If you want to be a writer, then you should behave like a professional writer. If you want to be taken seriously, then you should take it seriously, too. There are some tricks to get your writing job sorted. It has to do with organization and psychology. If you sort out time, place, and mood, nothing can really stop you from making a success of it.
The first step is one of confidence. If you want to write, you need to be a writer. If you can write, then you are a writer. Now bring this all together; if you want to write and can write, start calling yourself a writer. Do it consequently and at every opportunity. Get business cards that say so. Create a website or a blog. When people ask you what you do, tell them you're a writer. Nobody laughs. Everyone gets curious as to what you write. You have to do it to understand it.
Sometimes you don't feel like writing. That is a lie; you just aren't ready to get started on your paid for writing assignments. Agreed that the assignments are like a job and les fun than writing off your head. Get around that by first writing something you enjoy writing. The best thing is to run your own blog about your hobby horse. You can have a look at my blogs to know what I mean. If I feel like not writing, I write something there to get into the mood.
If you have to trick yourself into productive mode, open the assignments on your computer first, then your blog over them. When you have finished with your blog and close it down, the assignments are there ready for you to get stuck into. There's an added benefit in having a blog. It allows you to show off samples of your writing. Keeping your blog going with an article a week gives you 52 samples every year. That is not bad going and very useful.
When you start out as a writer, writing happens at home. That is very nice, and very dangerous. If you go to work for some company somewhere, part of your ritual to get going is getting dressed in the right clothes for your job. Weekends are for pajamas and leisure, to drink tea in between of what you're doing and generally not watching the time. If you start writing in your pajamas, interruptions are what you will be getting.
Take your writing seriously enough to get dressed properly. Get your writing clothes out and on. Treat your business of writing as a business and show yourself that you take it seriously. This will help you no end in getting your stuff out.
When you go out to work, you go to a working place. Having such a place gears your brain to concentrate on your work. It is logical, that you create a working space for your writing at home to get the same amount of concentration there. Use a spare room in your house or create a special corner in your living room. Teach yourself, your family, and your pets that when you're in your working space, it's writing time and no one is to disturb you. Your working space should become your home away from home inside your home.
When you leave home for work, it sets times during which you work. Your writing should be done the same way, during set times. While on a job, these set times are always the same. Your writing at home makes you more flexible but demands also more planning. You can set different writing times for every day of the week or day to day. Once set, stick to them and don't find excuses to shorten them down. It all comes down to planning ahead. Plan the next day properly, and you'll manage to do all the writing plus everything else without getting into to trouble.
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