This is wonderfully, commendably honest. Thank you for it, Anna.
And also, it's about the thing that is so rarely talked about: how money issues make us feel. Because THAT stuff is where it gets raw.
I'd personally add to the list: shame. For at least the first 5 years after my switch to f/t writing & p/t freelancing, I was so embarrassed about how little money I was making that I found it impossible to (a) talk about and (b) pin any fragment of self-worth onto. That cycle (or spiral) was so hard to shake off - partly because of pride not allowing me to be sympathetic or patient with myself & my efforts to build up income.
But at one point I had the very good fortune to sit down with a bunch of professional but non-famous actors, and they straightened out something inside of me. Actors experience the same boom & bust cycles as writers, but it seems like there's less guilt & shame there when things do south? At least with the ones I was chatting to. They were unabashed by hitting hard times, because they had a bazillion case studies of famous actors waiting tables for years to call upon.
So maybe (maybe?) that's a side of freelancing that could do with a bit more publicity. The folk who are working a day-job to finance it, or where it's the primary job but it's not yet paying the bills and that's totally OK because it's actually what a hell of a lot of us - maybe *most* of us - do?
Maybe it'll help us stop completely blaming ourselves, when we're not hitting everything out of the park and when the odds are temporarily stacked against us. Maybe we could feel better about the harder times. Reckon that might be a healthy, useful thing?
I have been a freelance journalist on and off throughout my 30-year career as well as doing other things. Currently freelance journalism pays less than it ever did before. For example, I was paid $50 last year by the National Review for a huge feature on coronavirus in Russia. I am just about to start a job in international trade, having to give up most of my journalism. Who is going to cover important stories?
Sooooo true! 2021 has been way harder financially than 2020. And I totally agree about allowing ourselves to measure some projects in joy or social usefulness and not money. FWA was a very beautiful thing. xx.
This is a really refreshing read, and so helpful to me too. I listened to your book before I went solo and I found it so helpful in working things out in my head and taking the fear out of the start up process - but your honesty in this article about the ups and downs, and how you measure progress, is really insightful too!
It's helpful to have this level of transparency - I'm just considering starting to pitch as a journalist but currently make enough to live on as a copywriter for brands. The tradeoff I'm imagining is saying more of what I want to say, but I can't help but wonder if it isn't more rewarding to say whatever you want on Substack and not pitch to publications at all. So - helpful, thank you - and I love that it's an ever evolving juggle for us all, and wish you all the best with whatever inspires you most next.
Thanks for this. I always wanted to be a journalist, and have chosen a different path... or more like it chise me. All the above is mirrored in our business of 40 staff and about 40 sub contractors at any one time. I have found that there are cycles of energy in any business, be it a freelancer or large business and you do what you can to manage the waves. You are a human not a robot and you are seeing what others see, in my view. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing, emotionally speaking I went through the same as this year I earned 25% less than last year, so for me too 2021 was more difficult than 2020.
It took me a while but then I realized that in 2020 I panicked and over-compensated by taking up a few extra gigs in order to keep up with my pre-pandemic levels of income.
It took me the entire last quarter of this year to calm the f*** down and not be swallowed by anger and frustration: if anything I demonstrated to myself how (abused buzzword warning) resilient I've grown during these past few year as an independent consultant.
I can survive a -25% year because of dozens of little-big choices I've been making since 2017 (I downsized my income expectations after a record year in 2018, for example, which by all accounts was and still is a really weird, counter-intuitive move for a lot of people...).
This is wonderfully, commendably honest. Thank you for it, Anna.
And also, it's about the thing that is so rarely talked about: how money issues make us feel. Because THAT stuff is where it gets raw.
I'd personally add to the list: shame. For at least the first 5 years after my switch to f/t writing & p/t freelancing, I was so embarrassed about how little money I was making that I found it impossible to (a) talk about and (b) pin any fragment of self-worth onto. That cycle (or spiral) was so hard to shake off - partly because of pride not allowing me to be sympathetic or patient with myself & my efforts to build up income.
But at one point I had the very good fortune to sit down with a bunch of professional but non-famous actors, and they straightened out something inside of me. Actors experience the same boom & bust cycles as writers, but it seems like there's less guilt & shame there when things do south? At least with the ones I was chatting to. They were unabashed by hitting hard times, because they had a bazillion case studies of famous actors waiting tables for years to call upon.
So maybe (maybe?) that's a side of freelancing that could do with a bit more publicity. The folk who are working a day-job to finance it, or where it's the primary job but it's not yet paying the bills and that's totally OK because it's actually what a hell of a lot of us - maybe *most* of us - do?
Maybe it'll help us stop completely blaming ourselves, when we're not hitting everything out of the park and when the odds are temporarily stacked against us. Maybe we could feel better about the harder times. Reckon that might be a healthy, useful thing?
I have been a freelance journalist on and off throughout my 30-year career as well as doing other things. Currently freelance journalism pays less than it ever did before. For example, I was paid $50 last year by the National Review for a huge feature on coronavirus in Russia. I am just about to start a job in international trade, having to give up most of my journalism. Who is going to cover important stories?
Awesome article - honest and vulnerable - yeah!
This was good and helpful to read, thank you
Sooooo true! 2021 has been way harder financially than 2020. And I totally agree about allowing ourselves to measure some projects in joy or social usefulness and not money. FWA was a very beautiful thing. xx.
This is a really refreshing read, and so helpful to me too. I listened to your book before I went solo and I found it so helpful in working things out in my head and taking the fear out of the start up process - but your honesty in this article about the ups and downs, and how you measure progress, is really insightful too!
It's helpful to have this level of transparency - I'm just considering starting to pitch as a journalist but currently make enough to live on as a copywriter for brands. The tradeoff I'm imagining is saying more of what I want to say, but I can't help but wonder if it isn't more rewarding to say whatever you want on Substack and not pitch to publications at all. So - helpful, thank you - and I love that it's an ever evolving juggle for us all, and wish you all the best with whatever inspires you most next.
Thanks for this. I always wanted to be a journalist, and have chosen a different path... or more like it chise me. All the above is mirrored in our business of 40 staff and about 40 sub contractors at any one time. I have found that there are cycles of energy in any business, be it a freelancer or large business and you do what you can to manage the waves. You are a human not a robot and you are seeing what others see, in my view. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing, emotionally speaking I went through the same as this year I earned 25% less than last year, so for me too 2021 was more difficult than 2020.
It took me a while but then I realized that in 2020 I panicked and over-compensated by taking up a few extra gigs in order to keep up with my pre-pandemic levels of income.
It took me the entire last quarter of this year to calm the f*** down and not be swallowed by anger and frustration: if anything I demonstrated to myself how (abused buzzword warning) resilient I've grown during these past few year as an independent consultant.
I can survive a -25% year because of dozens of little-big choices I've been making since 2017 (I downsized my income expectations after a record year in 2018, for example, which by all accounts was and still is a really weird, counter-intuitive move for a lot of people...).