Freelancing Is a Real Job
Here’s how I make it work
In Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Rory Gilmore paints a jaded vision of the freelance writer’s life. The one-time Yale Daily News editor, who could seemingly do no wrong (except for that time in season 6 when she stole a yacht and dropped out of college), is struggling to make it as a journalist, trying to coast on her single New Yorker byline, while pitching the occasional article and getting turned down by the likes of The Atlantic and GQ.
It’s a bleak view of the freelance life. It’s also an incredibly unrealistic one.
And yet it’s the vision many people have of freelancers. I’ve been a full-time freelance writer on and off for nearly half of my career. I’ve encountered many people who think I sit around waiting for editors to accept my pitches and spend the rest of the time playing with my dog in a meadow.
I do spend some time playing with my dog in a meadow. But it all happens before 8:30 am. Because guess what? Freelancing is a real job.
I have regular clients
The first time I went freelance, I spent nearly a year building a client base while working a full-time job. That meant that on occasion, I’d be working 7 am–10 pm. My FT job included a fair amount of travel to conferences, and on my lunch breaks…
