by Catherine L. Tully
Everybody in the business has one. Some writers have more than one. What am I talking about? Freelance Fears.
Am I being melodramatic? Not in the least. These fears can hold us back from reaching our goals. They constantly get in our way and interfere with success. Do you want to know what my number one freelance fear is? Read on…
I’m terrified I’ll get some kind of important information wrong. That one day I’ll get a call from an irate editor (or interview subject) telling me that I wrote something in an article, it went to print, and it was incorrect.
Now, being thorough is one thing. But I get freaked out to the point that I almost don’t want to turn in an article sometimes. This gets in the way of my career. It sucks my time, and the bottom line is–it isn’t healthy. So what to do?
The way I decided to handle it was to do some serious work on the front end. I double-check important facts as I go through the interview, reading things back to the person that said them. I read facts several times before I include them in an article and double-check them with an additional source. That way, once I get to the editing/proofing part, I can be confident that the piece is solid. I also have made peace with the fact that I will probably, one day, get something wrong in print.
So what is your freelance fear? Have you conquered it? Are you working on it? Share it here…believe me…it feels good to get it off your chest!
My biggest freelance fear is not getting enough gigs to make a living. To date, unfortunately, it’s one I haven’t overcome. I’m relatively new to the profession, after having a totally different career, and I started with low paying gigs, which still is the bulk of what I’m doing. I’m hoping to move away from that, but it’s at least paying something. But how long can I continue to try to write 20 to 30 articles a day on topics I’ve just learned about minutes earlier before my mind burns itself out?
Mitch–I totally hear you. Are you making time for any queries or letters of introduction? I know it’s really hard, but it is so easy to get trapped in some kind of cycle where you are working so much that you don’t make time to move up the ladder.
Very delicate balance, I know. Maybe you can shoot for like one query a week to start or something like that?