Being a Freelance Writer

I'm not that good at it. There are two things that freelancers need in order to survive in this new internet world: motivation and hubris. I have one of those two, and it ain't a business thing. I can talk about myself, and I can make myself sound like the perfect candidate for whatever writing project you might have in mind, but I get involved in one project and then devote myself completely to it. This is bad when you stare down a $40.00 payout after a weekend of work. Apparently the way to make money in this industry is to either split yourself between multiple projects, or to market yourself so well that clients are more than willing to throw 500 bucks at you for a single piece.

I can't do either of these things, at least not yet.

But there is a zany thing about this working from my own computer chair thing. I know, that in my heart-of-hearts, if I wanted to make some money today, I could. I could just log on to some freelance site and just market the living hello kitty out of myself and hopefully get some bites. Chances are, I'd find someone willing to pay me 5 cents a word for some article about "Health and Fitness in Your Basement!" or something equally mundane like eateries in the Midwest or something.

What I've found is that I cannot self-motivate worth a good golly darn. If I find something that I care about writing, or if I get that bug and I just want to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), then I can write, and the money is just a happy bonus that pays for my food and weekend habits. What I need is work ethic, and I have finally acknowledged this after every school teacher I have ever had has told me so. This is where I find myself, and how I am going to improve.

The biggest revelation I've had while freelance writing is that I can talk about utterly anything and sound remotely intelligent. I think a key point in writing for money in any field is that you give yourself this aloof sense of intellect, so that even if you have absolutely no clue exactly what you're talking about you can present it in a way that says "sure, it wasn't totally a bad idea to pay me to read stuff online and then write about it, nope, great idea,"

And I just nod and hope they don't see the sweat.