing or expressing myself in other ways. I also call this the “real work” world. If you’re a writer, you know what I’m talking about.

Most of the time those two worlds do not converge.

With 2011 winding down and with me being another year older (and presumably wiser), it’s occurred to me that I need to make those two worlds converge more frequently. In other words, how can I make more money doing that which creatively satisfies me?

I realize this is quite the dilemma for so early in the morning (I’m writing this at around 6AM Pacific time) but these are precisely the times when you tend to think about these types of weighty issues. I can’t help it, the thoughts just come to me and they need to be addressed — sleep or other considerations be dammed.

Returning to my point, I need to figure out a way (or ways) to make money doing what I love. I’m sure people out there must have faced a similar situation, so if you’re reading this and feeling inclined to help, chime on in.

Until help comes from unexpected but welcome corners of the Internets, I’ve gone ahead and formulated a plan on my own. Or, at least I’ve got an interim plan until something better comes to mind.

In truth, my plan is relatively simple as it involves doing pretty much what I already do and how I do it. The main difference is in how I will allocate my time during the day and what I will focus on.

For example, under this new plan I will now spend as much time writing something (a short story, script, blog post, etc.) as I do on the Internet. I include time spent on Facebook, Twitter, etc. in that as well. I also do this in hopes of reducing the time I spend reading Twitter, on Facebook or reading mindless blog posts.

Going along with that will be an attempt to “reduce the clutter” of my online information stream. In other words, I will visit fewer sites less frequently and try only to read those sites that feature what I consider to be “good” writing and not attention grabbing link bait disguised as writing.

I will also schedule my day better. I will allocate blocks of time to tasks and only do those tasks during that specific time. Of course, this will have to be somewhat flexible to allow for creative bursts of energy and inspiration so if I’m “on a roll” I don’t have to cut it off to fit a particular schedule.

Going along with that I will also have a definitive cutoff to the day when I won’t, for example, answer emails from clients or deal with other matters that don’t have anything to do with the creative world.

I think the term I’m looking for here is balance. Although, that may not be exactly applicable in this case. I’m not looking for balance, per se, I’m actually looking for a way to spend the vast majority of my time in that second, creative, world.

The best case is that those two worlds converge completely and I spend all of my work time doing those things which make me the happiest. If I could make a few bucks in the process, all the better.

Obviously, I’m still working on the full plan, but I feel pretty good about it so far. At least I’ve mostly identified the problem and are taking some steps to remedy it.

I know I can do better and I know this plan will evolve over time like any good one should. Stay tuned to see how the goes.

But until then, this is what I’ve got. And really, what did you expect at 6AM?

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Note – I’m not sure what the pic above has to do with this particular topic. I just like it, okay?