Cinderelly Cinderelly

Okay it’s not the sexiest advice ever offered but Chrissie Ward at Write Success offers advice to freelance writers on how to get their job done without letting the trash pile up. Scroll down about halfway to read it here . Some tidbits:

Don’t be a perfectionist. You will not be judged personally by everything that happens in the household. Perhaps teenage daughter has been given the task of pegging out the washing. You might think that she hasn’t done it in the most efficient manner. Tell her so tactfully, if you must, but don’t rush out and re-peg everything. That would be a double waste of time–hers as well as yours–and she
will probably never do it again.
Prioritise. Think about what is essential and what can wait. It might be helpful to make a list. Write down all the things that need to be done, then mark each one as important or unimportant, urgent or not urgent. Delete all the unimportant tasks and deal with the urgent ones immediately. That will give you time for the important things – including writing.
Hygiene is important. You don’t want you or your family to become ill, so focus on the kitchen and bathroom. Don’t let dirty dishes pile up, and keep surfaces clean – but there’s no need to wipe everything with an anti-bacterial cloth after each meal. Similarly, the bathroom porcelain needs to be clean, but you don’t have to polish the floor.
As for the rest, pillowcases don’t have to be ironed, and a layer of dust on the bookshelves is neither here nor there. A journalist friend, who aspires to the Quentin Crisp method of housework, told me that recently she had been looking after a hamster. The owners fixed a time to collect it, and she thought they might want to come inside. Panic! She dashed around frantically tidying and dusting … They collected their hamster at the door and went away. All they were concerned about was their pet’s welfare, but my friend had wasted three hours that she could have used for writing or research.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion's Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook's Morin Oluwole, and bitly's Tim Devane. Register now.