Journalism

3 Reasons Why Freelance Writers Should Blog

The other day I was chatting with a friend who is also a writer and she told me that she felt she owed her writing success to me. While I was very flattered by the statement I assured her that was not true.

This friend has had a lot of success. She’s had her work published in literary magazines galore and is currently slaying the freelance copywriting game, too. She also edits books and is working on writing a book of her own. But her talent and tenacity made all this happen — not me.

My friend, however, said that many of the opportunities that she’s had and the community of supporters that she has built happened because of her blog and she said she never would have started blogging had I not encouraged her to do so years ago.

Her words made me so happy. I preach the gospel of blogging to anyone who will listen because I, too, have built a wonderful tribe of women writers who have my back and have had several writing opportunities land in my lap because of my blog. And it’s so nice to know others are reaping the benefits of blogging, too.

Related Reading: How to Start a Blog

Blogging has definitely boosted my career as a freelance journalist. It helped me get the attention of magazine editors who offered me my own column. And sometimes editors even pay me to republish my blog posts in their publications.

Here are 3 other reasons why freelance writers should blog.

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A Day in the Life of a Freelance Writer

Social media lied to you.

According to Instagram, the life of a freelance writer and full-time entrepreneur is an endless beach vacation.

But in reality, I could easily work seven days a week and pull 12-hour or even 16-hour shifts if I didn’t force myself to take breaks, take days off, and make time for exercise and fun with friends and family.

But the beauty of being a full-time freelancer and entrepreneur, the thing I love most about it, is that I have the freedom to design my day. If I want to take a day off on a Tuesday — I can. If I want to end my workday at noon, I will — as long as I’m on track to meeting all of my deadlines.

Here’s an honest look at a day in the life of a freelance writer.

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Why Freelance Writers Must Practice Goal Setting

On May 24, I announced that I had resigned from my teaching position and would now be a full-time freelance writer and entrepreneur. 

After sharing this news on my blog, social media channels, and with my email list, my freelance cup quickly runneth over. And this is a great problem to have! Through email, Facebook messages, and direct messages on Instagram, people made me aware of writing opportunities — paid opportunities — that I could take advantage of. 

And like any self-employed scribe who wants to ensure she can pay her mortgage, I said “Yes” — to EVERYTHING — including things I had absolutely no interest in doing. 

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