Beginner Freelance Writer Mistakes: Fighting Against the Nature of the Job
Freelance writing is a lawless place, and that makes it extremely easy to fall into common pitfalls.
I’m a big proponent of planning ahead, it’s probably my most useful coping mechanism, especially as a freelance writer whose workload (and bank account balance) is constantly in flux.
But here’s the thing: When you try to plan ahead to soon, or too far out, things start to fall apart.
It’s the constant struggle of being someone whose work and income is not stable (which, let’s be real, anything can happen, whether you have a full-time job with benefits or not) meeting a desire to reclaim some modicum of control.
It’s tempting to take your first few paychecks, average them over time and let yourself believe that you have a stable enough income to fall back on. It’s tempting to assume that, because you’ve been able to rely on certain gigs for a few months, that you can count on them for the rest of the year.
Because then you don’t have to confront the reality of freelancing, of being a writer, or of working for companies that may not value freelancers as much as they do their other workers…
