freelance – Write 2 Be

Writing is hard! Oh I’m not complaining mind you but I just needed to get that out real quick because I think that some people who don’t write for a living believe that writing is super easy. I know this because I get comments from people such as “you don’t have anything to do because all you do is write”, or “oh that’s not so hard, all you have to do is put words on a page”, or possibly the most frustrating of them all specifically in terms of being an editor, “oh you’re only correcting people’s spelling and grammar mistakes which is something you love to do anyway so it shouldn’t be that hard”. Let me say this! Just because I love to do something and am passionate about doing said thing does not mean that it is easy once that thing then becomes the way that I make my living.

Don’t get me wrong, I chose this (well really, writing chose me but I digress) so I am completely okay with the hard work and dedication that it takes to be a writer and freelance editor and to write full length novels in the effort to have them published. I am not just aware but rather I take pride in that hard work and dedication. What I take issue with is those who don’t understand that it is in fact hard work and dedication that goes into being a writer, especially a full time writer.

I have people who don’t understand that during November (the month of NaNoWriMo, and really October as well (Prep-Tober) I will not be quite as available for idle chit chat or random nothingness of conversation. It’s not that I don’t love them and perhaps want to talk or catch up but I am serious about my writing and November is one of the only months where I can solely (or mostly anyway) focus on writing my novel and not just on editing other people’s work.

Then I also have people who want me to lower my rates for editing a project for them and then proceed to tell me that the person who edited the first project they had did it for a considerable amount less. Maybe they charged in a different way (flat rate and not hourly as I charge) but regardless my time is equally as important as theirs and to tell me that it should only take a couple of hours or maybe four to edit something is presumptuous of them as if they are the only project I have and as if I don’t take care in my work and don’t just rush through it.

So that is my Monday rant for this week and I’m sorry but it was something that I really needed to get off my chest. I hope all of you (well those who are not writers) out there truly understand that writing and/or editing is not easy nor is it something that can be rushed through and the writers and editors that you work with and hire deserve to be paid for their hard work and effort that they put into your project. Now if you are also a writer then I hope that you don’t also find yourself having to explain the time that you spend on your writing and having to rationalize how much your writing services may be worth. I wish you all well today and everyday. Until next time… #BeGrateful #BeMindful #BeAppreciative

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

https://write-2-be.com/

http://write2bemagazine.com/

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https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

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I need to get something off of my chest so this post may be a bit of a rant but it may also be something that you can relate to as well. A few months ago I was talking to a friend and we were talking about my current financial crisis that I’m in the midst of and she was giving me some advice on ways to start trying to dig myself out of this hole (because nothing I have been doing has been working thus far) and I started to point out a few mistakes that I have made in the earlier part of my writing career and basically my earlier adult years and she promptly stopped me and told me that there was no point in regretting those things because if I changed even one of those things it could’ve altered where I am now and that perhaps this is where I am supposed to be at this point in time.

Now I get that and I understand the whole not living in regret thing because it’s essentially pointless but I feel like I just needed to get some things off my chest at that time and I wasn’t allowed to. Granted saying those things out loud won’t change them but I feel as though saying them, acknowledging where my missteps were, will allow me to see where I may have taken a left when I should’ve went right and where I may have gotten off track at. So since I couldn’t say these things that day I am sharing them with you guys because I need to acknowledge them so that I can begin to correct certain things.

The very first mistake I made, not counting all of the dumb teenage stuff I did when I thought I was grown like getting a credit card at 18 with no job and no way to pay the bill (yeah, don’t do that), was flunking out of the first college that I attended and not working my way to get back in there immediately. Now note that I’m not saying that flunking out was the mistake (I mean it was but I digress) because that came with trying to adjust to college campus life and living on my own, being my own keeper, and trying to fit in and get my work done (obviously the school work part did not win out in that scenario).

However, I should have never just let time keep passing by without working my way back into that school, and finishing up my dual degree program when I was initially supposed to because then I would have had internships lined up and been able to get right into my field of work straight out of college. Now I did eventually go back to school and get my degree (well two degrees), but it was much later and I was definitely not a spring chicken and they don’t give internships to people who aren’t still in their early twenties.

The second and arguably the more damaging mistake I made that I now regret is when I left the “regular” work force and thought that I was somehow ready to do freelance writing full time without a proper safety net and financial cushion to fall back on. I mean I did well at first but as any of you freelance writers know there are pitfalls that are just inevitable with doing writing full time and not only did I not have enough multiple streams of income set up to make this work but honestly I didn’t know enough about what I was doing on the marketing end of things and that naiveté cost me.

Okay now that I have acknowledged those two major mistakes I feel better. I can see where I went wrong and what I should’ve been doing in those areas and I can make any adjustments that I need to make to change the trajectory of the course I am on. I don’t think that we should dwell in the mistakes we make and on the regrets that we have but that doesn’t mean that we can’t acknowledge those mistakes and regrets so that we can actually move pass them. If we never say where things went off track at, how are we truly supposed to correct the problem and get back on track? If you have a friend or just someone that wants to vent to you about some things that they need to express, just let them. It may be exactly what they need to do to get themselves going back in the right direction. Until next time… #BeEncouraging #BeaListeningEar