As well as working on copywriting projects with clients, a small but reassuringly regular part of my working life is writing for Freelancer Magazine.
The mag was in its first month when editor Sophie Cross decided to run a competition to find a guest editor for issue #5. As I die-hard fan of the mag and a backer since the launch, I knew I had to throw my hat into the ring. Even though my history of throwing hats into rings has generally ended with me totally missing, I knew I wouldn’t rest easy unless I knew I’d had a go.
Around the same time, December 2021, all was not well in the rest of my business. I interviewed for a job.
Like, a job job. An employed job.
It had been a tricky year. A shit year. I had lost faith in what I was doing, and my ability to pitch and market myself as a freelancer. I was bone tired. I had completely lost the joy of writing.
Going back in-house felt like a solid option. I needed some predictability. I needed… something.
When I got home from a night making Christmas wreaths at a friend’s house and saw my phone lighting up with the news that I’d won the guest editor spot, I burst into hideous, snotty, dribbling sobs.
Knowing I was going into the next year with this dream writing project ahead of me was the kick up the arse I needed.
I dropped out of the interview process for the job (they wouldn’t consider flexible working, which I needed). And I didn’t apply for anything else.
I remember feeling like it was a turning point.
And it was. Fast forward two and a bit years and freelancing may still be occasionally bumpy but it’s a million times better and the fun is well and truly back.
Being on the Freelancer Magazine writing team with so many other ace folks is a big part of that.
It’s a total privilege to be even the smallest part of the magazine and getting to see my waffle in print will never get old.
Hard to believe that before all this Sophie was just somebody I knew from the Content Club UK Twitter chat who used to repeatedly post my article about David Bowie’s tackle all over the internet (she still does this).
Congrats on three fabulous, square-shaped years Freelancer Magazine 🎂 long may your reign continue.