UPDATE



Hi. This is an old, unmaintained blog. You may find these sites more to your liking:

Carson Brackney: This is my primary site.

Ad Astra Traffic: Content production/article writing service.

Ad Astra Traffic Team: For those who'd like to get writing gigs with Ad Astra.


Monday, January 02, 2006

Fighting boredom...

One of the great things about being a freelance content writer is that you have an opportunity to research and write about a variety of topics. As someone who enjoys learning new things and adding to my knowledge base, content writing can be a great deal of fun--as well as an income source.

However, circumstances will occasionally conspire to make a writer feel like he or she is a test subject in some sort of horrible scientific experiment about the nature and impact of intense boredom. I was just looking at my calendar for this month and realized I will soon be entering a two-week phase when my primary efforts will center upon two topics that make me yawn just by looking at them.

So, I am trying to get my psyche prepared for this mind-numbing experience.

1. I plan on trying to approach the uninteresting subject matter from an interesting angle. Sometimes looking at a subject from a different perspective can really pump some life into an otherwise dull topic.

2. I have adjusted my scheduling so that I can tackle these less desirable topics alongside ones that seem more interesting. That way, I should not have to spend full days mired in the topics that don't interest me. The downside to that strategy is that the dull topics will linger longer, however.

3. I am going to do my damnedest to keep an open mind. I have, in the past, taken an assignment or two that I thought would be incredibly boring that turned out to be rather pleasant.

4. I will keep my fingers crossed that the days on which I plan to spend the most time with the dull topics will be ones where I really find that almost-mechanical writing "zone." Some of you undoubtedly know what I mean. There are times when it seems like your fingers go on auto-pilot and some deep recess in the subconscious of the mind just starts clicking. You sit down and emerge a few hours later with a ton of good text. You never know when it's going to hit, but when it does the results are great. Maybe I can get lucky this month.

5. If all else fails, I will simply have to toughen up a little bit. No one ever promised that every single day of work was going to filled with fun and excitement, right? Sometimes, writers get spoiled and forget that. Maybe a situation like this a valuable reminder that sometimes I just need to sit down and work for a living.