The 30-Second Commute

Freelancing in tough times (or how not to tear your hair out)

A comedic look at freelance writing
By Stephanie Dickison
Published: July 2, 2010
Writing is cyclical. Often you are so swamped with work that you feel like you can’t breathe. Then other times you’re stuck with nothing coming in. It’s the nature of the (beastly) creative life—especially freelance life.

But like the pain of childbirth, we forget. We forget the cycle, the symptoms and the pain, so that when it happens, we react like we’re never going to work again, pounding our desks like a news editor in a 1940s movie, wailing like a woman being sent off of The Bachelor—“Why me?”

I have been going through a lull, and it’s hard not only to feel productive, but also ego-wise, to not feel that it’s me, that it’s something I’ve done or not done. It’s also hard not to want to have a stiff drink before 5 p.m.

So I have come up with some things that I’ve been doing in these quieter times, things that I hope will help get you through them, too.
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