Working from home as a freelance writer is incredibly rewarding, and yet it can be challenging, too. Freelance writers love to write, and there is nothing better than earning money doing something that you love to do. In fact, as a freelance writer, you may find yourself working every chance you get. Often, this can come at the expense of relaxing and spending quality time with friends and family. If you are having trouble finding a balance between work and play, here are some great strategies to follow:

Set Up Hours For Work and For Play. It is helpful fore freelance writer-workaholics to establish set work hours. You can commit to working six hours a day, or eight, or ten. But once you reach the limit of your work hours for the day, then put your computer away and enjoy some leisure time. This is the point where the workaholic in many freelance writers kick in, because if you have an extra twenty or thirty minutes to kill, why not doing something that you love and earn a few bucks? The fact is that you will be better at your job when you gave your brain a little break from writing. Not to mention, your friends and family may enjoy seeing you unplugged from the computer from time to time.

Manage Your Workload. When you love to write, it’s easy to think every writing project you come across sounds like a great project to work on. But sometimes you just simply have to say “no” to future projects when time does not permit. Sure, you could always work twelve or fourteen hours a day, but that is not healthy for you, and it’s not healthy for your relationships with your friends and family. So take measures to ensure you don’t overburden your schedule by limiting your workload to what you can complete during your regular work hours.

Put Your Downtime to Good Use. If you were working at a regular 9-to-5 job, you typically would not bring your work home with you. You may from time to time if you had a big project going on at work, but it’s not something you would do on a regular basis. With a “regular” job, you would use your free time to relax and unwind. You’d enjoy a nice dinner with your family and friends, maybe catch a movie, or do something else enjoyable with those closest to you. Even though you work at home and essentially spend at least a large portion of the day with your family, you still need to spend quality time with them enjoying some of these same activities together in a way that doesn’t involve you and your laptop married to each other. So at the end of your work day, put your computer away and focus on your loved ones with your undivided attention. You will find far more fulfillment with your job when you can spend your work hours knowing that your relationships with your loved ones are solid and secure.

You may work at home doing something that you absolutely love to do, but you just can’t spend all day every day working. Use some of these strategies to help you find a balance between your work and personal lives.