June 21, 2006
I'm in the middle--actually beginning--of a huge nonfiction business report. It's a new client and it's a little different than any of my other work. But it pays really well and although it's driving me slightly crazy (how can you tell?), it's interesting.

And not always fun. It seems like work, and I spend entirely too much time wondering if I'll do more of these types of things.

And what I tell myself is this: a nonfiction career evolves.

I think any writing career evolves. I started this whole gig wanting to be a novelist, and I am now, but I'm also a journalist and an editor and now, apparently, a market research report writer, or something like that.

It's probably a good thing. Especially if I maintain a certain mindset, which can be summed up like this:

Nothing's forever.

In my first full year as a freelancer, I got hired to do some work by the Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit and I liked the pay and thought I'd do it forever. After two jobs, they asked me if I wanted to come work fulltime for them. I said no and pitched a freelance option... which they declined and hired someone they could keep their eye on and boss around (okay, that's MY interpretation).

I have written for several publications that I thought would be regular gigs that dried up, sometimes because of editors going elsewhere, sometimes because I couldn't get plugged into their editorial needs, and sometimes, well, just because shit happens and you don't have to be a freelancer to know that.

And sometimes jobs--sometimes lucrative ones--come out of the blue in areas you never considered before.

The key seems to be to stay openminded, be willing to explore odd areas and what I call "plumbing the depth of your ignorance." That said, there are things I am not well-equipped to write and it's probably good to know what they are ahead of time than prove it by screwing up an assignment, although you may not always know until you try.

But this evolution--variety and surprise--can be one of the pleasures of being a freelancer. But you have to have the right mindset for it or it'll drive you crazy.

Best,
Mark Terry