Nomadic Times contributor, Indiana Lee, shares her tips for helping digital meet their writing deadlines.

Your Writing Deadlines

When you spend your entire life on the road, it can be hard to get into your working groove. The lack of a home base can make you feel disoriented, and the fluid nature of freelance work can cause deadlines to sneak past you before you realize.

If you’re a digital nomad that struggles to meet your writing deadlines, here are a few simple tips to help you stay organized and stay on track.

Find Your Own Workflow

It all starts with finding your own writing workflow. Do you write better in the morning or at night? Do you need silence or do you prefer the creative buzz of a coffee shop?

Do you work better in small bursts? If so, you may want to try the Pomodoro Technique. This consists of working very hard for short 25-minute bursts followed by strictly enforced 5-minute breaks.

If working in short segments isn’t your style, you may want to try committing long days to writing—followed by multiple days off for creative recovery.

Once you’ve discovered your working style you can tailor your schedule (and deadlines) to align with your commitments.

Equip Yourself to Be Productive

Productivity is something that is cultivated over time. One of the best ways to encourage your own productivity is by equipping yourself. If you spend the first hour of your workday randomly hunting for an internet connection or hunting down a file on your laptop, you’re going to sabotage your productivity.

Your goal should be to create a mobile office that travels with you as you roam and provides a sense of comfort and structure every time you work. This can consist of a number of:

• Setting up a good cloud storage option like Google Drive, Dropbox, or IDrive. 
• Keeping track of your assignments by setting up a personal workflow board on a website like Trello or Asana.
• Learning to stay connected by researching your WiFi options before you travel and investing in a quality smartphone with hotspot capabilities.
• Getting effective headphones that allow you to tune out whatever is going on around you.

Effective Communication

You may love your nomadic freedom, but as a freelancer, it’s essential you maintain good communication with your clients. It’s just good business—and it helps you keep track of your deadlines.

Good communication allows you to easily ask for extensions on deadlines whenever necessary. A client who feels you’re both readily available and professionally responsible will be much more likely to extend a deadline than one who feels you’re hard to reach.

A key element to the communication process is staying aware of time zones, both your own and your client’s. Emails are a great way to avoid a phone call in the middle of the night, but if you have a time-sensitive matter, make sure to consider when would be the right time to reach out to your client so that you don’t spend countless days resolving an issue.

Unplug when Working

Finally, make sure to genuinely unplug from social media, email, and any form of entertainment that might beckon to you while you work. If you’re a digital nomad, chances are all of these things will be on the same devices that you work on.

Make sure to avoid apps, log off of distracting social channels, and generally block access to the distractions whenever you’re working.

Conquering Deadlines

Whether you’re writing a blog article, ghostwriting a book, or providing any other freelance writing service while globetrotting, it’s still possible to meet your deadlines with an unconventional schedule.

If you take the time to learn your own unique writing style, create structures, and equip yourself with the best mobile office, you’ll set yourself up for success and keep your clients happy.

Author Bio

Indiana Lee has been a writer and journalist for almost a decade. Writing from the Pacific Northwest with a passion for covering business acumen, social justice, travel, scientific advancement, and more.

In her off time she enjoys cultivating plants, mountain biking, and exploring trails all over the world.

You can follow her work on Contently, or reach her at indianaleewrites@gmail.com.