"I want to work remotely as a writer but need something more consistent!"
Trust yourself to figure things out as you go
Love notes from Siel is a newsletter about love, writing, and the nomad life from me, Siel. Once a month or so, I answer a question from a reader. Have a question? Ask!
Hi Siel!
I've received your newsletter since you were moving out of the city to start your nomadic journey, and a couple of times there have been some fun synchronicities. Most recently, I also love and have spent time in Mexico City, and now that my MFA is done, I'm very much considering relocating there.
I was curious how your experience has been working remotely as a writer? I do freelance food writing, but know I'll need something more consistent to make a full time remote move. If you have any tips at the ready, I'd be very grateful to hear them.
Sophie
Dear Sophie —
WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME ABOUT WORKING REMOTELY AS A WRITER LIKE I’M SOME SORT OF EXPERT? I’M STILL TRYING TO FIGURE THIS THING OUT MYSELF!
Those were the first thoughts that came to mind when I read your email. Then I remembered that I have in fact been working remotely while traveling for more than three years. Perhaps this sort of makes me an expert?
It’s strange, how you can do something successfully for a significant period of time, yet still feel you don’t really know how to do said thing.
The issue is this: When it comes to working or writing or traveling or, well, living, things are always in flux. My work life especially tends to be on the dramatic, fast-changing end of the spectrum. Since I started nomading I’ve held three different full-time remote jobs — all of which I quit. That means for the most part I’ve freelanced, making a lot of money some months and none in others. Clients have come, clients have gone. Contracts been offered, withdrawn.
My point is, whenever I think I’ve figured some things out — and I finally have tips at the ready — circumstances change, and I have to figure things out all over again.
Thus, my advice is this: Start doing what you want to do now and trust yourself to figure things out as you go.
I realize this isn’t very practical-sounding advice. Then again, if you wanted practical advice, you would have just googled it. The internet is filled with upbeat, how-to articles on making it as a remote freelance writer. Lots of courses are available too — many of them very niche. Want to be a travel blogger? A top-rated Upworker? A nomad influencer? There’s a 6-week program for that, payable on an installment plan!
In fact, so many writers are stepping up to teach classes on how to make it as a writer that it makes you wonder if writing in and of itself may not be a particularly profitable endeavor —
But I digress.Here’s a slightly more practical set of three tips I hope will help you start your new life as a full-time remote writer:
Have fuck you money. I know I said start doing what you want now — but it’s a lot easier both practically and psychically to let yourself do what you want to do if you have some financial cushion. Sock away savings so you can sleep easier at night, so you can say no to jobs you don’t really want to do, so you can dump clients you’ve come to hate, and so you can make it through the inevitable lean times.
Accept that writing that matters almost always pays a lot less than writing that doesn’t — and make decisions accordingly. Food journalism sounds yummy. It also sounds, if I can be blunt, not particularly lucrative. And fiction, as you know since you’re a creative writer yourself, is even less lucrative.
The general rule of thumb when it comes to writing and money is this: The less the writing matters, the easier and better paid it will be.
A short story that takes months to write might earn me a free copy of the journal it’s published in — after costing me $50 in submission fees to all the other journals that rejected it. Journalism pays somewhat better — but not by much, especially if you consider all the time you’ll have to spend querying, and especially if you’re keen to stick to interesting topics like food or fiction. Writing marketing copy for for-profit companies, on the other hand, can actually make you real money. In general, rote website text, SEO-focused blog posts, faux-cheery LinkedIn updates, “whitepapers,” and corporate PowerPoints will net you a whole lot more per word than a nuanced, poetic, personal essay that cost you blood, sweat, and tears.
Today, there are basically two Siels: The freelance content marketer Siel who makes money to pay the bills, and mooching off of her, the fiction writer-and-Substacker Siel who makes little to none.
This works for me, since another thing I’ve learned is that trying to make a living writing about what I care about puts too much stress on that thing and makes it not fun. The solution that best fits your needs may be different — maybe you’d rather work long hours as a food journalist to scrape a living together because food is life and corporate marketing is soul-killing. But regardless, being aware of this general rule helps you make realistic career and money decisions.
Expect changes. Or put another way, resist the urge to freak out. Because it’s easy to freak out as a freelance writer. A good client might suddenly go bye-bye. A magazine you contributed to monthly might fold overnight. One month, no one may reply to your queries. Another month, writing may be declared dead due to ChatGPT.
I used to freak out a lot, which for a long time made me believe life as a freelancer was inherently stressful. Now I’ve been alive long enough that when I’m tempted to panic, I’m able to remind myself I’ve panicked often in the past — yet somehow I’ve survived all these years with nothing terribly bad happening.
Most importantly, I’ve also found my own desires for what I want out of work and life continue to change. At times I’ve craved stability and a high paycheck! Other times I just wanted to be free to travel! There have been months when I only wanted to write fiction and other months when I wanted to quit creative writing altogether.
The good thing is, as a freelancer, I’m freer to adapt to these changing desires. Instead of stressing out and panicking, I can choose to gently reshape how I navigate my work-and-writing life — knowing I’ll inevitably need to reshape it again. I can accept that I’ll always still be figuring it out.
So to sum it up — start doing what you want to do now and trust yourself to figure things out as you go.
Also, congrats on your MFA!
Love,
Siel
Do you have advice for Sophie? Put your words of wisdom in the comments. Once a month or so, I answer a question from a reader. Have a question? Ask!
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The best advice I ever got when I was working full-time and freelancing sporadically was to save every penny I made freelancing. That was how I built up my savings so I could transition to freelancing full-time.
Brilliant advice from someone I consider an expert :). I love this!