My fiancee and I live in Eugene, Oregon, where we do a lot of cooking, brew beer, and ride our sidecar motorcycle.

All you have to do now is get out there and start pitching why you’re the best choice – even if you don’t have experience

I’m interested in proofreading and editing as well. Hard to get jobs, mostly you have to have 3+ years of experience. Where do you get the 3 years to start with??

Thanks, and I really like this thread.

Very interesting post and I am very sorry to hear about the difficulties in your present job.

My advice to you would be to select a topic or a couple of topics that you would be interested in writing about.

Then – get experience/writing clips in these areas by working for lower paying gigs or by volunteering.

Then start applying to higher paying gigs or querying to publications – once you have this experience.

Many publications and businesses want to see applicable experience soooo this may help you out a bit!

I believe other sites such as about.com and aboutfreelancewriting.com may have helpful info as well for you.

I’m one of those “lost souls” in the freelance writing world: I have NO clue where to go or how to get started, but at least I feel more optimistic since finding this site a few months ago!

I’ve been writing since I was three–no joking. Started with pencils and crayons, then typewriters, then electric typewriters, and now computers. Most of it being fantasy/sci-fi-based fiction with some slice-of-life writing, and I even won local awards for my writing while in grade school and university. I majored in English and psychology, which means I have FAR more experience in writing research papers than I like to admit. XD I ramble-blog (ramblog?) on a daily basis about Life, the Universe, and Everything, via LiveJournal.

Unfortunately, my lifetime hobby of writing doesn’t seem to be too helpful when I look for jobs just yet. Seems like everyone wants someone who’s specifically edited THIS kind of writing or written about THAT topic, and I have so many interests to expand my knowledge on, but I wouldn’t call myself an expert in any one thing!

I HAVE to do this, though. I’ve always known writing is the only thing I can make a career of and still keep my sanity. Right now I’m working for the US Postal Service, and the physical damage to my body over the past three years has made it imperative I get outta there and start making money from my desk at home ASAP. So while I may be lost and confused about how to do this thing, I’m not giving up!

Man, everything I write gets a lot longer than I mean for it be. I guess that’s how you know I’m a writer.

I love manga! I didn’t know that a non-Japanese speaker could get into that field. I’m glad to hear of your experiences, because it gives me ideas for using my education. It also gives me something to tell the parents when they become skeptical of my education choices

Thanks for the warning on the online work! I may have to use it to get my feet wet, though >.

I was an exchange student in high school and speak fluent German. I saw a craigslist ad for a children’s book translation and have been doing it off and on ever since…I landed an awesome gig when a friend who is an editor at a manga publisher got me a job doing localization editing for a German comic book. I had some suggestions on translation and they gave me the rest of the translation work for the series! Warning, though: the translation work I have found online pays QUITE poorly in general. I’d have to say it makes up a quite minimal part of my income.

Where do I begin? It was late 1997 and I was really pumped about getting my diploma in interior decorating and design and snagging a cushy job in the same field. So much so that on a whim and out of character I asked a sales rep. if the editor of the woman’s magazine she was marketing would be interested in a monthly decorating column. My first published clip appeared in print in February 1998. It took a few years before I realized that I was smack in the middle of my childhood dream of being a writer that’s when I signed up for a diploma course in freelance writing. The monthly gig ran for eight years while I wrote features and columns for other print and online magazines.

In August 2006 I left my 9 – 5 job behind to write fulltime when I was commissioned to write a weekly column for one of the oldest and largest newspaper in my country. I’m working on two books and managing two blogs. And, just today I created another. I was afraid to commit to a blog but once bitten, well, there was no turning back.

Deb, FWJ is one of the best writing blogs around and I stop by everyday no matter what. I salute your initiative to get back to basics, as it were. Let’s go.

Anyway, my background in writing is pretty diverse–I was a Creative Writing major in college, have had short stories and poems published in literary journals, and am endlessly working on novels in addition to running my writing business. At the moment, I do mostly web copy and articles for online journals. I quit my last steady job rather impulsively and didn’t know if my savings would last six months. Now I have a thriving business and couldn’t be happier.

Anyway, my background in writing is pretty diverse–I was a Creative Writing major in college, have had short stories and poems published in literary journals, and am endlessly working on novels in addition to running my writing business. At the moment, I do mostly web copy and articles for online journals. I quit my last steady job rather impulsively and didn’t know if my savings would last six months–and so far I haven’t had to use them at all!

Congrats on your new freelance blogging gig and welcome to the world of freelance writing. Once you dip your toes in, you’ll have to stay for the swim.

I currently work in the admin. asst. world and find refuge in my part time writing work. I find the advice and tips your site provides to be very helpful.

Thank you!

I’ve been freelancing for six years and still working to find my way, but having a great time on the journey. I’ve met some awesome people and learned a great many things along the way.

My background was varied prior to settling into the freelance life, including stints in health care, social services, and travel.

It’s my pleasure to work in an arena with so many talented and diverse individuals. I wish the best for each and every one of us.

I worked as a writer straight out of varsity in the 1990s, developing educational and marketing material for non-profits, news articles and features for newspapers and magazines, as well as web content.

I’ve also published a couple of children’s books.

Currently I work as a senior journalist for an IT media house, specialising in telecommunications (law and regulations, technologies, trends, social impact). I write mostly for their online news daily, sometimes contribute to their 2 print magazines (weekly and monthly.)

It’s not the kind of writing I thought I would do when I started out as a writer, but once I found it, I knew I’d found the right niche for me.

I find the subject fascinating, and the industry is so vibrant I never run out of things to say.

I also maintain two blogs – one is a niche cellphone blog; another a place where I chat about my creative writing and put up some children’s stories I write.

Medium to long-term, I want most of my income to be generated from books, rather than journalism.

I would be interested in talking to you about your proofreading jobs – I am trying to get my foot in the door there after several years of proofing and copy editing for a small publisher.

Any suggestions for me?

Thanks,

Leonora

I’m Kristy and I am fairly new to this site. I’ve posted a few times to various topics but I haven’t been as involved as I’d like to be.

I work a full-time job in banking, full-time (or as close to it as it comes) as a ghost writer for The Brighter Writer, and I’m finishing up a Bachelor’s degree and will soon be starting on a second one. I like to keep pretty busy!

Ultimately, I’d like to be writing and selling screenplays on a full-time basis. Currently, I just write them In the meantime, I’ve been looking for freelance writing jobs to expand my portfolio. I love working with The Brighter Writer, but unfortunately I’m fairly new to this game and have no work that I can show as samples. I read through these leads daily and hopefully something will come around that pays off for me.

Best of luck to everyone here and I look forward to getting to know you!

How did you get into German translation? I’m going to school for German and would like to be a translator one day Do you have any tips?

I’m Sharon Hurley Hall. I’ve been writing for about 20 years and have been freelancing (mostly ghostwriting) for about three. Most of my writing is web content, including ebooks, but I also blog a lot (it’s nice to see my name on something I write.)

I’ve been reading your blog since I started freelancing, and one of my first freelance gigs was through a lead from this site. I love the community here and really enjoy the discussion type posts that you now include.

I am Katharine Swan and I have been a professional writer for about 3 years, with a little over 2 years of that being freelance. I write mainly for the web, doing everything from content to copywriting, but I do write for the occasional print publication. I love my work and debates over low pay and quotes will never spoil that.

I’ve been freelancing for four years now, but most of my work is proofreading. I’ve got a great client list, and I get to work on projects/products I love. I’ve done some freelance writing for print, mostly marketing materials, and I found that while I love writing, I don’t typically enjoy writing copy for dentist offices and warehouse supplies. So for now, I pay the bills with proofreading and work on the writing I enjoy. I’m slowly working on a book about my late father. Visiting this site has helped me realize that I’m happier proofreading (for now) materials that I enjoy than I am “trying” to be a writer by taking assignments I don’t enjoy. I do like being able to say I’m a professional writer, though, so getting paid to write about warehouses does have some perks!