I was chatting to someone on Twitter the other day. One of the topics of conversation was motivating yourself to keep on working. I made the point that when you work for yourself you have to crack your own whip. I immediately began to think about what that actually meant. When you’re a self-employed freelance writer, you are your own boss. That brings a great deal of freedom, but it also brings a lot of responsibility.

Here’s a recent example. A friend of mine had a beach picnic for her birthday, right in the middle of my workday. Because I set my own hours, I was able to go, even though I’m usually very disciplined about observing a work day. That was the freedom part. However, the responsibility part kicked in before I went and after I returned. Since I knew I was going to be away for part of the work day, I sat up the night before to complete work for a key job. Then on the day of the picnic, I got up early and worked at my computer till the last minute. Finally, I finished up my day’s work when I returned from the picnic, working through the evening.

When I worked in an office, there was always a boss who could tell the minions to get on with work. Now, I do that on my own. I have times when I am less productive, when I might indulge in some tweeting, stumbling, blog reading or surfing. But after I’ve done that for a while, I give myself a stern talking-to and get back to work. Here’s why:

If I abuse the freedom that my profession gives me, I might have a great time, but I will find it harder to meet deadlines. This will affect my client relationships and my earning potential. If, on the other hand, I set times to get on with my work, my clients will be happy and I will make money from something that I love.

For me, cracking my own whip means setting a schedule where I work for a set time every day, but where I have a lit tle bit of time to goof off. Everyone needs that relaxation, and it makes me a more productive writer. How do you handle the freedom and responsibility of being a freelance writer?