Written By: Sumeetha Manikandan
This entry won the second prize in the IFW Blogging Contest - 2013
Sometime ago, I wrote a light-hearted blog about the mystery of my profession. Many found it funny, some shared their own experiences, while some actually came back and asked, ‘Oh! I didn’t know that you write. So what do you write?”
Sometime ago, I wrote a light-hearted blog about the mystery of my profession. Many found it funny, some shared their own experiences, while some actually came back and asked, ‘Oh! I didn’t know that you write. So what do you write?”
I
get stumped every time someone asks this question and a slideshow of the
projects that I have worked so far goes through my brain throwing keywords
like; toilet bowls, adult nappies, how to travel to Machu Pichu? What to gift
that pesky cousin?
Working
freelance is not a breeze and nor is it glamorous by any stretch of
imagination. Here is my list of five challenges that I face everyday…
Challenge #1: Finding genuine
clients that pay
This
is a constant challenge that I have faced all through my career. Finding
genuine clients who actually ‘PAY YOU’ for the work you did, is like searching
for a needle in the haystack literally. (Ok! I don’t want to scare all those
who have started their careers as freelance writers.)
But
the truth is that I do come across such clients frequently. They will agree to the
price that you quote (without negotiating). Hurray! You will quickly calculate
the amount you would make at the end of the project and might have mentally
spent it on that new boutique or that new kindle eBook reader that you wanted.
So you will slog, slog and slog and deliver everything on time and then send
the invoice… and the client will stop taking your calls, stop answering your
emails and stop chatting, until you realize that he is avoiding you. And one
fine day, after sending the invoice for the umpteenth time, you will stop
wasting your time and search for another project hoping that you get a genuine
client.
Challenge #2: Time Management and
Deadlines
If
you thought that a freelancer had all the time in the world, you might have to
duck a bit, as a few brickbats might be flying towards you. A freelancer’s life
is tied to the clock, all through the day. Right from the time, the day begins,
a mental or a digital timetable is forever ON in our brains or computers.
And
if those relatives drop in for a chat, or if your friends assume that you are
free to babysit their kid, the schedule is lost and we have to make up for the
lost hours by losing some sleep.
Challenge #3: Taking on boring
projects just to pay the bills
You
might love to write about travel articles. But hey no one is paying for those.
But a batch of 200 articles about adult nappies and respite care has some money
attached to it. So what will you choose?
Of
course you would go for adult nappies and try to make them sound as if they are
next best thing in the world. You would wax eloquent about the grip, comfort
and round it off saying even astronauts wear it.
That’s
the truth of it. You can’t choose what you want to write. Many indulge their
creative juices by blogging, which is a pretty good way to vent your feelings.
But majority of us can’t choose what we want to write. We write what the client
(who pays) wants. Period.
Challenge #4: Comments from others
and ways to deal with it
You
might just shrug it off, get irritated or fly off your handle but you cannot
stop people from commenting. Sadly many, even to this day, consider that
working on a computer is not as taxing as teaching, working in a hospital or an
office.
“So
do you have to go all the way to the school and teach rowdy boys and bratty
girls all through the day? No.
Do
you have to climb up and down the stairs to go from one department to another
in the hospital and try save a life? No.
Do
you at least go to an office and work? No.
So
don’t complain if we think that you are jobless. You don’t go anywhere. You
just sit in front of the computer staring, sometimes typing, checking emails,
chatting, posting in Facebook. And we know that people who are jobless do that.”
Don’t
waste your time answering them saying that you were writing for a Fortune 500
company that is waiting for your content to market their website. There is no
need to justify your time on Facebook saying that you were promoting a popular
boutique.
Just
keep calm and carry on…
Challenge #5: The Dreaded Writer’s Block
It’s
a virus, a bug that attacks us at the most inconvenient moment. You are waiting
to start on that lucrative project and the client is waiting for your first
delivery and then it attacks.
You
write… try to write… struggle to write until you are ready to break that
laptop.
This
is when I invent an emergency and shut off for a day. I don’t read, or write I
just watch movies, listen to music, do power walking, play with the kid and
basically do some fun things to loosen myself up. And then the next day I wake
up early and start writing…
But
of course these are not the only challenges that we face. We come across
clients who abuse us and demand that we write like Shakespeare or at least like
Chetan Bhagat, clients who call around 12 in the midnight asking us to include
a comma in the article….
Despite
all that, I do love being a freelancer because in this job, unlike any other, if I don’t like my boss I get to fire him.
About the author:
Sumeetha
Manikandan is a freelance writer, blogger and an author based in Chennai. After
a long stint with dotcom companies like Sulekha and Bharatmatrimony, she
started freelancing from home.
An
avid reader and a writer she is never without a book. She writes a slice of
life personal blog called ‘Musings from Mylapore’ where she chronicles the
trials and travails of working from home with a fast growing pixy daughter. Sumeetha's first romance novella, 'The Perfect Groom', was recently published by Indireads. Click on the picture to buy your copy.
Ugh, I can relate to all the points you mentioned here. But the one that bugs me the most is the first one. Too many people who want very specific, key word driven 'writing samples' - it took me a long time to realise that for them, it was an easy way to get free writing done! :/
ReplyDeleteI so love that line about being able to fire the boss if I don't like them! I have been freelancing full time for only a few months(but I have done it consistently for 2 years approx while pursuing an MA) and I am pretty sure my maid and my relatives think I do nothing all day.
ReplyDelete