The key to my productivity level is to work half the day at home and half the day out somewhere. I mix up where I go and pick quiet, uncrowded places. And I try to be friendly, but an introvert when I go out. I’m there to work. Usually, I a “morning shift” at the library or in a coffee shop, then go home for lunch and an “afternoon shift.” In the evenings I try to make dinner plans or do something fun to stave off the potential for loneliness when working from home. Even if the dinner plans are simple: frozen pizza and TV with a friend – its enough. Do whatever works for you, but just thought I’d share something that works for me. It took me a surprising long time to figure this out!

I lived on a boat until recently and now live in a house. I was not entirely happy about taking up residence on solid ground (I was accustomed to the motion of the boat on the water and hearing the ducks quacking outside my bedroom window at night). However I refused to let the negativity get me down and turned moving into the house into a positive experience (tip no 67) by getting myself an internet connection, which is something I couldn’t have on my boat. Now I just have to keep no 78 in mind!!

Your willingness to share your knowledge and experience of a freelance writing career is appreciated by me because I’m just starting out on my career and can use all the guidance I can Also, the fact that they’re replete with nuggets of sound common sense increases their value. They may often seem to be stating the obvious when read in a list like this, however because it’s common sense doesn’t mean that it’s not helpful to be reminded, for example, that sometimes the best thing to do is simply to go for a walk. (no 80).

In my opinion, we humans are masters at playing psychological tricks on ourselves, and many of the tips are useful in alerting us to our own evasive tactics, sloppy attitudes and tendency to procrastinate. I personally have long been a firm believer in no 84 ‘Take care of your most unattractive task first’. I think this stems from my childhood when I used to save the best bit of my Sunday lunch, the Yorkshire pudding, until the last. As I kept my eyes fixed on the perfect golden prize I barely noticed the sprouts slipping down my throat. My mum’s Yorkshire pudding was indeed the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope they serve Yorkshire pudding of the same calibre in Heaven.

Psychology was on my mind when I started writing this comment. Tip no 30; ‘Don’t rely on spellcheck’ made me chuckle because it reminded me of a Freudian slip which my psychology teacher made on a sheet she’d prepared for us. She handed the sheets out and asked us to read through her summary of an eminent psychologist’s research in the field of child development. I started reading and everything was fine until I came to the last paragraph where she’d written, “Professor Shaeffer anally stated that children..” It dawned on me that she’d meant to write, “Professor Shaeffer finally stated…” so I decided to have some fun with her, and I put my hand up and said, “Debbie, do you privately believe that Professor Shaeffer talks through his a_ _e?” She came rushing over to see what I was on about and went bright red when I pointed at the mistake. But she couldn’t blame the spell checker for missing the error; it hadn’t picked it up because she’d spelt anally correctly!

While I’m on the subject of spelling, in case you didn’t see it I just want to draw your attention to a wonderful clanger I came across when I was going through the online-writing-job list. The job appealed to me at first because it offered plenty of scope:

‘We are presently hiring for talented content writers to write about many interests: dogs & cats, education, society and culture, business & finance, careers & workplace, arts & entertainment, transportation, home & parenting, travel, or any other in-demand subjects.’

My enthusiasm waned however when I read the next bit:

To be considered, provide us with a resume. You will be paid based on the quality of your articles. There’s no limitation on the quantity of articles you can submit, but they all need to be unique; written by you , not plaguerized…

So if you’re thinking of applying, just make sure your writing isn’t riddled with the pox!!

Suggest that the reason no one is commenting is that people won’t read through 85 items. Call it the USA Today Effect, which the Internet has expanded upon…people just don’t read long articles any more.

Maybe it didn’t have enough controversy?

I’m surprised that you’re not getting more feedback on the list of quick, but practical tips.