How to Keep the Freelance Fire Going
Posted by Maya Smart on Wed, Jun 02, 2010 @ 02:07 PM
"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." —Reggie Leach
by Maya Payne Smart
For years, that quotation was taped to the screen of the computer I used to hammer out articles that explained everything from the aluminum-market outlook to the best ways to organize your home. The legendary hockey player's words were a constant reminder that self-motivation is key to victory in the competitive field of freelance writing. Unlike staff reporters, who even on slow news days get paid just for showing up, freelancers must constantly hunt for new assignments and their next paychecks.
And boy can it be tiring!
Writing and reporting alone, often at the risk of rejection, can take a lot out of you. Throw sales, marketing, invoicing, collecting and business planning into the mix and burnout starts brewing. Setting yourself on fire occasionally is one thing; kindling your efforts daily is another. There are many days when my to-do list outweighs my motivation level — and the term "self-starter" feels more like a punishment than a redeeming quality. Like Sisyphus pushing a boulder uphill only to have it roll back down, freelancing can feel laborious, tedious, even futile.
Given the inevitable ups and downs, how can writers keep their fire for storytelling alive? I heard some good answers to this question during "Can I Get a Witness? Writing for Social Change," a panel discussion that I moderated last week. Hosted by James River Writers, a Virginia nonprofit on whose board I serve, the two-hour event brought together Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams, historical novelist Linda Beatrice Brown and AOL News contributor Emily Troutman to discuss how they use journalism, fiction and commentary to give a voice to the voiceless.
The event wasn't focused on freelancing per se, but I couldn't help but make connections between their work and ours. Together the panelists gave a master class in tapping emotion, seeking truth, connecting with readers (and other writers) and finding balance. Here are their tips for refueling.
Write passionately.
It may sound counterintuitive, but sometimes you can get more pleasure out of your writing business by investing more of yourself into it, even when you're tired. Rather than conserving energy by doing the minimum required to interview a source or write an article, give it your all. Regardless of the subject, write as if the story matters, as if only you can tell it, as if every word counts.
For Williams, the writing process starts with emotion. "It starts when I'm cussing at the TV set or balling up my newspaper and tossing it across the room," he said. "It all stems from the outrage that you feel. It's almost childlike — this isn't fair; this isn't right. When you feel that, it writes itself. By the time you sit down at your computer, it's just a matter of polishing it up."
The notion of letting something powerful and personal guide your work doesn't just apply to columnists. "At heart, if you're a good journalist and you're doing your job, we need to be advocating for something," Williams said. "Otherwise, we're just stenographers. I don't know too many journalists that go into this with the idea of just taking notes in rote fashion and putting them down in some kind of newspaper. It's got to be about more than that; it's got to be about some kind of greater good."
Indeed, reconnecting with your initial passion for writing is a surefire strategy for staying excited about the work over time. Your stories must be about more than a word count or paycheck.
Show humanity.
As a freelance writer, Troutman has traveled to locations as far flung as Istanbul, Turkey, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to offer "humanist perspectives on complex issues." She emphasizes the individual dignity of the people involved in the stories she covers as well as the worth and capacity for growth of her readers.
"I've found that most of my experience in changing people's perspectives about a place or a problem is about them knowing me," she explained. "That's why there's power in writing fiction where you get to know a person or character, or in a columnist with a voice that people identify with. In my work, I try to tell the stories of real people who I meet so I interject that personhood into it."
She also connects on a human level with sources and readers through social media. "It adjusts the way I talk about problems," she explained. "I know I'm going to post [stories] on Facebook or Twitter and the people on there aren't necessarily subscribers to the New York Times home edition; they are my friends from high school, my grandmother, my aunts and uncles. Social media has made me more aware of the potential audience-the real general public."
The conversation among readers who've been introduced to a new issue and sources who want to stay in touch minimizes energy-sapping feelings of isolation and plants writers within a community of learning, encouragement and support.
Be authentic.
It's certainly much easier to be passionate about your work and celebrate humanity when you are writing about subjects that you genuinely care about. Be selective about the work you pursue and the assignments you accept.
Find a way to write what you love as opposed to psyching yourself into loving what you happen to be writing — or what you think has the best commercial prospects. Brown described a crossroads she reached in the '70s, when it became clear that the kind of books she wanted to write weren't likely to appeal to a wide audience.
"It was at that point that I decided that I was either going to be authentic or I was not going to write, because you can be a sleazy, non-truth-telling fiction writer very easily and make lots of money," she explained. "I thought, ‘You're either going to be who you are or there's no point in doing this. It's too hard.'"
Three novels and several poems, plays, short stories and essays later, Brown continues to tell her own truth. "For me, it is a spiritual thing. I was put here on earth to use the gift of the word, and if I don't do that, I don't feel good. The energy is there because you love what you're doing."
Passion, humanity and authenticity are great motivators. How else do you keep the freelance fire going?