Growing Up Freelance: 2 Months Later

So, as most of you now know, I quit my full time job with benefits in mid-late July. The plan was to become a spectacular freelance writer who creates articles, web sites, print publications, my own stellar blog and a successful novel or three. I had lots of energy and drive to spend eight hours a day marketing the hell out of myself, while working in healthy cooking and yoga.

Then, I found out I was pregnant. Yeah… I spent my first two days as a freelance writer in and out of the doctor’s office for blood work, an ultrasound and general anxious disruption. The following weeks, while lovely in the sense that I could sleep in and pander to my nausea and headaches, were not exactly freelance gold.

Fortunately, I never felt as though I’d made the wrong choice. I knew the drudgery of early pregnancy was only temporary (digits one over the other), and the relief I felt in being away from an unhappy work situation reminded me that managing my stress levels was one of the most important things for both me and the Grumpy Grape.

It’s been two months now, and this week, I’m finally starting to feel like my efforts are beginning to pay off. I’m still making ends meet with content farm type work, and making the best of it by appreciating all the wacky stuff I’m learning (if you need to build a hawk breeding chamber, I’m your gal). However, I’ve been waiting for a bigger challenge, and bigger money.

So, I was super excited when a couple of opportunities presented themselves over the past few days. One is shaping up to be recurring contract work in which I get to really do the sort of writing and editing I enjoy on the professional level. And the hourly pay blows my old job out of the water, by the way. Katie 1, Office -73 (except for the co-workers – I miss you guys!). The other job gives me more of a creative fix, and lets me get involved with local self-publishing. Again, this is an upgrade.

All in all, being a freelance writer/editor/marketer is a good thing, and I encourage those of you looking for something new to try your hand. Just have a decent sense of your biological clock at the outset.

Thanks for reading!