Freelance Journey - Step 0: My Plan

 

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I am about to embark on my freelance writing journey. This is step 0. Step 0 is building up my practice as a writer. It is posting on my blog(s). It is continuing to write fiction. It is learning how to run a writing-related business. That's where I am right now. 

At nearly 24, I'm only now earnestly starting down this path. Before now, I was focused on college: how to get in, how to get through it, what to do after it. Now that I've graduated, it's time to begin my career.

Step 0: Research and Writing Practice

Writing

My writing has continued to improve over the last eight years. Some of this comes naturally as I've grown older, but a lot of it came from the hard work I put into writing. I've written a lot of essays and research papers in the last four years. Learning new genres and writing constantly taught me the value of time management, thorough editing, and learning how to break the rules the right way. 

I also learned my writing is valuable. First, I now find it valuable. The labor I put into my work is something I'm proud of now. I'm proud of how my labor can be seen in the writing I create. It's also valuable to others. Receiving praise from a professor who doesn't know me well is completely different from praise my loved ones give me. I earned first place in an essay writing class, because my professor told me I should submit an essay about Little Women I wrote in his class. Knowing that my professors (and others) think I'm a good writer is one of the best things I got from college. 

I don't let myself think I'm a bad writer anymore. That doesn't mean I don't write bad things sometimes, but it does mean that I've improved, I'm improving, and I can be proud of that. 

Research

I used to spend many hours doing research for various assignments. In fact, I often spent too much time researching. Sometimes, I had to fit in writing at the end. I found myself procrastinating, even though I researched the topic for weeks. I always knew I could have done a better job at getting my point across. If only I'd made more time for it.

This principle is a constant in my life. I spend so much time on preparation that whatever I'm preparing for often falls flat. Right now, I'm doing research and preparation to launch into a freelance writing career. I find the research interesting. I want to know all I can about how to create a portfolio, where to look for jobs, and how to make it as a freelancer. 

Then I get to actually writing, applying, going after a freelance gig, etc., and I slow down. I'm hesitant to hit the "send" button, because I'm nervous about possible rejection and failure. 

I am going to make this the year where I push send anyways, despite the fear. In fact, I already have.

I submitted a writing sample and my resume to a company yesterday. They promptly responded saying they weren't hiring writers at the moment. They would look at my resume and sample when they were hiring again. It wasn't a failure or a rejection. It wasn't really anything at all, but it allowed me to get started on Step 1. 

More information coming soon. 

Writing and Music Update for 2024

 Today, I have two different thoughts on my mind. These topics are often on my mind. My ideas and thoughts on these subjects often circulate around and around. I think about how I used to think and feel. I compare it to now.

Writing

Writing doesn't come as easily to me as it used to. I struggle to understand why this is the case. There's more self-doubt now. And maybe my thoughts and feelings are more complex so they're harder to articulate clearly. 

I'm going to practice the skills it takes to become a good writer. I want to go beyond the knowledge of what makes a story work and put that into practice. It's so frustrating to try that again and again and feel like I've made no progress. But that's only in the moment. In context, I have made progress. 

Not only that, but I've experienced more of life. I don't think I used to understand how much of a difference that makes. I think I understand better now, but I'm always painfully aware of how much I don't know yet too. 

All of that makes writing difficult, but I'm going to anyway. I'm going to do a lot of free-writing and writing exercises. The exercises are focused on certain elements of writing. I've had so many doubts about my writing for the past couple of years. I've become increasingly discouraged. It's very unlikely that anything I write will have much of an impact. I think that bothered me for a while, but wanting to create has mostly overtaken that.

Music

I'm almost as obsessive about music as I used to be. It's changed now, but music has the same way of influencing my moods as it used to. I still enjoy Twenty One Pilots and Owl City, but I have expanded my music tastes. 

In 2016, I discovered the wide wide world of music artists on YouTube. Dodie was, and remains, my favorite of these artists. I also enjoy Rusty Clanton, Tessa Violet, and Adam Melchor. All of these I found through Dodie. And because of those artists, I found many others. Right now, some of my favorite artists are:

• Laufey
• Sarah Kang
• Lizzy McAlpine
• Cavetown
• Jacon Collier
  

 Like I mentioned before, Owl City is one of my favorites still. In September, I finally attended an Owl City concert. It was at the Newport Music Hall, right outside of The Ohio State Union. The concert didn't feel real. It was surreal. I almost wish I'd been alone so I could cry about it. It was probably the most beautiful two hours of my life. I might write about it someday soon. 

Resurrecting this Blog

I'm doing what I said I'd never do. I'm "resurrecting" this blog. 

It's been almost exactly seven years and eight months since I last posted here. A few things have happened since then, but I won't bore you with the details. What's important is that I'm back and I plan to do almost exactly what I was doing in 2015-2016. 

I want to write again. I want to write and put that writing somewhere without over analyzing it. This is the perfect space for that. 

What You Can Expect

I will post as often as I can on a variety of subjects, including: 

• Life
• Books
• Writing

Many other topics may be included as well. We'll have to wait and see.