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Crafting A Better Writer

by Diana K. McLean

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Freelancer?

No dress code. No time clock. No alarm clock (most days). No boss looking over your shoulder or pestering you for progress reports. For that matter, no boss. Just you, your computer, and time to write. Sound like a dream job? It can be, but it also can be more work than a lot of aspiring freelancers realize.

Lots of writers, whether on staff at a magazine or newspaper or writing in their "spare time" and working at an unrelated job, wonder if they could quit their "day jobs" and be full-time freelance writers. If you find yourself thinking about it even on days when your boss hasn't made your life miserable, you should take some time to seriously evaluate whether you are suited for freelancing, and if so, whether you're in a position to make the leap to full-time freelancing now or should start building towards an eventual transition to that lifestyle.

While no one can accurately predict your success as a freelancer-the world of freelancing is too uncertain to predict, even for those of us out here in it-there are some things that can increase your odds of success. Some are physical, tangible assets; others are personality traits, which are less easy to check off as a "yes" or "no" when you ask yourself whether you have them. Take a look and see how you measure up.

A Client Base

I freelanced part-time for about five years before I gave up my "day job" in corporate America and made the move to full-time freelancing. The factor that finally made that move possible was the addition of a new client-one who gave me enough steady work to live on every month. There is a downside to having a single large client, however. A few years later my client quit using freelancers during a rough economic patch, and I was left with a significantly reduced steady income. Your best bet is to have steady work from several smaller clients, none of whom are crucial to your survival.

A Place To Write

You don't have to have your own office to run a freelance business, but it helps. Depending on their circumstances and personalities, freelance writers choose work environments ranging from rented office space away from home to a corner of the dining room in a crowded house. If you don't live alone and need peace and quiet to work (and for phone interviews, this can be critical), you need at the very least to have a room with a door you can close. This is especially true in a household that includes children.

If you have a room in your home that serves only as your office, or if you have the money to rent dedicated office space elsewhere, remember that you can deduct that office space on your taxes. However, you don't have that benefit if you work in an area of your home that also serves as the kids' homework station.

It goes without saying (or should) that this writing space needs to include appropriate equipment: a computer with an Internet connection, a phone, and furniture that lets you work comfortably for 40 hours (or more) a week.

A Savings Account

If you don't have at least six months' worth of money in savings (some even say a year), you are taking a huge risk by giving up a steady paycheck. You need to be financially able to get through those times without work or when clients are slow to pay you. (Of course, if you're independently wealthy or have a spouse who can support you, this doesn't apply.)

However, if you are determined to start freelancing despite not having a significant amount of savings, you need to pay particular attention to the next requirement.

A Backup Plan

If you are your only source of support (or if your income is necessary to your family's finances), you need to know what you will do if you encounter a slim time that outlasts your savings reserve. In my case, that's temporary clerical work. One of the jobs I held when I was freelancing part-time was as a secretary. I have the skills to get temporary work in that field whenever I need it, as I did recently when a steady client folded and left me with less income than I was comfortable with.

I prefer temporary work to finding a full-time job, because it means I can stay committed to my goal of full-time freelancing rather than re-entering the corporate world permanently. If you're not interested in or qualified to do temporary work like this, ask yourself whether you'd be willing to stand at a cash register in a bookstore or flip burgers at a restaurant if you run into financial hard times. If not, keep the job you have.

The Ability To Sell Yourself

If you can't convince others to buy your work, you can't freelance. Writing skill alone will not make you successful. You have to be able to get editors to want you to write for their publications. They will not magically appear at your door (or in your e-mail inbox) begging you to write for them. While you also shouldn't beg them for work, you should be prepared to keep asking editors for work-both those editors you already work for and those you want to add to your client list.

If having to pitch your stories-and your writing skills-on a near-daily basis is abhorrent to you, then freelancing isn't the work for you. Don't misunderstand me; I don't love that part of my work, either. If I could write without doing it, I would. However, I love the other parts of being a freelancer enough to make it worth doing what I call "the marketing end of the business."

Thick Skin

Your sales pitch won't always work. You need to be able to handle it gracefully when editors respond with a "no," which they will, probably more often than with a "yes." It doesn't mean you're a bad writer or a bad person, just that the article you pitched did not appeal to this editor, for this audience, at this time. To succeed as a freelancer, you need to be able to shrug off the rejection (taking to heart any useful feedback the editor provides) and look for another publication to which you can submit the idea next. My rule is to try to get rejected queries back "on the street" in the next day's mail.

Self-motivation & Discipline

If you work better with someone watching over you and checking up on you, freelancing is not for you. Typically, I am given an assignment and not asked about it again before I turn it in. (There are exceptions: One client expected outlines during the article's development.) If I couldn't motivate myself to work on assignments without pressure from an editor, I'd be better off as a staff writer than as a freelancer.

So, Are You Ready?

None of these "requirements" will determine your success as a freelancer. If you can say you meet most or all of them, though, you have a good chance. Don't let the naysayers scare you away from your dream job with, "Oh, you could never make a living at that." If you still feel after reading this article that you're ready to make the leap to freelance writing, make the leap and don't look back.