A Writer's Day in 1958

Writer’s Digest is celebrating its centennial this year by reprinting selected articles from their archive. One that caught my attention was written by Kirk Polking in 1958 and titled, ”The Best Job on Earth.” She’s referring to the job of freelance writing.

Several things piqued my curiosity as I scanned the piece, such as the difference in economics. (For that year, Ms. Polking’s income as a full-time nonfiction freelancer was just over two thousand dollars, and her total expenses came to just over $2,600. “Those were the days, my friend…”)

However, what really caught my eye was her daily schedule. When she gave up her salaried staff job to become a full-time freelancer, she had to wrestle with the same temptation that most self-employed people encounter: the temptation to waste time. So she devised this daily schedule:

1. I will get up every morning at 7:30 and be at work no later than 9:00.

2. Each day, something must go in the mail.

3. Each week I will write at least 1,000 words just to improve my style and facility.

4. Because pictures are so important to many articles and they add to the writer’s income I will learn to improve my photography.

5. To organize my time, I will line up interviews on the same day, library research on another, and telephone calls another, so I can write uninterruptedly for longer periods.

6. I will get some exercise each day if only a walk—to keep healthy and get a change of pace from mental work.

7. Since I no longer have the social contact of an office, I will find other ways of meeting people, cultivating friends outside “the trade."

Sixty-two years later, her schedule still has a lot of merit. And it served her well. She later became editor-in-chief of Writer’s Digest.

How does your schedule look? Do you even have a schedule, or does it consist of a list of tasks on a yellowing Post-It Note that begins with the item, “Plan Schedule”?