Real Words

One of the writing blogs that I read had a post this week on a really interesting topic – the topic of who in our lives supports our freelance writing careers. I have seen several freelance writing friends choose to leave the business of freelance writing because their spouses didn’t support the career. I have also seen freelancers lose faith in themselves, get frustrated with the business and just generally slack off because they weren’t getting support from enough people in their lives about the decision to freelance.

The decision to do any kind of freelance work, including freelance writing, isn’t easy and it’s a commitment that we have to make to ourselves over and over. There are tough times when the work isn’t coming, the bills aren’t getting paid, the hours are rough, the clients are mean and the industry is in transition. In those tough times, we really need people who support us. We need people who will listen to us vent about our writing, people who will read what we post online even when no other traffic is coming through and people who will tell us that it’s going to be okay when it feels like it won’t.

So where do you turn if you don’t feel like you’re getting support in your life? Here are fifteen different individuals or groups who might support your freelance work:

1. Spouses/ romantic partners/ significant others. Not every freelance writer feels supported by their spouse. In some cases, spouses may even resent that you don’t have a normal career. This can be devastating to some freelancers so it’s an important issue to work through. Your partner doesn’t have to read everything you write but you should feel at least some support for your work coming from this person so it’s worth trying to deal with this issue over time as the relationship (and your career) continue.
2. Parents. There are certainly some people whose parents aren’t supportive of their freelance writing but many times parents are a great place to turn for a little support because they’re inevitably proud of your accomplishments. Share your work with them, especially anything with a byline or anything that mentions them positively. They’ll want to share that with others and you’ll feel supported. Parents may not be the best people to talk to about freelance writing career problems because they’ll worry about you and that may lead to them saying things that aren’t supportive but they’ll definitely be a great support in celebrating your successes.
3. Children. Teach your children that you value the work that you do and they will probably learn to value it. Celebrate your writing successes with them in small ways. Include them sometimes in your career by taking on projects that let you do fun research at places like children’s museums. Their involvement will feel like support for why you do what you do and they’ll probably grow up to be adults that support your work over time.
4. Siblings. This just depends on what your siblings are like and how close you are. Some siblings never read a thing that you write and get bored if you talk about your work. But in the end, siblings are usually there when you need them so if you’re feeling unsupported in your work then you may just want to ask them for a little support.
5. Old Friends. Support for your career among friends will be varied. Some will be jealous of your freelance life and that may come across as a pleasant kind of envy or it may come across in a meaner form. Some friends will read your stuff and others won’t be interested. But somewhere in your group of friends, you should be able to find the ones that support what you’re doing. Identify these friends and mentally bookmark them for those times when you’re feeling in need of some support for your writing.
6. New Friends. Sometimes it can be beneficial to go out and meet new people. When you first meet someone, they only know what you tell them. Tell them that you’re a web writer and they’re going to be ask you about that. Their interest in it will help you feel better about what you do and talking about it might make you feel excited about it again.
7. Your online social network. These are the people who read your blogs and comment on them. They follow the links that you post on Twitter and Facebook. They are the people who you know from web writing and they can sometimes be the biggest support system that you have for your writing.
8. Your in-person writing groups. Any group that you’re in that has to do with writing will probably feel like a form of support. Everyone who joins these groups is committing to the importance of writing in their lives. Just doing that creates a sense of support for the work. Whether or not the group is for the writing you do for a job (ie it’s a creative writing group and you’re a news blogger), it is still a positive environment that supports your writing.
9. Any group or person you do reading with. Join a book club. These are even better than writing groups sometimes because they are filled with people who appreciate the written word but who don’t necessarily write themselves. They’ll be interested in your writing and you’ll feel a swell of pride for your work while you’re there.
10. Your online critics. Okay, these people don’t feel like they’re supporting you and it takes a tough person to see it that way. But the truth is that if they take you seriously enough to criticize your ideas online then they’re paying attention to what you write. Chalk it up to attention and turn it into a positive thing.
11. Your clients. They can sometimes be a pain in the butt but these are the people who are giving you actual money to do your writing. That says they value your work even if they’re not always easy to deal with. And those great clients who are easy to work with and who actually tell you that they appreciate your writing are people whose support is invaluable!
12. Your customers. If you sell anything at all that’s related to your writing then every person who buys from you is someone who is supporting your work. If you sell personal poetry zines at media festivals, ebooks on your website or books through Amazon then any customer at any of those places is a supporter. You should gather as much contact information from those people as you can to create an email group just for them so that you can contact them whenever you’ve got new news. At least a percentage of them will probably support it.
13. People you can subcontract to or who guest post for you. The support of these people is unique from the support that you get elsewhere. These are people who are essentially saying that they think that you’re credible enough that they’ll do writing for you and have their name possibly linked with yours.
14. People who refer you to others. These can be old clients, friends, online people – various people from the other segments of your life already mentioned – but the point is that they are supporting your work by spreading the word and that counts for a lot in this business.
15. You. Ultimately the most important person that you need to be able to count on when it comes to support for your writing is you. Commit to your writing. Value your writing. Take time not only to write but also to do other things that inspire you so that you have the creativity and rest required for ongoing writing. Be there for yourself. The more you support yourself, the more likely it is that others in your life will take your writing seriously and support you as well.

The most important things to remember when you’re feeling unsupported in your freelance writing career are that there are many different places that you can get support and many different kinds of support that you can get. A friend may not ever read your blog but she may introduce you to others as “my friend who writes a blog”. A parent may gripe that you don’t have a traditional job but keep your books on the bookshelf where everyone can see them. Learn to recognize the support that you do get, turn to many different sources for it and ask for more from the right people when you need it. It’ll help your career for a long time to come.