不僅上班族能擁有規律的工作時間，自由職業者同樣能把每天的生活安排得井井有條。下面講述的是一位美食作家的故事。
After brief forays working as a cook in a restaurant kitchen,Melissa Clark decided upon a more sedentary path. She earned an M.F.A. in writing f rom Columbia University and began a freelance food writing career in 1993.
Currently, she writes for such publications as the The New York Times, Food & Wine, Forbes and Travel & Leisure. In addition,Clark has written 21 cookbooks.
梅麗莎·克拉克曾在一家飯店廚房做過一陣子廚師，後來她決定走一條伏案工作的道路。1993 年，她在哥倫比亞大學取得了“文學寫作”藝術碩士學位，從此開始成爲一名自由職業者，主要從事美食方面的寫作工作。
現在，她爲許多出版物撰寫專欄文章，比如《紐約時報》、《美食與美酒》、《福布斯》以及《旅遊和休閒》。此外，克拉克已經撰寫並出版了21本烹飪書。
07:00
I get up, put on some sweatpants, make tea and proceed to my office on the second floor of the house. Take a look at the e-mails in my inbox.I make a list of people to call,which I’ll do later in the day. I start organizing what I’m going to do for the day, and I find that I focus best on only one project per day, which means I usually have an “article” day or a“cookbook” day.
我從牀上爬起來，套上一條運動褲，泡茶，走到二樓辦公室裏。我檢視了一下收件箱裏的郵件，把需要打電話的人名列了個單子，我會在今晚些時候打電話。我開始計劃今天要做的工作，我發現每天專心做一項工作精神最集中。這意味着我通常將日子分爲“專欄日”或“寫書日”。
09:00
I start to organize all of the recipes that need to be tested today. I compile a list of ingredients that need to be shopped for, and hopefully have done any advance preparations so that work will proceed smoothly when my assistant arrives.
我開始整理今天需要檢驗的所有食譜。我把需要購買的食材列了個單子，並希望能預先完成一些準備工作。這樣在我的助手到達後，工作就能進展得比較順利。
10:00
My assistant arrives, and will do a lot of the hands-on work of the recipe testing, with my guidance and advice. We discuss a game plan for the day, including discussing each recipe and any snags we might see arising during the day. She goes shopping for the ingredients.
我的助手來了，她在我的引導和指點下將會實際動手檢驗食譜。我們討論了今天的行動計劃，包括每道食譜以及任何今天可能遇到的困難。然後她外出購買食材。
10:30
While my assistant is out shopping, I continue working in my office, maybe going through a rough transcript of an interview with the chef (of the current cookbook project), polishing it into a final version.
在我的助手外出購物時，我繼續在辦公室裏工作，也許會檢查一遍採訪廚師長（正在進行的這個烹飪書項目的廚師長）的粗略腳本，修改潤色，敲定最終版本。
10:00
Research. I have an extensive cookbook library at home where I can find recipes, food history and information. I write a first rough draft for my article.
做些研究工作。我家 裏有個圖書室，裏面有數量龐大的烹飪書籍，我可以從中查找食譜、食品歷史和資訊。我開始寫文章初稿。
11:00
My assistant arrives with the ingredients and begins cooking. I oversee, taste the recipes as each one is finished, make notes and deal with problems as they arise.
我的助手買食材回來了，並開始烹飪食物。我在一旁監督，每道菜做好後品嚐，記錄，並隨時處理突發問題。
12:00
I head into Manhattan for a business lunch. I am frequently networking with magazine and book editors, many of whom I’ve known so long that they are also friends.
我出發前往曼哈頓區吃商務午餐。我經常與一些雜誌和圖書編輯合作，他們中的很多人我已認識很長時間了，他們同時也是我的朋友。
14:30
To keep my business going,I’m constantly sending out pitches,ideas for future articles. I need to read widely to make sure I’m not duplicating recent articles.
爲保證我的事業持續發展，我會不斷地宣傳一些關於我未來文章的論點。我需要廣泛地閱讀以確保論點不會與近期其他文章“撞車”。
15:00
I return phone calls from the list I made earlier this morning. My assistant will continue working until 17:00 or so, but I often head into the city around 15:00 to meet with the chef, getting new recipes, asking questions and doing interviews for head note material.
我按照早晨列的`單子回覆電話。我的助手會繼續工作到下午五點左右，而我經常會在下午三點左右出發到城裏與廚師長會面，取得新食譜，問些問題並做做訪談，爲前言蒐集材料。
16:00
Go back to the rough draft of the article and continue polishing,incorporating the research and information I’ve been gathering over the course of the past few days.
繼續潤色我的文章草稿。將近幾日收集到的一些研究成果和資訊寫入文章。
17:00
I find an internet cafe where I can hook up my laptop, and transcribe some of the notes I have from that day.
我找到一家網吧，連上我的筆記本電腦，整理出今天獲得的要點。
Article day“ 專欄日”
In addition to the one or two cookbooks I work on every year, I usually write five articles a month, three for my New York Times column and two others for various magazines.
除了每年出版一兩本烹飪書外，我通常每月寫五篇文章，其中三篇發表在我在《紐約時報》上的專欄裏，另外兩篇發表在其他各種雜誌上。
TIPS：
1. foray n . 嘗試，從事非本行的短暫嘗試活動。
2. sedentary a . （指工作等）坐着乾的，案頭的。
3. M.F.A.=Master of Fine Arts，指藝術碩士。M.F.A. in writing是指側重培養寫作的藝術碩士。此專業學生通常會研習小說、詩歌和劇本等不同體裁的藝術作品。
4. freelance a . 自由職業（者）的。