On the Evolution of my Working Week

I’ve been a full-time freelance writer and educator since March 2022, and it’s a great job. No two days are the same, and I get to work on multiple projects across multiple organisations, with very few strings attached. 

Of course, there are downsides. No sick pay or pension, having to do my own taxes, and having periods where I’m not sure where the next job is coming from. But all in all, I think the freelance life suits me pretty well. 

But I often speak to people who don’t understand what freelancer life is like. They think it’s a doss, or a holiday, or they think I’m just swanning about, like some sort of poetic lady of leisure. And, while I do my fair share of swanning, my freelancing life is a pretty busy one. So, today I thought I’d share an example of what I get up to in a typical week, to give you an idea of what it’s really like! 


Saturday: This week, I’m supporting a poetry open mic night and event for International Women’s Day. We have 120 people booked to attend, so I’m up early to print out all the ticket sheets, pack my bags for the event, and answer any last-minute emails from attendees or volunteers. I’m also running an online working next week, so I write the workshop plan, take a lunch break in the garden, then edit a poem I’m hoping to submit to a competition in April. 

I get to the event space to set up at 4pm, and we test the tech, set out the chairs, the merch stall and the refreshments. Doors open at 5:15pm and the show starts at 5:30pm. A nice, early one. We have around 85 people attending, and 23 women on the open mic, so it’s a busy evening. The events team do a marvellous job hosting the show (even if the Zoom is a little patchy) and I grab some photos to update our Instagram page. We make over £600 for our chosen charity, and receive a generous pile of period products too, which we donate to Nottingham Women’s Centre. 

International Women's Day!

Sunday: I usually try to keep Sundays as my day off, but that doesn’t always go to plan. I edit some poems for a client who is producing a collection, and I write a new piece for an event I’m participating in later in the month. Sundays are also when I plan my workshops for the week ahead. This week, I have four sets of writing workshops, plus a podcast recording and a photoshoot, so I make sure I have everything. Then, I have some assigned reading to do in the evening. I’m appearing on a TV Book Club in April, and we need to make sure we’ve read the books ahead of the discussion. 

Monday: On Mondays, I work with First Story, a charity that places published authors into schools to run regular workshops with students aged 11-18. My current school is in Lincoln, so I travel an hour each way to get there. This week, we write metaphors about the moon, and the students are giddy as always, but they come up with some marvellous ideas. My favourites to come out of the class are “the moon is a glowing banana” and “the moon is a vampire’s bum cheek”. I get back from Lincoln around 6pm and write an application for a writing facilitator role in Newark. I also set up my social media posts for the week, so I don’t have to think about them again for another seven days. 

Tuesday: I’m off to Peterborough bright and early today, ready to record a podcast episode for We, The Poets. There are five of us on the team, and this is the first episode of series two, so we chat about our writing and what we’re looking forward to this year. We wrap up the recording in about two hours (It’ll be edited down to 30 mins, so not everything we’ve said will be broadcast!) then we do a really ridiculous photoshoot to get promo shots for the show. It always feels weird doing photos as a poet – we’re such shy and retiring creatures – but all social media promotion is image-led these days, so making sure you have some good pics is vital for any new project.  

A gaggle of rowdy podcast poets!

Then, I’m off back up to Nottinghamshire to lead a writing workshop in a community centre in the evening. The group do a little bit of writing, then share what they’ve been working on this week. On the way home, I think about ideas for a writing residency I’m running in June, but I don’t write them down when I get back, they've already slipped away like the fleeting spring sunshine. 

Wednesday: Today is an admin day. I get up early and answer the emails that have been piling up in my inbox. I read and review the writing that my First Story class did on Monday, and give them all feedback, then I sort out my invoices and expenses for the week. I write a blog post for my website, and work on my email newsletter. I draft a poem, but I don’t like the way it turns out, so I decide to come back to it another day. In the evening, I make pancakes, because we didn’t get a chance to have them when it was Pancake Day. Because of delayed gratification, they are even more delicious than usual! 

I really LOVE pancakes!

Thursday: Today, I’m trying to get a head-start on my workload for April, so I plan out four writing workshops for next month. I also go to the library to get some printing done for workshops for the next two weeks. I have a swim in the afternoon, and bump into another poet in the deep end, so we end up chatting about their new collection. I agree to catch them for a coffee to talk about a new project soon.

After a quick sandwich, I head out to Mansfield for a writing workshop in the evening. We make blackout poetry and use the resulting pieces to write more stories and poems. This is my chattiest group, so as usual, we do far more talking than writing. I also remind them that the writing competition they want to enter is coming up, and we talk about what writing they’re planning to submit. 

Some examples of blackout poems (from a different project)

Friday: Today is a writing day, so I spend my time working on the script for my new play. We’ve recently applied for Arts Council England funding to tour the show in Autumn/Winter 2025, so I want to make sure the story can stand up to live performance. I also do some research on alternate funding streams for theatre projects, because we need to have a stable income base in order to pay the actors, the director and the designers on this project. I have some writing workshops with children and young people on Saturday, so I make sure I have everything I need for those sessions, then I watch a film before bed. I have a day off on Sunday, and I'm looking forward to taking an outdoor swim, baking a cake, and hanging out with some friends. 

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