What’s on the iPod: Corazon by Santana
As I sit here the day before Christmas awaiting Santa (according to Google, he’s just delivered gifts to good little writers in Kyoto), I think about all the reasons why this job fits. Why do you and I get up every morning, grab our caffeine, and head to a job with such ups and downs, uncertainty, fluctuating income, and no safety net? If it were any other job, we’d have left it long ago.
But this isn’t any other job. This is freelance writing, the stuff other people dream of doing. Somehow, we’ve found our way from dreaming to doing to thriving. Even in the tough times, when the checks are late, the accounts are dwindling, and the bills are growing, we stick with it. There must be reasons.
There are.
Here are a few of mine:
I can hold my own in a grammar discussion. And luckily, I married a man who is a walking grammar and style book.Knowing I can look something up to settle a debate is just damn fun, don’t you think? Okay, so I’m a word nerd — don’t judge me.
I get to earn money for doing what comes naturally. The day I realized accountants were paid for doing what they love (and what I can’t), I knew I could make a living writing — something many people struggle to do. What a revelation!
I am running a business. It still makes me smile when clients come back after a few years and ask “Are you still freelancing?” I get it. Not everyone sticks with it — this is no easy job. But I get this silent little pleasure in saying, “Absolutely.” It’s because I realized early on that this job was a business. Treating it like a writing business and not just a job has made it possible to stand up for the business, protect it, and help it grow. It’s something I’m proud of, as I’m sure you’re proud of building.
My hours are my own. This week, there’s very little work. I can take off, get some shopping done, go out for tea, or just head to the shore and look for the snowy owl that’s been seen in the area. I have deadlines, and as long as I meet deadlines, I can do what I like. No one can force me to sit at this desk eight hours a day and pretend to be busy. In actuality, I sit here much longer and I am busy. But if I want to meet a friend for lunch, I don’t have to rush back within an hour or punch a time clock.
I can say no to any job that doesn’t fit. There have been plenty. Not once have I regretted turning down work or clients that weren’t for me. If I had an employer, I wouldn’t have that luxury.
I can move in any direction I like. Today I’m writing in more technical areas. Tomorrow, I might be writing poetry or fiction. I could be working for a healthcare company today and a credit union next week. I can let my writing biz take me into new areas, and I can steer it there myself. It’s up to me.
It’s the thing I was born to do. Even when I was a kid and wondered out loud about what I would be when I grew up (apparently, cowgirls are thin on the ground), I was writing. When I was a teenager facing college choices and majors, it didn’t come to me right away despite my writing every day, being in advanced writing classes, and having friends pay me in snacks at lunch to write letters or poems to give to their crushes. Hey, I was slow. But when I finally woke up to what I was dancing around, I dug in. Now it’s who I am and who I will always be.
I get to hang out with you. All who read, comment, lurk and write privately are a joy to me. Thank you for your inspiration, support, friendship, and presence. Without you, this gig would be much less enjoyable. I raise my mug of tea and toast all of you who chase the dream, own it, and make it work for you.
Have a joyous, love-filled holiday season.
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