Six Habits You Should Banish from Your Writing Life

What’s on the iPod: Just as Well by Jackie Greene

It’s been a great start to the new year — a favorite client contacted me with three projects. I started one, intend to finish another next week, and should have a strong start to a third next week, as well.

As I was writing out my business and marketing plans (yes, I do), I was thinking about how much my career has morphed. Each year I’ve been a writing professional, I’ve gained that much more experience and that much more confidence. My projects have gone from hit-and-miss jobs that didn’t pay enough to proactively generated relationships with clients who value what I do for them.

Each time I went back to the business and marketing plan, I changed something else.

It’s so easy to take whatever job comes along, to surf through job lists and advertisements, or to accept any price just to get the gig (and the clips). What isn’t easy is changing that mindset forever and working like you mean it, not like you’re piecing it together. Well, physically, it’s easy. Mentally, not so much.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your writing career and make a better living writing, start by banishing some of the bad habits that plague your writing life.

Turn your back on content mills. Yes, it’s easy work. Yes, it’s quick money. No, it’s not any work you can show to a smart client to prove you’re a smart writer. Yes, you may have talent. No, this is not the place to use that talent. You’ll never be paid enough for the work you do.

Stop the negative messaging. I’m talking about that voice in your head. Whether you vocalize your doubts or not, stop it. The freelance writing world is not devoid of work. The pay is not going down (unless you’re working below what you deserve already). The clients aren’t all crazy. If you don’t like what you see or you don’t like what you’re expected to do for less than you deserve, change how you’re finding work.

Give up on expecting this to be easy. Some days this is the best, most lucrative job on the planet. Other days, you can’t find two nickels to rub together. If you think you’re set the minute the projects roll in, you’re going to find out otherwise the minute those projects are completed and you’re once again without work. A freelance writing career takes ongoing, continuous effort to find work, keep in touch with clients, build relationships, and earn money.

Lose that high-and-mighty attitude. Yes, clients can be disappointed and say so. Yes, it can sometimes be that they weren’t clear in what they wanted. But they’re paying you to get it right. If your client says he wants you to revise that report because it’s not in the right voice, you damn well better do just that. It’s not a suggestion from an unschooled writer — it’s what your client is paying you for. Yes, sometimes clients are full of it and completely clueless. It’s your job to advise them when their changes aren’t going to work for them. Your ego has nothing to do with their finished product.

Drop the notion that contracts aren’t necessary. Please don’t tell me you still work without a formal contract. Even if you go no further than getting everything confirmed in email, it’s better than simply saying “Sure! I’ll get started right away” without parameters, including when that check is to arrive in your hands and when the late fees will apply. Your contract protects both you and your client. Any client worth working for will sign an agreement (and may even require one).

Eliminate the waiting for free time. Oh, the excuses we make — “I can’t write that novel/market for new business/take that course because I don’t have time.” Correction — you’re not making the time. Schedule your marketing, your business planning, your coursework, your personal writing. Don’t wait for time to appear. It won’t.