Freelance Cutout Q&A
By Melissa Donovan
Earlier this week, I asked “are you cut out for freelance writing?” and gave you some of my ideas about what traits a freelancer needs to have in order to succeed. Today, let’s expand on that a little. Instead of a traditional writing exercise this Friday, I’ve prepared a Q&A that should help you get started in determining how you can move into a freelance writing career, or start building a freelance business that you can do on the side.
If you are remotely interested in freelancing, try answering some of these questions. They’ll get you thinking about how freelancing could fit into your life. These are questions to address even before you enter the business planning stage. If you are already a freelancer, feel free to expand on these questions by adding your own in the comments section.
Reason
The first and foremost question to ask yourself when you’re thinking about freelancing is why. Why do you want to be a freelancer? Is it because you want to stay home with the kids? Want greater control over your earnings and schedule? Knowing why you’re drawn to this crazy profession is something you absolutely need to identify and understand. Because it is the one thing that will keep you going as you move forward.
Time
How much time do you have (or can you create) in your life right now to dedicate to your freelance business? Can you squeeze a couple of hours out of each day? A few hours on the weekend? Also, do you want to transition into full time freelancing right away or do you want to ease into it over time? You can become a freelancer by dedicating just a few hours a week, but it helps to know in advance exactly how much time you can invest in this enterprise. Be realistic!
Money
How much could you trim your budget if you really needed to do so? Are there things you could give up temporarily so that you can build your business? Do you have savings or could you qualify for a business loan to help subsidize your income while making a transition? If you’re married, maybe your spouse’s income could cover the budget for awhile, or you can take some time in advance to save up a little funding.
It’s unlikely that the day you launch your freelance business, you’ll immediately start earning your previous salary. In fact, I read somewhere that it takes about a year to get to that point (the good news is that in the second year, you can surpass your previous salary). The goal of business is to make money but before you make the leap, know where you stand financially.
Summary
I’ve said it before and many freelancers say it on a regular basis: freelancing is a business. It’s not something you can jump into halfhazardly and expect wild success. Some freelancers plan more than others before they launch their business and there’s a happy medium in the planning stages where you don’t want to cut yourself short, but also don’t want to spend so much time planning that you never actually launch the business.
It helps to understand why you want to do this and what you can afford to invest in terms of time and money before you begin to plan your freelancing business. Next week, I’ll publish a post that explores some things you can do to actually start planning and laying the groundwork to become a bona fide freelancer.
If anyone has other questions or thoughts to share on what needs to be considered before the real planning begins, please share and discuss!
Devilish, Daring, and Demure: Meet the Hottest Women in Poetry
By Melissa Donovan
Poetry month came and went. I never had a chance to reveal my favorite poets and poems. That’s because every time I sat down to review my poetry collections and choose a few faves, it looked like I was going to write something that resembled a book rather than a blog post. Finally, I narrowed it down to a manageable number. We’re going to start by taking a look at three poetry queens and in a couple of weeks I will reveal the kings.
Aphra Behn
She lived during the 1600s so you might assume she was a prim and proper lady who did whatever her husband or the king told her. You would be wrong. Aphra broke all the rules and her ability to shock and surprise lives on pretty vividly in her poetry.
During a time when the few women who wrote poetry were upper class and did so as a hobby, Aphra established herself as Britain’s first professional woman writer. Ladies, take note, because Virginia Woolf said, “All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”
I can’t say I agree with Virginia one hundred percent (isn’t that a natural right rather than an earned one?), but Aphra, even after over 300 years, definitely stands out in the crowd of historical writers. Not only because she was a spy, a playwright, and the first paid female writer, she was also deliciously dirty and wrote poems that were blatantly erotic and peppered with humor. Of her, Anne Finch said, “a little too loosely she writ.” We like that in a seventeenth century chick.
Selected reading (i.e. my favorites): The Willing Mistress, The Disappointment, The Libertine
If you don’t crack a sly grin at the end of each of these poems… well… read them again!
Emily Dickinson
Who hasn’t heard of Emily Dickinson? Before J.K. Rowling wowed the world with Harry Potter, Miss Dickinson was the most famous woman writer to have ever lived. And not just because she wrote great poetry.
Emily bucked the social expectations of her time by never marrying and becoming an eccentric agoraphobic who always dressed in white. Despite her odd ways, she was much beloved and known around town as the Amherst Myth.
Emily was born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts during the 1800s and it was clear by the time Emily became an adult that she was marching to the beat of a different drum, which is why many people are surprised to learn she had an extremely normal childhood and grew up in a happy, affluent family. In fact, her father was a lawyer and politician. Yet Emily gave up a life of normalcy to pursue her one and only love: poetry.
She locked herself away from the Victorian world whose expectations she rebuffed and threw herself into books and writing. Not much is known about her love life or whether she had one but one thing is certain: Emily Dickinson was wracked with unparalleled literary intensity.
The majority of her poems were found after her death, untitled but neatly written and bound. They are usually numbered or indicated by their first lines. Emily Dickinson is also a poet whose biography and poetry play well off each other, building a special mystery that will draw you in wondering who this enigmatic woman really was.
Selected reading: (271) A solemn thing, (288) I’m Nobody!, (384) No Rack can torture me, (441) This is my letter to the World, (569) I reckon — when I count at all, (712) Because I could not stop for Death
There’s a lot of Dickinson poems to explore. This is a very small portion of what she left us. Most of these are short, quick reads.
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker is probably the writer most loved by dress-wearing feminists. She was cool, dry, and witty beyond measure. She put her own flaws under a magnifying glass and wrote about them, letting the world laugh at her but there’s a sense that somewhere inside, Dorothy Parker was not laughing.
She is the woman who smiles and nods niceties while whispering obscene comic insults against all of society under her breath. I imagine when she cast her eyes over a person, she saw beyond the visible and I’d bet she could give a look that made anyone on the receiving end feel uncomfortably naked.
Dorothy catapulted to fame during the 1920s and 1930s after she coined “Brevity is the soul of lingerie” for an ad. Her job? To write photograph captions for Vogue. After that, she went to work for Vanity Fair. She was also a prominent member of the Algonquin Hotel’s Round Table, which means she was in with the in crowd. She also helped shape the New Yorker, which is no small accomplishment and doesn’t look too bad on anyone’s resume, even these days.
Like many writers, Dorothy experienced turbulence in life. She married bisexual writer, Alan Campbell, with whom she had several breakups and reconciliations. After an abortion in 1923, she attempted suicide (the first attempt of many). She and Campbell earned over $5000 a week in Hollywood at one time (that was a lot of money in those days) and were later blacklisted as communists during the McCarthy era.
Her poetry is delightfully wit-tickling and her quotes are unforgettable (men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses). Though much of her work expresses a particular sense of self-dissatisfaction, it’s clear that Dorothy Parker’s dissatisfaction went beyond self and extended to all of humanity, especially the gents. However, she delivered it with language that smirks and smarts and satisfies.
Selected Reading: Comment, Interview, Resumé
* * *
Now it’s your turn. Who are your favorite ladies of poetry? What attracts you to a poem or poet? Obviously, I’m drawn to the rebels, the rule-breakers, and the eccentrics. Do you prefer women writers over male writers or does it matter? Take a look at your book or poetry collection and see if it’s gender balanced.
Sources: The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Traditions in English
Are You Cut Out for Freelance Writing?
By Melissa Donovan
photo credit: Dave Malkoff
Freelance writers live in their own special universe. It’s a universe full of words, clients, and bottom lines. Many people dive into this universe headfirst and find out fast that it’s sink or swim. Doesn’t it sound tempting? Setting your own hours, having control over your income, making business decisions, trying to find clients, and establishing yourself as a worthwhile contender in the galactic enterprise that is your one-person business.
Make no mistake, freelancing is a business. Visions of lounging on the sands of your own private island quickly evaporate into late nights spent staring groggy-eyed into a computer screen that has become the center of your world. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and the light is success. Before you reach the light, before you even step into the tunnel, you have to ask yourself, are you cut out for freelancing?
Skill
Some people will argue and claim that skill is not really a requirement for freelancers. Have a look around the web. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are fairly optional here. Proofreading is unheard of and most web writers seem to have never discovered the editing process. That’s fine. They can peddle $1 articles at the bidding boards. If you have serious writing skills, you can actually earn a livable wage as a freelance writer.
Drive
You’ll need someone who can pilot your space shuttle into the freelance universe and guess what? If you’re freelancing, it’s going to have to be you. This is a business, not a hobby, and it requires a considerable amount of ambition. You’ve got to want it. Bad. You won’t have a boss or any coworkers asking how that project’s coming along but you will have endless distractions and temptations vying for your attention. If you can’t commit your energies, then your ship’s going to crash.
Sacrifice
I bet some people slip into freelancing and never notice a change in their work hours. Don’t ask me where these people are. I’ve never met them. You can call yourself a freelancer until the sun spins out of its orbit but what you really are is an entrepreneur and you know what entrepreneurs do? They work hard, long hours. They give up social activities and hobbies so they can throw their energies into the business and make it succeed. Is the sacrifice forever? I don’t think so, but expect to have very little free time during your first year.
Educability
Perfect! I thought I was making up the word “educability” but it turns out that it already exists. And that’s my point. You have to be willing to learn. You have to be willing to grow. I’m still in my first year of freelancing. I love it and one of the things I love most is that every single day I learn new things. I learn new stuff about writing, about people, about business, and about the universe. I learn what works, what earns money, and what kind of limits or goals I need to get myself to the next level. Much of freelancing is trial and error, especially in the beginning. Learn and live. Live and learn.
Flexibility
Some freelancers still probably operate in the real world but most of us are living and working on the Internet. The Internet changes at a rapid pace and if you’re a web-based freelancer, you have to be able to keep up. Sometimes this means adjusting your rates. Other times it means offering new services. Usually it means updating your website so it doesn’t look like an antique UFO from the 1990s. If you like a fast pace and think you can keep up, then freelancing online might be right for you.
Acumen
Not just any acumen, you’re going to need business acumen. Can you balance a checkbook, manage a spreadsheet, keep track of your income and expenses? Do you know what marketing is? Can you negotiate? Pitch yourself? Convince a client they need your services? Do you know the difference between being in the red and being in the black? Can you always have a backup plan? Sure, you can start freelancing and learn the business stuff as you go, but it’s good to have an advance grasp on the basics.
Spine
People will try to take advantage of you, so you’re going to need a spine and some thick skin. Aliens will ask for special discounts. People who make five times as much money as you will ask for special discounts. Space invaders will steal hours and hours of your time going back and forth ironing out project details and then they’ll never sign the quote because they found someone else who offered a better discount. Negotiating a little is fine but if you agree to give everyone from ET to R2-D2 a discount you’ll find yourself working for pennies and then you’ll scratch your head wondering why you don’t have enough money to pay rent even though you had plenty of work all month. Can you say no?
Love
Okay, so some freelance writers probably don’t love freelancing. Or writing. But I do. People ask me how my business is going and I tell them I’m exhausted and overwhelmed. I’m working longer hours than ever before and until recently I was making much less money than ever before. But I absolutely love it. This is a big, wide open universe and it suits me perfectly. If you don’t love business, or writing, or working on a computer all day, then you probably won’t be happy doing this. And that is really the goal, right? To find happiness.
What are some other qualities that a successful freelancer needs? Have you thought about quitting your job and taking the plunge? What’s holding you back? Share and discuss. And stay tuned. Because the next post on freelancing is going to talk about planning and preparation for launching a freelance writing business!
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