Comments on: 13 Reasons Why You Should NOT Be A Freelance Writer

By: tom appleton

tom appleton — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:56:40 +0000

utter balderdash, is my comment. one: poor people skills. of course you cannot work as a writer sans people skills, but i’m not going to go into freelance work to repeat the dependencies and idiocies of a regular job. if the people don’t like the way i am, or do my work, forget them. if i’m a poor organiser, the same. get a wife who can organise stuff, or some other friend. poor motivation? well, the question is — to do what? i sometimes take an awfully long time to get a particular job done, but as a rule it does finally get done. i do finally see the money. poor listener? i don’t listen to anything, unless it interests me — and i instantly know if something interests me. i ask specific questions. i’m not interested in other people and stuff per se — but only in as much as their stuff inteests me. i’m not talking about friends and lovers, i’m talking about stuff i write about.poor typist? yes, true, like everybody else i can’t type properly, because i held a cigarette in the other hand, but it doesn’t matter TOO much. you still get work done. alternatively, find a secretary. the rest i don’t even care about. my advice is: write only what you’re interested in, sell it, never work for people who don’t want your stuff, never take any shit from anybody, send out your invoices immediately. enjoy your writing and always have a long list of things you still want to do. and try to finish any job you start, try never to shelve a story in your bottom drawer, find SOMEBODY to sell it to. never cut a story to suit an editor. i’ve cut 2.500 word stories to 250 words and the pain is with me still. don’t write copy for other people, only write stuff that you can put your own name to. regards — tom appleton

By: Melissa Kojima

Melissa Kojima — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:21:23 +0000

This is great. Yeah, I like the one about poor people skills. I think a lot of freelance artists—my field—believe you don’t have to see people and talk to them. Even though, this is for writers, I think it can be applied to any freelancer. Thank you for posting it.

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