by Brian Balmer

Created on: March 10, 2007   Last Updated: December 04, 2010

Any writer needs self-discipline but a freelance writer requires more than most. The most important reason for this is that a freelance writer is not writing to merely flex their creative wings. They are writing to provide an income. For this reason freelance writing is not a career choice that should be entered into lightly.

Many people, who are not freelance writers, are under the misapprehension that all a freelance writer has to do is write. This is far from the truth. The freelance writer isn't presented with an endless array of writing opportunities. As well as being a writer, he must also become a detective. Yes, there is a lot of work out there but sifting out the work that is right for him or her, the well paid from the freebies and the genuine contracts from the scams takes a degree of sleuthing.

The freelance writer often has to turn his hand to marketing, of himself, his services and his samples. They effectively become their own PR manager. Their writing has moved from the loftiest heights of creative endeavour to the lowest common denominator of a product or a service that is sold to the highest bidder.

Any freelance writer on the web will also require an "on-line presence". This will mean that the freelance writer will also have to create his or her own website, maintain newsletters, create databases, forums and writers groups. This may mean that the freelancer has to learn HTML, Front Page, PERL or a host of other web programs.

A freelance writer also needs to be able to both plan and track his or her submissions. For example, if a writer wants to get paid for a piece about Halloween, then a submissions editor may be looking for such a piece by May, at the latest. The writer must also be able to track where and when they have submitted an article. If not enough time is allowed for the publisher to respond, the writer may send it on to someone else. The writer's impatience though may mean that two publishers believe that they have been granted exclusive rights and the writer could be censured from future publication by both publishers.

Even after gaining publication, the writer must employ his skills as a debt collector. Publications may wish to await the generation of their own revenue, before passing on payment to the freelance writer. The writer has to then employ their diplomatic skills to request payment without being so pushy as to rule out any future job opportunities.

The freelance writer therefore requires self-discipline in a broad range of disciplines. The very least of their worries is the discipline involved in producing good copy to a deadline.

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