Following on from the ‘secretive’ post, I did a little hard thinking and decided I needed to get myself out of that kind mindset.
I suppose we all have crises of confidence at some point. Maybe it’s the time of year, maybe it’s the fact that there seems to be so little freelance writing work that actually pays worth a damn, coupled with the depressing news generally on the publishing front.
It’s easy to start thinking ‘why bother’ and ‘one more day off won’t make any difference’.
So I took a couple or three days off. Nursed and nurtured the sulks that a client who’d promised fresh work in the new year still hasn’t come up with anything, and depressed myself further looking over the job bidding sites. (Don’t do it, it’ll make you cry.)
Then I decided that this behaviour just won’t do and set about turning myself around.
First Step
- Revisit my motivations and reasons for wanting to write.
- I love writing. From coming up with ideas (sometimes the hardest part for me), to researching my subject, to the physical act of typing and watching the words mount up on the page.
- I love working for myself. Yes it’s hard to prioritise and harder still to make family understand that the length of time I spend buried in the computer is actually me at work.
Second Step
- Plan specifically what I can do right now, today, to help me land writing assignments in the future.
- To that end I started designing and writing a new, more professional-looking and focussed personal website which advertises and promotes my freelance and ‘work for hire’ writing, and nothing else.
Third Step
- Look in new places for writing work to seek out new clients.
- Contact old clients and say hello. (It’s just a note, but it’ll remind them I’m alive and you never know, maybe they need some writing done).
- Find an advertised assignment that I can complete and apply for it. Anything within reason will do, just to feel I’m being proactive. I don’t have to accept the work if I change my mind later on.
- Seek out new print magazines and come up with at least two ideas for ones I’m attracted to.
So far I have done all of the above bar the last step which I’m still working on.
Results are promising.
After only two days I have offers of work. Maybe they’re not the most lucrative writing jobs in the world, but these missions, should I choose to accept them, will keep me writing, keep the ideas flowing and the skills honed, and remind me on a daily basis that I’m a writer and people pay me to write.
If you’re feeling demotivated, give it a try. Maybe you’ll get some work, or maybe you’ll luck out this time, but one thing’s for sure. DOING something, WRITING something, CREATING something is the best cure for a crisis of confidence and the sense of demotivation it brings.
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