by Carly Schuna
It’s a powerful feeling to know that you’re in charge of your own career.
It’s also easy to feel that such a statement simply isn’t true, and that you’re never really in control. On some days, it just seems like someone else is pulling the strings—namely your clients. If you lose your highest-paying job, why shouldn’t you feel bad? When your queries are met with rejection after rejection, why should you keep plugging along instead of giving into the thoughts that maybe freelance writing isn’t really for you after all? If someone stiffs you for a long-term gig or slams you personally as a writer, why should you just suck it up and move on?
I’ll tell you why: because you’re always in control. If you’re not happy with the way your writing is going, change things. If you want a particular gig or more work or higher-paying jobs, go get them! Who’s stopping you?
No one but yourself.
That’s the best writing advice I can give you—figure out what you want, then figure out how to get it, then get it.
We all set goals, I’m sure, but sometimes I feel as if our writing goals are akin to New Year’s resolutions. Yeah, if you pledge to actually use your gym membership, maybe you will… for a month or so. Then it’s just too easy to fall back into your regular habits. I’m guilty of this. Almost everyone is guilty of this.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t change things. And, hopefully, I’ll be here to help you. Your other writer friends and editor friends will always be here to help you. But even with all that support at your back, you have to rely on yourself.
Achieving your goals is hard work. Assume that you’re not going to be lucky, ever. Realize that it’s probably going to take a long time and a lot of attempts to get what you want. But above all, know that what you want is possible.
If you dream of making a six-figure income from freelancing, know that you can do that. You really can! It’s not going to happen immediately, but if you focus most of your spare energy, effort, and time on achieving that, it will happen. If you really want to write fiction, you can publish a novel, even if you’ve never had as much as a sentence published anywhere before. I’m dead serious here.
But listen: no one can do it but you. Don’t rely on anybody else. Your dream client or your book contract or your six-figure income is not going to emerge from the mist, so you have to get out there and do absolutely everything you can to snag them. You have to refuse to believe that you won’t get them. Promote everywhere. Solicit work. Be your own biggest cheerleader. Grab a connection anywhere you can. Try again… and again… and again. Everything hinges on you.
So what do you want most of all in your freelance life? And most importantly… why are you still here reading? Go get it!
Jodee,
You are so inspiring. I have been forced to re-invent my life and I chose to follow my heart (and my pen). I am just entering the life of blogging and freelance writing. You’re right, there are many times I have nearly given up. Through 4 years of college, only 2 professors DID NOT say something encouraging about my writing. The remainder of them told me I should write – even my Stats Prof said he wished I would be around for another semester so I could write up his research papers. So – here I am, and though I’v not snagged any projects, I have a couple of manuscripts nearly finished.
I love reading your posts!
Well, aren’t you sweet!
I can’t take credit for this very inspirational post, since it was written by Candidate #4 from our FWJ Idol contest.
When you get some projects going, I hope you will let us know!
@ Candidate #4, I really like the “get out there and make it happen” tone of your post. I was having this conversation with someone yesterday…how did you know?
You brought up some great points, #4, but something about what you wrote really niggled at me. It was, “That’s the best writing advice I can give you—figure out what you want, then figure out how to get it, then get it.”
I think that is why some come here – not just for the job listings, but for the information regarding HOW to get the better jobs and better pay. Things like the Cover Letter Clinic and the new Technical Writing articles don’t leave us hanging as if we are supposed to just magically ‘figure out how to get it’, but give us real information as to HOW to get it, so we can.
We figured out HOW to get the information – by coming here to get information from those who already have done it/are doing it. Now we need YOU to share that information so we can continue to grow. Otherwise, there is no reason for us to be here but to look for job leads – which makes having a new writer on board a moot point.
Hey, FYI to everybody: The first sentence of this post was supposed to be, “It’s a powerful feeling to know that you’re in charge of your own career.” For some reason, it didn’t show up.
Pinxter, I am so glad you liked the post. The encouragement of your college professors should be enough to tip you off that you definitely have a talent for writing, and it is amazing that you’re following that and doing what you truly love. Hats off to you, and as Jodee said, please post again when you find some work. We’re all here for you!
Jodee, easy…. I can read minds.
Dani, you are absolutely correct. That’s why I added the “hopefully, I’ll be here to help you” bit. Because nobody always knows instinctively how to get what they want, especially if there’s so much to learn about the field in which that person is interested. I do hope it’s assumed that I would be helping as many FWJ readers as possible to get the things they want out of their careers, as that would be a personal aspiration of mine if I become a regular blogger here. However, it is also up to the individual to figure out how to attain his/her goals. FWJ is one valuable resource along the way, and there are countless others for writers as well. Investigating and learning and teaching is part of the journey, and I’m glad you pointed out that I always need to be aware of that.
@ #4: You did send me that first sentence and it didn’t get copied over somehow. I’ve fixed it now. Sorry about that.
#4: Thank you for taking my comment in context, and for the great reply.
I’m a firm believer in the power of “just do it”. We can hopefully help to empower or readers but we can’t make them take that first step!
Thanks for this, it’s pretty much exactly what I needed after a long week of proposals that were shot dead by clients.
I love that your posts seems to resonate with my own career. The first sentence grabbed me enough to keep me reading. As an inspiration post it was good. I would rather, however, have seen examples of what you have done or would do to back up your advice, rather than a comparison to having a gym membership that you don’t use. But still, I think I’ll bookmark this blog post and revisit it the next time I lose a job I really, really wanted to keep!
#4 I totally agree with what you’ve posted. That ‘just do it’ attitude has made a lot of things happen for me (whether or not that’s a good thing still remains to be seen). Positive thinking isn’t a magic want, but it sure gets you going and helps you to think out of the box to find ways around all the pesky obstacles that like to pop up in life. Well done!
Deb, right you are.
Evan, glad this helped. Maybe the clients would be interested if you altered or reworked the proposals. Maybe not. In any case, keep on truckin’. With enough market research and fine-tuning, someone somewhere is going to go for one of your proposals, and I hope that someone shows up soon!
Aurora, wow, thank you! I’m flattered to know that you’ll consider bookmarking my post. I appreciate your suggestions about including concrete examples… that would have been a great idea, and I wish it had occurred to me at the time I was writing this. To provide an example now without giving away too much about me, I can say that I have worked for a while in a niche area of writing that is almost impossible to break into, and I have been ruthless about trying to get my work out there and considered. I have been making attempts to improve my writing and work toward my goals in this particular field for years with, well, almost no reward. But in my mind, I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. After all, where would I be now without the market research, self-education, and writing I’ve done in the past few years? Even if I don’t have tangible results to show for it yet, my passion for the work and my refusal to think that I may possibly fail (because I won’t; it’s as simple as that) are more than what I need to keep me going.
Andrea, I am sure the ‘just do it’ attitude is a good thing if it’s gotten you results! I really do believe that it makes all the difference in the world. I think sometimes people underestimate the effects of motivation and positive thinking. Negative thinking can really be detrimental and can make a person physically ill, but there’s an incredible flip side in that positive thinking is an amazing tool in nearing your goals and finally accomplishing them.
“Know that what you want is possible.” Absolutely. I have to remind myself of that occasionally.
Thanks, #11
I think we all have to remind ourselves of that occasionally (and for me, more than occasionally!).