Is Freelance Writing for You?

The field of freelance writing is exciting, but it can also be difficult at times. Like when the inevitable “dry spells” inherent in this industry hit and finding writing gigs is harder. If you plan for these times when writing jobs become leaner, you should be able to ride them out and still pay your bills! Having multiple sources from which you get writing gigs from is a good way to plan for those times when there are less writing assignments available. However, you need to be asking yourself some questions to find out if freelancing is the right choice in career for you before worrying about having enough sources to get writing jobs from to buffer you through dry periods.

● Do you enjoy working alone? If you would miss the camaraderie of working alongside others, freelance writing is not the right choice for you. Aside from interviewing people for some of your writing assignments, as a freelance writer you will be working on your own most of the time.

● Are you a detail-orientated person, who can also follow instructions and guidelines given to you in written form? For the most part, you will receive job descriptions and specifications from clients via fax, email, and instant messaging. You may be able to speak to some clients by phone, though not always. This is an important question to think about because if you need to have a supervisor present to guide you as you work, freelance writing is NOT for you.

●Can you handle the pressure of working under tight deadlines? Clients have deadlines they must meet themselves, and require freelance writers to produce content for them within a specific amount of time in order to meet those deadlines. For some writing assignments, you may have months to complete the project, while the requested turn- around time for other projects may only be a few days to a week.

●Are you organized and can you schedule blocks of uninterrupted time weekly for writing? Organization and scheduling are very important for the following reasons. So that you know what a particular project entails, when it is due, approximately how long it will take you to complete it, and whether you have scheduled yourself enough writing time to get it done to the clients’ specifications, and for delivery to them on time.

●Can you accept the up,-and-down, and even spurts of little freelance writing jobs available for the taking? This is just how the freelance writing jobs ball bounces at times. Freelance writing is quite competitive and many job boards are a FTCFTG or a first to claim, first to get the jobs scenario for writers.

Really asking yourself these questions and answering them honestly, will help you in figuring out whether freelance writing is truly the “right” career choice for you.

After you have given this some careful thought, perhaps I will see you around the freelance writing job boards.

A writing career was definitely the best choice for me. I love to write…I live to write…Getting paid to do it, is just icing on the cake for me.

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