I have been freelancing for over 4 years now and I have been doing it full-time for over a year. Did I notice something ? Does life seem different now? It sure does. Everything has changed for me. But then, there have been times when I wished I hadn’t taken this decision. However, there is something that I thought I must share with you after a pro-longed absence from my blogging.I wanted to tell you what really works in freelance writing. What gets you whatever you have been looking for?

1. Persistance — the mad, insane and almost stupid kinds : When I didn’t have work to do and when I thought I was right at the bottom of the abyss, I was stoned. I didn’t have a choice and I persisted. Now, I have more work than I can handle. persistence is the keyword for success. No two ways about it. No bullshitting around it and absolutely no moving back on it. You persist, you take the girl home. You persist, you may laugh your butts off to the bank. Persist, my friend, the fruit of your labor is just a p-e-r-s-i-s-t away.

2. Mindless, ruthless marketing : I know I might be blamed for repeating this often in my posts, but really, that’s all there is to it. There is no need for you to walk out of the halls of fame in Harvard, Insead, HEC or Stanford. You just walk to learn to walk up to people and tell them your story. if you thought you will make money or earn a living just by praying, you should pinch yourself hard and cry out for your momma — coz it ain’t gonna happen. Marketing is the only way your voice is heard and you better keep yelling. Market, market, market — there goes your MBA and whatever shit load it comes with. The all-time, incredible, shocking, revelation I got? Go out there and sell, dude!

3. Don’t like me or my writing, go to hell: That’s the attitude you will espouse when you go out there seeking clients. I didn’t say disrespect them. I just said that you learn to ” let go” and realize that you are the best there can ever be and that you have done your very best. if they don’t like what they see, you try and deliver it again doing it just the way they want it. If they don’t pay you, let them burn in hell. If they just don’t like you because you are being, well, YOU; try the ‘next’ technique.

4. It works like a charm, this writing thing : For all you skeptics out there and even the pessimistic ones, this writing thing really works. I am a living testimony to this fact and I actually make income and live off it. of course it isn’t what my felow freelancers seem to be making. I am making just 1/5 th of what they seem to earn, but that’s still working. It’s true, for heaven’s sake. If you got it, flaunt it.

As I have been noticing, it almost feels sin like when I don’t have to wake up every morning and join scores of others in the ever maddening rush to get to a work place. I feel guilty that I don’t ‘Hurry’ anymore for anything. My days are well planned out and I somehow feel that my life is finally in my hands and will be a product of what I make of it.

I don’t feel enamored  by the surprising but very powerful need for security anymore. I do feel the pinch sometimes and I am pushed everyday to be able to make certain amount of money by the end of the month, but all of this pushing and heaving is for ME. I don’t work to make someone else rich and I seem to be enjoying the freedom I am lapping up, everyday.

But is working from home seen as something stupid by your neighbours? How are your folks getting used to it? I am not married yet and so I don’t have my spouse breathing down on my neck and I don’t intend to be intimidated by the prospect of that happening too. But still, how does one face this?

A hundred thousand times, the question pounds on the doors of my conscience, pulls at my peace and eats into my sleep. It shreds my confidence apart and insults my competence. At an age when most of my peers are worried about promotions and jobs, I have given it all up in pursuit of my aspirations, seeking freedom, seeking wealth, seeking Inner peace and asking for nothing but my share of MY life.

Did I get it?

Too early to know.

But am I on the right Path?

I swear on Good Lord, I am.

Then why the fuck am I so concerned about freelancing Full time? That’s because it has violent mood swings. It beats me to the next month where it sits mocking me and asks me if I can make the next month look as sexy as it looks this month.

If it mocks you and treats you like shit, why on this satan infested earth would you want to do it full time?

This is why :

1. I love to write : it is personal for me. I think is like a fetish. I have to do it everyday. It brings out the best in me. It forces me to think, to rationalize, to create, to innovate and to blurt it all out. It earns me money and it makes me look good. I think writing loves me too.

2. Jobs are shit : I tried looking out for jobs when I wasn’t doing so well. Hell, I did it today. But, personally, it is really wasting time. 8 hours of investment that fetches you only so much money at the end of the day. Perhaps it makes sense to get that extra amount of money every month that you could write off for security and peace-keeping in the family ( like keeping your nagging, good-for-nothing spouse’s mouth shut, for example), that’s a point. But still, jobs are shit.

3. Full time means 12 hours of writing : Image what kind of money you would make that way? Even if I assume that I would get paid a measly 10 $ per hour, that’s a whopping 120 $ a day X 20 days a working month = 2400 $. With that kind of money in this side of the world, I am already rich. I will be tired of altruism soon. Don’t even talk to me about work/life balance — I do it, after those 12 hours.

4. No expenses : I abhor the commute and now I don’t have to do it. I am home all day and my office looks good. I don’t spend on anything because everything is made ready for me. I live the big American Dream and I am happy. My expenses? Paypal cuts, elance cuts and then a little bit of spending when it all finally lands in my bank account.

5. I love being online : Give me an Internet connection and a laptop, I would have attained nirvana. I wouldn’t need anything else in the world. Maslow’s needs are screwed up - he should have included these two above mentioned elements apart from water, food and clothing. I love being online, meeting new people, reading up untold amount of information and contributing to it too. I can be online all day and writing just made it a productive endeavor.

[Img Courtesy ghg.com ]

I know most of you will love buying this book, if you could and hence I won’t spoil it for you. But I was casually browsing a book store today and I happen to see this new book by Stephen King, the novelist, called ” Stephen King On writing”.

I loved his writing style. I must admit that I had never read any of his books. I was so mesmerized by the way he kept his book short and focused that I had to pick up some lessons which he very meant us to pick up anyway.

1. All writers ( or wannabe writers) must have a copy of Elements of Style By Strunk Jr. and E.B. White - This book is a classic must read for all writers and is like a bible for us. So we better own it up. Actually, I went about searching for a copy but I couldn’t find one unfortunately. I will keep looking. The take away Stephen refers to — ‘ Stoic Writing is the best writing” and ” Avoid too many words”

2. All writers must read : There are no two ways around this one. Each writer must spend a good amount of time reading– even while driving the car ( by listening to audio tapes) and even shile shitting ( what else do you do there anyway?). Reading what good writers have written is bound to make you a little better at what you do, if not the greatest writer born, ever.

3. You don’t need fancy offices : I like this part where he mentions about how he started writing and the fact that so many people think that writing has to be done from fancy buildings and office suites. It can even be done from starbucks — many of us do it, eh? ( I do the starbucks equivalent of Cafe Coffee Day or Barista!)

I read elsewhere that writers can be real poor. I don’t buy that. I think it is that attitude in the first place that can ruin anyone, not just writers. Anyone can be rich, if only they open their hearts to the sweet love of success. I read that freelancing isn’t such a great idea — I don’t buy that ( of course, there are times when I am tempted to think about it this way) but I did realize that it is simply a business with its violent moodswings and needs to be taken care of just as you take care of a publicly traded company.

I am hooked on to Stephen King now, While looking for that Master piece Elements of Style by Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.

This link here has a few excerpts from the book - awesome read. Go ahead and read up.

Excerpts from Stephen King’s ” On Writing”

Internet has indeed turned the table around, bent the tail back wards and re-engineered most of our lives — mine, at least.

I am now foirmly ensconced into a new way of life. A life wherein I don’t wake up in the morning for anyone except for my own work and really, I decide whether I should wake up or not. I can take off whenever I want and I do have fun these days.

I was just thing about some of the beautiful things about Internet writing for writers like me out there :

1. Unleash Your creativity and get published — not a word to anyone in between : I was just reading some posts of my co-writers elsewhere on the Internet about the great things Internet has made possible. One of these things is certainly the way writers now make a living.
No more editors to woo so as to enable your write-up to be posted on their magazine or newspaper. No more running pillar to post to get their so called “valueable” critique and certainly no more wasting time. You can do it all for yourself in your own blog and establish your own readership. These are the ” ME ” times.

2. Writers can get started and earn money instantly : Remember the lean phase I had just a few weeks ago? I had been posting about my dire straits big time then. But one thing I kept on, apart from my relentless rant, was the marketing effort. It does pay off and now I am convinced that if I did that each month — whether I had projects in hand or not — Freelancing doesn’t have to be any unpredictable than one’s day job can be.

3. You could be noticed for all the right reasons : When you write well and do your very best each time you had to get a project done, you are making a name for yourself. You are the mason of your own reputation. The word just spreads. One sure fire way of knowing if you really provide value is to see if one of your old clients has been waiting with a bated breath for your return ( if you have been away). It shows how much of a value you had provided for your client’s business.

4. You are enriching your life : Notice how much you ( as a writer or even as an aspiring one) have to read up. Recently, I landed a project for which I had to write entirely about computing and software. Now, I am basically a techie ( a mechanical engineer) and this won’t be too much of a rocket science for me, but it does entail a lot of reading and out lays a firm understanding of the subject to be able to write in a perspicuous manner. There is learning and development happening each minute you spend at your computer or laptop and there can never be anything as gratifying as that. My 2 cents.

5. I would know when I screw up : The best thing about Internet based writing is that everything is instantaneous. When clients tell me that they wanted something done this way and not that way, it can be rendered immediately. The communication is always on and the flux of messages is constant.That is very re-assuring indeed. On bidding sites like elance.com, for instance, if I ever screwed up, it would show on my negative feedback which can be a major deterrent to future business. However, meanwhile, it will be a priceless online course on how not to do business.