Tag: work

• February 4, 2015

  So You Think You Want to Freelance…

  So, you think you want to take up freelance writing. I’ve been in your shoes. It’s exciting, but a little nerve wracking. It feels like you’re stepping free from the shackles of 9-to-5 work and into the warm sunlight of creative freedom. But before you embark on this journey, I’d like to offer my perspective.

  For nearly a year, I worked as a freelance writer in addition to a part-time job. In that time, I learned a few things about what it takes to freelance — the good and the bad. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

  You Might Not Get to Write About What You Want
  When you’re a freelance writer, you have to treat your writing like a business, which means you have to write what pays. In a lot of cases, clients are looking for ad copy or a blog for their business. You do have to play to your strengths, but making a living requires that you write about what your client is willing to pay for. It’s not exactly creative freedom. I got lucky with a recurring gig writing about foreign policy, something I’m actually interested in, but you might find that your bread and butter accounts are writing about laminated plywood.

  You May Not Get Paid at First
  There are some freelancers who make six figures, but the vast majority are like me — eking out a meager living. You see, the trouble with the Internet is the same thing that makes it great. Nearly everything you read online is free. Advertisements bring in some money, but the precedent for free content means that a lot of clients don’t pay well. When you’re just starting to build your portfolio, it may mean taking low-paying or even no-paying jobs before any money starts to come in.

  You May Not Get Paid at All
  When you’re dealing with people on the Internet, you may end up discovering that lots of people don’t honor their agreements. The Internet is the Wild West and sometimes people will back out on the deal you’ve made. If you don’t go through a website that mediates payment between freelancers like Elance, you might write wind up getting shorted. I ran into this problem with a couple of clients who conveniently forgot to pay me. Short of taking them to small claims court or drowning them in angry emails, you’ll probably lose out.

  I decided to stop working as a freelance writer on a regular basis when I landed a full-time marketing job. It was too much time, I couldn’t write what I wanted and I wasn’t making enough to support myself comfortably. But if you can stomach the long hours, boring topics, and the possibility that you will work for free or less than minimum wage — if you want to choose your own hours, your own projects, and forge your entrepreneurial spirit into a business built on words — I’d say go for it.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer, photographer and filmmaker in Tacoma, WA. You can follow him on Twitter or leave your comments in the comments.
• December 11, 2014

  Supporting My Writing Habit

  

  This week, I read a very interesting roundtable article by Liz Entman Harper on The Morning News. In it, seven published writers talk about how they continue writing while still having a full-time, 9-to-5 job. This is a question that has plagued me since I started working: How can I follow my dreams of being an author and still keep the stability of a traditional job with an office and a regular paycheck? For years, I thought my ideal career would be as a full-time novelist, but now I’m not so sure.

  “Overall, I love my job, but I also love the writing I do on the side. It can keep me going when things aren’t going well or I’m feeling stuck. My job also directly influences and impacts the content for my personal writing projects and gives me credibility with my audience. I also think my personal writing helps me be a better leader and a better creative at work. In other words, I need both.”

  Reading this article reminded me that we don’t all become overnight sensations. Waiting around to become the next J.K. Rowling is impractical. It is far more likely that my writing career will have to coexist with my day-to-day, pay-the-bills career. And that’s okay.

  For nearly two months last year, I worked as a freelance writer. I was working from home and it nearly drove me crazy. It turns out that I’m not cut out to be a hermit. I need human interaction. It gives me material for my work and gives me a break from the boredom of sitting at home alone trying to think of something to type.

  The upsides of regular work — steady paycheck, ability to hold one’s head up high as a productive member of society — also come with downsides. After a long day at my 9-to-5, I’m often too tired to write when I get home. A lot of my creative energy gets siphoned off at work, leaving little left over for personal projects.

  But those limitations can be opportunities. Limited time forces me to skip over writer’s block (there isn’t time to not write when I should be writing) and get straight to work. It forces me to focus my efforts into concentrated ingots of golden prose. It’s what the writers in the article termed “pushing an elephant into a Volkswagen.” This huge and important thing only gets a little bit of space, which gives you the incentive to be creative about how you balance both worlds — the personal and the professional.

  In the long-run, I’ll probably always have a day job in addition to my writing. It may not be as glamorous as famous bestselling novelists, but it gives me balance. And even if I breakout and become a bestselling writer someday, I don’t think I’d ever be inclined to give that balance up.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer with a day job that helps support his writing habit. You can follow him on Twitter.
• September 15, 2014

  A Change In the Wind

  

  There is a subtle change underway. The air bites in the morning as I jog from my front doorstep to my car. The sunset is creeping into earlier and earlier hours.

  Autumn is falling like a scarf over the shoulders of the surrounding hills. It’s time to shut the windows and put away t-shirts. It’s time to build fires and brew tea and read books.

  It’s time to turn away from a world gripped by darkness and build shining new worlds out of words and phrases.

  Autumn is the perfect time to write. The chilly air encourages us to go inside; to create instead of seeking out the waning sunlight. It forces us to get to work after a long summer of adventures in the real world.

  It is time to get started.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer and cruncher of leave in Tacoma. You can follow him on Twitter.
• August 28, 2014

  The Inspiration Trap

  

  For centuries — maybe longer — an insidious lie has spread through the creative community; whispered from one generation to the next. A lie that has kept promising writers, painters, photographers, and filmmakers from achieving their potential. It is a simple idea that buries itself deep in the mind of the beginning artist like a parasite and slowly eats away their will to create.

  We’ve all heard some variation of it: “You must wait for inspiration.”

  This idea is so pervasive. Inspiration will come to you. Inspiration will strike out of the blue. Great ideas only come in flashes; in divine revelation to an artist worthy of the vision. And so we sit around waiting when we should be writing.

  It’s a trap.

  

  Some writers might make a living on intermittent bursts of creativity, but the rest of us can’t afford to wait. I suspect the majority of published authors sit down to write every day regardless of whether or not their muse bothers to show up.

  All of my best work has come from the act of sitting down in front of my computer, often without a clue about what I was going to write and forcing myself to do the work. And yet, I’m in the trap right now.

  When I started my new job and changed my whole schedule, I neglected to set aside a dedicated time to write. I thought, in spite of years of evidence to the contrary, that inspiration would strike at a convenient time and I would fire off several pieces ready for publication.

  I’ve barely written a word.

  I know I’ve been trapped in the quicksands of inspiration. I have to free myself. Only after I get back into the habit of writing each and every day will I find what I thought was going to find me. Inspiration isn’t going to tap me on the shoulder and start whispering lines of dialogue and prose into my ear. A set routine will draw out the stories already percolating in my subconscious.

  I’m tired of waiting for inspiration. I’m going to find it myself.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer in Tacoma, WA. His short story, The Observable Universe, was published on Creative Colloquy in July.
• July 20, 2014

  Writers Don’t Do Schedules

  

  I have always struggled to keep to a schedule. For years, I was a chronic oversleeper and late owl. It’s only in my post-school world that I’ve managed to shoehorn my poor timekeeping skills into the rigid mold of “adult” schedules. It’s a challenge for me to keep at it. Waking up early in the morning, getting to work a little early (instead of rushing in late) and forcing myself to sleep at a reasonable hour. For some reason, my brain doesn’t like those things, especially when it comes to writing.

  My creative powers wax and wane sporadically. Inspiration strikes at the oddest — and most inconvenient — moments. In the middle of a meal, on the way to work, my subconscious will produce a snippet of dialogue or the opening line of a short story. As much as I would like to put the world on hold in those moments, I have to jot it down in my notebook to revisit later.

  For several months, I had a nice setup. I was taking the train to work and had 80 minutes a day to write. Over time, I trained myself to channel my creative impulses into that time frame. I was remarkably prolific, writing a novella, a three-act play and five short stories during my commute. I’ve never written so much so quickly.

  I’m starting to suspect there’s something to this schedule thing. As much as the subconscious creative process yearns for freedom, I think it also secretly hungers order. It can be trained. You can teach it that these are the times when we go to work. Eventually, just like exercise or learning a musical instrument, you get into the habit of writing at a set time.

  Now, I have a new job with a new schedule. Which means finding a new time to funnel my uneven creativity into meaningful projects. Thank goodness for Google Calendar…

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer and schedule rebel in Tacoma, WA. You can read his latest story on Creative Colloquy and follow him on Twitter.
• April 15, 2014

  The Secret of the Masters

  

  For regular readers of this blog, what I’m about to write is going to seem strange. Last week, I wrote about not feeling qualified to give writing advice. Today, I’m going to give some writing advice. Let’s roll with it.

  How do you get to be really good at something? Not just average; more than a novice? How do you truly master a skill? It could be any skill, but let’s assume you want to write and your ambition is become a masterful writer. You want your stories to drawn readers in. You want your metaphors to sing and your dialogue to pop. You want to be one of the greats. How do you accomplish such a daunting task?

  Back in college, I took a Humor Writing class as an elective toward my Journalism degree. The class met at night in the largely empty Communication building. Fifteen of us would gather after dinner to read and write jokes. And it was in this unlikely place that I learned the secret to mastering the art of writing.

  “If you want to master something,” our professor said one night. “You have to do it a million times.” If you want to be a great baseball player, you’ve got to pitch a million times. If you want to be a great cellist, you’ve got to play a million notes. Talent might be something you’re born with, but skill can be taught and mastery comes only with practice and perseverance.

  To master writing, you’ve got to write a million words. That advice has stuck with me. To write a million words, you’ve got to write everyday for years and years. Since getting that advice a few years ago, I’ve probably deliberately written about 100,000 words (in blogs, short stories, plays, novellas and novels-in-progress). I’ve still got a long way to go before I understand all of the nuances of the craft. The million number isn’t a hard deadline of course — it might take me five million words or ten or twenty — but the point is that we have to invest significant time and dedication to reach that level of excellence. Not every word will drip with brilliance. They won’t even necessarily get better as you go, but the more you do something, the more you’ll grow to love it.

  It takes a million words to become a great writer. That’s the simplest advice anyone will ever give you. The only way to learn is to do it. You have to try, fail and try again over and over before you can reach your potential. That may sound overwhelming, but anyone can do it, if they have the will to see it through and the openness to learn from the process. Your million words starts now.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer in Tacoma, WA. You can find his thoughts on Twitter, but he’s not sure if they count toward his writing mastery goal. What writing advice do you rely on? Share it in the comments. Thanks for reading.
• December 12, 2013

  The Existential Millennial

  

  I passed a dead raven on the walk from my day job to the Starbucks where I write my freelance articles. The raven was lying on its back under a tree by the side of the road; wings spread and legs in the air. It had apparently frozen to death in the icy spell of Arctic weather that entombed the Puget Sound in a layer of frost this week.

  Passing the corpse of the unfortunate bird inevitably got me thinking about life. Death does that to a guy.

  In less than a month, I’ll be starting my twenty-fourth turn around the Sun, which makes me a member of the Millennial Generation — the children of the Baby Boomers. As a consequence of having grown up alongside the Internet, there is a lot of market research done to convert us into spreadsheets and then into money. Everywhere I turn, I am bombarded with a glut of new research about my generation. According to dozens of studies and articles, I’m supposed to be obsessed with video games, living at home with my parents, struggling with critical thinking, unwilling to work hard at my job and suffering from a technologically shortened attention span. I’m also at a competitive disadvantage thanks to the recession and economists predict I will never enjoy the same standard of living as my parents.

  It’s a pretty grim picture.

  But when I look at the data, I don’t see a picture that looks like me. I may work two jobs (and still can’t keep my apartment warm), but I’m self-sufficient and I work hard to stay that way. I’ve never owned a video game console and while I can be a little scattered sometimes, I like nothing more than to sit down with a good book or have a deep, challenging conversation.

  It can be difficult to have faith in people during hard times. Maybe our best days are behind us. I honestly don’t know. The economy and rising sea levels may swallow me and there’s a distinct possibility that there’s nothing I can do to change it. All I can control are my own actions. I may be a Millennial, but I still know how to get things done. I think we can still fix the problems that are plaguing the world, if we decide we want to put in the effort.

  Call me idealistic, but I’m going to make a difference somehow, even in a small way. Not because I’m sure it will do anything, but because I have the will to act. And maybe to prove the critics of my “lazy” generation wrong. I will not let this raven die in vain.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer in Tacoma, WA, where he probably thinks too much about the mysteries of life and death. As he searches for his purpose, you can follow him on Twitter.
• December 5, 2013

  I’ve Written Something, Now What?

  

  “This is perfect,” I said to myself as I typed the final sentence of my story. My fingers were oozing genius. My characters were alive and provocative. My words sang with the poetry of the muses. My themes were universal, but my approach was entirely innovative. I was going to revolutionize the long short story/novella forever. Awards and critical acclaim would be heaped upon my prose and inevitably lead to a lucrative book deal. Hollywood would surely drool over the chance to adapt my work into a blockbuster film starring Will Smith. Or so I thought.

  The next day, I opened the Word document to find there was work to be done. It turns out my brilliantly crafted mind-bending science fiction story is riddled with clumsy metaphors, plot holes, weak characterization and pretty-sounding word clutter. It is far from a masterpiece.

  Now comes the ugly business of editing. No matter how much you love your first draft, it needs polishing at the very least — and often, major reconstructive surgery. You have to cut beautiful passages that do nothing for the story, shuffle scenes and rewrite great big chunks before it’s ready to face the harsh light of the public.

  This is the part that no one likes. It hurts your ego to take criticism and hack your story into little pieces. But editing is necessary work. It will benefit the quality of your writing more than you can imagine.

  Objectively, my first draft is pretty good. But with serious, backbreaking editing, it has a shot at being great.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer and a former lumberjack living in Tacoma, WA. After seven weeks of writing, he’s psyching himself up for the task of editing. How do you approach editing your drafts? Leave your thoughts in the comments or find @jonnyeberle on Twitter.
• November 11, 2013

  Why I’m Not Doing NaNoWriMo (But You Should)

  

  For the past three years, I have plunged into the wilderness of creativity and wrist pain that is National Novel Writing Month (better known as NaNoWriMo). If you haven’t heard of NaNoWriMo, it’s a worldwide movement of literary minded folks where you attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel in just 30 days. If it sounds crazy, that’s because it is.

  I’ve never made it to the 50,000 mark, not once. A lot of people don’t, but the point is to try to write a crappy first draft, not a perfect one. It’s a noble goal, but not one that I’m pursuing this November. Here’s why.

  1) Dearth of Uninterrupted Free Time

  In my past attempts to cross the 50,000-word mark, I’ve had a lot of free time on my hands. In college, you’re frequently faced with awkward blocks of free time between classes and work. College is bursting with opportunities for a young aspiring novelist to write. Every building on campus has a suitable place to sit with your laptop and type away. November is also the perfect month because it’s right between the chaos of midterms and the chaos of finals (not to mention it has a 3-day weekend and a 4-day weekend built in to help you bulk up your novel). If you’re still in school, you’re already doing crazy things — why not add a novel-in-a-month?

  The real world is scheduled and regimented like college never was. That’s not to say a lot of working professionals don’t participate. People of all walks of life make NaNo work for them. But my life, with a new job in a new state, doesn’t give me a lot of extra time. The free time I do have is also spoken for…

  2) I Have a Writing Job

  I’m lucky. I get paid to write. Fully 50% of my income is generated by freelance projects. So, when I do find those times to write, I need to spend them wisely. I could blow off my commitments and write a novel, but first drafts don’t pay the heating bill. Articles and press releases do. When writing becomes your job and not just your hobby, its hard to add personal writing on top of the mountain of professional writing that you already do.

  Of course, that doesn’t mean successful (or unsuccessful) professional writers don’t do NaNoWriMo. A lot of them work on projects that they’re passionate about on the side. And speaking of projects…

  3) I’m Already in the Middle of a Big Writing Project

  NaNoWriMo is a fantastic way to jump start your creative juices when you otherwise wouldn’t write. The mad rush of trying to get it all done in such a small amount of time forces you to write without editing, which is really great for unleashing your inner storytelling genius. It works, trust me. You will be amazed at what you come up with while trying to meet that daily quota of 1,667 words.

  But I’m not in a writing rut like I have been in past years. I’m actually in the middle of writing a novella. In fact, I’m making excellent progress. It may not be a novel, but I think it has potential. It doesn’t make sense to interrupt my momentum — you don’t throw off the emperor’s groove. I’ve always struggled with seeing a story all the way to its conclusion. I think I can do it this time and finishing this is more meaningful to me than starting a novel that I will later abandon.

  Why You Should Still Do It

  If you’re rounding the corner of 18,337 words today, I’m cheering you on. You’re on an incredible adventure. I wish you success. If you’re behind your word count, you are just like me. Keep going, even if you spend page after page describing the blueish gray hue of your protagonist’s eyes. Your goal is not perfection. Just get something down — editing is for December. If you aren’t doing NaNoWriMo, you should try it. It unlocks potential you never knew you had.

  I’m not down in trenches of NaNo this year. But I have my reasons and I think they’re good ones. Next year, if I’m more settled and have some time on my hands, I’ll take the plunge again. Write on, Wrimos. Write on.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer in Tacoma, WA. You can follow him on Twitter and read his articles on foreign relations on Grey Cell. Thanks for reading!

  Related Posts:
  From “Once Upon a Time” to “The End”
  Torn Sleeves: 5 Things I Learned About Writing in 2012
  Staring Down a Blank Page
• November 6, 2013

  Writing on Rails

  

  Writers are notorious for writing in strange places. James Joyce wrote in bed, Agatha Christie composed in the bathtub, Edith Sitwell did her best work while lying in an open coffin. Having a ritual for writing — a special place or writing instrument — is often recommended to beginners in the craft as a way to channel their creativity. I’ve never been one of those writers.

  I’ve written on notebooks and laptops. In the middle of the night and in the early morning hours. At my desk, on my couch, on the floor and on airplanes. But it wasn’t until now that I discovered the perfect place to write every single day.

  British author (and secret agent) John le Carré used his 90-minute train commute to and from London as an opportunity to pen his famous spy novels. I have a similar, 40-minute (each way) train ride to my place of employment. It’s perfect. Dedicated time to myself to write without interruption. I don’t have to worry about traffic on the I-5. I am free to write while conductor takes care of the driving.

  I’ve been writing over 1,000 words a day since I started taking the Sounder train. Every writer needs a ritual. The clatter of the tracks and the sounding of the horn is mine. The start and stop at train stations regulates my writing schedule and there is a romantic quality to riding this old fashioned mode of transport.

  Why would any writer choose to sit on the highway when they could be writing the next great American novel on their way to work?

  

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle has been in love with trains since he was a boy. He is a writer, photographer and ferroequinologist in Tacoma, WA. You can follow him on Twitter or leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!

  Related Posts:
  In Praise of Moleskine Notebooks
  Leaving on a Jet Plane
  Discovering the Write Place