by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: June 09, 2009

There are many potential reasons to pursue a freelance writing career. The reasons themselves are more numerous than anyone could be expected to name, least of all include in a work of this size, and the combination of same will be particular to almost every individual writer. There are of course however some very common reasons which can be explored - and, if the writer is to succeed, there is one essential one.

Freelance writing can at times be a very lonely business. The writer is self-employed, without colleagues upon whom they can depend for support, and very often they will feel that loneliness very acutely. There will be times when they feel that they have made a bad choice in electing to pursue a freelance writing career and wish they had chosen a different career altogether. What will carry the writer through these periods is the principal reason why they chose to become a freelance writer in the first instance: their love of writing.

Without a love of writing - a passion for writing - the writer is unlikely to succeed as a freelancer. This is therefore the single most important reason to pursue a freelance writing career. It will drive the writer on, ensuring that they do produce somehow the material they are required to produce and at times provide the motivation they need to get through the lean and challenging spells encountered by almost every freelance writer.

Another common reason to pursue a freelance writing career is the freedom which it affords the writer. The total hours worked by the freelance writer are likely to be much longer than those worked by any staff writer but the writer themselves can largely determine when they work those hours. The freelance writer can write about whatever they choose to write, for whatever medium or publisher is likely to pay them the most money. They can choose to go and write in a beautiful outdoor location if the weather is fine, with no restrictions to keep them in the confines of an office. The freelance writer in these respects truly is almost as free as the birds.

The variety which it affords is another reason to pursue a freelance writing career. Writers who take up staff positions will very possibly be expected to write upon one subject all the time. Even when this subject is one which they love, however, there will be times when they feel that it and their writing upon it is going stale. Should the freelance writer experience these feelings about any subject to which they are writing, they can simply set it aside for the time being and move on to another.

A freelance writing career can therefore be seen to be freedom, variety and a world of endless opportunities. It is such a shame, therefore, that it is also very, very hard work.

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