The best way to start writing is to get organised

It's easy to get overly enthusiastic when you first start freelance writing, especially if you love what you are doing.  But before you get too carried away with posting 600 articles or blog posts, the most important thing to do is to get organised.

Start with a realistic business plan.  Work out your goals.  Are you happy to ghostwrite for others, or is your dream to see your own name in print?

If it's the former, then once you've signed up to your freelancer websites, keep a calendar and ensure you put every single job in it.  It is essential that you allow yourself enough time to complete work.  This sounds completely logical, but so many freelancers take on more work than they can handle.  They advertise that they can complete articles within 24 hours, and when 30 people order articles off them in one go, it's just not possible to keep up with that workload.

If you want to focus on your own writing, the best thing you can do is regularly post well researched content. Even this can get overwhelming at times, particularly if you are focusing on more than one area or topic, or have multiple projects going on at the same time.  A calendar is also beneficial in this instance.

I have used Google Calendar from the beginning of my writing career, and it has worked remarkably well for me.  I can easily import dates from emails into my calendar and set up reoccurring events (such as "write blog on vegetarian food") to repeat every day at 11am.  I always keep the calendar open in one of the tabs on my laptop, and have it synced to my phone and tablet.  At any given time I can tell at a glance how much work I have to do, and when I have to do it.  It's also easy enough to move tasks around if I have other things I want to focus on.

Have a look at productivity or organisational apps and software.  You'd be surprised how many there are, and how helpful they can be.

As well as using Google Calendar, I use Trello on a daily basis and have just started using XMind.  Trello is a wonderful way to keep track of your progress, and upcoming work or goals.  It allows you to create different boards and checklists, which can also be extremely helpful.

Whatever method of organisation you decide on, I can promise that the more organised you are, the better you'll be able to work, and the more work you'll get through too.