1. My day job keeps me too busy. This is my own personal demon that’s kept me from striking out as a freelancer. It’s the 100-pound gorilla on my back, the elephant in the room (pick your metaphor). So when the chance to go freelance finally presented itself last month, I took it. Jumped into the deep end with both feet and I’ve been loving every minute of it. Even though I’ve made a grand total of $5 so far, I haven’t had this much fun in years!
2. I’m not inspired to write. This is another tough one to battle, as we’ve all run into it. Whether it’s because you’re too tired from your day job, you’re sick, your kids or family take up too much of your time, sometimes inspiration is nowhere to be found. But this is when you’ve got to persevere and just do it. I’ve been trying to stick to a writing schedule, making sure I write something everyday.
3. I don’t have a niche topic to write about. This is an easy one to fix, even though you might think you are truly stuck for topics. Sit down with a blank pad of paper and a pen (or a blank text file on your computer, whichever works for you.) Think of three things you like to do. You could write “cook”, “eat”, and “play video games”. Good, now think of 5 more. Pull out your thesaurus and start looking up some of these words and see what other topics you can develop. Pretty soon your page will be full of ideas and topics for niches you can write about. Do a bit of research on the Web and see what sites or publications are out there for those topics. There you have it, you’ve discovered your niche topic, the things you like to write about. Chances are these are topics you’re passionate about, and have some knowledge about, so you can just start writing. So go ahead, start writing.
4. Web content writing is different than corporate writing, so I won’t be able to find work as a web writer. Another one that’s specific to me. I’ve worked as a technical writer for over 8 years in a corporate environment, so writing web content is definitely something I’ve not done “professionally”. BUT, I do consider myself a writer first, and a computer geek second, so between those two things I know I can figure it out. I do some research on web content writing, and I read blogs and articles…A LOT of blogs and articles. And I started writing posts on my own blogs (like this one), practicing the craft. While I know I’m not perfect, I think I’m getting the handle of it, and I know that as a good writer, I trust myself to be able to write whatever web content is needed, for either myself or a potential client. Plus I can use these posts as “clips” for job applications.

“Why did you do that Julia?” you might be asking.

- I did it because I was curious.
- I did it because it would look good on my resume.
- I did it because incoming cash flow is zero.

I probably wouldn’t actually take the job if I were to be the “successful candidate” (as HR types like to say), but I figured it was worth a shot. In this economy you sometimes can’t be choosy. I don’t actually want a full-time job, and am working on making it as a freelancer, but since companies are taking longer to go through their hiring process because of the state of the economy, I thought it was worth sending in my application. As I’ve often told friends, I can always say no, especially since I’m not a big fan of this company. But if, in two months time, I still haven’t made much money as a freelancer, and am coming to the end of my savings fun, and the Evil IT Company comes a-calling, I might just have to grin and accept it while I continue to look for “better” jobs.

Have you ever been in this situation? I’d like to hear your experiences.

Edit: Just secured an interview at the Evil IT Company for next week. While I’m willing to hear them out, if there’s any hint of strangeness at all during the interview process, I-am-out-of-there.

Since I see that creating more writing time at work will prove very challenging, I’ve decided I’m going to try and create more writing time outside of the office. Whether that’s in my freelance writing career, or just writing more of my novel, it doesn’t matter. I want to get back to the part of the job that I like: writing.

To recapture the inspiration I’m going to try and take some time this weekend and just write. Turn off the tv, the radio, open the curtains, let some sun in (hopefully!) and write. Just write whatever. I’ve got to send a package off to a cousin, so maybe I’ll start with something small like writing a letter. Then move on to a short story, then move on to some more blog posts for this site.  I’m looking forward to recharging my batteries on this long weekend (it’s Family Day here in Ontario on Monday), and just get back to writing.

How do you get back your writing mojo? What do you do for inspiration?