Ask Donna from MSN a question (Women of Personal Finance Spotlight)

[Julie Rains]

Re: parents as entrepreneurs. Digging way back, I remember that my dad and his brother created a really neat football game to sell as a promotional item for insurance agents; it didn't sell like they thought it would though. So, every time one of us kids needed a present for a birthday party or a raffle item, my dad trekked to the attic and pulled out a football game. I even gave one to my oldest son's second grade teacher (there is a multiplication component to it) -- so the game had a shelf life of about 40 years. I have thought about re-inventing it with my cousins and seeing if we could make a market for it now. In general, though, he might have wanted to focus on one job (for much of his adult life) as his parents both worked outside jobs and took in boarders. Ditto for my mom who was raised by relatives after her mom divorced and worked as a domestic.

Still the Internet is cool b/c you can reach a greater audience and not be so dependent on local economies.

[Donna Freedman]

Julie, re your comment about spending, "usually for a meal": If you're working on freelance writing/Internet writing at home, can't you just eat peanut butter off the spoon?
Seriously, though: Do you mean you get so busy/tired that you don't have time to shop or cook?
It's a delicate balance between working extra to make money and wind up so tired that you spend a chunk of that money in ways you might not have if you weren't so tired.
A former co-worker used to do community theater. Not only did she not get paid, it actually cost her money because she'd often wind up working a little late (newspapering) and then have to go straight to rehearsal -- which meant picking up dinner on the way. Multiply that 3 or 4 nights a week and there goes your budget. She also said she'd sometimes just buy new underwear because she was too busy or tired to do laundry.
The life of a freelancer or a person who works from home can get similarly expensive. You work your day job and then come home and write, and suddenly you realize it's 9:30 p.m. and the supermarket is closed. There's nothing to eat and you're really hungry, so out to dinner you go. Or you've worked all day and into the evening for days to finish a project, and you're aching for a little human companionship and the sight of something other than your own four walls. You head off to anywhere you might find people (coffeehouse, club, shopping mall, whatever).
Those two scenarios are not my own experience, because (1) I have a lot of food stockpiled, (2) I get plenty of stimulation on campus and can't wait to get home to where it's quiet, and (3) I'm not a bar/coffeehouse kind of person. However, I have certainly looked into the fridge and thought, "I've been eating this leftovers for days. Wouldn't a meal out be fun?" Usually I talk myself out of it, but not always -- and that's OK. What's life without a little fun? But I would be bummed if I were a freelancer working for peanuts and wound up blowing a big piece of the fee for my current project because I got bored and went shopping.
Balance is what we're all seeking. It's not always easy to find.

[Donna Freedman]

1. Is blogging your full-time job? If not, how many hours a week do you work your square job and how many hours a week do you blog?
2. If you are a full-time blogger, how do you avoid boredom/loneliness?
3. Whether you work a day job and then come home and blog, or whether you're a full-time freelancer: How do you make sure you're nurtured physically and emotionally instead of working nonstop?
4. Do you ever worry about burnout?

[Julie Rains]

Right now, it just so happens that I am working while eating a peanut butter sandwich (a frequent meal for me at lunch) so I have often had my fill of peanut butter by the time I get home. I do lots of shopping and cooking but have a teenage son at home who plays football (a bottomless pit) and a younger son who is growing (they are both bigger than me) plus a husband. If it is just my husband and me, we are really quick to pick something out of the refrigerator and/or eat leftovers but I don't often have a perfectly balanced meal ready to go at all times.

This week, I will have just one evening at home due to high school curriculum night, son's football game, civic club meeting, a fund-raiser (my ladies group will be making chicken pies, which I will buy and then stockpile), and monthly book club. Next week we just have a Scout meeting (potluck dinner which I will fix) and football concessions; each child just has one activity (besides school and youth group) but those can strain the schedule. I haven't tried Dream Dinners (and the other franchises that provide full dinners) but I can see the demand for it!

[Myscha Theriault]

Hi Donna.

Well, I was hoping for additional gear recommendations, but the fact that you have a low tech situation is super. I'm sure it helps keep things in check. We have so much going on that things like a bluetooth headset and a GPS really help speed things up and promote more multi tasking, which means I don't have as many outstanding tasks to complete once we get home. Which in turn hopefully saves more time for dinner prep, but not always.

[northerncheapskate]

Hi, Donna! Thanks for the great writing you do at MSN. I've really enjoyed it! Here's my question for you: How do you deal with writer burnout? Also, how do you find time to write? It seems like when I have time, I'm not in the mood to write, and when I don't have time, I have lots of ideas. Your advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Christina @ Northern Cheapskate

[Donna Freedman]

Christina,
Excellent questions, but not easy to answer.
I suppose I keep going because I must keep going -- if I want to keep the job. However, it's a job that I love, so that helps a lot. Haven't burned out yet, although the past seven or eight months were tough: heavy course reading and writing loads, helping my daughter plan her wedding (we did a lot of the work ourselves -- and I had a Spanish test the next day and needed to present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium that same week), and all the while slogging through some health problems and cumulative fatigue (the last five years have been the most difficult ones of my life).
What's helped me, and might help you, is to keep a running list of blog ideas. On days when there's no time-sensitive issue that I'm dying to write about, I go to the list. Always keep pen and paper (or its electronic equivalent -- I'm really old-school) with you to write down ideas as they come to you; it's easy to forget them when you're really busy.
At times I've been drifting off to sleep and I think of an idea but I don't want to get up, find my glasses and walk out into the living room to write it down. So I reach over for the phone, call my cell number and leave myself a message stating the idea and how I might go about it. (Myscha: Now you can see why I didn't have much to offer in the way of high-tech, labor/money-saving devices. I use voice mail instead of a PDA.)
As for being in the mood to write…This is not an issue for me, probably because Smart Spending is an actual job. If they're going to pay me to write, then I'll get myself in the mood. Guaranteed. In addition, I was a newspaper reporter for 18 years. "Feeding the beast" is what we called the relentless need for articles.
Blogging isn't that different, come to think of it; if you want people to visit your site, you'd better make it worth their while by giving them something new to read. One possible strategy, if you're not feeling much like writing, is to set a timer and write like mad for 30 minutes, just to see what comes out. I call this the "phantom deadline." Another is to write a fake lede, anything at all, and keep going; the real lede usually shows up three or four paragraphs into your article. Or you'll be so disgusted with the beginning of your article that you'll jump-start the writing process just to make it readable.
Making time to write? See above. I have to make time to write because my colleague, Karen Datko, needs to edit my articles a day in advance. That's not to say it isn't a problem. My days are very full and my schedule changes each quarter. Some evenings I'm just sitting down to write when there's a knock at the door – a tenant wants me to restart his garbage disposal, fix his garage-door opener, come listen to how loud his neighbor's stereo is. Or it's my daughter, who is on disability, asking for a ride to the drugstore to pick up medication. (She's recently become a blogger, too; her site is "I Pick Up Pennies.")
I'm going to try something new this quarter: Staying on campus and doing my homework in one of the university libraries. It occurred to me there are too many distractions at home and that's why I'm up so late. Well, this quarter I have to be out the door by 8:20 a.m. at the latest to catch the bus to my 9:30 class. No more staying up until 2 a.m. to do Spanish grammar drills, write a response paper -- or finish a blog. My plan is to do all written homework first, then allow a fixed amount of time to look over course readings and/or take notes for papers. Then I'll go home (it's 40 to 55 minutes by bus), take a nap if I need to, fix some dinner and write for the blog. Or fix garbage disposals.
A version of this might work for you: Write somewhere else. If you have a laptop, take it to the public library or to a coffeehouse if you can swing the price of a cup of java every day. If there's a college near you, use one of its libraries. Maybe being somewhere else, with no distractions (the phone, the TV, the fridge), will focus you on the job at hand. Or you'll write something just so you can go home, check your messages, turn on the TV and see what's in the fridge.
(Myscha: I don't have a laptop, either. Like I said: Old-school.)
Thanks for your comment, and good luck with your blog.

[northerncheapskate]

Thanks, Donna, for your great, common-sense response! I will definitely be able to use these tips! You've inspired me!