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The Psychology Of Being A Freelance Writer
Five fundamental lessons on how to create a long-lasting writing career
Twenty-one years ago, I resigned from my job to become a full-time freelance writer.
Everyone said I was mad, and I wouldn’t survive. But I knew what I was getting into, thanks to my previous ten-year writing side-hustle apprenticeship while doing the day job. I’ll be honest, though. There have been some tough times.
Looking back over thirty years, I’ve learned a lot about the psychology of being a freelance writer. Here are my five fundamental lessons.
Lesson 1 — Regular writing is like investing in the stock market: it smoothes out the highs and lows
Nobody invests money in the stock market and doubles their money overnight, do they? Well, okay, there is always that outlier, the one person who makes the news by picking the right stock. But they make the news because it’s so unusual. The rest of us have to accept the ups and the downs.
Writing projects are like stocks. Some will flourish, others will wither and die. If you don’t diversify and spread the risk over many projects, your chances of survival are minimal.
