Parallel work: What to do when the words won’t come

I can’t write every day. Writing is hard. It’s thankless. Only a few good hours exist to crank out quality sentences – usually on the day the electric bill is due or when the internet is on the fritz.

Since freelance writing is a business, what you do daily should improve the business. Writing is part of that, of course, but it’s a solitary, personal endeavor – what’s on the page comes from you. Some distance is crucial. Enter the important concept of parallel work, a phrase I first heard from my writer pal A.C. Shilton, which buoys your personal and professional self.