There’s Always Freelance Work to Do

As a freelance writer, I can go from having very little to write about, to a bulk of work within an hour. There’s always work to do, even if that work is not merited with compensation. I’m always writing, whether it’s a book, a blog post, a poem, for my own amusement(far less now that I am constantly trying to come up with ideas for keeping my loyal readers interested, and rightly so, because if I fail them, there are plenty of people far more deserving of their time.) writing is about time, I have a limited amount to keep you interested, and knowing if my passion is not going to be equaled to my potential reader, I have to grab them, shake them back into the work, so I randomly throw them a curveball every so often; like randomly posting the word PENIS. There, I have your attention now, and as a freelancer, no matter if I find it radically different to my own consensus, I write on, knowing that as long as I keep someone’s attention until well into the article, they will be more apt to finish it, even if they grow wary of its content. I’m not one to fuss over the knit-picking details of writing, because I know when it matters, and when the content itself is far more vital than the overall appearance of the work. I know that the amount of work I have is reflective of what I am doing that week, even that hour, depending on the kind of day it’s been, and the motivation I have to type. I love to write, I state that fact so much, I don’t think one person in this world wouldn’t concur this fact. I’ve tried to post in allotted amounts, because the market can only hold so much of one individual’s perspective. As a freelance writer, I learn how to be accepting of all ideas, even if they are counterintuitive to my own, because the Almighty Dollar decides everyone’s views in the end. Sure, I’m a sellout; ready to sell my soul to the highest (not necessarily true) bidder, just because I’m a freelancer, I have no contingences that keep me from only writing one perspective. I love to read, and this includes studying, which is not nearly as fun, but it makes me prepared for freelancing. PENIS Thought I lost you there for a second, I hope that brought you back into the topic. See, I know how you think, because even as I write, I can see where I’m beginning to lose track of what matters most in the article. Sure, you can’t write the word PENIS in all-caps to grab your audience in anything outside of Hustler, Playboy, or even Men’s Health, so how do you keep your reader involved. Easier said than done, because that depends on your talents as a writer, and implementing those talents to fit your need. The PENIS theory is true, because it grabs your audience, the way a tidbit of random information that pertains to your topic. I’m discussing freelance writing, and that I always have work, and sometimes its more than I want, so I’ll fill you in on a secret: listening to music helps, but I also love to write on my laptop, nearly asleep. I literally never look at the screen when I’m writing a long piece, because I think it hinders my writing, always worrying about misspelling a word which nine times out of ten is a typo more than an legitimate spelling mistake. I go into my own world when I write. I like to think of it more as having to wrap my words around information that in generally free to the public, but within that word wrapping, I have to make it far more interesting than the last faceless writer that thought they’d just recycle old material. At least editorials require more writing skill, than copying and pasting material into a blog post. Not that there’s anything wrong with that every so often, because even when you have a ton of projects, it’s nice to take it easy occasionally. So when I’m typing a book, or a long thesis, much longer than this three/four (I haven’t really decided just yet) discussion on freelance writing, I close my eyes, and let the music take over in my headphones, and I practically fall asleep and let the words just flow out of me, as if I were being driven like a proverbial vessel through the wide-open seas of writing. Sometimes this works in my favor, sometimes it doesn’t but it becomes this apropos of style that completes my writing method. PENIS Okay, so you can say to yourself that freelancing is as simple as just getting on a computer, opening the word processor, and once the project, or the inspiration, whichever arrives first, comes up, you just get to typing until your fingers bleed. That could work, and for most people that would be the end of this article, but I have a bit to go, because I’m barely two pages in to this three/four page article. There’s a lot to figure out before you even get into the process of determining what you want to write, who you want to write it for, and how are you going to pitch that said work to your potential employers. Think of it this way: they don’t know who you are as a freelance writer, and you really don’t know what they expect from you, which makes you have the advantage, seeing as they don’t quite yet know you from Adam or Eve. Think of it more as releasing yourself upon the world of writing, and showing you have the potential to be their next big post. Being you is the best thing to help you succeed in freelancing. You separate yourself from the rest of the fray, and voila! You’re raking in the potential clients, and future employers to your work. Staying relevant, or at the least faking relevancy is a nice way of breaking in, and getting that desk load of work started. I would rather have my hands fall off from working too hard on projects, than not being able to type at all, because I was out of work. As the saying goes: idle hands are the Devil’s playthings. Also: PENIS I believe most people understand the potential for working as a freelancer, it can be very rewarding, payment aside, because having your work read is every writer’s dream. Granted, money is nice, but legitimacy is forever. Articles, editorials, and projects are the best thing for you to have under your resume if you want to be the next big freelancer. Building that special connection that comes from understanding your target demographic, as well as being truthful with your audience makes it that much more of a long-lasting relationship with readers that will come back whenever your name arises from the pages of your client’s medium. So always remember that you are first writing for your audience, fans, and potential clients, and secondly for the blog, magazine, or newspaper that offered you the project, or who you queried with your article/post/project/etc. Here’s an interesting fact: petting a cat relieves stress, but patting a dog increases adrenaline. I’m not sure if that’s scientifically true, but I’ve been told for years the caress of a kitten is more relaxing than thirty tabs of Aderol. Does it matter if it’s true? Yes, and no, because everyone debates these stupid things, but people buy it up as truth, and that is called misinformation, and as a freelancer, you would be better spent actually doing the research. Remember, you’re not a journalist, so don’t act like one! Actually do the research, and get that information, so you have a job in the future. Remember: Stephen Glass worked for the New Republic, he was a journalist, and now he’s the laughingstock of his profession. I can respect him as a troll, but he’s what you should never do, big or small, trust is the best thing for you to do to build that relationship with your readers. Yup, PENIS. Stephen Glass is a great example, and the most popular Don’ts of Journalism, and you could even go as far back as Joseph Pulitzer. So do the research, use your own style and skill to envelop your audience, and don’t just toss them another Yellow Kid to fill their rage, and keep them coming back for more, because you will never make it as anything other than hack. Finally, and I stress this for anyone that wants a lot of work to come there way: never be afraid to reinvent yourself every so often, or The Madonna Effect, because you will never stay true to yourself long enough to get established longer than six months, until the market shifts again. Writing is forever equivocal to the grand old rule of there are no rules, but even newcomers know that structure is crucial to establishing oneself as a vital freelancer. So like Madonna, you must always remember that reinvention is survival, and if you get hung up for too long, a Lady Gaga will pass your right buy, riding on the decades of makeup and plastic surgery that honed your craft. What? Anyway, just remember that redefine or die should be the slogan for any potential freelancer, and that goes from writing books, to writing smut articles for Larry Flynt. Either way, you’re required to know the basics of writing, and knowing that your readers that stick with you to the end, will be the first to break your heart if you break their trust. I know most of you understand these simple rules, but many forget that everything is up for review, especially whatever wordsmith thinks is the one-true method of writing, so never be afraid to challenge the superiors, because one day, you’ll be the know-it-all on proper freelancing, and they will be curmudgeons that hate you for being well, you. Do I really need to add another PENIS to keep you reading this final paragraph? Probably not, but for old time’s sake: PENIS. Thank you for reading the Malacast Editorial, I always appreciate the PENIS, readers who visit my blog, you keep me writing, and for that, I could never thank you enough. Twitter: twitter.com/mcasteditorial E-mail: mcasteditorial@yahoo.com You can also find me on other stuff, but I’m best found on Twitter, so come read my psychotic rants that I go on every-so-often. Again, thank you for the unabated support over these past few years. This PENIS, blog has lasted over a decade because of your undying loyalty, and I promise to show my support (ah, I know, I missed a great phallic reference here, but for the sake of some dignity, I stifled myself) tenfold!